A birthday on the globe
25 May on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born
For 25 May, the English Wikipedia lists 69 events and 237 births. 37 of the events stand at their places as rays of light; 10 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 25 May through the years
The Earth on 25 May
The picture on the globe was assembled by NASA from satellite photographs taken in May 2004: the snow, the ice and the green are those of the month.
On 25 May the Sun passes straight overhead at noon along the parallel of 21.0° north. In London, the day lasts about 16 hours 5 minutes.
Beyond 69° north the Sun no longer sets; beyond 69° south 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.
Britain & Ireland · Opera Comique
1878
Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London.
On the map: Opera Comique.
Britain & Ireland · London
1946
The Emirate of Transjordan becomes independent from the United Kingdom as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan after ratifying the Treaty of London and making their Amir, Abdullah I, their King.
On the map: London.
Africa · Addis Ababa
1963
The Organisation of African Unity is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
On the map: Addis Ababa.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish and Chinese.
Asia · Kangchenjunga
1955
First ascent of Mount Kangchenjunga: On the British Kangchenjunga expedition led by Charles Evans, Joe Brown and George Band reach the summit of the third-highest mountain in the world (8,586 meters); Norman Hardie and Tony Streather join them the following day.
On the map: Kangchenjunga.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Romanian and Chinese.
Asia · Riyadh
1981
In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
On the map: Riyadh.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish.
Asia · Mount Everest
2001
Erik Weihenmayer becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, in the Himalayas, with Dr. Sherman Bull.
On the map: Mount Everest.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish.
Latin America · Buenos Aires
1819
The Argentine Constitution of 1819 is promulgated.
On the map: Buenos Aires.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish.
North America · Constitutional Convention
1787
After a delay of 11 days, the United States Constitutional Convention formally convenes in Philadelphia after a quorum of seven states is secured.
On the map: the coordinates Wikidata gives for the article “Constitutional Convention”.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish and Chinese.
North America · Ohio State University
1935
Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks three world records and ties a fourth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
On the map: Ohio State University.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Chinese.
North America · United States Congress
1961
Apollo program: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces, before a special joint session of the U.S. Congress, that the United States "should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
On the map: United States Congress.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Romanian.
25 May
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 Spanish and Chinese and were translated for this page.
From Wikipedia in Spanish · Buenos Aires
1908
In Buenos Aires (Argentina), the Teatro Colón opens with a performance of the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi.
On the map: Buenos Aires.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Spanish.
From Wikipedia in Chinese · Mount Everest
1960
The Chinese mountaineering team (Wang Fuzhou, Gongbu and Qu Yinhua) climbs Mount Everest for the first time.
On the map: Mount Everest.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Chinese.
From Wikipedia in Chinese · The Great Sphinx
1998
The ten-year restoration of the Egyptian Sphinx is completed.
On the map: The Great Sphinx.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Chinese.
25 May
Born on 25 May#
The English Wikipedia lists 237 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 25 May
1803
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (died 1882)
Born on 25 May
1865
Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1943)
Place of birth: Zonnemaire.
Born on 25 May
1963
Mike Myers, Canadian-American actor, singer, producer, and screenwriter
Place of birth: Scarborough.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1944
Frank Oz, English-born American puppeteer, filmmaker, and actor
Place of birth: Hereford.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1986
Geraint Thomas, Welsh cyclist
Place of birth: Cardiff.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1958
Paul Weller, English singer, songwriter and musician
Place of birth: Woking.
25 May
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: 25 May 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 25 May
The list is the English Wikipedia’s, in its own wording, as it stood in October 2026. 22 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.
- 567 BC
Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans.
Europe · Ancient RomeWikipedia: Servius Tullius - 240 BC
First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Apsis - 1085
Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain, back from the Moors after a siege.
Europe · Toledo, SpainWikipedia: Siege of Toledo - 1420
Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Prince Henry the Navigator - 1521
The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
Europe · Diet of WormsWikipedia: Diet of Worms - 1644
Ming general Wu Sangui forms an alliance with the invading Manchus and opens the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguan pass, letting the Manchus through towards the capital Beijing.
Asia · Great Wall of ChinaWikipedia: Ming dynasty - 1659
Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England.
