A birthday on the globe
23 October on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born
For 23 October, the English Wikipedia lists 71 events and 283 births. 41 of the events stand at their places as rays of light; nine more are dashed circles, where the sentence links only to a country or a sea. The taller the ray, the longer ago it happened. The people born that day come further down, as blue points.
A birthday, yours or someone else’s:
Turn it into a greetingScroll: the globe turns to each place
The day you were born, on the globe.
Three things from your day
Scroll: your day first, then 23 October through the years
The Earth on 23 October
The picture on the globe was assembled by NASA from satellite photographs taken in October 2004: the snow, the ice and the green are those of the month.
On 23 October the Sun passes straight overhead at noon along the parallel of 11.4° south. In London, the day lasts about 10 hours 15 minutes.
Beyond 79° south the Sun no longer sets; beyond 79° north it no longer rises.
The line between day and night is tilted on the globe exactly as on this day of the year. On the dark side you can see the lights of towns.
Europe · Paris
1295
The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France against England is signed in Paris.
On the map: Paris.
Asia · Edo
1868
Meiji Restoration: Having taken the shogunate's seat of power at Edo and declared it his new capital as Tokyo, Mutsuhito proclaims the start of the new Meiji era.
On the map: Edo.
North America · Worcester, Massachusetts
1850
The first National Women's Rights Convention begins in Worcester, Massachusetts.
On the map: Worcester, Massachusetts.
23 October
What the other Wikipedias remember#
For these years the English list has nothing on this day. The events below come from the same day’s lists on Wikipedia in Romanian and Chinese and were translated for this page.
From Wikipedia in Romanian · New York City
1915
Some 25,000 women march through New York to demand the right to vote from the authorities.
On the map: New York City.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Romanian.
From Wikipedia in Chinese · Saint Petersburg
1917
The Russian Bolshevik Party decides to launch the October Revolution.
On the map: Saint Petersburg.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Chinese.
23 October
Born on 23 October#
The English Wikipedia lists 283 births for this day. The blue points are the birthplaces of 60 of these people: those written about in the most Wikipedia editions, where Wikidata gives a place of birth.
Born on 23 October
1940
Pelé, Brazilian footballer and actor (died 2022)
Place of birth: Três Corações.
Born on 23 October
1959
"Weird Al" Yankovic, American comedy musician, writer, and actor
Place of birth: Downey.
Born on 23 October
1976
Ryan Reynolds, Canadian-American actor and producer
Place of birth: Vancouver.
Born on 23 October
1985
Masiela Lusha, Albanian-American actress, poet, and humanitarian
Place of birth: Tirana.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1931
Diana Dors, English actress (died 1984)
Place of birth: Swindon.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1979
Simon Davies, Welsh footballer
Place of birth: Haverfordwest.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1984
Keiren Westwood, English footballer
Place of birth: Manchester.
23 October
Number one in the charts that week
At the cinema
An animal recorded that day
The record can be seen in GBIF, which brings together wildlife records from around the world.
All your birthdays
The weather that day
Data: Met Office Hadley Centre (HadCET); NOAA (GHCN-Daily, Mauna Loa).
Above the Earth
Sources: Jonathan McDowell, GCAT (launches); GFZ Potsdam (Kp index). Days are counted in Universal Time.
Football that day
International matches played that day:
Source: the “International football results” dataset kept by Mart Jürisoo (CC0).
Also that day
The earthquake’s page at the USGS
Source: the USGS catalogue. The day is counted in Universal Time (UTC).
In those days
Make a link for someone
Type the name, pick the day and the year of birth. The link opens straight on their day, with their name in the greeting.
The link carries the name, date and place typed here; anyone who gets it can see them.
Put another birthday beside it
Your mother’s, your child’s, a friend’s: the two days appear side by side.
Below: 23 October through the years.
The whole globe of the day
Drag the globe to turn it. Touch a ray or a point to read what happened there.
