Life Timeline

For those born August 23, 1909.

Not your birthday? Find your timeline here.

1908
Before you were born

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

In March 2014, Corby Kummer wrote about the delicate art of making a simple cup of coffee.

1909
Beginnings

Around the time you were born, the American paleontologist Charles Walcott discovered the Burgess Shale fossils.

In August 2016, Ed Yong wrote about the oldest fossils on Earth.

1909
Year 113

You were born in August of 1909. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 1.5 times as old as you.

The year you were born, Hugo Münsterberg wrote about why the American education system should prioritize serious learning over happiness.

1927
Coming of age

Around your 18th birthday, Mount Rushmore Park was rededicated. President Calvin Coolidge promised national funding.

In May 2011, Nicholas Jackson wrote about the original Mount Rushmore.

1962
Half a life ago

Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after Silent Spring..

In June 2012, Elizabeth Grossman wrote about the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson's book, and its continued significance.

1969

NASA

Man on the Moon

At 59 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.

1973

AP

Contemporaries

In 1973, Eudora Welty, who was born the same year as you, earned the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Optimist's Daughter.

In February 1941, Welty wrote a short story in The Atlantic about a woman traveling down a path to town.

2007

NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute

Across the Universe

When you turned 97, 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: