Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
5.3 billion more people have arrived since
You are among the last humans who will ever know a world with fewer than 3 billion people.
1 in 80 people alive today was born in 1958.
World Leaders
Who was in charge
United States President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
President
UK Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan
Prime Minister
UN Secretary-General
Dag Hammarskjöld
United Nations
World Events
Defining moments of 1958
Explorer 1, the first successful US satellite, launched - marking America's entry into the Space Race
Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet Premier as well as First Secretary, consolidating power
US Congress establishes NASA in response to Soviet space achievements
Charles de Gaulle becomes President of France; new Fifth Republic constitution adopted
Pope Pius XII dies; Cardinal Angelo Roncalli elected as Pope John XXIII
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1958 (US)
Boys
Michael, David, James
Girls
Mary, Susan, Linda
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+107.2 ppm since your birth
The air has 34% more CO₂ now than the day you took your first breath.
Act II
What Things Cost
Average Annual Salary
What workers took home
$5.1k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $55k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $5k in 1958 is worth right now
31% less purchasing power than today's median
Wages have grown, but housing, healthcare, and education have grown faster. The math isn't in your favor.
The Birth Lottery
Same year. Different world.
life expectancy at birth in 1958
life expectancy at birth in 1958
A 36.8-year gap, decided entirely by where you happened to be born. Same year, different world.
Everyday Prices
What things cost
Housing
Homes vs. salaries - then and now
Median home cost 2.4x the average annual salary
Median home now costs 5.3x the average annual salary
Housing has gotten 2.2x harder to afford relative to income. Your parents weren't exaggerating about how cheap houses were.
Act III
What Was Playing
Billboard Year-End #1
Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)
Domenico Modugno
Oscar Best Picture
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Directed by David Lean
Grammy Album of the Year
The Music from Peter Gunn
Henry Mancini
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
New York Yankees
Baseball
FIFA World Cup
Brazil
Football
F1 Champion
Mike Hawthorn
Formula One
NBA Champion
Boston Celtics
Basketball
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Gunsmoke
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Doctor Zhivago
Boris Pasternak
Box Office #1
South Pacific
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
NASA founded; United States launches its first satellite, Explorer 1, in response to Sputnik
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
NASA established by US Congress on July 29
Explorer 1, first US satellite, launched on January 31
Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit
BankAmericard (precursor to Visa) issued by Bank of America
Social Media Timeline
How old were you when these launched?
The Universe
Worlds discovered beyond our solar system
No exoplanets confirmed yet
confirmed and counting
When you were born, humanity had no proof that planets existed outside our solar system. Now we know they're everywhere.
Act V
Your Place in Time
🇺🇸 United States
Your country the year you arrived
Population
175M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$2,176
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
102M
babies born worldwide that year
Your birth year is closer to Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat than to today.
Notable Births
Born the same year as you
Michael Jackson·Madonna·Prince·Tim Burton·Alec Baldwin
Life Expectancy
Have we made progress?
United States life expectancy at birth
United States life expectancy today
9 years of progress. Steady gains from better medicine, nutrition, and public health.
Computing Power
How much faster the machines have gotten
17.2 billion times more powerfulComputing power has roughly doubled every two years since you were born. That adds up to 17.2 billion×.
34 doublings since 1958Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 100 in 2058
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 126 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 126 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 2.9 billion people. Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House. Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) by Domenico Modugno was on the radio. The world you were born into would be unrecognizable today. Television was new, air travel was rare, and your parents had never heard the word 'computer.'
In 1958, recording your voice meant a reel-to-reel tape recorder.
Today, you can clone your own voice with a few minutes of audio.
Hear what that sounds like →keep exploring