A birthday on the globe
9 November on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born
For 9 November, the English Wikipedia lists 83 events and 213 births. 46 of the events stand at their places as rays of light; 15 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 9 November through the years
The Earth on 9 November
The picture on the globe was assembled by NASA from satellite photographs taken in November 2004: the snow, the ice and the green are those of the month.
On 9 November the Sun passes straight overhead at noon along the parallel of 16.8° south. In London, the day lasts about 9 hours 15 minutes.
Beyond 73° south the Sun no longer sets; beyond 73° 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 · Seville
1729
Spain, France and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Seville.
On the map: Seville.
Asia · Hajj
1928
The Great Mecca Feast, the first documentary film on the Hajj, premiered in the Netherlands.
On the map: Hajj.
Asia · Baikonur Cosmodrome
2005
The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
On the map: Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish.
Asia · Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur
2019
Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free border crossing connecting the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib to the India–Pakistan border.
On the map: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur.
North America · Pearl Harbor
1887
The United States receives rights to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
On the map: Pearl Harbor.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Chinese.
North America · White House
1943
An agreement for the founding of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration is signed by 44 countries in the White House, Washington, D.C.
On the map: White House.
North America · Bryant–Denny Stadium
2019
The Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers football teams, both with undefeated records thus far that season, played in a "Game of the Century".
On the map: Bryant–Denny Stadium.
9 November
Born on 9 November#
The English Wikipedia lists 213 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 9 November
1818
Ivan Turgenev, Russian author and playwright (died 1883)
Place of birth: Oryol.
Born on 9 November
1934
Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (died 1996)
Place of birth: Brooklyn.
Born on 9 November
1929
Imre Kertész, Hungarian author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016)
Place of birth: Budapest.
Born on 9 November
1914
Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-American actress and inventor (died 2000)
Place of birth: Vienna.
Born on 9 November
1974
Alessandro Del Piero, Italian footballer
Place of birth: Conegliano.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1897
Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1978)
Place of birth: Cambridge.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1965
Bryn Terfel, Welsh opera singer
Place of birth: Gwynedd.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1902
Anthony Asquith, English director and screenwriter (died 1968)
Place of birth: London.
9 November
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: 9 November 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 9 November
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.
- 694
At the Seventeenth Council of Toledo, Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims, sentencing all Jews to slavery.
Europe · HispaniaWikipedia: Seventeenth Council of Toledo - 1180
The Battle of Fujigawa: Minamoto forces (30,000 men) under Minamoto no Yoritomo defeat Taira no Koremori during a night attack near the Fuji River but he escapes safely with the routed army.
Asia · Battle of FujigawaWikipedia: Battle of Fujigawa - 1277
The Treaty of Aberconwy, a humiliating settlement forced on Llywelyn ap Gruffudd by King Edward I of England, brings a temporary end to the Welsh Wars.
Britain & Ireland · Aberconwy AbbeyWikipedia: Treaty of Aberconwy - 1307
Knights Templar officer Hugues de Pairaud is forced to confess during the Trials of the Knights Templar. He was persecuted on the charges of false idolism and sodomy.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Knights Templar - 1313
Louis the Bavarian defeats his cousin Frederick I of Austria at the Battle of Gammelsdorf.
Europe · Battle of GammelsdorfWikipedia: Battle of Gammelsdorf - 1323
Siege of Warangal: Prataparudra surrenders to Muhammad bin Tughlaq, officially marking the end of the Kakatiya dynasty.
Asia · Siege of WarangalWikipedia: Siege of Warangal - 1330
At the Battle of Posada, Basarab I of Wallachia defeats the Hungarian army of Charles I Robert.
Europe · Battle of PosadaWikipedia: Battle of Posada - 1372
Trần Duệ Tông succeeds his brother Trần Nghệ Tông as King of Vietnam.
Asia · VietnamWikipedia: Trần Duệ Tông - 1431
The Battle of Ilava: The Hungarians defeat the Hussite army.
Europe · IlavaWikipedia: Battle of Ilava - 1456
Ulrich II, Count of Celje, last ruler of the County of Cilli, is assassinated in Belgrade.
Europe · BelgradeWikipedia: Ulrich II of Celje - 1520
More than 50 people are sentenced and executed in the Stockholm Bloodbath.
Europe · Stockholm BloodbathWikipedia: Stockholm Bloodbath - 1580
Second Desmond Rebellion: The Siege of Smerwick ends with the Catholic garrison surrendering to the English forces under Arthur Grey. The majority of the garrison is massacred the next day.
Britain & Ireland · Siege of SmerwickWikipedia: Second Desmond Rebellion - 1620
The Bohemian King Frederick I flees Prague to Vratislav one day after the defeat of his troops in the Battle of White Mountain.
Europe · Battle of White MountainWikipedia: Battle of White Mountain - 1688
Glorious Revolution: William of Orange captures Exeter.
Britain & Ireland · ExeterWikipedia: Glorious Revolution - 1719
In a treaty between Sweden and Hanover at the close of the Great Northern War, Sweden cedes the Duchies of Bremen and Verden (in northern Germany) to Hanover.
Europe · StockholmWikipedia: Treaties of Stockholm - 1720
The synagogue of Judah HeHasid is burned down by Arab creditors, leading to the expulsion of the Ashkenazim from Jerusalem.
Asia · JerusalemWikipedia: Judah HeHasid - 1729
Spain, France and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Seville.
Europe · SevilleWikipedia: Treaty of Seville - 1780
American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Fishdam Ford a force of British and Loyalist troops fail in a surprise attack against the South Carolina Patriot militia under Brigadier General Thomas Sumter.
North America · Battle of Fishdam FordWikipedia: Battle of Fishdam Ford - 1791
The Dublin Society of United Irishmen is founded.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Society of United Irishmen - 1799
Napoleon Bonaparte leads the Coup of 18 Brumaire ending the Directory government, and becoming First Consul of the successor Consulate Government.
Europe · Coup of 18 BrumaireWikipedia: Coup of 18 Brumaire - 1822
USS Alligator engaged three pirate schooners off the coast of Cuba in one of the West Indies anti-piracy operations of the United States.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Action of 9 November 1822 - 1851
Kentucky marshals abduct abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and take him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape.
North America · Jeffersonville, IndianaWikipedia: Kentucky - 1862
American Civil War: Union General Ambrose Burnside assumes command of the Army of the Potomac, after George B. McClellan is removed.
North America · United StatesWikipedia: American Civil War - 1867
The Tokugawa shogunate hands back power to the Emperor of Japan, starting the Meiji Restoration.
Asia · Tokugawa shogunateWikipedia: Tokugawa shogunate - 1870
The Battle of Coulmiers ends in a Pyrrhic victory for the French army during the Franco-German War of 1870.
Europe · Battle of CoulmiersWikipedia: Battle of Coulmiers - 1872
The Great Boston Fire of 1872.
North America · Great Boston Fire of 1872Wikipedia: Great Boston Fire of 1872 - 1880
A major earthquake strikes Zagreb and destroys many buildings, including Zagreb Cathedral.
Europe · 1880 Zagreb earthquakeWikipedia: 1880 Zagreb earthquake - 1881
Mapuche rebels attack the fortified Chilean settlement of Temuco.
Latin America · TemucoWikipedia: Mapuche uprising of 1881 - 1887
The United States receives rights to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
North America · Pearl HarborWikipedia: Pearl Harbor - 1888
Jack the Ripper murders Mary Jane Kelly, his final victim in the Whitechapel murders.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Whitechapel murders - 1900
Russian invasion of Manchuria: Russia completes its occupation of Manchuria with 100,000 troops.
Asia · RussiaWikipedia: Russian invasion of Manchuria - 1901
Prince George, Duke of Cornwall (later George V of the United Kingdom), becomes Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Duke of Cornwall - 1905
The Province of Alberta, Canada, holds its first general election.
North America · AlbertaWikipedia: 1905 Alberta general election - 1906
Theodore Roosevelt is the first sitting President of the United States to make an official trip outside the country, doing so to inspect progress on the Panama Canal.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Theodore Roosevelt - 1907
The Cullinan Diamond is presented to King Edward VII on his birthday.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Cullinan Diamond - 1913
The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes, reaches its greatest intensity after beginning two days earlier. The storm destroys 19 ships and kills more than 250 people.
North America · Great LakesWikipedia: Great Lakes Storm of 1913 - 1914
SMS Emden is sunk by HMAS Sydney in the Battle of Cocos.
Asia · Battle of CocosWikipedia: Battle of Cocos - 1917
The Balfour Declaration is published in The Times newspaper.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Balfour Declaration - 1918
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates after the German Revolution, and Germany is proclaimed a Republic.
no place on the mapWikipedia: German revolution of 1918–1919 - 1918
The government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic adopted a tricolour national flag, which is again in use today, with slight modifications, by the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan.
Asia · Azerbaijan Democratic RepublicWikipedia: Azerbaijan Democratic Republic - 1921
The National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista or PNF) is founded in Italy.
Europe · ItalyWikipedia: National Fascist Party - 1923
In Munich, police and government troops crush the Nazi Beer Hall Putsch.