Everything Wikipedia lists for 23 October
The list is the English Wikipedia’s, in its own wording, as it stood in October 2026. 21 events have no place on the map: the sentence links to no place with coordinates, only to places too wide to mark, or to several countries.
- 4004 BC
James Ussher's purported creation date of the world according to the Bible.
no place on the mapWikipedia: James Ussher - 42 BC
Liberators' civil war: Mark Antony and Octavian decisively defeat an army under Brutus in the second part of the Battle of Philippi, with Brutus committing suicide and ending the civil war.
Europe · Battle of PhilippiWikipedia: Battle of Philippi - 425
Valentinian III is elevated as Roman emperor at the age of six.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Valentinian III - 502
The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theoderic, absolves Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Theodoric the Great - 1086
Spanish Reconquista: At the Battle of Sagrajas, the Almoravids defeat the Castilians, but are unable to take advantage of their victory.
Europe · Battle of SagrajasWikipedia: Battle of Sagrajas - 1157
The Battle of Grathe Heath ends the Danish Civil War.
Europe · Battle of Grathe HeathWikipedia: Battle of Grathe Heath - 1295
The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France against England is signed in Paris.
Europe · ParisWikipedia: Auld Alliance - 1448
Scotland wins a decisive victory over England at the Battle of Sark, the last pitched battle to be fought between the two kingdoms during the Medieval period.
Britain & Ireland · Battle of SarkWikipedia: Battle of Sark - 1641
Irish Catholic gentry from Ulster attempt to seize control of Dublin Castle, the seat of English rule in Ireland, so as to force concessions.
Britain & Ireland · Dublin CastleWikipedia: Irish Rebellion of 1641 - 1642
The Battle of Edgehill is the first major battle of the English Civil War.
Britain & Ireland · Battle of EdgehillWikipedia: Battle of Edgehill - 1666
The most intense tornado on record in English history, an F4 storm on the Fujita scale or T8 on the TORRO scale, strikes the county of Lincolnshire, with winds of more than 213 miles per hour (343 km/h).
Britain & Ireland · LincolnshireWikipedia: Fujita scale - 1707
The First Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain convenes.
Britain & Ireland · Kingdom of Great BritainWikipedia: First Parliament of Great Britain - 1798
The forces of Ali Pasha of Janina defeat the French and capture the town of Preveza in the Battle of Nicopolis.
Europe · Battle of NicopolisWikipedia: Battle of Nicopolis - 1812
General Claude François de Malet begins a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon, claiming that the Emperor died in the Russian campaign.
Europe · ParisWikipedia: Malet coup of 1812 - 1850
The first National Women's Rights Convention begins in Worcester, Massachusetts.
North America · Worcester, MassachusettsWikipedia: National Women's Rights Convention - 1856
Second Opium War: Dissatisfied with imperial commissioner Ye Mingchen's reparations for the alleged slighting of a British-owned vessel and at Consul Harry Parkes's urging, British Rear-Admiral Michael Seymour launches an assault on the Barrier Forts outside Canton in the first military engagement of the Second Opium War.
Asia · Battle of CantonWikipedia: Second Opium War - 1864
American Civil War: The Battle of Westport is the last significant engagement west of the Mississippi River, ending in a Union victory.
North America · Battle of WestportWikipedia: American Civil War - 1868
Meiji Restoration: Having taken the shogunate's seat of power at Edo and declared it his new capital as Tokyo, Mutsuhito proclaims the start of the new Meiji era.
Asia · EdoWikipedia: Meiji Restoration - 1882
Assommoir bombing: Anarchists such as Fanny Madignier commit the first deadly anarchist attack in France.
Europe · Assommoir bombingWikipedia: Assommoir bombing - 1906
Alberto Santos-Dumont flies an airplane in the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Alberto Santos-Dumont - 1911
The Italo-Turkish War sees the first use of an airplane in combat when an Italian pilot makes a reconnaissance flight.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Italo-Turkish War - 1912
First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo between the Serbian and Ottoman armies begins.
