Life Timeline

For those born June 23, 1920.

Not your birthday? Find your timeline here.

1919
Before you were born

You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without pop-up toasters.

In the July/August 2009 issue, Megan McArdle wrote about Americans' tendency to spend money on appliances like pop-up toasters even during the Depression.

1920
Year 102

You were born in June of 1920. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 1.6 times as old as you.

The year you were born, Gino Speranza wrote about how immigration threatened American culture.

1920
Beginnings

Around the time you were born, Soviet Russians made the Treaty of Moscow, recognizing Georgia's independence.

In March 1928, Edmund Walsh gave a well-rounded account of the end of the Romanov period.

1938
Coming of age

Around your 18th birthday, Nazi Germany passed a law allowing for the confiscation of "degenerate art."

In September 1946, James S. Plaut wrote about his mission working with Nazi-looted art.

1968
Half a life ago

Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after the computer mouse.

In May 2014, Alexis C. Madrigal wrote about the resilience of the computer mouse.

1969

NASA

Man on the Moon

At 49 years old, you were alive to behold people walking on the moon.

Over the years, the moon landing has come to be lauded as the pinnacle of human achievement, although it was often derided at the time. In 1963, NASA astronauts took to The Atlantic to plead the case for landing on the moon.

1978

Paolo Cocco / Reuters

Contemporaries

In 1978, Pope John Paul II, who was born the same year as you, became the first non-Italian pope in more than 400 years.

In July 1994, Robin Wright wrote about what the world would be like without the contributions of Pope John Paul II.

2007

NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute

Across the Universe

When you turned 87, you watched humankind reach 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.

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: