What famous people were doing at 50

At 50, here is where people from history were and what they were doing. Here are 60 of the 232 moments on the site. Pick anyone to see their whole life lined up with yours.

1. Ovid ~8 · Rome, Italy
   Completes the Metamorphoses
2. Hadrian ~126 · Rome, Italy
   Rebuilds the Pantheon
3. Leif Erikson ~1020 · Greenland
   Dies
4. Ibn Battuta ~1354 · Fez, Morocco
   Dictates his travel book, the Rihla
5. Hieronymus Bosch ~1500 · 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
   Paints The Garden of Earthly Delights
6. Erasmus ~1516 · Basel, Switzerland
   Publishes his Greek New Testament
7. Matteo Ricci ~1602 · Beijing, China
   Makes a world map in Chinese
8. William Harvey ~1628 · Frankfurt, Germany
   Publishes his discovery of the circulation of the blood
9. Jean-Jacques Rousseau ~1762 · Paris, France
   Publishes The Social Contract and Emile
10. James Cook February 1779 · Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii
    Dies
11. Charles Darwin November 1859 · London, England
    Publishes On the Origin of Species
12. Julia Margaret Cameron ~1865 · London, England
    Has her photographs exhibited and acquired by what becomes the V&A
13. Sitting Bull July 1881 · Fort Buford, North Dakota, USA
    Surrenders when his people are starving
14. Édouard Manet ~1882 · Paris, France
    Exhibits A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
15. Mark Twain ~1885 · Hartford, Connecticut, USA
    Publishes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the U.S.
16. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky May 1891 · New York City, USA
    Conducts at the opening of Carnegie Hall
17. Wilhelm Röntgen December 1895 · Würzburg, Germany
    Takes an X-ray of his wife's hand
18. George Westinghouse ~1896 · Niagara Falls, New York, USA
    His Niagara Falls power plant starts sending electricity to Buffalo
19. Emmeline Pankhurst ~1908 · London, England
    Imprisoned for the first time
20. Julius Rosenwald ~1912 · Tuskegee, Alabama, USA
    Partners with Booker T. Washington to build schools in the rural South
21. Henry Ford ~1913 · Highland Park, Michigan, USA
    Launches the moving assembly line
22. Madam C.J. Walker ~1917 · Philadelphia, USA
    Hosts one of the first national conventions for businesswomen, her sales agents
23. Ty Cobb ~1936 · Cooperstown, New York, USA
    Gets the most votes in the first Hall of Fame election
24. Nadia Boulanger ~1937 · London, England
    Becomes the first woman to conduct the Royal Philharmonic Society orchestra
25. Ludwig Wittgenstein ~1939 · Cambridge, England
    Becomes a professor at Cambridge
26. Igor Sikorsky September 1939 · Stratford, Connecticut, USA
    Flies the VS-300, the first practical helicopter
27. Sergei Korolev October 1957 · Baikonur, Kazakhstan
    Launches Sputnik, the first satellite
28. Milton Friedman ~1962 · USA
    Publishes Capitalism and Freedom
29. Ralph Baer ~1972 · USA
    His design is sold as the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console
30. Dick Smith ~1972 · New York City, USA
    Ages Marlon Brando for The Godfather
31. Margaret Thatcher ~1975 · London, England
    Becomes leader of the Conservative Party
32. René Goscinny ~1976 · France
    Co-directs the animated film The Twelve Tasks of Asterix
33. Joe Kubert ~1976 · Dover, New Jersey, USA
    Founds the Kubert School for cartoonists
34. Pope Benedict XVI ~1977 · Munich, Germany
    Becomes archbishop of Munich
35. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir June 1980 · Reykjavík, Iceland
    Becomes the world's first woman elected president
36. Sofia Gubaidulina ~1981 · Vienna, Austria
    Her violin concerto Offertorium wins international fame
37. John Updike April 1982 · USA
    Wins the Pulitzer Prize for Rabbit Is Rich
38. Larry Kramer ~1985 · New York City, USA
    Writes the play The Normal Heart
39. Morgan Freeman ~1987 · Los Angeles, USA
    Gets his first Oscar nomination at 50, for Street Smart
40. Abbas Kiarostami ~1990 · Tehran, Iran
    Releases Close-Up
41. Ian McEwan October 1998 · London, England
    Wins the Booker Prize for Amsterdam
42. Sally Ride ~2001 · San Diego, USA
    Founds Sally Ride Science to encourage girls in science
43. Dean Kamen December 2001 · New York City, USA
    Unveils the Segway
44. Sylvia Rivera February 2002 · New York City, USA
    Dies
45. Bruce Arena June 2002 · South Korea
    Leads the U.S. to the World Cup quarterfinals
46. Charles Burns ~2005 · USA
    Black Hole is collected in one volume
47. Toru Iwatani ~2005 · Japan
    Pac-Man is named the most successful coin-operated arcade game by Guinness
48. Warren Moon ~2006 · Canton, Ohio, USA
    Becomes the first Black quarterback inducted into the Hall of Fame
49. Abhijit Banerjee ~2011 · USA
    Publishes Poor Economics with Esther Duflo
50. Tim Cook August 2011 · Cupertino, California, USA
    Succeeds Steve Jobs as CEO
51. Keanu Reeves ~2014 · New York City, USA
    Stars in John Wick at 50
52. Dav Pilkey ~2016 · USA
    Launches Dog Man
53. Laura Dern September 2017 · Los Angeles, USA
    Wins an Emmy for Big Little Lies
54. MacKenzie Scott ~2020 · USA
    Gives away nearly $6 billion in a single year
55. Michael Strahan December 2021 · West Texas, USA
    Flies to space on Blue Origin
56. Snoop Dogg February 2022 · Inglewood, California, USA
    Performs at the Super Bowl halftime show
57. Sergey Brin ~2023 · Mountain View, California, USA
    Returns to Google to work on AI
58. Liu Bang ~206 BC · Xianyang, China
    Captures the Qin capital
59. Confucius ~501 BC · Zhongdu, China
    Appointed a town governor at around 50
60. Cyrus the Great ~550 BC · Ecbatana, Iran
    Defeats the Medes