Britain & Ireland · Commonwealth of EnglandWikipedia: Richard Cromwell - 1660
Charles II lands at Dover at the invitation of the Convention Parliament, which marks the end of the Cromwell-proclaimed Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and begins the Restoration of the British monarchy.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Charles II of England - 1738
A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Cresap's War - 1763
First issue of Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler, the first regular Norwegian newspaper (1763–1920).
no place on the mapWikipedia: Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler - 1782
American Revolutionary War: US Colonel William Crawford began a failed expedition to destroy British-allied American Indian towns along the Sandusky River in the Ohio Country.
no place on the mapWikipedia: American Revolutionary War - 1787
After a delay of 11 days, the United States Constitutional Convention formally convenes in Philadelphia after a quorum of seven states is secured.
North America · Constitutional ConventionWikipedia: Constitutional Convention - 1798
United Irishmen Rebellion: Battle of Carlow begins; executions of suspected rebels at Carnew and at Dunlavin Green take place.
Britain & Ireland · Battle of CarlowWikipedia: Battle of Carlow - 1807
Outbreak of the Kabakçı Mustafa rebellion in response to intentions of sultan Selim III to reform the Ottoman army.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Kabakçı Mustafa - 1809
Chuquisaca Revolution: Patriot revolt in Chuquisaca (modern-day Sucre) against the Spanish Empire, sparking the Latin American wars of independence.
Latin America · SucreWikipedia: Chuquisaca Revolution - 1810
May Revolution: Citizens of Buenos Aires expel Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the "May Week", starting the Argentine War of Independence.
Latin America · Buenos AiresWikipedia: May Revolution - 1816
The poems Kubla Khan and Christabel by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge were published.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Kubla Khan - 1819
The Argentine Constitution of 1819 is promulgated.
Latin America · Buenos AiresWikipedia: Argentine Constitution of 1819 - 1833
The Chilean Constitution of 1833 is promulgated.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Chilean Constitution of 1833 - 1865
In Mobile, Alabama, around 300 people are killed when an ordnance depot explodes.
North America · Mobile, AlabamaWikipedia: Mobile, Alabama - 1878
Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London.
Britain & Ireland · Opera ComiqueWikipedia: Gilbert and Sullivan - 1895
Playwright, poet and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Oscar Wilde - 1895
The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Jingsong as its president.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Republic of Formosa - 1914
The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes the Home Rule Bill for devolution in Ireland.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Government of Ireland Act 1914 - 1925
Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching human evolution in Tennessee.
no place on the mapWikipedia: John T. Scopes - 1926
Sholom Schwartzbard assassinates Symon Petliura, the head of the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, which is in government-in-exile in Paris.
Europe · Ukrainian People's RepublicWikipedia: Sholem Schwarzbard - 1933
The Walt Disney Company cartoon Three Little Pigs premieres at Radio City Music Hall, featuring the hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
North America · Radio City Music HallWikipedia: The Walt Disney Company - 1935
Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks three world records and ties a fourth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
North America · Ohio State UniversityWikipedia: Jesse Owens - 1936
Employees of the Remington Rand company began an 11-month strike action, during which time the company executives developed the notorious "Mohawk Valley formula" to intimidate the strikers.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Remington Rand - 1938
Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante kills 313 people.
Europe · AlicanteWikipedia: Spanish Civil War - 1940
World War II: The German 2nd Panzer Division captures the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer; the surrender of the last French and British troops marks the end of the Battle of Boulogne.
Europe · Boulogne-sur-MerWikipedia: World War II - 1944
The Wehrmacht and their collaborationist allies launched Operation Rösselsprung, a failed attempt to assassinate the Yugoslav Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito.
Europe · Operation RösselsprungWikipedia: Operation Rösselsprung - 1946
The Emirate of Transjordan becomes independent from the United Kingdom as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan after ratifying the Treaty of London and making their Amir, Abdullah I, their King.
Britain & Ireland · LondonWikipedia: Treaty of London - 1953
Nuclear weapons testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test.
North America · Upshot–Knothole GrableWikipedia: Upshot–Knothole Grable - 1953
The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.