Europe · Battle of KumanovoWikipedia: First Balkan War - 1923
German October: Due to a miscommunication with the party leadership, a militant section of the Communist Party of Germany launches an insurrection in Hamburg.
Europe · HamburgWikipedia: German October - 1924
Second Zhili–Fengtian War: Warlord Feng Yuxiang, with the covert support of the Empire of Japan, stages a coup in Beijing against his erstwhile superiors in the Zhili clique, crippling their nearly victorious war effort against the Fengtian clique and forcing them to withdraw from northern China.
Asia · BeijingWikipedia: Second Zhili–Fengtian War - 1927
The Imatra Cinema is destroyed in a fire in Tampere, Finland, during showing the 1924 film Wages of Virtue; 21 people die in the fire and almost 30 are injured.
Europe · ImatraWikipedia: Imatra - 1934
Jeannette Piccard piloted a hot-air balloon flight that reached 57,579 feet (17,550 m), becoming the first woman to fly in the stratosphere.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Jeannette Piccard - 1940
Adolf Hitler and Francisco Franco meet at Hendaye to discuss the possibility of Spain entering the Second World War.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Meeting at Hendaye - 1941
The Holocaust: Nazi Germany prohibits Jews from emigrating, including in its occupied territories.
Europe · Nazi GermanyWikipedia: The Holocaust - 1942
All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard American Airlines Flight 28 are killed when it collides with a U.S. Army Air Force bomber near Palm Springs, California.
North America · American Airlines Flight 28Wikipedia: American Airlines Flight 28 - 1942
World War II: Allied forces commence the Second Battle of El Alamein, which proves to be the key turning point in the North African campaign.
Africa · Second Battle of El AlameinWikipedia: World War II - 1942
World War II: Japanese troops began an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands from American forces.
Oceania · Battle for Henderson FieldWikipedia: World War II - 1942
World War II: The Battle for Henderson Field begins on Guadalcanal.
Oceania · Battle for Henderson FieldWikipedia: Battle for Henderson Field - 1944
World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf begins.
Asia · Battle of Leyte GulfWikipedia: Battle of Leyte Gulf - 1945
Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodger's minor league team, the Montreal Royals, breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Jackie Robinson - 1955
Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm defeats former emperor Bảo Đại in a referendum and founds the Republic of Vietnam.
Asia · South VietnamWikipedia: 1955 State of Vietnam referendum - 1955
The people of the Saar region vote in a referendum to unite with West Germany instead of France.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 1955 Saar Statute referendum - 1956
Secret police shoot several anti-communist protesters, igniting the Hungarian Revolution.
Europe · Hungarian People's RepublicWikipedia: Hungarian Revolution of 1956 - 1957
A screening of Mother India, one of the most influential Indian films in history, was held for President Rajendra Prasad and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru two days before its release.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Mother India - 1958
Belgian artist Peyo's comic characters, the Smurfs, make their debut in Spirou magazine.
Europe · BelgiumWikipedia: Belgium - 1958
Canada's Springhill mining disaster kills seventy-five miners, while ninety-nine others are rescued.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Springhill mining disasters - 1959
Aeroflot Flight 200 crashes while attempting to land at Vnukovo International Airport, killing 28.
Europe · Aeroflot Flight 200Wikipedia: Aeroflot Flight 200 - 1965
Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, launches an operation seeking to destroy Communist forces during the siege of Plei Me.
Asia · Siege of Plei MeWikipedia: Vietnam War - 1970
Gary Gabelich sets a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Gary Gabelich - 1972
Vietnam War: Operation Linebacker, a US bombing campaign against North Vietnam in response to its Easter Offensive, ends after five months.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Easter Offensive - 1978
Aeroflot Flight 6515 crashes off Syvash, killing all 26 people aboard.
