What this site is, and where its facts come from.
When I Was You lines your life up against someone else's. Enter your age or birthday, pick a person, and see where they were and what they were doing at exactly that point in their life: the city they lived in, the work they were starting, the setbacks they hadn't gotten past yet.
There are 2,125 people on the site so far, from ancient philosophers to today's athletes, scientists, artists, filmmakers, musicians and leaders, from every part of the world.
The idea behind the site is simple: every life is a different point of view on the same story. Seeing that someone you admire was still finding their way at your age, or had already changed the world by it, is a way of seeing your own life from the outside.
Each timeline is built from public sources such as encyclopedias, official records, news reports and biographies, and checked before it's added. Ages are worked out from exact dates where they're known. Dates known only to the year are marked with "~", so the age may be off by one. Mistakes can still slip through; if you spot one, please say so on the Contact page.