Rick Atkinson
Rick Atkinson (born November 16, 1952, Munich, Germany), aged 73, is an American author. Atkinson's honours include Pulitzer Prize for History, Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and George Polk Award.
Rick Atkinson’s zodiac sign is Scorpio, Chinese zodiac is Water Dragon, with Life Path 8 in numerology.
Scorpio, Chinese zodiac is 
Water Dragon, with 
Life Path 8 in numerology.Your match with Rick
Rick Atkinson’s AsterNym identity
The Radiant Scholar
Fire represents warmth, visibility and momentum. Fire-led charts are associated with enthusiasm, expression and the ability to encourage other people. Life Path 8 represents mastery: ambition, resources and turning sustained effort into visible results.
Fire Day Master (BaZi) × fixed Sun × Life Path 8, on the mental plane.
How common is the name Rick in the U.S.?
#3077
US rank in 2025
~81,964
Americans share it since 1919
1958
its peak year
In 1952, 2,583 American boys were registered Rick — 119th on the SSA's list that year.
US Social Security Administration public records
What Rick’s name adds up to
Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.
9
Expression · the bigger picture
7
Soul Urge · understanding
11
Personality · perceptive
The name opens on R (9) and closes on K (2). Two values tie for most repeated, 2 and 9: tact against empathy.
Pythagorean letter values · A=1 to I=9, then J=1 again
Rick’s lucky numbers, colours and stones
Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.
Lucky numbers
8 · 1 · 6 · 7
Lucky colours
Blue & Black
Lucky day
Tuesday
Direction
↑ North
Season
winter
Stones
Topaz, Red Coral, Aquamarine
Flower constellation
🌼 Chrysanthemum · 🌺 Red Dahlia · 🪷 Lotus
Gold · Crimson · Soft pink
Eight Mansions · Kua number
Kua 2, trigram Kun 坤, West group. Best direction Northeast, worst East.
A different tradition from the Direction above, and a different question: feng shui reads it from the solar year 1952, which turns at Li Chun rather than at New Year, and from sex, which Wikidata records as male. Work out your own →
The record
What sets Rick apart
The Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting came in 1982, when Rick Atkinson was 30.
Rick Atkinson was taught at Fort Hunt High School and East Carolina University.
On Wikipedia the categories read Kansas City Times people, East Carolina University alumni and Berlin Prize recipients.
José Saramago (1922) and Chinua Achebe (1930) share the birthday in another year, so the sun sits where it sits here.
- Educated at
- Fort Hunt High School, East Carolina University and University of Chicago
- Awards
- Pulitzer Prize for History (2003), George Polk Award (1989) and Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting (1982)
- Nominated for
- Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and Pulitzer Prize for History
- Citizenship
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Wikipedia editions
- 6
What the chart says
Rick, according to the stars
Core essence
Rick does not do surface. The core of Rick is intensity, the kind that wants the real story and can tell when it is not getting it. They love completely or not at all, keep their own counsel, and have a private loyalty that runs deeper than anyone outside it will ever know. Trust from Rick is earned slowly and never given lightly.
The vibe
Underneath, Rick feels more than they will ever show, and shows it to about three people. The Moon in Scorpio is deep water: loyal, private, slow to trust and impossible to fool. What Rick needs to feel safe is total honesty and the sense that a secret told stays told. Betray that once and it is a long way back.
How Rick wants to be loved
Rick wants to be loved seriously. Venus in Capricorn is slow to open and then loyal for life, and it shows love by building: the plan, the future, the thing that lasts. Respect is the romance. Show Rick you are in it for real and the reserve melts into a warmth almost nobody else gets to see.
How Rick creates
How Rick makes things happen: they light the room. A Yang Fire day master is the sun, warm, visible, impossible to ignore, generous with energy and expecting the same back. Rick creates in front of people and is at their best with an audience and a cause. The work is learning to rest before the fire does it for them.
Instinct
Instinct: Rick is larger than life, a Dragon year, and their gut reaction is to go big. Confident, lucky, a natural at the centre of things, and warm-hearted underneath the spectacle. The Water year softens it: intuitive, adaptable, feeling their way through people.
Purpose
Purpose: Life Path 8 is the powerhouse. Rick is here to build something big and run it well: money, influence, a body of work with their name on it. Ambitious, capable, generous when winning, and learning that power is for lifting people.
Triggers
Triggers: incompetence, and disrespect. Mars in Capricorn means Rick does not waste energy on anger; they use it. Controlled, strategic, relentless, the person who will outlast the problem. Cold when crossed, and quietly forgiving once you have earned it back.
Computed from Rick's birth date. Working below.
Where Rick sits
Six lines
Rick’s dot comes from the chart; yours is where you put it.
You likely balance a tight inner circle with a wider orbit you dip into.
You likely think things through before you act. Haste rarely feels safe.
You may keep feelings close, working through them before anyone sees.
You likely handle some friction right away and let smaller things settle.
You likely balance practical steps with room to imagine further.
You likely warm up at a pace that depends on the person and moment.
Tap each line where you sit.
All twelve of yours, from your birth date →✦ A real star from their birth night
Dedicate a star to Rick Atkinson
Three stars chosen from the real sky above Munich on the night they were born. Choose the story that connects you.
A 9 p.m. reference sky, not the birth minute. Dedications are commemorative and confer no ownership of stars.
The sky over Munich that night
Computed for 48.14°N, 9 p.m. local sky.
Schedar stood nearest the zenith over Munich at 9 p.m. that evening, 81.8° above the horizon in Cassiopeia.
The brightest star above the horizon was Vega in Lyra, and 98 catalog stars were up in all.
From 48.1°N, Capella and Deneb never go below the horizon: they are circumpolar at this latitude.
Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman cannot be seen from Munich at all: they sit past the −41.9° declination limit this latitude imposes.
The Moon was at new moon, 1% lit, and already below the horizon, with the Sun 43° down.
The name and the places
- Born in
- Munich, Germany
- Lives in
- Munich
Wikidata records Munich as Rick Atkinson's home. It is a public record rather than our own research, and it can lag behind a move.
No birth time is on record, so no astrocartography map can be drawn for Rick Atkinson: the lines move about fifteen degrees of longitude an hour. Shared Places can still draw yours.
How unusual Rick's chart is
Chart pattern score
51 / 100 · Unusual
2 unaspected planets · T-square onto Saturn · 1 planet at a critical degree
An AsterNym index built from stelliums, yods, grand crosses and chart shape. It is not a population percentile, and a high score is not a better chart. Without a birth time the houses are left out of it.
Score your own chart →Rick Atkinson in 15 seconds
Scorpio Sun
Scorpio SunAll in or nowhere near.
Rick Atkinson's Sun was in Scorpio for the whole of November 16, 1952, so no birth time is needed to settle it.
What Scorpio means →Water Dragon
Water DragonBig energy, bigger plans.
Rick Atkinson was born on November 16, 1952, which falls in a Water Dragon year of the Chinese calendar.
What the Dragon means →Life Path 8
Life Path 8Wants it all. Gets most.
Rick Atkinson's birth date, November 16, 1952, reduces to Life Path 8 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.
What Life Path 8 means →What stands out in Rick’s chart
- The tightest major aspect in Rick Atkinson's date-only chart is Saturn conjunction Neptune, with an orb of under 1°.
- Five of the ten planets fall in Cardinal signs, making Cardinal the strongest modality in this chart.
- This chart has an even Earth/Water emphasis, with three planets in each.
- Rick Atkinson combines a Fire Day Master in BaZi with a fixed Sun and a Life Path on the mental plane, the combination AsterNym calls The Radiant Scholar.
Rick’s birth chart
Reference chart · birth time unknown
Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 4° to 17° Scorpio depending on the hour.
No birth time, so the houses are a solar chart: the Sun’s sign counts as house 1.
Placements
Tap one to light it on the wheel.
The working: aspects, Chiron and the asteroids, dominant planets and configurationsshow
Aspects across every possible birth time
stableSunsquarePluto0.3° to 1.3° orb
Rick’s core identity grinds against their depths. The angle that irritates, and the one that teaches.
stableSaturnconjunctionNeptune0.3° to 0.4° orb
Rick’s discipline and imagination act as one. Each makes the other louder.
stableNeptunesextilePluto0.6° to 0.7° orb
Rick’s imagination opens doors for their depths. An easy alliance, and it pays off when it is used.
stableSaturnsextilePluto1.0° to 1.1° orb
stableSunsextileMars1.8° to 2.0° orb
stableMarssquareNeptune3.0° to 3.7° orb
stableMarssquareSaturn3.4° to 4.0° orb
stableJupitersextileUranus3.4° to 3.5° orb
stableSaturnsquareUranus3.9° to 4.0° orb
stableUranussquareNeptune4.3° orb
stableSuntrineUranus5.2° to 6.3° orb
possibleMoonoppositionJupiterorb from 0.1° to 10.7° depending on birth time
Chart signature
Elements
- Fire2 of 10
- Earth3 of 10
- Air2 of 10
- Water3 of 10
Modalities
- Cardinal5 of 10
- Fixed4 of 10
- Mutable1 of 10
Counted across the ten planets by sign.
Rick’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith
What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.
⚷ ChironCapricorn 9°27′ (moves 0.08° over the day)
centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it
⚳ Ceres ℞Gemini 14°07′ (moves 0.20° over the day)
dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured
♡ ErosSagittarius 22°43′ (moves 0.61° over the day)
near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire
⚕ Hygiea ℞Taurus 20°17′ (moves 0.20° over the day)
main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well
⚸ Black Moon LilithLeo 25°52′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed
Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith
- Eros sextile Neptune 0.1°
- Eros sextile Saturn 0.5°
- Eros trine Pluto 0.5°
- Ceres opposition Mercury 1.4°
- Black Moon Lilith square Sun 1.8°
- Hygiea sextile Uranus 2.0°
- Black Moon Lilith conjunction Pluto 2.6°
- Hygiea square Pluto 3.0°
Rick’s dominant planets
1. ♇ Pluto7 pts
rules the Sun sign, Scorpio; disposes Sun; 3 major aspects
2. ♄ Saturn6 pts
disposes Venus, Mars; 4 major aspects
3. ♂ Mars4.5 pts
traditionally rules the Sun sign, Scorpio; 3 major aspects
Configurations in Rick’s chart
No stellium, grand trine, T-square, grand cross, yod or kite — the common case.
