In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “jewish rationalist intellectual who founded the society for ethical culture in new york city”. Today it says “german-american professor of political and social ethics”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2020 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2020
Felix Adler (August 13, 1851 – April 24, 1933) was a German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist , influential lecturer on euthanasia , religious leader and social reformer who founded the Ethical Culture movement . Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia . Dictionary of American Religious Biography (2nd ed.). A merciful end: the euthanasia movement in modern America . University of Chicago Press . : CS1 maint: ref duplicates default ( link )1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 955448488.
The opening as it stood in 2005
Felix Adler ( August_13 , 1851 – April_24 , 1933 ) was a Jewish rationalist intellectual who founded the Society for Ethical Culture in New York City .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 16844762.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Felix Adler, circa 1913 Felix Adler (August 13, 1851 – April 24, 1933) was a Jewish rationalist intellectual , popular lecturer, religious leader and social reformer who founded the Ethical Culture movement and is thought to have been a main influence on modern Humanistic Judaism .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 366301301.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Felix Adler (August 13, 1851 – April 24, 1933) was a German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist , popular lecturer, euthanasia , religious leader and social reformer who founded the Ethical Culture movement .Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia .Dictionary of American Religious Biography (2nd ed.).University of Chicago Press . : CS1 maint: ref duplicates default ( link )
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 666544058.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
German American ethicist, social reformer and religious leader Felix Adler (August 13, 1851 – April 24, 1933) was a German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist , influential lecturer on euthanasia , religious leader and social reformer who founded the Ethical Culture movement . Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia . Dictionary of American Religious Biography (2nd ed.). A merciful end: the euthanasia movement in modern America . University of Chicago Press .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176605694.
The opening as it stood in 2025
German American ethicist, social reformer and religious leader Felix Adler (August 13, 1851 – April 24, 1933) was a German-American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist , influential lecturer on euthanasia , religious leader and social reformer who founded the Ethical Culture movement . Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia . Dictionary of American Religious Biography (2nd ed.). A merciful end: the euthanasia movement in modern America . University of Chicago Press .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294423011. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “jewish rationalist intellectual who founded the society for ethical culture in new york city”. Today it says “german-american professor of political and social ethics”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
jewish rationalist intellectual who founded the society for ethical culture in new york city
Now
german-american professor of political and social ethics
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
