1204

  • February 16 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1249 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire.
    • 1270 – Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Karuse.
    • 1630 – Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture Olinda in what was to become part of Dutch Brazil.
    • 1646 – Battle of Torrington, Devon: The last major battle of the first English Civil War.
    • 1699 – First Leopoldine Diploma is issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, recognizing the Greek Catholic clergy enjoyed the same privileges as Roman Catholic priests in the Principality of Transylvania.
    • 1742 – Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister.
    • 1796 – Colombo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) falls to the British, completing their invasion of Ceylon.
    • 1804 – First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate USS Philadelphia.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
    • 1866 – Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes British Secretary of State for War.
    • 1881 – The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1).
    • 1899 – Iceland’s first football club, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, is founded.
    • 1918 – The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.
    • 1923 – Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
    • 1930 – The Romanian Football Federation joins FIFA.
    • 1934 – The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund.
    • 1936 – The Popular Front wins the 1936 Spanish general election.
    • 1937 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon.
    • 1940 – World War II: Altmark incident: The German tanker Altmark is boarded by sailors from the British destroyer HMS Cossack. 299 British prisoners are freed.
    • 1943 – World War II: In the early phases of the Third Battle of Kharkov, Red Army troops re-enter the city.
    • 1945 – World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.
    • 1959 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
    • 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
    • 1961 – Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched.
    • 1962 – Flooding in the coastal areas of West Germany kills 315 and destroys the homes of about 60,000 people.
    • 1968 – In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
    • 1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago).
    • 1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia kill 75.
    • 1985 – Hezbollah is founded.
    • 1986 – The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
    • 1986 – China Airlines Flight 2265 crashes into the Pacific Ocean near Penghu Airport in Taiwan, killing all 13 aboard.
    • 1991 – Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermúdez is assassinated in Managua.
    • 1996 – A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the Capitol Limited, collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people.
    • 1998 – China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and seven more on the ground.
    • 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.
    • 2005 – The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004–05 regular season and playoffs.
    • 2006 – The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.
    • 2013 – A bomb blast at a market in Hazara Town, Quetta, Pakistan kills more than 80 people and injures 190 others.

    Births on February 16

    • 1222 – Nichiren, founder of Nichiren Buddhism (d. 1282)
    • 1304 – Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür, Chinese emperor (d. 1332)
    • 1331 – Coluccio Salutati, Italian political leader (d. 1406)
    • 1419 – John I, Duke of Cleves (d. 1481)
    • 1470 – Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1540)
    • 1471 – Krishnadevaraya, emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire (d. 1529)
    • 1497 – Philip Melanchthon, German astronomer, theologian, and academic (d. 1560)
    • 1514 – Georg Joachim Rheticus, Austrian cartographer and instrument maker (d. 1574)
    • 1519 – Gaspard II de Coligny, French admiral (d. 1572)
    • 1543 – Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter and educator (d. 1590)
    • 1620 – Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1688)
    • 1643 – John Sharp, English archbishop (d. 1714)
    • 1698 – Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (d. 1758)
    • 1727 – Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian botanist, chemist, and mycologist (d. 1817)
    • 1740 – Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (d. 1813)
    • 1761 – Jean-Charles Pichegru, French general (d. 1804)
    • 1774 – Pierre Rode, French violinist and composer (d. 1830)
    • 1786 – Maria Pavlovna, Russian Grand Duchess (d. 1859)
    • 1802 – Phineas Quimby, American mystic and philosopher (d. 1866)
    • 1804 – Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist (d. 1885)
    • 1812 – Henry Wilson, American colonel and politician, 18th Vice President of the United States (d. 1875)
    • 1821 – Heinrich Barth, German explorer and scholar (d. 1865)
    • 1822 – Francis Galton, English biologist and statistician (d. 1911)
    • 1824 – Peter Kosler, Slovenian lawyer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1879)
    • 1826 – Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet and author (d. 1886)
    • 1830 – Lars Hertervig, Norwegian painter (d. 1902)
    • 1831 – Nikolai Leskov, Russian author, playwright, and journalist (d. 1895)
    • 1834 – Ernst Haeckel, German biologist, physician, and philosopher (d. 1919)
    • 1838 – Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (d. 1918)
    • 1841 – Armand Guillaumin, French painter (d. 1927)
    • 1843 – Henry M. Leland, American engineer and businessman, founded Cadillac and Lincoln (d. 1932)
    • 1845 – George Kennan, American journalist and explorer (d. 1924)
    • 1848 – Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist, geneticist, and academic (d. 1935)
    • 1848 – Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright (d. 1917)
    • 1856 – Ossian Everett Mills, American academic, founded Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (d. 1920)
    • 1866 – Billy Hamilton, American baseball player and manager (d. 1940)
    • 1868 – Edward S. Curtis, American ethnologist and photographer (d. 1952)
    • 1873 – Radoje Domanović, Serbian journalist and author (d. 1908)
    • 1876 – G. M. Trevelyan, English historian and academic (d. 1962)
    • 1878 – Pamela Colman Smith, English occultist and illustrator (d. 1951)
    • 1878 – James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1920)
    • 1884 – Robert J. Flaherty, German-Irish American director and producer (d. 1951)
    • 1886 – Andy Ducat, English international footballer (forward and manager) and Cricketer (d. 1942)
    • 1887 – Kathleen Clifford, American actress (d. 1962)
    • 1891 – Hans F. K. Günther, German eugenicist and academic (d. 1968)
    • 1893 – Katharine Cornell, American actress and producer (d. 1974)
    • 1896 – Eugénie Blanchard, French super-centenarian (d. 2010)
    • 1901 – Wayne King, American singer-songwriter and conductor (d. 1985)
    • 1901 – Chester Morris, American actor (d. 1970)
    • 1902 – Cyril Vincent, South African cricketer (d. 1968)
    • 1903 – Edgar Bergen, Swedish-American ventriloquist and actor (d. 1978)
    • 1904 – James Baskett, African-American actor and singer (d. 1948)
    • 1904 – George F. Kennan, Scotch-Irish American historian and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union (d. 2005)
    • 1905 – Henrietta Barnett, British Women’s Royal Air Force officer (d. 1985)
    • 1906 – Vera Menchik, British-Czechoslovak-Russian chess player (d. 1944)
    • 1909 – Hugh Beaumont, American actor and director (d. 1982)
    • 1909 – Richard McDonald, Irish-American businessman, co-founded McDonald’s (d. 1998)
    • 1914 – Jimmy Wakely, American country music singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1982)
    • 1916 – Bill Doggett, African-American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
    • 1919 – Georges Ulmer, Danish-French actor and composer (d. 1989)
    • 1920 – Anna Mae Hays, American general (d. 2018)
    • 1921 – Vera-Ellen, German-American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1981)
    • 1921 – Jean Behra, French race car driver (d. 1959)
    • 1921 – John Galbraith Graham, English priest and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, German soldier and pilot (d. 1950)
    • 1923 – Samuel Willenberg, Polish-Israeli sculptor and painter (d. 2016)
    • 1926 – Margot Frank, German-Dutch holocaust victim (d. 1945)
    • 1926 – John Schlesinger, English actor and director (d. 2003)
    • 1927 – June Brown, English actress
    • 1929 – Gerhard Hanappi, Austrian footballer and architect (d. 1980)
    • 1929 – Peter Porter, Australian-English poet and educator (d. 2010)
    • 1931 – Otis Blackwell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2002)
    • 1931 – Ken Takakura, Japanese actor and singer (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Sierra Leonean economist, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of Sierra Leone (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Gretchen Wyler, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2007)
    • 1934 – August Coppola, American author and academic (d. 2009)
    • 1934 – Marlene Hagge, American golfer
    • 1935 – Brian Bedford, English-American actor and director (d. 2016)
    • 1935 – Sonny Bono, American actor, singer, and politician (d. 1998)
    • 1935 – Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founded The Farm (d. 2014)
    • 1935 – Bradford Parkinson, American colonel and engineer
    • 1935 – Kenneth Price, American painter and sculptor (d. 2012)
    • 1937 – Paul Bailey, British novelist, critic, and biographer
    • 1937 – Yuri Manin, Russian-German mathematician and academic
    • 1938 – John Corigliano, American composer and academic
    • 1939 – Adolfo Azcuna, Filipino lawyer and judge
    • 1940 – Hannelore Schmatz, German mountaineer (d. 1979)
    • 1941 – Kim Jong-il, North Korean commander and politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea (d. 2011)
    • 1942 – Richard Williams, American tennis player and coach
    • 1944 – Glyn Davies, Welsh farmer and politician
    • 1944 – Richard Ford, American novelist and short story writer
    • 1944 – Sigiswald Kuijken, Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor
    • 1944 – António Mascarenhas Monteiro, Cape Verdean politician, 2nd President of Cape Verde (d. 2016)
    • 1947 – Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician (d. 2020)
    • 1948 – Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1949 – Bob O’Reilly, Australian rugby league player
    • 1950 – Peter Hain, Kenyan-Welsh politician, Secretary of State for Wales
    • 1951 – Barry Foote, American baseball player and coach
    • 1952 – William Katt, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1952 – Peter Kitchen, English footballer, striker
    • 1952 – James Ingram, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2019)
    • 1953 – John Bradbury, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1953 – Lanny McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
    • 1953 – Roberta Williams, American video game designer, co-founded Sierra Entertainment
    • 1954 – Iain Banks, Scottish author and playwright (d. 2013)
    • 1954 – Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress (d. 1996)
    • 1954 – Michael Holding, Jamaican cricketer and sportscaster
    • 1956 – Vincent Ward, New Zealand director and screenwriter
    • 1957 – LeVar Burton, German-born American actor, director, and producer
    • 1958 – Natalie Angier, American author
    • 1958 – Ice-T, American rapper and actor
    • 1958 – Oscar Schmidt, Brazilian basketball player
    • 1958 – Herb Williams, American basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – John McEnroe, German-American tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1959 – Kelly Tripucka, American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1960 – Pete Willis, English guitarist and songwriter
    • 1961 – Des Hasler, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1961 – Liu Kang, Chinese footballer and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1961 – Andy Taylor, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1962 – John Balance, English singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1964 – Bebeto, Brazilian footballer and manager
    • 1964 – Christopher Eccleston, English actor
    • 1965 – Dave Lombardo, Cuban-American drummer
    • 1967 – Keith Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1968 – Warren Ellis, English author and screenwriter
    • 1970 – Angelo Peruzzi, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Michael Avenatti, American attorney and pundit
    • 1971 – Craig Laundy, Australian politician
    • 1972 – Jerome Bettis, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1972 – Zoran Čampara, Bosnian football player
    • 1972 – Sarah Clarke, American actress
    • 1972 – Naomi Nishida, Japanese actress
    • 1972 – Darrell Trindall, Australian rugby league player
    • 1973 – Cathy Freeman, Australian sprinter
    • 1974 – Mahershala Ali, American actor
    • 1974 – José Dominguez, Portuguese international footballer, winger and manager
    • 1976 – Eric Byrnes, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1976 – Kyo, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1977 – Ian Clarke, Irish-American computer scientist, founded Freenet
    • 1977 – Ahman Green, American football player
    • 1978 – Tia Hellebaut, Belgian high jumper and chemist
    • 1978 – Wasim Jaffer, Indian cricketer
    • 1978 – John Tartaglia, American actor, singer, and puppeteer
    • 1979 – Stéphane Dalmat, French footballer, midfielder
    • 1979 – Eric Mun, American-South Korean singer and actor
    • 1979 – Valentino Rossi, Italian motorcycle racer
    • 1980 – Longineu W. Parsons III, French-American drummer
    • 1981 – Jay Howard, English race car driver
    • 1981 – Jerry Owens, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Qyntel Woods, American basketball player
    • 1982 – Aleksandr Dmitrijev, Estonian footballer
    • 1982 – Rickie Lambert, English footballer
    • 1982 – Lupe Fiasco, American rapper
    • 1983 – Agyness Deyn, English model, actress, and singer
    • 1984 – Sofia Arvidsson, Swedish tennis player
    • 1984 – Oussama Mellouli, Tunisian swimmer
    • 1985 – Simon Francis, English footballer
    • 1985 – Stacy Lewis, American golfer
    • 1985 – Ron Vlaar, Dutch footballer
    • 1986 – Diego Godín, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1987 – Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2008)
    • 1987 – Theresa Goh, Singaporean swimmer
    • 1987 – Hasheem Thabeet, Tanzanian basketball player
    • 1988 – Diego Capel, Spanish footballer
    • 1988 – Zhang Jike, Chinese table tennis player
    • 1988 – Denílson Pereira Neves, Brazilian footballer
    • 1988 – Andrea Ranocchia, Italian footballer
    • 1988 – Kim Soo-hyun, South Korean actor and singer
    • 1989 – Elizabeth Olsen, American actress
    • 1990 – Dunamis Lui, Australian-Samoan rugby league player
    • 1990 – The Weeknd, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1991 – Sergio Canales, Spanish footballer
    • 1992 – Nicolai Boilesen, Danish footballer
    • 1992 – Zsófia Susányi, Hungarian tennis player
    • 1994 – Annika Beck, German tennis player
    • 1994 – Federico Bernardeschi, Italian footballer
    • 1994 – Ava Max, American singer and songwriter
    • 1995 – Katy Dunne, English tennis player
    • 1995 – Carina Witthöft, a German tennis player

