The Running Charts

1. 1879-03-14 — Born in Ulm.
2. 1895-10-01 — Fails the general section of the ETH Zurich entrance examination at sixteen, and is sent to the cantonal school at Aarau to finish secondary education.
3. 1896-01-28 — Formally released from Wurttemberg citizenship; stateless for the next five years.
4. 1896-10-01 — Enters the Zurich Polytechnic to train as a mathematics and physics teacher.
5. 1900-07-28 — Graduates from the Zurich Polytechnic. Cannot obtain an academic assistantship and spends two years in insecure work.
6. 1902-06-23 — Begins work as a technical expert third class at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern.
7. 1903-01-06 — Marries Mileva Maric.
8. 1904-05-14 — First son, Hans Albert, born.
9. 1905-09-26 — The annus mirabilis papers appear in Annalen der Physik, including special relativity.
10. 1909-10-15 — Appointed associate professor at the University of Zurich; leaves the Patent Office.
11. 1914-04-01 — Moves to Berlin as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics and a member of the Prussian Academy. Mileva and the children return to Zurich; the marriage effectively ends.
12. 1915-11-25 — Presents the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy.
13. 1919-02-14 — Divorce from Mileva Maric finalised.
14. 1919-06-02 — Marries Elsa Lowenthal.
15. 1919-11-06 — The eclipse expedition results are announced in London. Overnight international fame.
16. 1922-11-09 — Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1921.
17. 1933-10-17 — Arrives in the United States as a permanent emigre after the Nazi seizure of power; never returns to Germany.
18. 1936-12-20 — Elsa dies in Princeton.
19. 1955-04-18 — Dies in Princeton.

These are matters of public record, and they are here for one reason: retrospective timing practice is only worth anything against dates you did not choose after the fact.

1. 1974-11-11 — Born in Los Angeles.
2. 1975-06-01 — Parents separate during his first year; raised by his mother.
3. 1990-01-01 — First regular television work, in the revival series Parenthood.
4. 1991-09-01 — Joins the cast of Growing Pains, his first sustained national exposure.
5. 1993-04-23 — This Boy's Life released; his first major film role, opposite Robert De Niro.
6. 1994-02-09 — Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for What's Eating Gilbert Grape, at nineteen.
7. 1996-11-01 — Romeo + Juliet released; first leading role in a wide commercial success.
8. 1997-12-19 — Titanic released. Becomes, for a period, the most recognisable young actor in the world.
9. 2002-12-25 — Gangs of New York and Catch Me If You Can released within days of each other, beginning the sustained adult phase of the career.
10. 2005-01-16 — Wins the Golden Globe for Best Actor for The Aviator; nominated for the Academy Award.
11. 2007-01-23 — Two simultaneous nominations across the season for Blood Diamond and The Departed.
12. 2014-01-16 — Nominated for Academy Awards as both actor and producer for The Wolf of Wall Street.
13. 2016-02-28 — Wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Revenant at the 88th Academy Awards, twenty-two years after his first nomination.

These are matters of public record, and they are here for one reason: retrospective timing practice is only worth anything against dates you did not choose after the fact.