Minor aspects
semi-sextile, semi-square, quintile, sesquiquadrate, biquintile, quincunx.
- Mercury quincunx Jupiter 0.7°
- Venus sesquiquadrate Jupiter 0.9°
- Sun semi-sextile Neptune 1.4°
- Sun semi-sextile Saturn 1.8°
More people like Rick
Other writers
- Anna Quindlen1952
- Alan Moore1953
- Paula Vogel1951
- David Langford1953
- Steven Naifeh1952
- Robert Charles Wilson1953
Born in Germany
- Georg Bednorzphysicist
- Andy BechtolsheimGerman electrical engineer (born 1955) Co-founder of Sun Microsystems; early investor in Google
- Georges J. F. KöhlerGerman immunologist
- Martin ViessmannGerman businessman
- Horst Ludwig StörmerGerman physicist
- Martin SemmelroggeGerman actor
More charts like Rick’s
Fellow Scorpio suns
- Tatum O'NealAmerican actress (born 1963)
- Brad PaisleyAmerican country musician (born 1972)
- Martha PlimptonAmerican actress
Born in Dragon years
- Timothy WeahAmerican soccer player
- Brenden AaronsonAmerican soccer player
- Noah OkaforSwiss association football player
Also born on November 16
- José Saramago1922
- Chinua Achebe1930
- Lisa Bonet1967
- Pete Davidson1993
- Mohammad Rasoulof1972
- Brandi Glanville1972
Fellow Yang Fire day masters
- Hinako ShibunoJapanese female golfer
- Alex YeeBritish triathlete
- Justin HerbertAmerican football player (born 1998)
Other Scorpio Dragon charts
- Jack SzostakAmerican biologist
- Arieh Warshelchemist, biochemist and biophysicist
- Daniel NathansAmerican microbiologist
- Lynn NottageAmerican playwright (born 1964)
Other Radiant Scholars
- Ilya SutskeverCanadian-Israeli AI researcher
- Charles ButtAmerican grocer
- Stefan Perssonbusiness magnate
- Anatoly LomakinRussian politician
Famous people with Life Path 8
- Stefan Helldirector at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany
- Roger Martin du GardFrench writer
- Isidor Isaac RabiAmerican physicist
From the journal: What is feng shui? · Moon sign vs rising sign vs Sun sign
Rick’s cards
Computed from November 16, 1952. Tap to flip.
Birth tarot card
StrengthAsterNym identity card
The Radiant ScholarWestern zodiac
ScorpioChinese zodiac
Dragon 辰Life Path
8 · Achiever♂ Ruled by Mars
Iron Fe
The working: BaZi pillarsshow
BaZi pillars
Day Master: yang Fire.
Year
壬
yang Water
辰
Dragon
Earth
roots & early life
Month
辛
yin Metal
亥
Pig
Water
work & drive
Day
day master
丙
yang Fire
寅
Tiger
Wood
you & partnership
Where this comes from, and how it is worked out
Rick’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q7331205 (CC0), as do the occupations, works and awards above. With no documented birth time this chart is rated X on the Rodden scale, the astrological convention for how well evidenced a birth time is. The banner above lists what that leaves out. Entries are matched to Wikidata by entity id rather than by name, kept at day precision, and dropped where sources disagree on the date.
Tropical zodiac, whole-sign houses, modern rulers. Aspects on the western_v1 orb policy; minor ones at 1.5° to 2.5°, skipped where a major already holds. Minor bodies from JPL Horizons heliocentric vectors, Lilith as mean apogee. Dominance is an AsterNym score — rulerships, dispositors, aspect count — so other methods can name a different leader.
Portrait by Library of Congress Life, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The same Rick Atkinson at Wikipedia.
Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by Rick Atkinson.
Quick answers about Rick Atkinson’s chart
- How old is Rick Atkinson?
- Rick Atkinson is 73 years old, born November 16, 1952 in Munich, Germany.
- What zodiac sign is Rick Atkinson?
- Rick Atkinson is a Scorpio: born November 16, 1952, which puts the Sun in Scorpio for the whole of that day.
- What is Rick Atkinson's Chinese zodiac animal?
- The Dragon, with the Water element, from the Chinese lunar year of the November 16, 1952 birth.
- What is Rick Atkinson's Life Path number?
- Life Path 8, calculated in numerology.
- What is Rick Atkinson's Chiron sign?
- Chiron in Capricorn at 9°. Position from JPL Horizons.
- Where is Rick Atkinson's Black Moon Lilith?
- Mean Black Moon Lilith in Leo at 25°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
- What is Rick Atkinson's dominant planet?
- Pluto, on AsterNym's dominance score (7 points: rules the Sun sign, Scorpio; disposes Sun; 3 major aspects). Saturn is second and Mars third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.
