Wikipedia's first sentence called it “freelance speaker and writer”. Today it says “israeli professor and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership”.
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 2010 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 2010
Tal Ben-Shahar ( , also known as Tal David Ben-Shachar) is a freelance speaker and writer.1He is on the faculty of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya , Israel . In the past, he was a non-tenured lecturer at in the Psychology Department of Harvard University , where he holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior. His dissertation, completed in 2004, is titled "Restoring Self-Esteem's Self-Esteem: The Constructs of Dependent and Independent Competence and Worth." His dissertation chair is Prof. Ellen Langer , the first woman ever to be tenured in psychology at Harvard University. Additionally, he also holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Harvard in Philosophy and Psychology. His undergraduate thesis, completed in 1996, is titled "Honesty Pays: Bridging the Gap Between Moral Theory and Practice." Ben-Shahar is a veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces and is the Scholar-in-Residence at The David Project , a non-profit , educational organization on Israel. In 2006, he taught a course at Harvard entitled "Positive Psychology." 855 students enrolled in the class, making it the most popular class of the spring semester.2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 371007301.
The opening as it stood in 2015 8 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Tal Ben-Shahar Tal Ben-Shahar (Hebrew: טל בן-שחר, also known as Tal David Ben-Shachar) born 1970, is an American and Israeli teacher , and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership .As a lecturer at Harvard University, Ben-Shahar created the most popular course in Harvard's history., He has subsequently written several best-selling books and in 2011 co-founded Potentialife with Angus Ridgway , a company that provides leadership programs based on the science of behavioral change to organisations, schools and sports organisations globally.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 661169231.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Tal Ben-Shahar Tal Ben-Shahar (Hebrew: טל בן-שחר, also known as Tal David Ben-Shachar) born 1970, is an American and Israeli teacher , and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership . As a lecturer at Harvard University, Ben-Shahar created the most popular course in Harvard's history. He has subsequently written several best-selling books and in 2011 co-founded Potentialife with Angus Ridgway , a company that provides leadership programs based on the science of behavioral change to organisations, schools and sports organisations globally.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 957155577.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Israeli American writer Tal Ben-Shahar Tal Ben-Shahar (Hebrew: טל בן-שחר; born 1970), also known as Tal David Ben-Shachar , is an American and Israeli teacher , and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership . As a lecturer at Harvard University, Ben-Shahar created the most popular course in Harvard's history. He has subsequently written several best-selling books and in 2011 co-founded Potentialife with Angus Ridgway, a company that provides leadership programs.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176501115.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Israeli American writer Tal Ben-Shahar Tal Ben-Shahar ( Hebrew : טל בן-שחר; born 1970), also known as Tal David Ben-Shachar , is an American and Israeli teacher , and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership . He has subsequently written several best-selling books and in 2011 co-founded Potentialife with Angus Ridgway, a company that provides leadership programs.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1273101502. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “freelance speaker and writer”. Today it says “israeli professor and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership”. 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
freelance speaker and writer
Now
israeli professor and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership
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.
