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The Sunday New York Times this morning (March 22, 2014) has an  article about “fame” as defined by meriting an entry in Wikipedia – the free on-line encyclopedia that everyone in the world consults for information. Of the  approximate 300 million Americans there are some 150,000 persons having entries  in the Wikipedia, i.e., 1 in 2000. For whatever that is worth, I am one such entry.

A more detailed look of the article revealed some interesting facts:

1. Your chance for fame is much better if you were born in the greater  Boston  or San Francisco area - approximately three times larger.

2. Fame mostly exist in the entertainment and sports world   (59%) vs.science and academia (3%).

3. College towns tend to produce more listings in Wikipedia

4. Other facts

The article discusses various plausible reasons behind these facts. This is another example of "Big Data" which can occupy sociologists for decades.