Europe · Beer Hall PutschWikipedia: Beer Hall Putsch - 1928
The Great Mecca Feast, the first documentary film on the Hajj, premiered in the Netherlands.
Asia · HajjWikipedia: The Great Mecca Feast - 1935
The Committee for Industrial Organization, the precursor to the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is founded in Atlantic City, New Jersey, by eight trade unions belonging to the American Federation of Labor.
North America · Atlantic City, New JerseyWikipedia: Congress of Industrial Organizations - 1936
American fashion designer Ruth Harkness seeks and captures a nine-week-old panda cub in Sichuan; named Su Lin, he becomes the first live giant panda to enter the United States.
Asia · SichuanWikipedia: Ruth Harkness - 1937
Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Army withdraws from the Battle of Shanghai.
Asia · Battle of ShanghaiWikipedia: Second Sino-Japanese War - 1938
Kristallnacht occurs, instigated by the Nazis using the killing of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan as justification.
Europe · Nazi GermanyWikipedia: Kristallnacht - 1939
World War II: A covert Sicherheitsdienst operation captured two British agents of the Secret Intelligence Service near Venlo in the Netherlands.
Europe · Venlo incidentWikipedia: World War II - 1940
Warsaw is awarded the Virtuti Militari by the Polish government-in-exile.
Europe · WarsawWikipedia: Warsaw - 1942
Battle of Stalingrad: German forces of the 6th Army under general Friedrich Paulus reach the river bank of the Volga, capturing 90% of the ruined city of Stalingrad and splitting the remaining Soviet forces into two narrow pockets.
Europe · Battle of StalingradWikipedia: Battle of Stalingrad - 1943
An agreement for the founding of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration is signed by 44 countries in the White House, Washington, D.C.
North America · White HouseWikipedia: White House - 1945
Soo Bahk Do and Moo Duk Kwan martial arts are founded in Korea.
Asia · KoreaWikipedia: Soo Bahk Do - 1953
Cambodia gains independence from France.
Asia · CambodiaWikipedia: Cambodia - 1960
Robert McNamara is named president of the Ford Motor Company, becoming the first non-Ford family member to serve in that post. He resigns a month later to join the newly elected John F. Kennedy administration.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Robert McNamara - 1963
At a coal mine in Miike, Japan, an explosion kills 458 and hospitalises 839 with carbon monoxide poisoning.
Asia · Miike coal mineWikipedia: Miike coal mine - 1963
The Tsurumi rail accident on the Tōkaidō Main Line in Yokohama kills 162 people.
Asia · Tsurumi rail accidentWikipedia: Tsurumi rail accident - 1965
A Catholic Worker Movement member, Roger Allen LaPorte, protesting against the Vietnam War, sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Vietnam War - 1965
Several U.S. states and parts of Canada are hit by a series of blackouts lasting up to 13 hours in the Northeast blackout of 1965.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Northeast blackout of 1965 - 1967
Apollo program: NASA launches the unmanned Apollo 4 test spacecraft, atop the first Saturn V rocket, from Florida's Cape Kennedy.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Apollo program - 1967
The first issue of Rolling Stone, an American magazine focusing on music, politics and popular culture, was published.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Rolling Stone - 1970
Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6–3 against hearing a case to allow Massachusetts to enforce its law granting residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
North America · Supreme Court of the United StatesWikipedia: Vietnam War - 1971
American banker John List murdered his wife, mother, and three children with a pair of handguns.
no place on the mapWikipedia: John List - 1979
Cold War: Nuclear false alarm: The NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland, detect a purported massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early-warning radars, the alert is cancelled.
North America · NORADWikipedia: Cold War - 1985
Garry Kasparov, 22, of the Soviet Union, becomes the youngest World Chess Champion by beating fellow Soviet Anatoly Karpov.
Asia · Soviet UnionWikipedia: Garry Kasparov - 1989
Cold War: Fall of the Berlin Wall: East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall, allowing its citizens to travel to West Berlin.
Europe · Fall of the Berlin WallWikipedia: Fall of the Berlin Wall - 1993
Stari Most, the "old bridge" in the Bosnian city of Mostar, built in 1566, collapses after several days of bombing by Croat forces during the Croat–Bosniak War.
Europe · Stari MostWikipedia: Croat–Bosniak War - 1994
The chemical element darmstadtium is discovered.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Chemical element - 1998
A U.S. federal judge, in the largest civil settlement in American history, orders 37 U.S. brokerage houses to pay US$1.03 billion to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for price fixing.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Nasdaq - 1998
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, is completely abolished for all remaining capital offences.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Capital punishment in the United Kingdom - 1999
TAESA Flight 725 crashes after takeoff from Uruapan International Airport in Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico, killing all 18 people on board.
