2038 is when signed 32-bit ints overflow. That's only running out of binary digits though, not decimal like the event under discussion. In [1]: import datet

2038 is when signed 32-bit ints overflow. That's only running out of binary digits though, not decimal like the event under discussion. In [1]: import datetime In [2]: datetime.datetime.utcfromtimestamp(2**31) Out[2]: datetime.datetime(2038, 1, 19, 3, 14, 8)