Geek Series: Infinity Day

History of Infinity Day: Why is it on August 8?

Who Came Up With The Idea?

Infinity symbol. Image: Wikimedia

Infinity Day, also known as Universal & International Infinity Day, is a commemoration held on the 8th day of the 8th month of each year to celebrate and promote Philosophy and Philosophizing for the ordinary person.

Why 8 is significant:

• 8 is the atomic number of Oxygen.
• 8 is the maximum number of electrons that can occupy a valence shell in atomic physics.
• 8 people were saved in the Flood at the time of Noah.
• 8th day: Jesus was circumcised, as the brit mila is held for Jewish boys.
• 8 is the number of legs a spider or octopus has.
• 8 is the number of planets in the Solar System. (Pluto got demoted to dwarf planet)
• 8 is 2 cubed.
• 8 follows 7 but stops before 9, making it the only non-zero perfect power that is one less than another perfect power.
• 8 is the basis of the octal system, each digit representing 3 bits. A byte is 8 bits.
• 8 displayed horizontally is the symbol of infinity; its symbol is also called a “lemniscate”: ∞