Latin America · Uruapan del ProgresoWikipedia: TAESA Flight 725 - 2000
Uttarakhand officially becomes the 27th state of India, formed from thirteen districts of northwestern Uttar Pradesh.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Uttarakhand - 2004
Firefox 1.0 is released.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Firefox - 2005
Suicide bombers attack three hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing at least 60 people.
Asia · 2005 Amman bombingsWikipedia: 2005 Amman bombings - 2005
The Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Asia · Baikonur CosmodromeWikipedia: Venus Express - 2011
The first national test of the Emergency Alert System is activated in the United States at 2:00 p.m. EST.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Emergency Alert System - 2012
A train carrying liquid fuel crashes and bursts into flames in northern Myanmar, killing 27 people and injuring 80 others.
North America · List of rail accidentsWikipedia: List of rail accidents - 2012
At least 27 people are killed and dozens are wounded in conflicts between inmates and guards at Welikada prison in Colombo.
Asia · 2012 Welikada prison riotWikipedia: 2012 Welikada prison riot - 2014
A non-binding self-determination consultation is held in Catalonia, asking Catalan citizens their opinion on whether Catalonia should become a state and, if so, whether it should be an independent state.
Europe · CataloniaWikipedia: 2014 Catalan self-determination referendum - 2016
A tram derailment in Croydon, London, killed seven people.
Britain & Ireland · 2016 Croydon tram derailmentWikipedia: 2016 Croydon tram derailment - 2019
Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free border crossing connecting the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib to the India–Pakistan border.
Asia · Gurdwara Darbar Sahib KartarpurWikipedia: Kartarpur Corridor - 2019
The Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers football teams, both with undefeated records thus far that season, played in a "Game of the Century".
North America · Bryant–Denny StadiumWikipedia: 2019 LSU vs. Alabama football game - 2020
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: An armistice agreement is signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.
Asia · Armenia–Azerbaijan borderWikipedia: Second Nagorno-Karabakh War - 2023
U.S. surgeons at NYU Langone Health announce the world's first whole eye transplant.
no place on the mapWikipedia: NYU Langone Health
Who was born on 9 November
In order of how many Wikipedia editions have an article about each. The first 60 of 213 are shown.
- 1818
Ivan Turgenev, Russian author and playwright (died 1883)
- 1934
Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (died 1996)
BrooklynWikipedia: Carl Sagan - 1877
Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistani philosopher, poet, and politician (died 1938)
SialkotWikipedia: Muhammad Iqbal - 1841
Edward VII of the United Kingdom (died 1910)
Buckingham PalaceWikipedia: Edward VII - 1929
Imre Kertész, Hungarian author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016)
BudapestWikipedia: Imre Kertész - 1914
Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-American actress and inventor (died 2000)
ViennaWikipedia: Hedy Lamarr - 1683
George II of Great Britain (died 1760)
- 1974
Alessandro Del Piero, Italian footballer
ConeglianoWikipedia: Alessandro Del Piero - 1936
Mikhail Tal, Latvian-Russian chess player and author (died 1992)
- 1885
Hermann Weyl, German mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (died 1955)
ElmshornWikipedia: Hermann Weyl - 1918
Spiro Agnew, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 39th Vice President of the United States (died 1996)
BaltimoreWikipedia: Spiro Agnew - 1948
Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazilian footballer and manager
Passo FundoWikipedia: Luiz Felipe Scolari - 1877
Enrico De Nicola, Italian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 1st President of the Italian Republic (died 1959)
- 1960
Andreas Brehme, German footballer and manager (died 2024)
HamburgWikipedia: Andreas Brehme - 1922
Imre Lakatos, Hungarian mathematician, philosopher, and academic (died 1974)
DebrecenWikipedia: Imre Lakatos - 1885
Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian poet and playwright (died 1922)
Malye DerbetyWikipedia: Velimir Khlebnikov - 1888
Jean Monnet, French economist and diplomat (died 1979)
CognacWikipedia: Jean Monnet - 1869
Marie Dressler, Canadian-American actress and singer (died 1934)
CobourgWikipedia: Marie Dressler - 1897
Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1978)