    Deaths on February 16

    • 549 – Zhu Yi, Chinese general (b. 483)
    • 902 – Mary the Younger, Byzantine saint (b. 875)
    • 1184 – Richard of Dover, Archbishop of Canterbury
    • 1247 – Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia (b. 1204)
    • 1279 – Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1210)
    • 1281 – Gertrude of Hohenberg, queen consort of Germany (b. c.1225)
    • 1390 – Rupert I, Elector Palatine (b. 1309)
    • 1391 – John V Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1332)
    • 1531 – Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1452)
    • 1560 – Jean du Bellay, French cardinal and diplomat (b. 1493)
    • 1579 – Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Spanish explorer (b. 1509)
    • 1645 – Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and politician, 24th Governor of the Duchy of Milan (b. 1585)
    • 1710 – Esprit Fléchier, French bishop and author (b. 1632)
    • 1721 – James Craggs the Younger, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1686)
    • 1754 – Richard Mead, English physician (b. 1673)
    • 1820 – Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish general (b. 1758)
    • 1862 – William Pennington American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of New Jersey, 23rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1796)
    • 1898 – Thomas Bracken, Irish-New Zealand journalist, poet, and politician (b. 1843)
    • 1899 – Félix Faure, French merchant and politician, 7th President of France (b. 1841)
    • 1907 – Giosuè Carducci, Italian poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
    • 1912 – Nicholas of Japan, Russian-Japanese monk and saint (b. 1836)
    • 1917 – Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright ( (b. 1848)
    • 1919 – Vera Kholodnaya, Ukrainian actress (b. 1893)
    • 1928 – Eddie Foy Sr., American actor and dancer (b. 1856)
    • 1932 – Ferdinand Buisson, French academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1841)
    • 1932 – Edgar Speyer, American-English financier and philanthropist (b. 1862)
    • 1944 – Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1870)
    • 1957 – Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1876)
    • 1961 – Dazzy Vance, American baseball player (b. 1891)
    • 1967 – Smiley Burnette, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1911)
    • 1974 – John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand Rifle(b. 1888)
    • 1975 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler and coach (b. 1903)
    • 1977 – Janani Luwum, bishop, Church of Uganda, martyr (b. c.1922)
    • 1977 – Rózsa Péter, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1905)
    • 1980 – Erich Hückel, German physicist and chemist (b. 1895)
    • 1984 – M. A. G. Osmani, Bangladeshi general (b. 1918)
    • 1990 – Keith Haring, American painter and activist (b. 1958)
    • 1991 – Enrique Bermúdez, Nicaraguan lieutenant and engineer (b. 1932)
    • 1992 – Angela Carter, English novelist, short story writer (b. 1940)
    • 1992 – Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician, 22nd President of Brazil (b. 1917)
    • 1992 – Herman Wold, Norwegian-Swedish economist and statistician (b. 1908)
    • 1996 – Roberto Aizenberg, Argentinian painter and sculptor (b. 1922)
    • 1996 – Roger Bowen, American actor and author (b. 1932)
    • 1996 – Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (b. 1905)
    • 1996 – Brownie McGhee, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1915)
    • 1997 – Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American physicist and academic (b. 1912)
    • 1998 – Mary Amdur, American toxicologist and public health researcher (b. 1908)
    • 2000 – Marceline Day, American actress (b. 1908)
    • 2000 – Lila Kedrova, Russian-French actress and singer
    • 2000 – Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-American businessman, founded PING (b. 1911)
    • 2001 – Howard W. Koch, American director and producer (b. 1916)
    • 2001 – William Masters, American gynecologist and sexologist (b. 1915)
    • 2002 – Walter Winterbottom, English footballer and manager (b. 1913)
    • 2003 – Rusty Magee, American actor and composer (b. 1955)
    • 2004 – Doris Troy, American singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
    • 2006 – Johnny Grunge, American wrestler (b. 1966)
    • 2006 – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (b. 1925)
    • 2009 – Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, South Korean cardinal (b. 1921)
    • 2011 – Len Lesser, American actor (b. 1922)
    • 2011 – Justinas Marcinkevičius, Lithuanian poet and playwright (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – Gary Carter, American baseball player and coach (b. 1954)
    • 2012 – Elyse Knox, American model, actress, and fashion designer (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – John Macionis, American swimmer and lieutenant (b. 1916)
    • 2012 – Anthony Shadid, American journalist (b. 1968)
    • 2013 – Colin Edwards, Guyanese footballer (b. 1991)
    • 2013 – Grigory Pomerants, Russian philosopher and author (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
    • 2014 – Ken Farragut, American football player (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Gert Krawinkel, German guitarist (b. 1947)
    • 2014 – Michael Shea, American author (b. 1946)
    • 2015 – Lasse Braun, Algerian-Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1936)
    • 2015 – Lesley Gore, American singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
    • 2015 – R. R. Patil, Indian lawyer and politician, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra (b. 1957)
    • 2015 – Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress and singer (b. 1971)
    • 2016 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and diplomat, 6th Secretary-General of the United Nations (b. 1922)
    • 2019 – Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor (b. 1941)

    Holidays and observances on February 16

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abda of Edessa
      • Elias and companions
      • Juliana of Nicomedia (Catholic Church)
      • Onesimus
      • Charles Todd Quintard (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • February 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of the Shining Star (Kim Jong-il’s Birthday) (North Korea)
    • Restoration of Lithuania’s Statehood Day, celebrate the independence of Lithuania from Russia and Germany in 1918 (Lithuania)

  • February 8 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    February 8 in History

    • 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
    • 1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
    • 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.
    • 1347 – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.
    • 1575 – Leiden University is founded, and given the motto Praesidium Libertatis.
    • 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
    • 1590 – Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva is tortured by the Inquisition in Mexico, charged with concealing the practice Judaism of his sister and her children.
    • 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Queen Elizabeth I and the revolt is quickly crushed.
    • 1693 – The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.
    • 1807 – After two days of bitter fighting, the Russians under Bennigsen and the Prussians under L’Estocq concede the Battle of Eylau to Napoleon.
    • 1817 – Las Heras crosses the Andes with an army to join San Martín and liberate Chile from Spain.
    • 1837 – Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
    • 1865 – Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Slavery was outlawed in the United States, including Delaware, when the Amendment was ratified by the requisite number of states on December 6, 1865. Delaware ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on February 12, 1901, which was the ninety-second anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
    • 1879 – Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
    • 1879 – The England cricket team led by Lord Harris is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.
    • 1885 – The first government-approved Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii.
    • 1887 – The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.
    • 1904 – Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China starts the Russo-Japanese War.
    • 1904 – Aceh War: Dutch Colonial Army’s Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch military campaign to capture Gayo Highland, Alas Highland, and Batak Highland in Dutch East Indies’ Northern Sumatra region, which ends with genocide to Acehnese and Bataks people.
    • 1910 – The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
    • 1915 – D. W. Griffith’s controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.
    • 1922 – United States President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio set in the White House.
    • 1924 – Capital punishment: The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
    • 1942 – World War II: Japan invades Singapore.
    • 1942 – World War II: Dutch Colonial Army General Destruction Unit (AVC, Algemene Vernielings Corps) burns Banjarmasin, South Borneo to avoid Japanese capture.
    • 1945 – World War II: The United Kingdom and Canada commence Operation Veritable to occupy the west bank of the Rhine.
    • 1945 – World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet inmates from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde on the island of Usedom by hijacking the camp commandant’s Heinkel He 111.
    • 1946 – The first portion of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first serious challenge to the popularity of the Authorized King James Version, is published.
    • 1946 – The People’s Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North, establishing the communist-controlled Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea.
    • 1950 – Cold War: The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.
    • 1955 – The Government of Sindh, Pakistan, abolishes the Jagirdari system in the province. One million acres (4000 km2) of land thus acquired is to be distributed among the landless peasants.
    • 1960 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
    • 1962 – Charonne massacre. Nine trade unionists are killed by French police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Paris Prefecture of Police.
    • 1963 – Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
    • 1963 – The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq, Brigadier General Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba’ath Party.
    • 1965 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing everyone aboard.
    • 1968 – American civil rights movement: The Orangeburg massacre: An attack on black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation at the town’s only bowling alley, leaves three or four dead in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
    • 1971 – The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.
    • 1971 – South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration.
    • 1974 – After 84 days in space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit American space station Skylab, returns to Earth.
    • 1978 – Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
    • 1981 – Twenty-one association football spectators are trampled to death at Karaiskakis Stadium in Neo Faliro, Greece, after a football match between Olympiacos F.C. and AEK Athens F.C.
    • 1983 – The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia’s second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night.
    • 1986 – Hinton train collision: Twenty-three people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a 118-car Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, west of Edmonton. It is the worst rail accident in Canada until the Lac-Mégantic, Quebec derailment in 2013 which killed forty-seven people.
    • 1989 – Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport (Azores) killing all 144 passengers on board.
    • 1993 – General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigs two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the next day.
    • 1993 – An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 and an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 collide in mid-air near Qods, Iran, killing all 133 people on board both aircraft.
    • 1996 – The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act.
    • 2005 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP A. Chandranehru dies of injuries sustained in an ambush the previous day.
    • 2010 – A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of at least 36 avalanches, burying over two miles of road, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 travelers.
    • 2013 – A blizzard disrupts transportation and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada.
    • 2014 – A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured.

    Births on February 8

    • 120 – Vettius Valens, Greek astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer (probable; d. 175)
    • 412 – Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (probable; d. 485)
    • 882 – Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, Egyptian commander and politician, Abbasid Governor of Egypt (d. 946)
    • 1191 – Yaroslav II of Vladimir (d. 1246)
    • 1291 – Afonso IV of Portugal (d. 1357)
    • 1405 – Constantine XI Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1453)
    • 1487 – Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1550)
    • 1514 – Daniele Barbaro, Venetian churchman, diplomat and scholar (d. 1570)
    • 1552 – Agrippa d’Aubigné, French poet and soldier (d. 1630)
    • 1577 – Robert Burton, English priest, physician, and scholar (d. 1640)
    • 1591 – Guercino, Italian painter (d. 1666)
    • 1685 – Charles-Jean-François Hénault, French historian and author (d. 1770)
    • 1700 – Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1782)
    • 1720 – Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1750)
    • 1741 – André Grétry, Belgian-French organist and composer (d. 1813)
    • 1762 – Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1820)
    • 1764 – Joseph Leopold Eybler, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1846)
    • 1792 – Caroline Augusta of Bavaria (d. 1873)
    • 1798 – Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia (d. 1849)
    • 1807 – Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, English sculptor and zoologist (d. 1889)
    • 1817 – Richard S. Ewell, American general (d. 1872)
    • 1819 – John Ruskin, English author, critic, and academic (d. 1900)
    • 1820 – William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (d. 1891)
    • 1822 – Maxime Du Camp, French photographer and journalist (d. 1894)
    • 1825 – Henry Walter Bates, English geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1892)
    • 1828 – Jules Verne, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1905)
    • 1829 – Vital-Justin Grandin, French-Canadian bishop and missionary (d. 1902)
    • 1830 – Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1876)
    • 1834 – Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (d. 1907)
    • 1850 – Kate Chopin, American author (d. 1904)
    • 1860 – Adella Brown Bailey, American politician and suffragist (d. 1937)
    • 1866 – Moses Gomberg, Ukrainian-American chemist and academic (d. 1947)
    • 1876 – Paula Modersohn-Becker, German painter (d. 1907)
    • 1878 – Martin Buber, Austrian-Israeli philosopher and academic (d. 1965)
    • 1880 – Franz Marc, German soldier and painter (d. 1916)
    • 1880 – Viktor Schwanneke, German actor and director (d. 1931)
    • 1882 – Thomas Selfridge, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1908)
    • 1883 – Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and political scientist (d. 1950)
    • 1884 – Snowy Baker, Australian boxer, rugby player, and actor (d. 1953)
    • 1886 – Charlie Ruggles, American actor (d. 1970)
    • 1888 – Edith Evans, English actress (d. 1976)
    • 1888 – Giuseppe Ungaretti, Egyptian-Italian soldier, journalist, and poet (d. 1970)
    • 1890 – Claro M. Recto, Filipino lawyer, jurist, and politician (d. 1960)
    • 1893 – Ba Maw, Burmese lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Burma (d. 1977)
    • 1894 – King Vidor, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
    • 1897 – Zakir Hussain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd president of India (d. 1969)
    • 1899 – Lonnie Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970)
    • 1903 – Greta Keller, Austrian-American singer and actress (d. 1977)
    • 1903 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1990)
    • 1906 – Chester Carlson, American physicist and lawyer, invented Xerography (d. 1968)
    • 1909 – Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian philanthropist (d. 2012)
    • 1911 – Elizabeth Bishop, American poet and author (d. 1979)
    • 1913 – Betty Field, American actress (d. 1973)
    • 1913 – Danai Stratigopoulou, Greek singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
    • 1914 – Bill Finger, American author and screenwriter, co-created Batman (d. 1974)
    • 1915 – Georges Guétary, Egyptian-French singer, dancer, and actor (d. 1997)
    • 1918 – Freddie Blassie, American wrestler and manager (d. 2003)
    • 1921 – Barney Danson, Canadian colonel and politician, 21st Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2011)
    • 1921 – Nexhmije Hoxha, Albanian politician (d. 2020)
    • 1921 – Lana Turner, American actress (d. 1995)
    • 1922 – Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker (d. 1996)
    • 1925 – Jack Lemmon, American actor (d. 2001)
    • 1926 – Neal Cassady, American author and poet (d. 1968)
    • 1926 – Birgitte Reimer, Danish film actress
    • 1930 – Alejandro Rey, Argentinian-American actor and director (d. 1987)
    • 1931 – James Dean, American actor (d. 1955)
    • 1932 – Cliff Allison, English racing driver and businessman (d. 2005)
    • 1932 – John Williams, American pianist, composer, and conductor
    • 1933 – Elly Ameling, Dutch soprano
    • 1937 – Joe Raposo, American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
    • 1937 – Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist (d. 2016)
    • 1939 – Jose Maria Sison, Filipino activist and theorist
    • 1940 – Sophie Lihau-Kanza, Congolese politician (d. 1999)
    • 1940 – Ted Koppel, English-American journalist
    • 1941 – Nick Nolte, American actor and producer
    • 1941 – Tom Rush, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1941 – Jagjit Singh, Indian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1942 – Robert Klein, American comedian, actor, and singer
    • 1942 – Terry Melcher, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
    • 1944 – Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor (d. 2014)
    • 1944 – Sebastião Salgado, Brazilian photographer and journalist
    • 1947 – J. Richard Gott, American astronomer and academic
    • 1948 – Dan Seals, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
    • 1949 – Brooke Adams, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1949 – Niels Arestrup, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1952 – Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1953 – Mary Steenburgen, American actress
    • 1954 – Joe Maddon, American baseball coach and manager
    • 1955 – John Grisham, American lawyer and author
    • 1955 – Jim Neidhart, American wrestler (d. 2018)
    • 1956 – Marques Johnson, American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1957 – Karine Chemla, French historian of mathematics and sinologist
    • 1958 – Sherri Martel, American wrestler and manager (d. 2007)
    • 1958 – Marina Silva, Brazilian environmentalist and politician
    • 1959 – Heinz Gunthardt, Swiss tennis player
    • 1959 – Andrew Hoy, Australian equestrian rider
    • 1959 – Mauricio Macri, Argentinian businessman and politician, President of Argentina
    • 1960 – Benigno Aquino III, Filipino politician, 15th President of the Philippines
    • 1960 – Dino Ciccarelli, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1961 – Vince Neil, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1963 – Mohammad Azharuddin, Indian cricketer and politician
    • 1964 – Arlie Petters, Belizean-American mathematical physicist and academic
    • 1964 – Santosh Sivan, Indian director, cinematographer, producer, and actor
    • 1964 – Trinny Woodall, English fashion designer and author
    • 1966 – Kirk Muller, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1966 – Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgarian footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Gary Coleman, American actor (d. 2010)
    • 1969 – Pauly Fuemana, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2010)
    • 1969 – Mary Robinette Kowal, American puppeteer and author
    • 1969 – Mary McCormack, American actress and producer
    • 1970 – Stephanie Courtney, American actress and comedian
    • 1970 – John Filan, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1970 – Alonzo Mourning, American basketball player and executive
    • 1971 – Aidy Boothroyd, English footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Mika Karppinen, Swedish-Finnish drummer and songwriter
    • 1972 – Big Show, American wrestler and actor
    • 1974 – Seth Green, American actor, voice artist, comedian, producer, writer, and director
    • 1976 – Khaled Mashud, Bangladeshi cricketer
    • 1976 – Nicolas Vouilloz, French rally driver and mountain biker
    • 1977 – Roman Kostomarov, Russian ice dancer
    • 1978 – Mick de Brenni, Australian politician
    • 1979 – Aaron Cook, American baseball player
    • 1980 – William Jackson Harper, American actor
    • 1981 – Steve Gohouri, Ivorian footballer (d. 2015)
    • 1981 – Myriam Montemayor Cruz, Mexican singer
    • 1983 – Jermaine Anderson, Canadian basketball player
    • 1983 – Cory Jane, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1983 – Jim Verraros, American singer and actor
    • 1984 – Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Canadian skier
    • 1984 – Cecily Strong, American actress
    • 1984 – Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, Greek basketball player
    • 1985 – Petra Cetkovská, Czech tennis player
    • 1985 – Jeremy Davis, American bass player and songwriter
    • 1987 – Javi García, Spanish footballer
    • 1987 – Carolina Kostner, Italian figure skater
    • 1988 – Keegan Meth, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1989 – Zac Guildford, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1989 – Julio Jones, American football player
    • 1989 – Courtney Vandersloot, American basketball player
    • 1990 – Emily Scarratt, English rugby union player
    • 1990 – Klay Thompson, American professional basketball player
    • 1991 – Aristidis Soiledis, Greek footballer
    • 1991 – Roberto Soriano, Italian footballer
    • 1991 – Nam Woo-hyun, South Korean singer and actor with the boy band Infinite.
    • 1992 – Bruno Martins Indi, Portuguese-Dutch footballer
    • 1992 – Carl Jenkinson, English-Finnish footballer
    • 1994 – Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Turkish footballer
    • 1994 – Nikki Yanofsky, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1995 – Joshua Kimmich, German footballer
    • 1996 – Kenedy, Brazilian footballer

    Deaths on February 8

    • 538 – Severus of Antioch, patriarch of Antioch
    • 1135 – Elvira of Castile, Queen of Sicily (b.c. 1100)
    • 1204 – Alexios IV Angelos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1182)
    • 1229 – Ali ibn Hanzala, sixth Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq of Tayyibi Isma’ilism
    • 1250 – Robert I, Count of Artois (b. 1216)
    • 1250 – William II Longespée, English martyr (b. 1212)
    • 1265 – Hulagu Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1217)
    • 1285 – Theodoric of Landsberg (b. 1242)
    • 1296 – Przemysł II of Poland (b. 1257)
    • 1314 – Helen of Anjou, queen of Serbia (b. 1236)
    • 1382 – Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans (b. 1328)
    • 1537 – Saint Gerolamo Emiliani, Italian humanitarian (b. 1481)
    • 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1542)
    • 1599 – Robert Rollock, Scottish theologian and academic (b. 1555)
    • 1623 – Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire (b. 1546)
    • 1676 – Alexis of Russia (b. 1629)
    • 1696 – Ivan V of Russia (b. 1666)
    • 1709 – Giuseppe Torelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1658)
    • 1725 – Peter the Great, Russian emperor (b. 1672)
    • 1749 – Jan van Huysum, Dutch painter (b. 1682)
    • 1750 – Aaron Hill, English playwright and poet (b. 1685)
    • 1768 – George Dance the Elder, English architect, designed St Leonard’s and St Botolph’s Aldgate (b. 1695)
    • 1772 – Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (b. 1719)
    • 1849 – François Habeneck, French violinist and conductor (b. 1781)
    • 1849 – France Prešeren, Slovenian poet and lawyer (b. 1800)
    • 1856 – Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist and academic (b. 1773)
    • 1907 – Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom, Dutch chemist and academic (b. 1854)
    • 1910 – Hans Jæger, Norwegian philosopher and activist (b. 1854)
    • 1914 – Dayrolles Eveleigh-de-Moleyns, 4th Baron Ventry, Irish hereditary peer (b. 1828)
    • 1915 – François Langelier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 10th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1838)
    • 1921 – George Formby Sr, English actor and singer (b. 1876)
    • 1921 – Peter Kropotkin, Russian zoologist, geographer, and philologist (b. 1842)
    • 1928 – Theodor Curtius, German chemist (b. 1857)
    • 1932 – Yordan Milanov, Bulgarian architect, designed the Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church (b. 1867)
    • 1935 – Eemil Nestor Setälä, Finnish linguist and politician, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1864)
    • 1936 – Charles Curtis, American lawyer and politician, 31st Vice President of the United States (b. 1860)
    • 1945 – Italo Santelli, Italian fencer and coach (b. 1866)
    • 1956 – Connie Mack, American baseball player and manager (b. 1862)
    • 1957 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
    • 1957 – John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist (b. 1903)
    • 1959 – William J. Donovan, American head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (b. 1883)
    • 1960 – J. L. Austin, English philosopher and academic (b. 1911)
    • 1960 – Giles Gilbert Scott, English architect and engineer, designed the Red telephone box and Liverpool Cathedral (b. 1880)
    • 1963 – George Dolenz, Italian-American actor (b. 1908)
    • 1964 – Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist and author (b. 1888)
    • 1968 – Maurice Maillot, French actor (b. 1906)
    • 1972 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (b. 1905)
    • 1975 – Robert Robinson, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
    • 1977 – Eivind Groven, Norwegian composer and theorist (b. 1901)
    • 1979 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-English physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
    • 1980 – Nikos Xilouris, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1936)
    • 1982 – John Hay Whitney, American financier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (b. 1904)
    • 1985 – William Lyons, English businessman, co-founded Swallow Sidecar Company (b. 1901)
    • 1987 – Harriet E. MacGibbon, American actress (b. 1905)
    • 1990 – Del Shannon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
    • 1992 – Stanley Armour Dunham, American sergeant (b. 1918)
    • 1992 – Denny Wright, British guitarist (b. 1924)
    • 1994 – Raymond Scott, American pianist and composer (b. 1908)
    • 1996 – Del Ennis, American baseball player (b. 1925)
    • 1997 – Corey Scott, American motorcycle stunt rider (b. 1968)
    • 1998 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
    • 1998 – Enoch Powell, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Health (b. 1912)
    • 1998 – Julian Simon, American economist and author (b. 1932)
    • 1999 – Iris Murdoch, Irish-born British novelist and philosopher (b. 1919)
    • 2000 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1918)
    • 2000 – Derrick Thomas, American football player (b. 1967)
    • 2001 – Ivo Caprino, Norwegian director and screenwriter (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Ong Teng Cheong, Singaporean architect and politician, 5th President of Singapore (b. 1936)
    • 2004 – Julius Schwartz, American journalist and author (b. 1915)
    • 2005 – A. Chandranehru, Sri Lankan sailor and politician (b. 1944)
    • 2006 – Elton Dean, English saxophonist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1945)
    • 2006 – Thierry Fortineau, French actor (b. 1953)
    • 2006 – Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer (b. 1914)
    • 2007 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress (b. 1967)
    • 2007 – Ian Stevenson, Canadian-American psychiatrist and academic (b. 1918)
    • 2008 – Ruby Garrard Woodson, American educator and cultural historian (b. 1931)
    • 2010 – John Murtha, American colonel and politician (b. 1932)
    • 2011 – Tony Malinosky, American baseball player and soldier (b. 1909)
    • 2012 – Wando, Brazilian singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
    • 2012 – Gunther Plaut, German-Canadian rabbi and author (b. 1912)
    • 2012 – Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
    • 2013 – Giovanni Cheli, Italian cardinal (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – James DePreist, American conductor and educator (b. 1936)
    • 2013 – Maureen Dragone, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (b. 1918)
    • 2014 – Els Borst, Dutch physician and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (b. 1988)
    • 2014 – Nancy Holt, American sculptor and painter (b. 1938)
    • 2015 – Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, Finnish physician and parapsychologist (b. 1939)
    • 2016 – Amelia Bence, Argentine actress (b. 1914)
    • 2016 – Nida Fazli, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1938)
    • 2016 – Margaret Forster, English historian, author, and critic (b. 1938)
    • 2016 – Violette Verdy, French ballerina (b. 1933)
    • 2017 – Peter Mansfield, English physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1933)
    • 2017 – Rina Matsuno, Japanese idol singer (Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku) (b. 1998)
    • 2017 – Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, English socialite, television presenter, model, and charity patron (b. 1971)
    • 2017 – Alan Simpson, English scriptwriter (b. 1929)

    Holidays and observances on February 8

    • Christian feast day:
      • Cuthmann of Steyning
      • Elffled of Whitby
      • Gerolamo Emiliani
      • Josephine Bakhita
      • Juventius of Pavia
      • Meingold of Huy
      • Stephen of Muret
      • February 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Feast of Orthodoxy can fall, while March 14 is the latest; celebrated 42 days before Easter. (Orthodoxy)
    • Parinirvana Day (some Mahayana Buddhism traditions, most celebrate on February 15)
    • Prešeren Day (Slovenia)
    • Propose Day

  • January 9 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    January 9 in History

    • 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
    • 681 – Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain.
    • 1127 – Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin dynasty besiege and sack Bianjing (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty of China, and abduct Emperor Qinzong of Song and others, ending the Northern Song dynasty.
    • 1349 – The Jewish population of Basel, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated.
    • 1431 – The trial of Joan of Arc begins in Rouen.
    • 1760 – Ahmad Shah Durrani defeats the Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat.<refFrançois Xavier Wendel (1991). Wendel’s memoirs on the origin, growth and present state of Jat power in Hindustan (1768). Institut français de Pondichéry. p. 61.</ref>
    • 1788 – Connecticut becomes the fifth state to ratify the Constitution.
    • 1792 – Treaty of Jassy between Russian and Ottoman Empire is signed.
    • 1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
    • 1799 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain’s war effort in the Napoleonic Wars.
    • 1806 – Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul’s Cathedral.
    • 1816 – Humphry Davy tests his safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
    • 1822 – The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese King João VI, beginning the Brazilian independence process.
    • 1839 – The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
    • 1857 – The 7.9 Mw  Fort Tejon earthquake shakes Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).
    • 1858 – Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: “Star of the West” incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina.
    • 1861 – Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.
    • 1878 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy.
    • 1894 – New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
    • 1903 – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.
    • 1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
    • 1914 – The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity is founded by African-American students at Howard University in Washington D.C., United States.
    • 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.
    • 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Rafa is fought near the Egyptian border with Palestine.
    • 1918 – Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars.
    • 1921 – Greco-Turkish War: The First Battle of İnönü, the first battle of the war, begins near Eskişehir in Anatolia.
    • 1923 – Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.
    • 1923 – Lithuanian residents of the Memel Territory rebel against the League of Nations’ decision to leave the area as a mandated region under French control.
    • 1927 – A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, kills 78 children.
    • 1941 – World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Sixth United States Army begins the invasion of Lingayen Gulf.
    • 1957 – British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty.
    • 1960 – President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser opens construction on the Aswan Dam by detonating ten tons of dynamite to demolish twenty tons of granite on the east bank of the Nile.
    • 1961 – British authorities announce they have uncovered the Soviet Portland Spy Ring in London.
    • 1964 – Martyrs’ Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians.
    • 1965 – The Mirzapur Cadet College formally opens for academic activities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
    • 1991 – Representatives from the United States and Iraq meet at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
    • 1992 – The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of Republika Srpska, a new state within Yugoslavia.
    • 1992 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail. They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.
    • 1996 – First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launch a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turns into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.
    • 2004 – An inflatable boat carrying illegal Albanian emigrants stalls near the Karaburun Peninsula en route to Brindisi, Italy; exposure to the elements kills 28. This is the second deadliest marine disaster in Albanian history.
    • 2005 – Mahmoud Abbas wins the election to succeed Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority, replacing interim president Rawhi Fattouh.
    • 2005 – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War.
    • 2007 – Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco.
    • 2011 – Iran Air Flight 277 crashes near Urmia in the northwest of the country, killing 77 people.
    • 2014 – An explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials chemical plant in Yokkaichi, Japan, kills at least five people and injures 17 others.
    • 2015 – The perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris two days earlier are both killed after a hostage situation; a second hostage situation, related to the Charlie Hebdo shooting, occurs at a Jewish market in Vincennes.
    • 2015 – A mass poisoning at a funeral in Mozambique involving beer that was contaminated with Burkholderia gladioli leaves 75 dead and over 230 people ill.

    Births on January 9

    • 727 – Emperor Daizong of Tang (d. 779)
    • 1418 – Juan Ramón Folch III de Cardona, Aragonese admiral (d. 1485)
    • 1475 – Crinitus, Italian scholar and author (d. 1507)
    • 1554 – Pope Gregory XV (d. 1623)
    • 1571 – Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, French commander (d. 1621)
    • 1590 – Simon Vouet, French painter (d. 1649)
    • 1606 – William Dugard, English printer (d. 1662)
    • 1624 – Empress Meishō of Japan (d. 1696)
    • 1645 – Sir William Villiers, 3rd Baronet, English noble and politician (d. 1712)
    • 1674 – Reinhard Keiser, German composer (d. 1739)
    • 1685 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (d. 1766)
    • 1728 – Thomas Warton, English poet, historian, and critic (d. 1790)
    • 1735 – John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, English admiral and politician (d. 1823)
    • 1745 – Caleb Strong, American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1819)
    • 1753 – Luísa Todi, Portuguese soprano and actress (d. 1833)
    • 1773 – Cassandra Austen, English painter and illustrator (d. 1845)
    • 1778 – Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi, Turkish Ney player and composer (d. 1846)
    • 1811 – Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English journalist and author (d. 1856)
    • 1818 – Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (d. 1881)
    • 1819 – James Francis, English-Australian businessman and politician, 9th Premier of Victoria (d. 1884)
    • 1822 – Carol Benesch, Czech-Romanian architect, designed the Peleș Castle (d. 1896)
    • 1823 – Friedrich von Esmarch, German surgeon and academic (d. 1908)
    • 1829 – Thomas William Robertson, English director and playwright (d. 1871)
    • 1829 – Adolf Schlagintweit, German botanist and explorer (d. 1857)
    • 1832 – Félix-Gabriel Marchand, Canadian journalist and politician, 11th Premier of Quebec (d. 1900)
    • 1839 – John Knowles Paine, American composer and academic (d. 1906)
    • 1848 – Princess Frederica of Hanover (d. 1926)
    • 1849 – John Hartley, English tennis player (d. 1935)
    • 1854 – Lady Randolph Churchill, American-born wife of Lord Randolph Churchill, mother of Sir Winston Churchill (d. 1921)
    • 1856 – Anton Aškerc, Slovenian priest and poet (d. 1912)
    • 1859 – Carrie Chapman Catt, American activist, founded the League of Women Voters and International Alliance of Women (d. 1947)
    • 1864 – Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1926)
    • 1868 – S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist and academic (d. 1939)
    • 1870 – Joseph Strauss, American engineer, co-designed the Golden Gate Bridge (d. 1938)
    • 1873 – Hayim Nahman Bialik, Ukrainian-Austrian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1934)
    • 1873 – Thomas Curtis, American sprinter and hurdler (d. 1944)
    • 1873 – John Flanagan, Irish-American hammer thrower (d. 1938)
    • 1875 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (d. 1942)
    • 1879 – John B. Watson, American psychologist and academic (d. 1958)
    • 1881 – Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (d. 1938)
    • 1881 – Giovanni Papini, Italian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1956)
    • 1885 – Charles Bacon, American runner and hurdler (d. 1968)
    • 1886 – Lloyd Loar, American sound engineer and instrument designer (d. 1943)
    • 1889 – Vrindavan Lal Verma, Indian author and playwright (d. 1969)
    • 1890 – Karel Čapek, Czech author and playwright (d. 1938)
    • 1890 – Kurt Tucholsky, German-Swedish journalist and author (d. 1935)
    • 1891 – August Gailit, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1960)
    • 1892 – Eva Bowring, American lawyer and politician (d. 1985)
    • 1893 – Edwin Baker, Canadian soldier and educator, co-founded the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (d. 1968)
    • 1896 – Warwick Braithwaite, New Zealand-English conductor and director (d. 1971)
    • 1897 – Karl Löwith, German philosopher, author, and academic (d. 1973)
    • 1898 – Gracie Fields, English actress and singer (d. 1979)
    • 1899 – Harald Tammer, Estonian journalist and weightlifter (d. 1942)
    • 1900 – Richard Halliburton, American journalist and author (d. 1939)
    • 1901 – Vilma Bánky, Hungarian-American actress (d. 1991)
    • 1901 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (d. 1973)
    • 1902 – Rudolf Bing, American impresario and businessman (d. 1997)
    • 1902 – Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and saint, founded Opus Dei (d. 1975)
    • 1907 – Eldred G. Smith, American patriarch (d. 2013)
    • 1907 – Earl W. Renfroe, African American orthodontist, educator, and activist (d. 2000)
    • 1908 – Simone de Beauvoir, French philosopher and author (d. 1986)
    • 1909 – Anthony Mamo, Maltese lawyer and politician, 1st President of Malta (d. 2008)
    • 1909 – Patrick Peyton, Irish-American priest, television personality, and activist (d. 1992)
    • 1910 – Tom Evenson, English runner (d. 1997)
    • 1912 – Ralph Tubbs, English architect, designed the Dome of Discovery (d. 1996)
    • 1913 – Richard Nixon, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 37th President of the United States (d. 1994)
    • 1914 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer and bandleader (d. 1985)
    • 1915 – Anita Louise, American actress (d. 1970)
    • 1916 – Fernando Lamas, Argentinian-American actor, singer, and director (d. 1982)
    • 1916 – Vic Mizzy, American soldier, pianist, and composer (d. 2009)
    • 1918 – Alma Ziegler, American baseball player and golfer (d. 2005)
    • 1919 – William Morris Meredith, Jr., American poet and academic (d. 2007)
    • 1920 – Clive Dunn, English actor (d. 2012)
    • 1920 – Hakim Said, Pakistani scholar and politician, 20th Governor of Sindh (d. 1998)
    • 1921 – Ágnes Keleti, Hungarian Olympic gymnast
    • 1921 – Lister Sinclair, Indian-Canadian broadcaster and playwright (d. 2006)
    • 1922 – Har Gobind Khorana, Indian-American biochemist and academic, Nobel laureate (d. 2011)
    • 1922 – Ahmed Sékou Touré, Guinean politician, 1st President of Guinea (d. 1984)
    • 1924 – Sergei Parajanov, Georgian-Armenian director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
    • 1925 – Len Quested, English footballer defender and manager (d. 2012)
    • 1925 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (d. 1989)
    • 1926 – Jean-Pierre Côté, Canadian lawyer and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2002)
    • 1928 – Judith Krantz, American novelist (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer-songwriter, actor, and politician (d. 1994)
    • 1929 – Brian Friel, Irish author, playwright, and director (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Heiner Müller, German poet, playwright, and director (d. 1995)
    • 1931 – Algis Budrys, Lithuanian-American author and critic (d. 2008)
    • 1933 – Robert García, American soldier and politician (d. 2017)
    • 1933 – Roy Dwight, English footballer, outside forward
    • 1933 – Wilbur Smith, Zambian-English journalist and author
    • 1934 – Bart Starr, American football player and coach (d. 2019)
    • 1935 – Bob Denver, American actor (d. 2005)
    • 1935 – Dick Enberg, American sportscaster (d. 2017)
    • 1935 – John Graham, New Zealand rugby player and educator (d. 2017)
    • 1935 – Brian Harradine, Australian politician (d. 2014)
    • 1936 – Anne Rivers Siddons, American author
    • 1936 – Marko Veselica, Croatian academic and politician (d. 2017)
    • 1938 – Claudette Boyer, Canadian educator and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Susannah York, English actress and activist (d. 2011)
    • 1940 – Barbara Buczek, Polish composer (d. 1993)
    • 1940 – Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss journalist and politician, 86th President of the Swiss Confederation
    • 1941 – Joan Baez, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist
    • 1941 – Gilles Vaillancourt, Canadian politician
    • 1942 – John Dunning, American author
    • 1942 – Judy Malloy, American poet and author
    • 1943 – Robert Drewe, Australian author and playwright
    • 1943 – Elmer MacFadyen, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
    • 1943 – Scott Walker, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (d. 2019)
    • 1944 – Harun Farocki, German filmmaker (d. 2014)
    • 1944 – Jimmy Page, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1944 – Mihalis Violaris, Cypriot singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1945 – Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Syrian-Armenian scholar and politician, 1st President of Armenia
    • 1946 – Mohammad Ishaq Khan, Indian historian and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1946 – Mogens Lykketoft, Danish politician, 45th Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1947 – Ronnie Landfield, American painter and educator
    • 1948 – Bill Cowsill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
    • 1948 – Jan Tomaszewski, Polish footballer, manager, and politician
    • 1950 – Alec Jeffreys, English geneticist and academic
    • 1950 – David Johansen, American musician and actor
    • 1950 – Sandy Martin, American actress
    • 1951 – Crystal Gayle, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1952 – Kaushik Basu, Indian economist and academic
    • 1952 – Hugh Bayley, English politician
    • 1952 – Mike Capuano, American lawyer and politician
    • 1953 – Javad Alizadeh, Iranian cartoonist and painter
    • 1954 – Philippa Gregory, Kenyan-English author and academic
    • 1955 – Michiko Kakutani, American journalist and critic
    • 1955 – J.K. Simmons, American actor
    • 1956 – Waltraud Meier, German soprano and actress
    • 1956 – Imelda Staunton, English actress and singer
    • 1958 – Stephen Neale, English philosopher and academic
    • 1959 – Mark Martin, American race car driver and coach
    • 1959 – Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1959 – Otis Nixon, American baseball player
    • 1960 – Lisa Walters, Canadian golfer
    • 1961 – Didier Camberabero, French rugby player
    • 1961 – Oliver Goldstick, American screenwriter and producer
    • 1961 – Henry Omaga-Diaz, Filipino journalist
    • 1962 – Ray Houghton, Scottish-born footballer
    • 1963 – Irwin McLean, Northern Irish biologist and academic
    • 1964 – Stan Javier, Dominican baseball player and manager
    • 1965 – Iain Dowie, English-Northern Irish footballer and coach
    • 1965 – Eric Erlandson, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1965 – Haddaway, Trinidadian-German singer and musician
    • 1965 – Andrei Nazarov, Estonian decathlete and coach
    • 1965 – Joely Richardson, English actress
    • 1966 – Stephen Metcalfe, English politician
    • 1967 – Matt Bevin, American politician, 62nd governor of Kentucky
    • 1967 – Claudio Caniggia, Argentinian footballer
    • 1967 – Dave Matthews, South African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1967 – Gary Teichmann, South African rugby player
    • 1968 – Jimmy Adams, Jamaican cricketer and coach
    • 1968 – Joey Lauren Adams, American actress
    • 1968 – Mardi Lunn, Australian golfer
    • 1968 – Giorgos Theofanous, Greek-Cypriot composer and producer
    • 1970 – Lara Fabian, Belgian-Italian singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1971 – Angie Martinez, American rapper, actress, and radio host
    • 1971 – Hal Niedzviecki, Canadian author and critic
    • 1971 – Scott Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1972 – Jay Powell, American baseball player
    • 1972 – Rawson Stovall, American video game producer and author
    • 1973 – Sean Paul, Jamaican rapper, singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor
    • 1975 – James Beckford, Jamaican long jumper
    • 1976 – Radek Bonk, Czech ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Mathieu Garon, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Gennaro Gattuso, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1978 – Chad Johnson, American football player and actor
    • 1978 – AJ McLean, American singer
    • 1980 – Édgar Álvarez, Honduran footballer
    • 1980 – Sergio García, Spanish golfer
    • 1980 – Luke Patten, Australian rugby league player and referee
    • 1980 – Francisco Pavón, Spanish footballer
    • 1980 – Wang Zulan, Hong Kong singer
    • 1981 – Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer and manager
    • 1982 – Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
    • 1984 – Drew Brown, American musician and songwriter
    • 1984 – Benjamin Danso, German rugby player
    • 1985 – Juan Francisco Torres, Spanish footballer
    • 1986 – Jéferson Gomes, Brazilian footballer
    • 1986 – Uwe Hünemeier, German footballer
    • 1986 – Amanda Mynhardt, South African netball player
    • 1987 – Sam Bird, English race car driver
    • 1987 – Lucas Leiva, Brazilian footballer
    • 1987 – Paolo Nutini, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1987 – Jami Puustinen, Finnish footballer
    • 1988 – Katherine Copely, American ice dancer
    • 1988 – Marc Crosas, Spanish footballer
    • 1988 – Lee Yeon-hee, South Korean actress
    • 1989 – Michael Beasley, American basketball player
    • 1989 – Nina Dobrev, Bulgarian-Canadian actress
    • 1989 – Michaëlla Krajicek, Dutch tennis player
    • 1989 – Yana Maksimava, Belarusian heptathlete
    • 1989 – Chris Sandow, Australian rugby league player
    • 1989 – Jordan Turner, English rugby league player
    • 1990 – Justin Blackmon, American football player
    • 1991 – Edon Hasani, Albanian football player
    • 1991 – Alvaro Soler, Spanish singer-songwriter
    • 1993 – Katarina Johnson-Thompson, English long jumper and heptathlete
    • 1993 – Marcus Peters, American football player
    • 1993 – Kevin Korjus, Estonian race car driver
    • 1995 – Braden Uele, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1999 – Shannon Tavarez, American actress (d. 2010)

    Deaths on January 9

    • 710 – Adrian of Canterbury, abbot and scholar
    • 1150 – Emperor Xizong of Jin (b. 1119)
    • 1202 – Birger Brosa, Jarl of Sweden
    • 1282 – Abû ‘Uthmân Sa’îd ibn Hakam al Qurashi, Minorcan ruler (b. 1204)
    • 1283 – Wen Tianxiang, Chinese general and scholar (b. 1236)
    • 1367 – Giulia della Rena, Italian saint (b. 1319)
    • 1450 – Adam Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester
    • 1463 – William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent, English soldier (b. 1405)
    • 1499 – John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1455)
    • 1511 – Demetrios Chalkokondyles, Greek scholar and academic (b. 1423)
    • 1514 – Anne of Brittany, queen of Charles VIII of France and Louis XII of France (b. 1477)
    • 1529 – Wang Yangming, Chinese Neo-Confucian scholar (b. 1472)
    • 1534 – Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (b. 1477)
    • 1543 – Guillaume du Bellay, French general and diplomat (b. 1491)
    • 1561 – Amago Haruhisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1514)
    • 1571 – Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, French admiral (b. 1510)
    • 1598 – Jasper Heywood, English poet and scholar (b. 1553)
    • 1612 – Leonard Holliday, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1550)
    • 1622 – Alix Le Clerc, French Canoness Regular and foundress (b. 1576)
    • 1757 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1657)
    • 1762 – Antonio de Benavides, colonial governor of Florida (b. 1678)
    • 1766 – Thomas Birch, English historian and author (b. 1705)
    • 1799 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1718)
    • 1800 – Jean Étienne Championnet, French general (b. 1762)
    • 1805 – Noble Wimberly Jones, American physician and politician (b. 1723)
    • 1843 – William Hedley, English engineer (b. 1773)
    • 1848 – Caroline Herschel, German-English astronomer (b. 1750)
    • 1856 – Neophytos Vamvas, Greek cleric and educator (b. 1770)
    • 1858 – Anson Jones, American physician and politician; 4th President of the Republic of Texas (b. 1798)
    • 1873 – Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France (b. 1808)
    • 1876 – Samuel Gridley Howe, American physician and activist (b. 1801)
    • 1878 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (b. 1820)
    • 1895 – Aaron Lufkin Dennison, American-English businessman (b. 1812)
    • 1901 – Richard Copley Christie, English lawyer and academic (b. 1830)
    • 1908 – Wilhelm Busch, German poet, illustrator, and painter (b. 1832)
    • 1908 – Abraham Goldfaden, Russian actor, playwright, and author (b. 1840)
    • 1911 – Edwin Arthur Jones, American violinist and composer (b. 1853)
    • 1911 – Edvard Rusjan, Italian-Slovene pilot and engineer (b. 1886)
    • 1917 – Luther D. Bradley, American cartoonist (b. 1853)
    • 1918 – Charles-Émile Reynaud, French scientist and educator, invented the Praxinoscope (b. 1844)
    • 1923 – Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1888)
    • 1924 – Ponnambalam Arunachalam, Sri Lankan civil servant and politician (b. 1853)
    • 1927 – Houston Stewart Chamberlain, English-German philosopher and author (b. 1855)
    • 1930 – Edward Bok, Dutch-American journalist and author (b. 1863)
    • 1931 – Wayne Munn, American football player and wrestler (b. 1896)
    • 1936 – John Gilbert, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1899)
    • 1939 – Johann Strauss III, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1866)
    • 1941 – Dimitrios Golemis, Greek runner (b. 1874)
    • 1945 – Shigekazu Shimazaki, Japanese admiral and pilot (b. 1908)
    • 1945 – Jüri Uluots, Estonian journalist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1890)
    • 1945 – Osman Cemal Kaygılı, Turkish journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1890)
    • 1946 – Countee Cullen, American poet and playwright (b. 1903)
    • 1947 – Karl Mannheim, Hungarian-English sociologist and academic (b. 1893)
    • 1960 – Elsie J. Oxenham, English author and educator (b. 1880)
    • 1961 – Emily Greene Balch, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
    • 1964 – Halide Edib Adıvar, Turkish author and academic (b. 1884)
    • 1971 – Elmer Flick, American baseball player and scout (b. 1876)
    • 1972 – Ted Shawn, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1891)
    • 1975 – Pierre Fresnay, French actor and screenwriter (b. 1897)
    • 1975 – Pyotr Novikov, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1901)
    • 1979 – Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian engineer and architect, designed the Tour de la Bourse and Pirelli Tower (b. 1891)
    • 1981 – Kazimierz Serocki, Polish pianist and composer (b. 1922)
    • 1984 – Bob Dyer, American-Australian radio and television host (b. 1909)
    • 1985 – Robert Mayer, German-English businessman and philanthropist (b. 1879)
    • 1987 – Arthur Lake, American actor (b. 1905)
    • 1988 – Peter L. Rypdal, Norwegian fiddler and composer (b. 1909)
    • 1989 – Bill Terry, American baseball player and manager (b. 1898)
    • 1990 – Spud Chandler, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1907)
    • 1990 – Cemal Süreya, Turkish poet and journalist (b. 1931)
    • 1992 – Steve Brodie, American actor (b. 1919)
    • 1992 – Bill Naughton, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1910)
    • 1993 – Paul Hasluck, Australian historian and politician, 17th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1905)
    • 1994 – Johnny Temple, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1927)
    • 1995 – Souphanouvong, Laotian politician, 1st President of Laos (b. 1909)
    • 1995 – Peter Cook, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1937)
    • 1996 – Walter M. Miller, Jr., American soldier and author (b. 1923)
    • 1996 – Abdullah al-Qasemi, Saudi atheist, writer, and intellectual (b. 1907)
    • 1997 – Edward Osóbka-Morawski, Polish politician, Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1909)
    • 1997 – Jesse White, American actor (b. 1917)
    • 1998 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
    • 1998 – Imi Lichtenfeld, Slovakian-Israeli martial artist, founded Krav Maga (b. 1910)
    • 2000 – Arnold Alexander Hall, English engineer and academic (b. 1915)
    • 2000 – Nigel Tranter, Scottish historian and author (b. 1909)
    • 2001 – Maurice Prather, American photographer and director (b. 1926)
    • 2003 – Will McDonough, American journalist (b. 1935)
    • 2004 – Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher and academic (b. 1909)
    • 2006 – Andy Caldecott, Australian motorcycle racer (b. 1964)
    • 2006 – W. Cleon Skousen, American author and academic (b. 1913)
    • 2007 – Elmer Symons, South African motorcycle racer (b. 1977)
    • 2007 – Jean-Pierre Vernant, French anthropologist and historian (b. 1914)
    • 2008 – Johnny Grant, American radio host and producer (b. 1923)
    • 2008 – John Harvey-Jones, English businessman and television host (b. 1924)
    • 2009 – Rob Gauntlett, English mountaineer and explorer (b. 1987)
    • 2009 – T. Llew Jones, Welsh author and poet (b. 1914)
    • 2011 – Makinti Napanangka, Australian painter (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – Brian Curvis, Welsh boxer (b. 1937)
    • 2012 – Augusto Gansser-Biaggi, Swiss geologist and academic (b. 1910)
    • 2012 – William G. Roll, German-American psychologist and parapsychologist (b. 1926)
    • 2012 – Malam Bacai Sanhá, Guinea-Bissau politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1947)
    • 2012 – László Szekeres, Hungarian physician and academic (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Brigitte Askonas, Austrian-English immunologist and academic (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – James M. Buchanan, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
    • 2013 – Robert L. Rock, American businessman and politician, 42nd Lieutenant Governor of Indiana (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – John Wise, Canadian farmer and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Agriculture (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Amiri Baraka, American poet, playwright, and academic (b. 1934)
    • 2014 – Josep Maria Castellet, Spanish poet and critic (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Paul du Toit, South African painter and sculptor (b. 1965)
    • 2014 – Dale T. Mortensen, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1939)
    • 2015 – Michel Jeury, French author (b. 1934)
    • 2015 – Robert V. Keeley, Lebanese-American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Greece (b. 1929)
    • 2015 – Józef Oleksy, Polish economist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1946)
    • 2015 – Bud Paxson, American broadcaster and businessman, founded the Home Shopping Network and Pax TV (b. 1935)
    • 2015 – Abdul Rahman Ya’kub, Malaysian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Roy Tarpley, American basketball player (b. 1964)
    • 2016 – John Harvard, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (b. 1938)
    • 2016 – Angus Scrimm, American actor and author (b. 1926)
    • 2017 – Zygmunt Bauman, Polish sociologist (b. 1925)
    • 2018 – Kato Ottio, Papua New Guinean rugby league player (b. 1994)
    • 2019 – Verna Bloom, American actress (b. 1938)
    • 2019 – Paul Koslo, German-Canadian actor (b. 1944)

    Holidays and observances on January 9

    • Christian feast day:
      • Adrian of Canterbury
      • Berhtwald
      • Translation of the Black Nazarene (Manila, Philippines)
      • Philip II, Metropolitan of Moscow
      • Julia Chester Emery (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Stephen (old calendar Eastern Orthodox)
      • January 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Start of Hōonkō (Nishi Honganji) January 9–16 (Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism)
    • Martyrs’ Day (Panama)
    • Non-Resident Indian Day (India)

  • January 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    During the Middle Ages under the influence of the Catholic Church, many countries in western Europe decided to move the start of the year to one of several important Christian festivals – December 25 (the Nativity of Jesus), March 1, March 25 (the Annunciation), or even Easter. The Byzantine Empire began its numbered year on September 1.

    In England, January 1 was celebrated as the New Year festival, but from the 12th century to 1752 the year in England began on March 25 (Lady Day). So, for example, the Parliamentary record notes the execution of Charles I as occurring on January 30, 1648, (as the year did not end until March 24), although modern histories adjust the start of the year to January 1 and record the execution as occurring in 1649.

    Most western European countries changed the start of the year to January 1 before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. For example, Scotland changed the start of the Scottish New Year to January 1 in 1600. England, Ireland and the British colonies changed the start of the year to January 1 in 1752. Later that year in September, the Gregorian calendar was introduced throughout Britain and the British colonies. These two reforms were implemented by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.

    January 1 became the official start of the year as follows:

    Julian calendar:

    • 1544 Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
    • 1556 Spain, Portugal
    • 1559 Prussia, Sweden
    • 1564 France
    • 1576 Southern Netherlands
    • 1579 Duchy of Lorraine
    • 1583 Northern Netherlands
    • 1600 Scotland
    • 1700 Russia
    • 1752 Great Britain (excluding Scotland) and its colonies
    • 1804 Serbia

    Gregorian calendar:

    • 1750 Tuscany
    • 1797 Republic of Venice
    • 1918 Ottoman Empire
    • 1941 Thailand

    Events on January 1

    Pre-Julian Roman calendar

    • 153 BC – For the first time, Roman consuls begin their year in office on January 1.

    Early Julian calendar (before Augustus’ leap year correction)

    • 45 BC – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year.
    • 42 BC – The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar.

