BIRTHDAY ATLAS

Birthday facts

Born on January 31.

Everyone born on January 31 is a Aquarius — ruled by Uranus, contrarian on principle. The stone is garnet, the flower carnation, and the day is shared with Julián Alvarez and Norman Mailer.

Aquarius, the Water-Bearer — an engraving
Sun sign
Aquarius ♒︎
the Water-Bearer · ruled by Uranus · contrarian on principle
Garnet, the birthstone for January — an engraving
Birthstone
Garnet
January
Carnation, the birth flower for January — an engraving
Birth flower
Carnation
& snowdrop

Your book

Born on January 31? Add the year.

Then it is a pop-up book: the sky the day you arrived, the No. 1 that week, the president, what a stamp cost, your life in weeks, and who was exactly your age when they did the thing they are known for — and at the end, a birthday poster of the day, engraved, to take home. One field. The date lives after the # in the link, which no server sees — nothing about you leaves your browser.

Making it for someone else? Send it as a pop-up birthday card.

The old books say

Aquarius, January 20 to February 18.

The Water-Bearer, which is an air sign, and the books enjoy the confusion. Ruled by Saturn in the old texts and Uranus in the new, credited with originality, a wide circle and a certain coolness at the centre of it — the friend of everyone, intimate of few. Its people are supposed to be ahead of their time, which is only comfortable once the time catches up. The tradition calls it the sign of the future and cannot say whose.

Astrology, reported rather than endorsed — the astronomy is the part of the book that is real.

Good company

Also born on January 31.

The names most looked up among everyone who shares the day — leaning on the ones who last.

2000
Julián Alvarez
Argentine footballer
1923
Norman Mailer
American author and journalist
1981
Justin Timberlake
American singer-songwriter and actor
1970
Minnie Driver
English singer-songwriter and actress
1987
Marcus Mumford
American-English singer-songwriter
1960
Grant Morrison
Scottish author and screenwriter
1937
Philip Glass
American composer
1797
Franz Schubert
Austrian composer and pianist

On this day

What January 31 has seen.

It is Independence Day in Nauru.

1578Eighty Years' War: Spanish forces won a crushing victory at the Battle of Gembloux, threatening the States General of the Netherlands and contributing to its move from Brussels to Antwerp.
1747The London Lock Hospital, the first voluntary hospital specialising in the treatment of venereal diseases, opened.
1961Aboard NASA's Mercury-Redstone 2, the chimpanzee Ham became the first hominid to be launched into outer space.
1988Doug Williams became the first African-American quarterback to play in the Super Bowl, leading the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII.

The calendar

When January 31 falls.

A Saturday in 2026, a Sunday in 2027, a Monday in 2028, a Wednesday in 2029, and a Thursday in 2030.