Life Timeline

For those born March 12, 2002.

Not your birthday? Find your timeline here.

2001
Before you were born

You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without Wikipedia.

In August 2015, Joe Pinsker wrote about the site's paid editors.

2002
Year 21

You were born in March of 2002. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 8 times as old as you.

The year you were born, Charles C. Mann wrote about the history of North America, and its advanced, prosperous civilizations, before the arrival of Columbus.

2002
Beginnings

Around the time you were born, Halle Berry became the first black woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress.

In September 2013, Akash Nikolas wrote about the Academy's continual failure to recognize varied performances by black actresses.

2005

NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute

Touchdown in Outer Space

At 2 years old, you began learning about the world just as we were reaching the outer solar system.

With NASA's Cassini-Huygens mission in 2005, humans landed a probe in the outer reaches of the solar system for the first time, a moment Ross Andersen called the most glorious mission in the history of planetary science.

2008

Jason Reed / Reuters

A More Perfect Union

When you turned 6, you witnessed the election of Barack Obama.

The legacy of the first African American couple in the White House would be a major focus of The Atlantic.

2009
The halfway point

Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after turn-by-turn cellphone navigation.

In September 2012, Alexis C. Madrigal wrote about the technology behind Google's detailed directions.

2015

Courtesy of Open Road Films

The teenage years

This is what Hollywood thought teenagers looked like the year you became one.

Dope was released in 2015.

2016

Jordan Strauss / Inivision / AP

Contemporaries

In 2016, Gaten Matarazzo, who was born the same year as you, won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble as part of the cast of the Netflix original series Stranger Things.

In July 2016, Lenika Cruz wrote about where Stranger Things lost its magic.

2032
Forecasts

By the time you turn 29, the collective GDP of the four leading developing countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) is likely to match that of today's leading Western nations.

In February 2012, Charles A. Kupchan wrote about the world's emerging economies, and how the world will look by 2050.

Today
History in the making

History is happening all around you, every day.

The Atlantic is here to help you process it, in stories like these: