Wikipedia's first sentence called it “political scientist and historian who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in”. Today it says “british political scientist and historian specializing in comparative politics”.
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 2025 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 2025
Samuel Edward Finer FBA (22 September 1915 – 9 June 1993) was a British political scientist and historian specializing in comparative politics , who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in the United Kingdom , pioneering the study of UK political institutions. His most notable work is The History of Government from the Earliest Times – a three-volume comparative analysis of all significant government systems. He was also a major contributor to the study of civil–military relations with the publication of his book, The Man on Horseback . The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1289426307.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Professor Samuel Edward Finer (September 22, 1915 – June 9, 1993) was a political scientist and historian who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in the United Kingdom , pioneering the study of UK political institutions. His most notable work is The History of Government from the Earliest Times – a three-volume comparative analysis of all significant government systems. He was also a major contributor to the study of civil-military relations with the publication of his book, The Man on Horseback. The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 365665967.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Professor Samuel Edward Finer (22 September 1915 – 9 June 1993) was a political scientist and historian who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in the United Kingdom , pioneering the study of UK political institutions. His most notable work is The History of Government from the Earliest Times – a three-volume comparative analysis of all significant government systems. He was also a major contributor to the study of civil-military relations with the publication of his book, The Man on Horseback. The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660261710.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Professor Samuel Edward Finer (22 September 1915 – 9 June 1993) was a political scientist and historian who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in the United Kingdom , pioneering the study of UK political institutions. His most notable work is The History of Government from the Earliest Times – a three-volume comparative analysis of all significant government systems. He was also a major contributor to the study of civil–military relations with the publication of his book, The Man on Horseback . The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 839568828.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Samuel Edward Finer FBA (22 September 1915 – 9 June 1993) was a British political scientist and historian specializing in comparative politics , who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in the United Kingdom , pioneering the study of UK political institutions. His most notable work is The History of Government from the Earliest Times – a three-volume comparative analysis of all significant government systems. He was also a major contributor to the study of civil–military relations with the publication of his book, The Man on Horseback . The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176565047.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “political scientist and historian who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in”. Today it says “british political scientist and historian specializing in comparative politics”. Read the current article and compare.
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 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
political scientist and historian who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in
Now
british political scientist and historian specializing in comparative politics
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.