North America · University of HoustonWikipedia: Public broadcasting - 1955
First ascent of Mount Kangchenjunga: On the British Kangchenjunga expedition led by Charles Evans, Joe Brown and George Band reach the summit of the third-highest mountain in the world (8,586 meters); Norman Hardie and Tony Streather join them the following day.
Asia · KangchenjungaWikipedia: Kangchenjunga - 1955
In the United States, a night-time F5 tornado strikes the small city of Udall, Kansas as part of a larger outbreak across the Great Plains, killing 80 and injuring 273. It is the deadliest tornado ever to occur in the state and the 23rd deadliest in the U.S.
North America · Udall, KansasWikipedia: Fujita scale - 1961
A fire broke out at a squatter settlement in Bukit Ho Swee, Singapore, rendering approximately 16,000 people homeless.
Asia · Bukit Ho Swee fireWikipedia: Bukit Ho Swee fire - 1961
Apollo program: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces, before a special joint session of the U.S. Congress, that the United States "should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
North America · United States CongressWikipedia: United States Congress - 1962
The Baltimore Steam Packet Company, the last overnight steamboat service in the United States, went out of business.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Baltimore Steam Packet Company - 1963
The Organisation of African Unity is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Africa · Addis AbabaWikipedia: Organisation of African Unity - 1966
Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Explorers Program - 1967
Having purged a group of rivals, Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Il Sung delivered the "May 25 teaching", entrenching his son Kim Jong Il as his designated successor.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Kapsan faction incident - 1968
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, is dedicated.
North America · Gateway ArchWikipedia: Gateway Arch - 1971
Joetha Collier, a recent high school graduate, is killed in a shooting in Drew, Mississippi, attracting extensive attention from the media and civil rights activists.
North America · Drew, MississippiWikipedia: Killing of Joetha Collier - 1973
In protest against the dictatorship in Greece, the captain and crew on Greek naval destroyer Velos mutiny and refuse to return to Greece, instead anchoring at Fiumicino, Italy.
Europe · FiumicinoWikipedia: Greek junta - 1977
Star Wars (retroactively titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) is released in US theaters.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Star Wars - 1977
The Chinese government removes a decade-old ban on William Shakespeare's work, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution started in 1966.
no place on the mapWikipedia: William Shakespeare - 1978
The first of a series of bombings orchestrated by the Unabomber detonates at Northwestern University resulting in minor injuries.
North America · Northwestern UniversityWikipedia: Northwestern University - 1979
American Airlines Flight 191: A McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, killing all 271 on board and two people on the ground.
North America · American Airlines Flight 191Wikipedia: American Airlines Flight 191 - 1979
John Spenkelink, a convicted murderer, is executed in Florida; he is the first person to be executed in the state after the reintroduction of capital punishment in 1976.
North America · FloridaWikipedia: John Spenkelink - 1979
Six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared on his way to school in New York City, and later became one of the first missing children to have his picture featured on milk cartons.
North America · ManhattanWikipedia: Disappearance of Etan Patz - 1981
In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Asia · RiyadhWikipedia: Riyadh - 1982
Falklands War: HMS Coventry is sunk by Argentine Air Force A-4 Skyhawks.
Latin America · Falklands WarWikipedia: Falklands War - 1985
Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.
Asia · BangladeshWikipedia: Bangladesh - 1986
The Hands Across America event takes place.
North America · United StatesWikipedia: Hands Across America - 1997
A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koroma.
Africa · Sierra LeoneWikipedia: Coup d'état - 1999
The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.
- 2000
Liberation Day of Lebanon: Israel withdraws its army from Lebanese territory (with the exception of the disputed Shebaa farms zone) 18 years after the invasion of 1982.
Asia · Shebaa FarmsWikipedia: Israel - 2001
Erik Weihenmayer becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, in the Himalayas, with Dr. Sherman Bull.
Asia · Mount EverestWikipedia: Mount Everest - 2002
China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes into the Taiwan Strait, with the loss of all 225 people on board.
Asia · China Airlines Flight 611Wikipedia: China Airlines Flight 611 - 2008
NASA's Phoenix lander touches down in the Green Valley region of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life.
no place on the mapWikipedia: NASA - 2009
North Korea allegedly tests its second nuclear device, after which Pyongyang also conducts several missile tests, building tensions in the international community.
Asia · 2009 North Korean nuclear testWikipedia: 2009 North Korean nuclear test - 2011
Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, ending her 25-year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Oprah Winfrey - 2012
The SpaceX Dragon 1 becomes the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station.
no place on the mapWikipedia: SpaceX Dragon 1 - 2013
Suspected Maoist rebels kill at least 28 people and injure 32 others in an attack on a convoy of Indian National Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh, India.
Asia · 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valleyWikipedia: 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley - 2018
Ireland votes to repeal the Eighth Amendment of their constitution that prohibits abortion in all but a few cases, choosing to replace it with the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland.
Britain & Ireland · Republic of IrelandWikipedia: Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland - 2018
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becomes enforceable in the European Union.
Europe · European UnionWikipedia: General Data Protection Regulation - 2020
George Floyd, a black American man, was murdered during an arrest by a white police officer in Minneapolis, sparking protests in the U.S. and other countries.
North America · Murder of George FloydWikipedia: Murder of George Floyd
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 Spanish and Chinese and were translated for this page.
- 1908
In Buenos Aires (Argentina), the Teatro Colón opens with a performance of the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi.
- 1960
The Chinese mountaineering team (Wang Fuzhou, Gongbu and Qu Yinhua) climbs Mount Everest for the first time.
- 1998
The ten-year restoration of the Egyptian Sphinx is completed.
Who was born on 25 May
In order of how many Wikipedia editions have an article about each. The first 60 of 237 are shown.
- 1803
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (died 1882)
- 1865
Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1943)
ZonnemaireWikipedia: Pieter Zeeman - 1939
Ian McKellen, English actor
BurnleyWikipedia: Ian McKellen - 1976
Cillian Murphy, Irish actor
DouglasWikipedia: Cillian Murphy - 1963
Mike Myers, Canadian-American actor, singer, producer, and screenwriter
ScarboroughWikipedia: Mike Myers - 1803
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, English author, playwright, and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (died 1873)
- 1965
Yahya Jammeh, Gambian colonel and politician, President of the Gambia
KanilaiWikipedia: Yahya Jammeh - 1889
Igor Sikorsky, Russian-American aircraft designer, founded Sikorsky Aircraft (died 1972)
- 1921
Jack Steinberger, German-Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2020)
Bad KissingenWikipedia: Jack Steinberger - 1970
Octavia Spencer, American actress and author[a]
MontgomeryWikipedia: Octavia Spencer - 1939
Dixie Carter, American actress and singer (died 2010)
McLemoresvilleWikipedia: Dixie Carter - 1818
Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian and academic (died 1897)
- 1985
Roman Reigns, American football player and wrestler
PensacolaWikipedia: Roman Reigns - 1887
Padre Pio, Italian priest and saint (died 1968)
PietrelcinaWikipedia: Padre Pio - 1953
Daniel Passarella, Argentinian footballer, coach, and manager
Chacabuco, Buenos AiresWikipedia: Daniel Passarella - 1999
Ibrahima Konaté, French footballer
- 1899
Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bengali poet, author, and flute player (died 1976)
ChuruliaWikipedia: Kazi Nazrul Islam - 1938
Raymond Carver, American short story writer and poet (died 1988)
ClatskanieWikipedia: Raymond Carver - 1927
Robert Ludlum, American soldier and author (died 2001)
New York CityWikipedia: Robert Ludlum - 1944
Frank Oz, English-born American puppeteer, filmmaker, and actor
HerefordWikipedia: Frank Oz - 1969
Anne Heche, American actress (died 2022)
AuroraWikipedia: Anne Heche - 1865
John Mott, American evangelist and saint, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1955)
Livingston ManorWikipedia: John Mott - 1713
