You're one of the first people who's never lived in a world without the Beatles.
In the July/August 2014 issue, Joshua Wolf Shenk wrote about the collaborative genius of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Around the time you were born, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 7.
In July 2011, Alexis C Madrigal wrote about the food that Sputnik inspired.
You were born in February of 1961. This year, The Atlantic celebrates its 160th birthday, making it 3 times as old as you.
The year you were born, Eleanor Roosevelt demanded a national recommitment to the American Dream.
NASA
At 8 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.
Everett Collection
This is what Hollywood thought teenagers looked like the year you became one.
The Lords of Flatbush was released in 1974.
Around your 18th birthday, the Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran after a 14-year exile.
In March 1996, Robert Kaplan wrote about the significance of the Ayatollah's return.
David Osborn / Reuters
In 1981, Diana Spencer, who was born the same year as you, became Diana, Princess of Wales, after marrying Charles, Prince of Wales.
In April 2011, Alyssa Rosenberg wrote about the evolution of the princess myth, from Disney to Diana to Kate.
Your life can be divided into two halves: before and after Game Boys.
In April 2014, Eric Levenson looked back on the games that popularized handheld gaming.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute
When you turned 46, 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.
By the time you turn 59, scientists estimate it will no longer be possible to keep global temperatures from rising at least 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In December 2015, Robinson Meyer wrote about why scientists had accepted this fact.
History is happening all around you, every day.
The Atlantic is here to help you process it, in stories like these:
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