    Julian calendar

    • 193 – The Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman emper]or.
    • 404 – Saint Telemachus tries to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and is stoned to death by the crowd. This act impresses the Christian Emperor Honorius, who issues a historic ban on gladiatorial fights.
    • 417 – Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militum) (probable).
    • 1001 – Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II (probable).
    • 1068 – Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa and is crowned Byzantine Emperor.
    • 1259 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.
    • 1438 – Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.
    • 1502 – The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is first explored by the Portuguese.
    • 1515 – Twenty-year-old Francis, Duke of Brittany, succeeds to the French throne following the death of his father-in-law, Louis XII.
    • 1527 – Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as King of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin.
    • 1583 to 1700 – see January 11
    • 1600 – Scotland recognises January 1 as the start of the year, instead of March 25.
    • 1651 – Charles II is crowned King of Scotland.
    • 1700 – Russia begins using the Anno Domini era instead of the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.
    • 1701 to 1800 – see January 12
    • 1801 to 1900 – see January 13
    • 1901 to 2100 – see January 14

    Gregorian calendar

    • 1707 – John V is proclaimed King of Portugal and the Algarves in Lisbon.
    • 1739 – Bouvet Island, the world’s remotest island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
    • 1772 – The first traveler’s cheques, which could be used in 90 European cities, were issued by the London Credit Exchange Company.
    • 1773 – The hymn that became known as “Amazing Grace”, then titled “1 Chronicles 17:16–17” is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
    • 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Norfolk, Virginia is burned by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.
    • 1776 – General George Washington hoists the first United States flag; the Grand Union Flag at Prospect Hill.
    • 1781 – American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne’s command rebel against the Continental Army’s winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781.
    • 1788 – First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
    • 1801 – The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is proclaimed.
    • 1801 – Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
    • 1803 – Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam.
    • 1804 – French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black-majority republic and second independent country in North America after the United States.
    • 1806 – The French Republican Calendar is abolished.
    • 1808 – The United States bans the importation of slaves.
    • 1810 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales.
    • 1822 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
    • 1847 – The world’s first “Mercy” Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh, United States, by a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland; the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.
    • 1860 – The first Polish stamp is issued, replacing the Russian stamps previously in use.
    • 1861 – Liberal forces supporting Benito Juárez enter Mexico City.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.
    • 1877 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.
    • 1885 – Twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming’s proposal for standard time (and also, time zones).
    • 1890 – Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government
    • 1892 – Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the United States.
    • 1898 – New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
    • 1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
    • 1901 – Nigeria becomes a British protectorate
    • 1901 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister
    • 1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California.
    • 1910 – Captain David Beatty is promoted to Rear admiral, and becomes the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal family members) since Horatio Nelson.
    • 1912 – The Republic of China is established.
    • 1914 – The SPT Airboat Line becomes the world’s first scheduled airline to use a winged aircraft.
    • 1923 – Britain’s Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS.
    • 1927 – New Mexican oil legislation goes into effect, leading to the formal outbreak of the Cristero War.
    • 1928 – Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin’s secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc.
    • 1929 – The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver.
    • 1932 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth.
    • 1934 – Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay becomes a United States federal prison.
    • 1934 – A “Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring” comes into effect in Nazi Germany.
    • 1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
    • 1945 – World War II: In retaliation for the Malmedy massacre, U.S. troops kill 60 German POWs at Chenogne.
    • 1945 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow.
    • 1947 – Cold War: The American and British occupation zones in Allied-occupied Germany, after World War II, merge to form the Bizone, which later (with the French zone) became part of West Germany.
    • 1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens.Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.
    • 1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways.
    • 1949 – United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.
    • 1956 – Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.
    • 1957 – George Town, Penang, is made a city by a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
    • 1958 – European Economic Community is established.
    • 1959 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro’s forces.
    • 1960 – Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom.
    • 1962 – Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa.
    • 1964 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.
    • 1965 – The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul, Afghanistan.
    • 1970 – The defined beginning of Unix time, at 00:00:00.
    • 1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
    • 1973 – Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom are admitted into the European Economic Community.
    • 1976 – A bomb explodes on board Middle East Airlines Flight 438 over Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 81 people on board.
    • 1978 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea, due to instrument failure, spatial disorientation, and pilot error, off the coast of Bombay, India, killing all 213 people on board.
    • 1979 – Normal diplomatic relations are established between the People’s Republic of China and the United States.
    • 1981 – Greece is admitted into the European Community.
    • 1982 – Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations.
    • 1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using TCP/IP, the Internet Protocol, effectively creating the Internet.
    • 1984 – The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T.
    • 1984 – Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
    • 1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone.
    • 1987 – The Isleta Pueblo tribe elect Verna Williamson to be their first female governor.
    • 1988 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
    • 1989 – The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion.
    • 1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City’s first black mayor.
    • 1993 – Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.
    • 1994 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
    • 1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect.
    • 1995 – The World Trade Organization comes into being.
    • 1995 – The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.
    • 1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU.
    • 1998 – Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
    • 1999 – Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden; Greece later adopts the euro).
    • 2004 – In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is “deemed to be elected” to the office of President until October 2007.
    • 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania join the EU.
    • 2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes near the Makassar Strait, Indonesia killing all 102 people on board.
    • 2009 – Sixty-six people die in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
    • 2010 – A suicide car bomber detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more.
    • 2011 – A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing 23 people.
    • 2011 – Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone country.
    • 2013 – At least 60 people are killed and 200 injured in a stampede after celebrations at Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
    • 2015 – The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
    • 2017 – An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year’s celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 60 others

    Births on January 1

    • 766 – Ali al-Ridha (d. 818) 8th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam
    • 1431 – Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)
    • 1449 – Lorenzo de’ Medici, Italian politician (d. 1492)
    • 1467 – Sigismund I the Old, Polish king (d. 1548)
    • 1484 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss pastor and theologian (d. 1531)
    • 1511 – Henry, Duke of Cornwall, first-born child of Henry VIII of England (d. 1511)
    • 1557 – Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1606)
    • 1600 – Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1649)
    • 1628 – Christoph Bernhard, German composer and theorist (d. 1692)
    • 1655 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist and philosopher (d. 1728)
    • 1684 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch scholar and author (d. 1748)
    • 1704 – Soame Jenyns, English author, poet, and politician (d. 1787)
    • 1711 – Baron Franz von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (d. 1749)
    • 1714 – Giovanni Battista Mancini, Italian soprano and author (d. 1800)
    • 1714 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian pastor and poet (d. 1780)
    • 1735 – Paul Revere, American silversmith and engraver (d. 1818)
    • 1745 – Anthony Wayne, American general and politician (d. 1796)
    • 1752 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, credited with designing the Flag of the United States (d. 1836)
    • 1768 – Maria Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish author (d. 1849)
    • 1769 – Marie-Louise Lachapelle, French obstetrician (d. 1821)
    • 1774 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist and academic (d. 1860)
    • 1779 – William Clowes, English publisher (d. 1847)
    • 1803 – Edward Dickinson, American politician and father of poet Emily Dickinson (d. 1874)
    • 1806 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (d. 1853)
    • 1809 – Achille Guenée, French lawyer and entomologist (d. 1880)
    • 1813 – George Bliss, American politician (d. 1868)
    • 1814 – Hong Xiuquan, Chinese rebellion leader and king (d. 1864)
    • 1818 – William Gamble, Irish-born American general (d. 1866)
    • 1819 – Arthur Hugh Clough, English-Italian poet and academic (d. 1861)
    • 1819 – George Foster Shepley, American general (d. 1878)
    • 1823 – Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and activist (d. 1849)
    • 1833 – Robert Lawson, Scottish-New Zealand architect, designed the Otago Boys’ High School and Knox Church (d. 1902)
    • 1834 – Ludovic Halévy, French author and playwright (d. 1908)
    • 1839 – Ouida, English-Italian author and activist (d. 1908)
    • 1848 – John W. Goff, Irish-American lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
    • 1852 – Eugène-Anatole Demarçay, French chemist and academic (d. 1904)
    • 1854 – James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist and academic (d. 1941)
    • 1854 – Thomas Waddell, Irish-Australian politician, 15th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1940)
    • 1857 – Tim Keefe, American baseball player (d. 1933)
    • 1859 – Michael Joseph Owens, American inventor (d. 1923)
    • 1859 – Thibaw Min, Burmese king (d. 1916)
    • 1860 – Michele Lega, Italian cardinal (d. 1935)
    • 1863 – Pierre de Coubertin, French historian, and educator, founded the International Olympic Committee (d. 1937)
    • 1864 – Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer, and curator (d. 1946)
    • 1864 – Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (d. 1957)
    • 1867 – Mary Ackworth Evershed, English astronomer and scholar (d. 1949)
    • 1874 – Frank Knox, American publisher, and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1944)
    • 1874 – Gustave Whitehead, German-American pilot and engineer (d. 1927)
    • 1877 – Alexander von Staël-Holstein, German sinologist and orientalist (d. 1937)
    • 1878 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician, statistician, and engineer (d. 1929)
    • 1879 – E. M. Forster, English author and playwright (d. 1970)
    • 1879 – William Fox, Hungarian-American screenwriter and producer, founded the Fox Film Corporation and Fox Theatres (d. 1952)
    • 1883 – William J. Donovan, American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1959)
    • 1884 – Chikuhei Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant, engineer, and politician, founded Nakajima Aircraft Company (d. 1949)
    • 1887 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d. 1945)
    • 1888 – Georgios Stanotas, Greek general (d. 1965)
    • 1888 – John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand rifle (d. 1974)
    • 1889 – Charles Bickford, American actor (d. 1967)
    • 1890 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer and academic (d. 1966)
    • 1891 – Sampurnanand, Indian educator and politician, 3rd Governor of Rajasthan (d. 1969)
    • 1892 – Mahadev Desai, Indian author and activist (d. 1942)
    • 1892 – Manuel Roxas, Filipino lawyer and politician, 5th President of the Philippines (d. 1948)
    • 1893 – Mordechai Frizis, Greek colonel (d. 1940)
    • 1894 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist, and mathematician (d. 1974)
    • 1894 – Edward Joseph Hunkeler, American clergyman (d. 1970)
    • 1895 – J. Edgar Hoover, American law enforcement official; 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 1972)
    • 1900 – Chiune Sugihara, Japanese soldier and diplomat (d. 1986)
    • 1900 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1990)
    • 1902 – Buster Nupen, Norwegian-South African cricketer and lawyer (d. 1977)
    • 1902 – Hans von Dohnányi, German jurist and political dissident (d. 1945)
    • 1904 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th President of Pakistan (d. 1982)
    • 1905 – Stanisław Mazur, Ukrainian-Polish mathematician and theorist (d. 1981)
    • 1906 – Manuel Silos, Filipino filmmaker, and actor (d. 1988)
    • 1907 – Kinue Hitomi, Japanese sprinter and long jumper (d. 1931)
    • 1909 – Dana Andrews, American actor (d. 1992)
    • 1909 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (d. 1959)
    • 1911 – Audrey Wurdemann, American poet and author (d. 1960)
    • 1911 – Basil Dearden, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1971)
    • 1911 – Hank Greenberg, American baseball player (d. 1986)
    • 1911 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1912 – Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1995)
    • 1912 – Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988)
    • 1912 – Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet and academic (d. 1991)
    • 1914 – Noor Inayat Khan, British SOE agent (d. 1944)
    • 1917 – Shannon Bolin, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
    • 1918 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2000)
    • 1918 – Willy den Ouden, Dutch swimmer (d. 1997)
    • 1919 – Carole Landis, American actress (d. 1948)
    • 1919 – J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (d. 2010)
    • 1919 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer and actor (d. 1990)
    • 1920 – Osvaldo Cavandoli, Italian cartoonist (d. 2007)
    • 1921 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor and academic (d. 1998)
    • 1921 – Ismail al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American philosopher and academic (d. 1986)
    • 1921 – Regina Bianchi, Italian actress (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Ernest Hollings, American soldier, and politician, 106th Governor of South Carolina (d. 2019)
    • 1923 – Valentina Cortese, Italian actress (d. 2019)
    • 1923 – Milt Jackson, American jazz vibraphonist and composer (d. 1999)
    • 1924 – Francisco Macías Nguema, Equatorial Guinean politician, 1st President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (d. 1979)
    • 1925 – Matthew Beard, American child actor (d. 1981)
    • 1925 – Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and diplomat, 1st Tanzanian Minister of Finance (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Kazys Petkevičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (d. 2008)
    • 1927 – Doak Walker, American football player and businessman (d. 1998)
    • 1927 – James Reeb, American clergyman and political activist (d. 1965)
    • 1927 – Maurice Béjart, French-Swiss dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 2007)
    • 1927 – Vernon L. Smith, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1928 – Ernest Tidyman, American author and screenwriter (d. 1984)
    • 1928 – Gerhard Weinberg, German-American historian, author, and academic
    • 1929 – Larry L. King, American journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – Frederick Wiseman, American director and producer
    • 1930 – Gaafar Nimeiry, Egyptian-Sudanese politician, 4th President of the Sudan (d. 2009)
    • 1932 – Giuseppe Patanè, Italian conductor (d. 1989)
    • 1933 – James Hormel, American philanthropist and diplomat.
    • 1933 – Joe Orton, English dramatist (d. 1967)
    • 1934 – Alan Berg, American lawyer and radio host (d. 1984
    • 1934 – Lakhdar Brahimi, Algerian politician, Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1935 – Om Prakash Chautala, Indian politician
    • 1936 – James Sinegal, American businessman, co-founded Costco
    • 1939 – Michèle Mercier, French actress
    • 1939 – Phil Read, English motorcycle racer and businessman
    • 1939 – Senfronia Thompson, American politician
    • 1941 – Younoussi Touré, Malian politician, Prime Minister of Mali
    • 1942 – Alassane Ouattara, Ivorian economist and politician, President of the Ivory Coast (doubtful)
    • 1942 – Anthony Hamilton-Smith, 3rd Baron Colwyn, English dentist and politician
    • 1942 – Country Joe McDonald, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1942 – Dennis Archer, American lawyer and politician, 67th Mayor of Detroit
    • 1942 – Gennadi Sarafanov, Russian pilot and cosmonaut (d. 2005)
    • 1943 – Don Novello, American comedian, screenwriter and producer.
    • 1943 – Tony Knowles, American soldier and politician, 7th Governor of Alaska.
    • 1943 – Vladimir Šeks, Croatian lawyer and politician, 16th Speaker of the Croatian Parliament
    • 1944 – Mati Unt, Estonian author, playwright, and director (d. 2005)
    • 1944 – Omar al-Bashir, Sudanese field marshal and politician, 7th President of Sudan
    • 1944 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (d. 2013)
    • 1944 – Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Pakistani field hockey player and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan
    • 1945 – Jacky Ickx, Belgian racing driver
    • 1945 – Victor Ashe, American politician and former United States Ambassador to Poland
    • 1946 – Claude Steele, American social psychologist and academic
    • 1946 – Rivellino, Brazilian footballer and manager
    • 1947 – Jon Corzine, American sergeant and politician, 54th Governor of New Jersey
    • 1948 – Devlet Bahçeli, Turkish economist, academic, and politician, 57th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
    • 1948 – Dick Quax, New Zealand runner and politician (d. 2018)
    • 1948 – Pavel Grachev, Russian general and politician, 1st Russian Minister of Defence (d. 2012)
    • 1949 – Borys Tarasyuk, Ukrainian politician and diplomat
    • 1952 – Shaji N. Karun, Indian director and cinematographer
    • 1953 – Gary Johnson, American businessman and politician, 29th Governor of New Mexico
    • 1954 – Bob Menendez, American lawyer and politician
    • 1954 – Dennis O’Driscoll, Irish poet and critic (d. 2012)
    • 1954 – Yannis Papathanasiou, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Finance
    • 1955 – LaMarr Hoyt, American baseball player
    • 1955 – Mary Beard, English classicist, academic and presenter
    • 1956 – Sergei Avdeyev, Russian engineer and astronaut
    • 1956 – Christine Lagarde, French lawyer and politician; Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
    • 1957 – Evangelos Venizelos, Greek lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece
    • 1958 – Grandmaster Flash, Barbadian rapper and DJ
    • 1959 – Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghan colonel, pilot, and astronaut
    • 1959 – Azali Assoumani, Comorian colonel and politician, President of the Comoros
    • 1959 – Panagiotis Giannakis, Greek basketball player and coach
    • 1962 – Anton Muscatelli, Italian-Scottish economist and academic
    • 1963 – Jean-Marc Gounon, French racing driver
    • 1964 – Dedee Pfeiffer, American actress
    • 1966 – Anna Burke, Australian businesswoman and politician, 28th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
    • 1966 – Ivica Dačić, Serbian journalist and politician, 95th Prime Minister of Serbia
    • 1966 – Tihomir Orešković, Croatian–Canadian businessman, 11th Prime Minister of Croatia
    • 1968 – Davor Šuker, Croatian footballer
    • 1971 – Bobby Holík, Czech-American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1971 – Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, Indian politician
    • 1971 – Sammie Henson, American wrestler and coach
    • 1972 – Lilian Thuram, French footballer
    • 1974 – Christian Paradis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Industry
    • 1975 – Becky Kellar-Duke, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1975 – Chris Anstey, Australian basketball player and coach
    • 1975 – Fernando Tatís, Dominican baseball player
    • 1975 – Joe Cannon, American soccer player and sportscaster
    • 1979 – Vidya Balan, Indian actress
    • 1981 – Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian racing driver
    • 1981 – Mladen Petrić, Croatian footballer
    • 1982 – David Nalbandian, Argentinian tennis player
    • 1982 – Egidio Arévalo Ríos, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1983 – Melaine Walker, Jamaican hurdler
    • 1983 – Park Sung-hyun, South Korean archer
    • 1983 – Calum Davenport, English footballer
    • 1984 – Paolo Guerrero, Peruvian footballer
    • 1985 – Steven Davis, Northern Irish footballer
    • 1985 – Tiago Splitter, Brazilian basketball player
    • 1986 – Pablo Cuevas, Uruguayan tennis player
    • 1986 – Ramses Barden, American football player
    • 1987 – Meryl Davis, American ice dancer1987 – Patric Hörnqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Marcel Gecov, Czech footballer
    • 1989 – Jason Pierre-Paul, American football player
    • 1991 – Darius Slay, American football player

