Act I
The World Stage
World Population
How many people shared the planet
people on Earth when you were born
5.2 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 1959.
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 1959
Fidel Castro's revolutionary forces overthrow Batista's government in Cuba; Castro assumes power
Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule; Dalai Lama flees to India
St. Lawrence Seaway opens, linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean
Soviet Luna 2 probe crashes onto the Moon's surface, the first human-made object to reach another celestial body
Antarctic Treaty signed by 12 nations, designating Antarctica as a scientific preserve free from military activity
Baby Names
Most popular names in 1959 (US)
Boys
Michael, David, James
Girls
Mary, Susan, Linda
Atmosphere
CO₂ in the air you first breathed
CO₂ concentration (Keeling Curve)
+106.5 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
$5.4k US median household incomeAdjusted for inflation, that's worth about $58k in today's dollars.
Today: $80kPurchasing Power
Are we actually better off today?
What $5k in 1959 is worth right now
27% 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 1959
life expectancy at birth in 1959
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 2.3x the average annual salary
Median home now costs 5.3x the average annual salary
Housing has gotten 2.3x 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
Mack the Knife
Bobby Darin
Oscar Best Picture
Gigi
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Grammy Album of the Year
Come Dance with Me!
Frank Sinatra
TV Premieres
Shows born the same year as you
Sports
Champions of the year
World Series
Los Angeles Dodgers
Baseball
F1 Champion
Jack Brabham
Formula One
NBA Champion
Boston Celtics
Basketball
Wimbledon Men's
Alex Olmedo
Tennis
Screen & Page
What everyone was watching and reading
Most-Watched Show
Gunsmoke
Television
Fiction Bestseller
Exodus
Leon Uris
Box Office #1
Ben-Hur
Film
Act IV
The State of Technology
Technology Milestone
Where technology stood
Luna 2 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the Moon's surface; NASA selects first seven astronauts (Mercury Seven)
Notable Tech Releases
What launched that year
Luna 2 becomes first spacecraft to reach the Moon
NASA selects Mercury Seven astronauts including John Glenn and Alan Shepard
Jack Kilby demonstrates working integrated circuit at Texas Instruments
American Airlines inaugurates first domestic jet passenger service (New York to Los Angeles)
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
178M
people in United States
GDP per Capita
$2,342
per person per year
Your Birth Cohort
103M
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
Magic Johnson·Bryan Adams·Emma Thompson·John McEnroe·Weird Al Yankovic
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 1959Milestone Years
Your milestone birthdays
You turn 100 in 2059
Language
Words that didn't exist when you were born
Still Alive
Jonathan the tortoise was already 127 years old
a Seychelles giant tortoise living on Saint Helena island. He was already 127 years old the year you were born. He's still alive today at 194.
You arrived in a world of 3.0 billion people. Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House. Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin 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 1959, 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