Jan. 4, 1962: Throngs of skaters took to the Wollman Memorial Rink in Central Park, and those who braved the crowds that day might have been satisfied to see their picture above an article citing a report that estimated that 77 billion persons had walked the earth since the beginning of humankind. “World population is gaining now at the rate of 50,000,000 a year,” reported The Times, which noted that the report’s authors called the growth “enormous” and “phenomenal.”