- 1972
Eric Dane, American actor (died 2026)
San FranciscoWikipedia: Eric Dane - 1928
Anne Sexton, American poet and academic (died 1974)
NewtonWikipedia: Anne Sexton - 1934
Ingvar Carlsson, Swedish economist and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Sweden
Borås parishWikipedia: Ingvar Carlsson - 1970
Chris Jericho, American-Canadian wrestler
ManhassetWikipedia: Chris Jericho - 1922
Dorothy Dandridge, American actress, singer, and dancer (died 1965)
ClevelandWikipedia: Dorothy Dandridge - 1894
Dietrich von Choltitz, General of the German Army during World War II (died 1966)
Łąka PrudnickaWikipedia: Dietrich von Choltitz - 1984
Delta Goodrem, Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress
SydneyWikipedia: Delta Goodrem - 1389
Isabella of Valois, French princess, Queen Consort of England and Duchess of Orleans (died 1409)
- 1965
Ryan Murphy, American television writer, producer, and director
IndianapolisWikipedia: Ryan Murphy - 1996
Momo Hirai, Japanese dancer and singer
Kyōtanabe-shiWikipedia: Momo Hirai - 1951
Lou Ferrigno, American bodybuilder and actor
BrooklynWikipedia: Lou Ferrigno - 1832
Émile Gaboriau, French author and journalist (died 1873)
- 1952
Sherrod Brown, American academic and politician
MansfieldWikipedia: Sherrod Brown - 1988
Nikki Blonsky, American actress, singer, and dancer
Great NeckWikipedia: Nikki Blonsky - 1905
Erika Mann, German-Swiss actress and author (died 1969)
MunichWikipedia: Erika Mann - 1955
Fernando Meirelles, Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter
São PauloWikipedia: Fernando Meirelles - 1871
Florence R. Sabin, American medical scientist (died 1953)
Central CityWikipedia: Florence R. Sabin - 1923
Alice Coachman, American high jumper (died 2014)
- 1948
Bille August, Danish director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
- 1731
Benjamin Banneker, American farmer, surveyor, and author (died 1806)
Baltimore CountyWikipedia: Benjamin Banneker - 1971
Sabri Lamouchi, French footballer and manager
2nd arrondissement of LyonWikipedia: Sabri Lamouchi - 1886
Ed Wynn, American actor (died 1966)
PhiladelphiaWikipedia: Ed Wynn - 1936
Mary Travers, American singer-songwriter (died 2009)
LouisvilleWikipedia: Mary Travers - 1988
Lio Tipton, American actor and model
MinneapolisWikipedia: Lio Tipton - 1894
Mae Marsh, American actress (died 1968)
MadridWikipedia: Mae Marsh - 1924
Robert Frank, Swiss-American photographer and director (died 2019)
ZurichWikipedia: Robert Frank - 1965
Bryn Terfel, Welsh opera singer
GwyneddWikipedia: Bryn Terfel - 1915
Sargent Shriver, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 21st United States Ambassador to France (died 2011)
WestminsterWikipedia: Sargent Shriver - 1973
Nick Lachey, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
HarlanWikipedia: Nick Lachey - 1974
Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Italian actress
- 1984
French Montana, Moroccan-American rapper
CasablancaWikipedia: French Montana - 1732
Jeanne Julie Éléonore de Lespinasse, French businesswoman and author (died 1776)
- 1885
Theodor Kaluza, German mathematician and physicist (died 1954)
- 1902
Anthony Asquith, English director and screenwriter (died 1968)
- 1973
Zisis Vryzas, Greek footballer and coach
KavalaWikipedia: Zisis Vryzas - 1980
Vanessa Lachey, Filipino-American television host and actress
- 1995
Daniel Naroditsky, American chess grandmaster (died 2025)
San MateoWikipedia: Daniel Naroditsky - 1799
Gustav, Prince of Vasa (died 1877)
StockholmWikipedia: Gustav, Prince of Vasa - 1904
Viktor Brack, German SS officer (died 1948)
HaarenWikipedia: Viktor Brack - 1982
Boaz Myhill, American-Welsh footballer
ModestoWikipedia: Boaz Myhill - 1883
Edna May Oliver, American actress (died 1942)
What is celebrated on 9 November
- Birthday of Muhammad Iqbal (Pakistan)
- Christian feast day: Benignus of Armagh
- Christian feast day: Dedication of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, Cathedral of the Pope (memorial feast day)
- Christian feast day: Margery Kempe (Church of England)
- Christian feast day: Martin Chemnitz (Lutheran)
- Christian feast day: Nectarios of Aegina
- Christian feast day: Theodore of Amasea (Roman Catholic Church)
- Christian feast day: Virgin of Almudena (Madrid)
- Christian feast day: Vitonus
- Christian feast day: November 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Day of the Skulls or Dia de los ñatitas (Bolivia)
- Flag Day (Azerbaijan)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Cambodia from France in 1953.
- Inventors' Day (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
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.