Europe · SyvashWikipedia: Syvash - 1982
A gunfight breaks out between police officers and members of a religious cult in Arizona. The shootout leaves two cultists dead and dozens of cultists and police officers injured.
North America · Miracle ValleyWikipedia: Miracle Valley shootout - 1983
Lebanese Civil War: The U.S. Marines Corps barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. A French Army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops.
Asia · 1983 Beirut barracks bombingsWikipedia: 1983 Beirut barracks bombings - 1989
An explosion at the Houston Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas, which registered a 3.5 on the Richter magnitude scale, kills 23 and injures 314.
North America · Phillips disaster of 1989Wikipedia: Phillips disaster of 1989 - 1989
Bankruptcy of Wärtsilä Marine, the biggest bankruptcy in the Nordic countries up until then.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Wärtsilä Marine - 1989
The Hungarian Republic officially replaces the communist Hungarian People's Republic.
Europe · Hungarian People's RepublicWikipedia: End of communism in Hungary - 1991
Signing of the Paris Peace Accords which ends the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
Europe · ParisWikipedia: 1991 Paris Peace Agreements - 1993
The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb prematurely detonates in Belfast, killing the bomber and nine civilians.
Britain & Ireland · Shankill Road bombingWikipedia: The Troubles - 1995
The runway show for Alexander McQueen's collection The Hunger was staged at London's Natural History Museum.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Natural History Museum, London - 1995
Yolanda Saldívar is found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of popular Latin singer Selena.
North America · Murder of SelenaWikipedia: Murder of Selena - 1998
Israel and the Palestinian Authority sign the Wye River Memorandum.
Asia · IsraelWikipedia: Wye River Memorandum - 2001
Apple Computer releases the iPod.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Apple Inc. - 2001
Grand Theft Auto III was released, helping to popularize open-world and mature-content video games.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Grand Theft Auto III - 2002
Second Chechen War: Chechen separatist terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage.
Europe · Moscow theater hostage crisisWikipedia: Moscow theater hostage crisis - 2004
A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata Prefecture in northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.
Asia · 2004 Chūetsu earthquakeWikipedia: 2004 Chūetsu earthquake - 2007
A storm causes the Mexican Kab 101 oil platform to collide with a wellhead, leading to the death and drowning of 22 people during rescue operations after evacuation of the platform.
Latin America · Kab 101Wikipedia: Kab 101 - 2007
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-120, with Pamela Melroy becoming the second female space shuttle commander.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Space Shuttle Discovery - 2011
A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Van Province, Turkey, killing 582 people and injuring thousands.
Asia · 2011 Van earthquakesWikipedia: 2011 Van earthquakes - 2011
Motorcycle racer Marco Simoncelli dies in a racing accident at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Marco Simoncelli - 2011
The Libyan National Transitional Council deems the Libyan Civil War over.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Libyan civil war - 2015
The lowest sea-level pressure in the Western Hemisphere, and the highest reliably-measured non-tornadic sustained winds, are recorded in Hurricane Patricia, which strikes Mexico hours later, killing at least 13 and causing over $280 million in damages.
Latin America · Western HemisphereWikipedia: Atmospheric pressure - 2017
War against the Islamic State: Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana declares the end of the Siege of Marawi.
Asia · Siege of MarawiWikipedia: Siege of Marawi - 2018
An escalator accident in Rome left 24 people injured, mostly fans of the CSKA Moscow football team who were in town for a UEFA Champions League match against Roma.
Europe · 2018 Rome escalator accidentWikipedia: 2018 Rome escalator accident - 2020
Second Libyan Civil War: The Second Libyan Civil War comes to an end as all parties to the 5+5 Joint Libyan Military Commission agree to a ceasefire.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Libyan civil war - 2022
Myanmar Air Force airstrikes a concert in Hpakant Township, Kachin state killing at least 80 people, including senior Kachin Independence Organisation officials, in the Hpakant massacre.
