How humanity’s most enduring calendar failed us all

Galileo died on January 8, 1642, and on Christmas Day of that same year, Isaac Newton was born. Back in 1616, two extremely famous playwrights (among their other literary endeavors), Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, died just one day apart: April 22 for Cervantes, and April 23 for Shakespeare. And the famed Plymouth Rock, a granite slab in honor of the first solid ground that the Pilgrims stepped on upon disembarking from the Mayflower, is presently inscribed with “1620” in honor of the year that legendary step was taken: December 26, 1620. But, upon closer inspection, none of these facts are true. While physicists often refer to Christmas Day as “<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Newtonmas" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Newtonmas</a>” in honor of Isaac Newton’s birth, that’s only true because England, unlike the rest of the world, hadn’t yet switched over to the Gregorian calendar; Newton’s actual birthday was January 4, 1643 according to our modern timekeeping practices. Cervantes and Shakespeare actually died 11 full days apart, not just one, as their countries were on different calendars at the time. And the Plymouth Rock landing actually occurred on January 5 of 1621 according to our modern calendar, not “1620” as written. <a href="https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/how-humanitys-most-enduring-calendar-failed-us-all-ec3591908e9a">Click Here</a>