Timelines are like the cliff notes of history. They give us a succinct look into the events that shaped the lives of the people around us. Now they’re coming to Bing.

Bing announced today that its adding timelines for famous people to its side bar search results. The timeline will offer up a brief history of the person’s life through a list of events that helped shape who they were/are. Here’s an example of what it will look like:

Interestingly enough, Bing will not be sharing Timelines for famous persons whose works are more searched for than their lives. For example, musician and actor searches will return their body of works instead of a timeline as Bing’s algorithm has found that those searching for these people are more interested in their work than their lives. Here’s an example:

Bing says its algorithms have generated timelines for about 500,000 famous people so far. More will be added in the future, but let’s see if Bing returns a timeline for some lesser known and foreign famous folks:

Todd Smith – Frontman for Dog Fashion Disco and Polkadot Cadaver

Willard Scott – Creator of Ronald McDonald

Masamune Shirow – Author of Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell

Two out of three – Bing isn’t doing so bad for itself at all. With over 500,000 timelines already created, you might need to redefine what it means to be famous to find somebody who has yet to have a timeline.

Image via Bing