Asia · Hpakant massacreWikipedia: Hpakant massacre - 2022
Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif is shot and killed by local police in Kajiado, Kenya.
Africa · KajiadoWikipedia: Death of Arshad Sharif - 2022
Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party by the Central Committee, beginning a third term of the paramount leader of China.
Asia · ChinaWikipedia: Xi Jinping
What the other Wikipedias remember
For these years the English list has nothing on this day. The events below come from the same day’s lists on Wikipedia in Romanian and Chinese and were translated for this page.
- 1915
Some 25,000 women march through New York to demand the right to vote from the authorities.
- 1917
The Russian Bolshevik Party decides to launch the October Revolution.
Who was born on 23 October
In order of how many Wikipedia editions have an article about each. The first 60 of 283 are shown.
- 1940
Pelé, Brazilian footballer and actor (died 2022)
Três CoraçõesWikipedia: Pelé - 1957
Paul Kagame, Rwandan soldier and politician, 6th President of Rwanda
RuhangoWikipedia: Paul Kagame - 1986
Emilia Clarke, English actress
LondonWikipedia: Emilia Clarke - 1959
"Weird Al" Yankovic, American comedy musician, writer, and actor
- 1976
Ryan Reynolds, Canadian-American actor and producer
VancouverWikipedia: Ryan Reynolds - 1985
Masiela Lusha, Albanian-American actress, poet, and humanitarian
TiranaWikipedia: Masiela Lusha - 1942
Michael Crichton, American author and screenwriter (died 2008)
ChicagoWikipedia: Michael Crichton - 1954
Ang Lee, Taiwanese-American director, producer, and screenwriter
Chaojhou TownshipWikipedia: Ang Lee - 1905
Felix Bloch, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1983)
ZurichWikipedia: Felix Bloch - 1908
Ilya Frank, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1990)
Saint PetersburgWikipedia: Ilya Frank - 1992
Álvaro Morata, Spanish footballer
MadridWikipedia: Álvaro Morata - 1875
Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist and academic (died 1946)
WeymouthWikipedia: Gilbert N. Lewis - 1920
Gianni Rodari, Italian writer (died 1980)
OmegnaWikipedia: Gianni Rodari - 1959
Sam Raimi, American director, screenwriter and producer
Royal OakWikipedia: Sam Raimi - 1928
Zhu Rongji, Chinese engineer and politician, 5th Premier of the People's Republic of China (died 2026)
ChangshaWikipedia: Zhu Rongji - 1994
Margaret Qualley, American actress
KalispellWikipedia: Margaret Qualley - 1925
Johnny Carson, American television host (died 2005)
CorningWikipedia: Johnny Carson - 1979
Prabhas, Telugu film actor
ChennaiWikipedia: Prabhas - 1927
Leszek Kołakowski, Polish-English historian and philosopher (died 2009)
- 1974
Aravind Adiga, Indian journalist and author
ChennaiWikipedia: Aravind Adiga - 1989
Andriy Yarmolenko, Ukrainian footballer
Saint PetersburgWikipedia: Andriy Yarmolenko - 1964
Robert Trujillo, American bass player and songwriter
Santa MonicaWikipedia: Robert Trujillo - 1835
Adlai Stevenson I, American lawyer and politician, 23rd Vice President of the United States (died 1914)
Christian CountyWikipedia: Adlai Stevenson I - 1951
Fatmir Sejdiu, Kosovan academic and politician, 2nd President of Kosovo
Pakashtica e EpërmeWikipedia: Fatmir Sejdiu - 1945
Graça Machel, Mozambican politician and humanitarian
Portuguese MozambiqueWikipedia: Graça Machel - 1961
Andoni Zubizarreta, Spanish footballer and sportscaster
Vitoria-GasteizWikipedia: Andoni Zubizarreta - 1991
Emil Forsberg, Swedish footballer
SundsvallWikipedia: Emil Forsberg - 1947
Kazimierz Deyna, Polish footballer (died 1989)
Starogard GdańskiWikipedia: Kazimierz Deyna - 1960
Randy Pausch, American author and academic (died 2008)
BaltimoreWikipedia: Randy Pausch - 1817
Pierre Larousse, French lexicographer and author (died 1875)
- 1947
Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, co-founder of the Palestinian movement Hamas (died 2004)
- 1905
Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (died 2003)
New York CityWikipedia: Gertrude Ederle - 1941
Igor Smirnov, Moldovan engineer and politician, 1st President of Transnistria
Petropavlovsk-KamchatskyWikipedia: Igor Smirnov - 1966
Alex Zanardi, Italian racing driver and cyclist (died 2026)
BolognaWikipedia: Alex Zanardi - 1984
Izabel Goulart, Brazilian model
São CarlosWikipedia: Izabel Goulart - 1766
Emmanuel de Grouchy, Marquis de Grouchy, French general (died 1847)
- 1801
Albert Lortzing, German singer-songwriter and actor (died 1851)
- 1931
Diana Dors, English actress (died 1984)
SwindonWikipedia: Diana Dors - 1970
Grant Imahara, American television presenter and engineer (died 2020)
Los AngelesWikipedia: Grant Imahara - 1979
Simon Davies, Welsh footballer
HaverfordwestWikipedia: Simon Davies - 1982
Aleksandar Luković, Serbian footballer
KraljevoWikipedia: Aleksandar Luković - 1984
Keiren Westwood, English footballer
ManchesterWikipedia: Keiren Westwood - 1986
Briana Evigan, American actress and dancer
Los AngelesWikipedia: Briana Evigan - 1991
Princess Mako of Akishino, member of the Japanese Imperial Family
ChiyodaWikipedia: Mako Komuro - 1998
Amandla Stenberg, American actress
Los AngelesWikipedia: Amandla Stenberg - 1634
Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish queen (died 1715)
Gottorf CastleWikipedia: Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp - 1963
Rashidi Yekini, Nigerian footballer (died 2012)
- 1978
Archie Thompson, New Zealand-Australian footballer
ŌtorohangaWikipedia: Archie Thompson - 1698
Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect, designed the École Militaire (died 1782)
- 1942
Anita Roddick, English businesswoman and activist, founded The Body Shop (died 2007)
LittlehamptonWikipedia: Anita Roddick - 1813
Ludwig Leichhardt, German-Australian explorer (died 1848)
TrebatschWikipedia: Ludwig Leichhardt - 1985
Mohammed Abdellaoue, Norwegian footballer
- 1986
Jessica Stroup, American actress
AndersonWikipedia: Jessica Stroup - 1956
Adam Nawałka, Polish football player and manager
KrakówWikipedia: Adam Nawałka - 1956
Dwight Yoakam, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
PikevilleWikipedia: Dwight Yoakam - 1986
Inbar Lavi, Israeli actress
Ramat GanWikipedia: Inbar Lavi - 1987
Seo In-guk, South Korean singer and actor
- 1905
Yen Chia-kan, Chinese lawyer and politician, President of the Republic of China (died 1993)
Wu CountyWikipedia: Yen Chia-kan - 1936
Philip Kaufman, American director, producer, and screenwriter
ChicagoWikipedia: Philip Kaufman - 1956
Dianne Reeves, American singer
DetroitWikipedia: Dianne Reeves
What is celebrated on 23 October
- Christian feast day: Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer
- Christian feast day: James the Just (i.e. James, brother of Jesus) (Lutheran, Episcopal Church (USA), Eastern Orthodox)
- Christian feast day: Allucio of Campugliano
- Christian feast day: Amon of Toul (Diocese of Toul)
- Christian feast day: Boethius
- Christian feast day: Ignatios of Constantinople
- Christian feast day: John of Capistrano
- Christian feast day: Joséphine Leroux
- Christian feast day: Peter Pascual
- Christian feast day: Romain (Romanus) of Rouen
- Christian feast day: Servandus and Cermanus
- Christian feast day: Severin of Cologne
- Christian feast day: October 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Christian feast day: Christmas or the Feast of Señor Noemi (the Child Jesus) in the Apostolic Catholic Church
A greeting link for someone
Type a name and, if you like, the year of birth. The link opens with a greeting, and beside each event it says how old the person turned that day, or how many years before their birth it happened.
