Home / Birthday profiles / Randall Munroe
Portrait of Randall Munroe

Birthday profile

Randall Munroe

Randall Munroe, American author and illustrator

Find birthday twinsOpen interactive profile
Born
October 17, 1984
Age in 2026
42
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1984

About Randall Munroe

Randall Patrick Munroe is an American cartoonist, author, and engineer best known as the creator of the webcomic xkcd. Munroe has worked full-time on the comic since late 2006. In addition to publishing a book of the webcomic's strips, titled xkcd: Volume 0, he has written four books: What If?, Thing Explainer, How To, and What If? 2. On August 31, 2023, Munroe created a YouTube channel called xkcd's What If?, where he first uploaded on November 29 of the same year. The webcomic quickly became very popular, garnering up to 70 million hits a month by October 2007. In 2014, he won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story for the xkcd strip "Time". A sequel, What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, was published in September 2022 and a 10th anniversary edition was created in 2024.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Randall Munroe timeline

  1. Munroe has worked full-time on the comic since late 2006.
  2. The webcomic quickly became very popular, garnering up to 70 million hits a month by October 2007.
  3. In 2014, he won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story for the xkcd strip "Time".
  4. A sequel, What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, was published in September 2022 and a 10th anniversary edition was created in 2024.
  5. On August 31, 2023, Munroe created a YouTube channel called xkcd's What If?, where he first uploaded on November 29 of the same year.

The world when Randall Munroe was born

Randall Munroe was born in 1984. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1984

  • #1 song"When Doves Cry" – Prince
  • Top movieAmadeus
  • Top TV showDynasty
  • Best-selling bookThe Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentMary Lou Retton wins Olympic all-around gymnastics gold
  • Top headlineBhopal gas disaster in India kills thousands
  • Technology milestoneApple Macintosh launches with revolutionary GUI
  • Defining fadBreakdancing
  • Notable inventionApple Macintosh
  • World population4.77 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRonald Reagan
  • Sports championDetroit Tigers (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population235.8M

1984 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Randall Munroe's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19842026
Gas$1.13$3.45/gal
Average home$72,400$435,000
Average income$26,433$67,500
Minimum wage$3.35$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$3.36$11.95
Postage stamp$0.20$0.73
Population235.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.