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (died 1792)
Parliament SquareWikipedia: John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute - 1846
Naim Frashëri, Albanian-Turkish poet and translator (died 1900)
FrashërWikipedia: Naim Frashëri - 1941
Vladimir Voronin, Moldovan economist and politician, 3rd President of Moldova
CorjovaWikipedia: Vladimir Voronin - 1972
Karan Johar, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
MumbaiWikipedia: Karan Johar - 1953
Gaetano Scirea, Italian footballer (died 1989)
Cernusco sul NaviglioWikipedia: Gaetano Scirea - 1960
Amy Klobuchar, American lawyer and politician
PlymouthWikipedia: Amy Klobuchar - 1320
Toghon Temür, Mongolian emperor (died 1370)
Yuan dynastyWikipedia: Toghon Temür - 1922
Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (died 1984)
SassariWikipedia: Enrico Berlinguer - 1948
Klaus Meine, German rock singer-songwriter
HanoverWikipedia: Klaus Meine - 1985
Demba Ba, Senegalese footballer
SèvresWikipedia: Demba Ba - 1929
Beverly Sills, American soprano and actress (died 2007)
BrooklynWikipedia: Beverly Sills - 1987
Kamil Stoch, Polish ski jumper
ZakopaneWikipedia: Kamil Stoch - 1925
Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet and author (died 1974)
Mexico CityWikipedia: Rosario Castellanos - 1907
U Nu, Burmese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Burma (died 1995)
WakemaWikipedia: U Nu - 1925
Jeanne Crain, American actress (died 2003)
BarstowWikipedia: Jeanne Crain - 1986
Geraint Thomas, Welsh cyclist
CardiffWikipedia: Geraint Thomas - 1931
Georgy Grechko, Russian engineer and astronaut (died 2017)
Saint PetersburgWikipedia: Georgy Grechko - 1976
Ethan Suplee, American actor
ManhattanWikipedia: Ethan Suplee - 1930
Sonia Rykiel, French fashion designer (died 2016)
14th arrondissement of ParisWikipedia: Sonia Rykiel - 1963
Ludovic Orban, Romanian engineer and politician, 68th Prime Minister of Romania
BrașovWikipedia: Ludovic Orban - 1979
Carlos Bocanegra, American footballer and executive
- 1791
Minh Mạng, Vietnamese emperor (died 1841)
Ho Chi Minh CityWikipedia: Minh Mạng - 1977
Alberto Del Rio, Mexican-American mixed martial artist and wrestler
San Luis PotosíWikipedia: Alberto Del Rio - 1048
Emperor Shenzong of Song (died 1085)
- 1550
Camillus de Lellis, Italian saint and nurse (died 1614)
BucchianicoWikipedia: Camillus de Lellis - 1970
Jamie Kennedy, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
Upper Darby TownshipWikipedia: Jamie Kennedy - 1982
Roger Guerreiro, Polish footballer
São PauloWikipedia: Roger Guerreiro - 1982
Ezekiel Kemboi, Kenyan runner
Marakwet DistrictWikipedia: Ezekiel Kemboi - 1953
Eve Ensler, American playwright and producer
New York CityWikipedia: Eve Ensler - 1908
Theodore Roethke, American poet (died 1963)
SaginawWikipedia: Theodore Roethke - 1949
Jamaica Kincaid, Antiguan-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
- 1971
Stefano Baldini, Italian runner
Castelnovo di SottoWikipedia: Stefano Baldini - 1860
James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist and academic (died 1944)
- 1879
Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, Canadian-English businessman and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (died 1964)
- 1889
Günther Lütjens, German admiral (died 1941)
WiesbadenWikipedia: Günther Lütjens - 1958
Paul Weller, English singer, songwriter and musician
WokingWikipedia: Paul Weller - 1967
Luc Nilis, Belgian footballer and manager
HasseltWikipedia: Luc Nilis - 1976
Stefan Holm, Swedish high jumper
ForshagaWikipedia: Stefan Holm
What is celebrated on 25 May
- Africa Day (African Union)
- African Liberation Day (African Union, Rastafari)
- Christian feast day: Aldhelm
- Christian feast day: Bede
- Christian feast day: Canius
- Christian feast day: Cristóbal Magallanes
- Christian feast day: Denis Ssebuggwawo Wasswa
- Christian feast day: Dionysius of Milan
- Christian feast day: Dúnchad mac Cinn Fáelad
- Christian feast day: Gerard of Lunel
- Christian feast day: Madeleine Sophie Barat
- Christian feast day: Mary Magdalene de Pazzi
- Christian feast day: Maximus (Mauxe) of Évreux
- Christian feast day: Pope Gregory VII
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.