The name and the year go only into the link you send.
All 366 days
How the globe is made
Where the events come from
Each edition of this page uses the day’s list from Wikipedia in its own language: Romanian, English, Spanish, Chinese. The lists are written by volunteers and differ from one edition to the next; the text of each event is Wikipedia’s, with a link to the article. A row that appears twice in a list is shown once. The lists have not been checked event by event: they are Wikipedia’s, mistakes included.
For events before 1582, and for countries that moved to the Gregorian calendar later (Britain in 1752, Russia in 1918), the same day may be counted Old Style in one list and New Style in another.
The chapter “What the other Wikipedias remember” adds up to five events a day from the lists of the other three editions, only for years in which the English list has nothing on that day. They were translated for this page, passed the same filters as the tour, and are not counted among the events of the English list.
How an event gets onto the map
The place comes from Wikidata. If the sentence links to the article about the event itself (a battle, an opening, an earthquake), dated to the same year, the ray stands on its coordinates or on those of its location. Otherwise it stands on the first place the sentence links to: a town, a building, a mountain, an island. This second step can be wrong: sometimes the sentence only mentions the place. That is why the page says, under each event, which place the ray stands on.
When the sentence links to a single state or province, or to a single sea, lake or desert larger than 5,000 km², the globe shows a dashed circle, not a ray. The circle has the area Wikidata gives, with its radius kept between 1.2° and 16°, or a radius of 4.5° when Wikidata gives no area; it says only that the sentence links to that place. Organisations, ships, spacecraft, museum objects, rivers, mountain ranges, languages and continents are never used as places. When a sentence names several states and no exact place, the event stays in the list only.
What the height means
The height of a ray shows how many years have passed, on a logarithmic scale: 10 years, 100 years and 1,000 years are equal steps apart; anything older than about 2,600 years has the tallest ray. The colour runs from pale yellow for recent years to violet for antiquity.
Where the tour stops
In each region the tour stops at up to three events (five in Britain and Ireland), chosen mainly by three things: whether Wikipedia’s editors put the event in the “On this day” box of their main page (the English, Spanish and Chinese editions), how many Wikipedia editions have an article about it, and how many of the four lists include it. Events whose sentence or article is about a war, an attack, a crime or a disaster are left out of the tour; they stay in the whole list, in Wikipedia’s wording. The filter is a list of words and a list of Wikidata types, so it can miss some.
The tour of births names the people with articles in the most editions and leaves aside those whom the list or Wikidata describes as rulers, politicians, commanders, leaders of movements or criminals; they stay in the list.
The Earth and the Sun
The daytime images are NASA’s Blue Marble Next Generation mosaics, one for each month of 2004; the night side is Black Marble 2016. The tilt of the line between day and night is computed for the day; the hour is chosen so that the place being read is in daylight. The latitude where the Sun stands overhead is the average of the four years of the leap cycle; in a given year it can differ by up to 0.4°.
The day you were born
The number ones come from the weekly lists on Wikipedia: Billboard for the United States (from 1940; the Hot 100 from August 1958), the UK Singles Chart (from November 1952), Los 40 Principales for Spain (from July 1966) and, for Romania, the Romanian Top 100 and Airplay 100 (2001–2021, with missing weeks). The page shows the chart of the week in which the day of birth falls, with its date; Billboard and the UK chart are dated at the end of their week. For Romania before 2001 and for China these sources have no weekly chart.
The films are those that reached cinemas in the United States up to ten days before or three days after that day (some of them in a few cinemas at first), from the English Wikipedia’s yearly lists (from 1968), in order of how many editions have an article about them. The events “in those days” are the ones on the neighbouring days’ lists that carry the year of birth, passed through the same filter as the tour.
The day of birth, year included
The Moon, the star sign and the constellation are worked out by the page itself, for noon Universal Time on the day. The lit part of the Moon is rounded and can differ by a few per cent from that at the hour of birth. The sign follows the usual zodiac of twelve equal parts starting at the March equinox; the constellation is the one the Sun actually stood in front of, by the borders set by the International Astronomical Union, and within a day of a border the page does not name it. When the Sun changes sign while it is that day anywhere on Earth, the page gives the moment of crossing, rounded to ten minutes and accurate to within about a quarter of an hour, and the clock time in a few cities, with the time zone and summer time of that year.
The year in the Chinese calendar is the one your device’s own calendar gives for the date, checked against the Hong Kong Observatory’s tables. “All your birthdays” uses the same sources as the rest of the chapter for the same day in every year since the birth: the temperature, well-known launches that took place on that very day, matches of the teams the edition follows, snow deeper than 10 cm and strong geomagnetic storms. The three things at the top and the four on the picture are chosen in a fixed order (the song, the animal, a full Moon, a well-known launch before an ordinary earthquake); on the picture you can change them.
When the link carries a year of birth, the page adds a few things about that exact day. The weather is the Met Office’s Central England temperature record and the readings from New York’s Central Park; the “usual high” is the average of the daily highs of 1961–1990 for that date, with two days either side. The carbon dioxide figure is the monthly mean at the Mauna Loa observatory, where measurements begin in March 1958.
The earthquake is the one with the largest magnitude in the USGS catalogue for that day, counted in Universal Time. Before the 1960s the catalogue has gaps even above magnitude 5.5, so in the older years many days have no earthquake. The page gives only the magnitude and the place: the country the epicentre falls in or, when the epicentre is at sea within 300 km of a coast, the nearest country; farther out, only the ocean.
The launches are those that reached orbit or left for the Moon and the planets, from Jonathan McDowell’s GCAT catalogue. If nothing left that day, the page shows the nearest launch within three days before or after, and says how many days away it was. The geomagnetic storm appears only when the Kp index reached at least 5 in one of the day’s eight three-hour intervals.
The animal comes from GBIF: an observation made by a person (the animal seen or heard, or its tracks), dated to that exact day, with coordinates and a CC0 or CC BY licence. Only a few hundred well-known species are searched (mammals, birds, turtles, butterflies); of those noted that day, mammals and species with articles in many Wikipedia editions come first; birds noted almost every day, and species used recently, wait their turn. Observations dated 1 January are left out, because records without a day are often filed there. An observation shows that the animal was recorded there, not how many animals there were.
The matches are those between national teams. Only matches of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia are shown, along with those at the big final tournaments. The picture to send is drawn in the page from the day’s globe and the facts above, and stays on your device until you send it.
Sources
- Events, births and holidays: the day’s page on Wikipedia, text under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates, places of birth and the number of editions: Wikidata (CC0).
- The Earth by day: NASA Blue Marble Next Generation. The Earth by night: NASA Black Marble 2016.
- Borders and regions: Natural Earth.
- World population and births per year: UN World Population Prospects 2024.
- Charts and films: Wikipedia’s lists for Billboard, the UK Singles Chart, Los 40 Principales, Romanian Top 100, Airplay 100 and American films by year (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Weather: Met Office Hadley Centre, HadCET (Open Government Licence) and NOAA GHCN-Daily, New York Central Park. Carbon dioxide: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Mauna Loa.
- Earthquakes: the USGS catalogue. Launches: Jonathan McDowell, GCAT (CC BY). Kp index: GFZ Potsdam (CC BY 4.0). Matches: International football results, Mart Jürisoo (CC0).
- Animal observations: GBIF, with a link to each record; species names come from Wikidata.