    Deaths on January 1

    • 138 – Lucius Aelius, adopted son and intended successor of Hadrian (b. 101)
    • 404 – Telemachus, Christian monk and martyr
    • 466 – Qianfei, Chinese emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty (b. 449)
    • 898 – Odo I, Frankish king (b. 860)
    • 951 – Ramiro II, king of León and Galicia1031 – William of Volpiano, Italian abbot (b. 962)
    • 1189 – Henry of Marcy, Cistercian abbot (b. c. 1136)
    • 1204 – Haakon III, king of Norway (b. 1182)
    • 1387 – Charles II, king of Navarre (b. 1332)
    • 1496 – Charles d’Orléans, count of Angoulême (b. 1459)
    • 1515 – Louis XII, king of France (b. 1462)
    • 1559 – Christian III, king of Denmark (b. 1503)
    • 1560 – Joachim du Bellay, French poet and critic (b. 1522)
    • 1617 – Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1558)
    • 1697 – Filippo Baldinucci, Florentine historian and author (b. 1625)
    • 1716 – William Wycherley, English playwright and poet (b. 1641)
    • 1748 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and academic (b. 1667)
    • 1780 – Johann Ludwig Krebs, German organist and composer (b. 1713)
    • 1782 – Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
    • 1789 – Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English lawyer and politician, British Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1716)
    • 1793 – Francesco Guardi, Italian painter and educator (b. 1712)
    • 1817 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist and academic (b. 1743)
    • 1846 – John Torrington, English sailor and explorer (b. 1825)
    • 1853 – Gregory Blaxland, Australian farmer and explorer (b. 1778)
    • 1862 – Mikhail Ostrogradsky, Ukrainian mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)
    • 1881 – Louis Auguste Blanqui, French activist (b. 1805)
    • 1892 – Roswell B. Mason, American lawyer and politician, 25th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
    • 1894 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist and academic (b. 1857)
    • 1896 – Alfred Ely Beach, American publisher and lawyer, created the Beach Pneumatic Transit (b. 1826)
    • 1906 – Hugh Nelson, Scottish-Australian farmer and politician, 11th Premier of Queensland (b. 1833)
    • 1918 – William Wilfred Campbell, Canadian poet and author (b. 1858)
    • 1921 – Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, German lawyer and politician, 5th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1856)
    • 1929 – Mustafa Necati, Turkish civil servant and politician, Turkish Minister of Environment and Urban Planning (b. 1894)
    • 1931 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (b. 1851)
    • 1937 – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (b. 1874)
    • 1940 – Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao, Indian author and educator (b. 1865)
    • 1944 – Edwin Lutyens, English architect, designed the Castle Drogo and Thiepval Memorial (b. 1869)
    • 1944 – Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862)
    • 1953 – Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
    • 1954 – Duff Cooper, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1890)
    • 1954 – Leonard Bacon, American poet and critic (b. 1887)
    • 1955 – Arthur C. Parker, American archaeologist and historian (b. 1881)
    • 1960 – Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b. 1909)
    • 1966 – Vincent Auriol, French journalist and politician, 16th President of the French Republic (b. 1884)
    • 1969 – Barton MacLane, American actor, playwright and screenwriter (b. 1902)
    • 1971 – Amphilochius of Pochayiv, Ukrainian saint (b. 1894)
    • 1972 – Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
    • 1978 – Carle Hessay, German-Canadian painter (b. 1911)
    • 1980 – Pietro Nenni, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1891)
    • 1981 – Hephzibah Menuhin, American-Australian pianist (b. 1920)
    • 1982 – Victor Buono, American actor (b. 1938)
    • 1984 – Alexis Korner, French-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
    • 1992 – Grace Hopper, American computer scientist and admiral, co-developed COBOL (b. 1906)
    • 1994 – Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt, New Zealand physician and politician, 11th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1900)
    • 1994 – Cesar Romero, American actor (b. 1907)
    • 1994 – Edward Arthur Thompson, Irish historian and academic (b. 1914)
    • 1995 – Eugene Wigner, Hungarian-American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
    • 1996 – Arleigh Burke, American admiral (b. 1901)
    • 1996 – Arthur Rudolph, German-American engineer (b. 1906)
    • 1997 – Townes Van Zandt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1944)
    • 1998 – Helen Wills, American tennis player and coach (b. 1905)
    • 2000 – Betty Archdale, English-Australian cricketer and educator (b. 1907)
    • 2001 – Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
    • 2002 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (b. 1944)
    • 2003 – Joe Foss, American soldier, pilot, and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1915)
    • 2005 – Shirley Chisholm, American educator and politician (b. 1924)
    • 2006 – Harry Magdoff, American economist and journalist (b. 1913)
    • 2007 – Roland Levinsky, South African-English biochemist and academic (b. 1943)
    • 2007 – Tillie Olsen, American short story writer (b. 1912)
    • 2008 – Pratap Chandra Chunder, Indian educator and politician (b. 1919)
    • 2009 – Claiborne Pell, American politician (b. 1918)
    • 2010 – Lhasa de Sela, American-Mexican singer-songwriter (b. 1972)
    • 2012 – Kiro Gligorov, Bulgarian-Macedonian lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Nay Win Maung, Burmese physician, businessman, and activist (b. 1962)
    • 2012 – Tommy Mont, American football player and coach (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, English journalist (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – Patti Page, American singer and actress (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – Higashifushimi Kunihide, Japanese monk and educator (b. 1910)
    • 2014 – Juanita Moore, American actress (b. 1914)
    • 2014 – William Mgimwa, Tanzanian banker and politician, 13th Tanzanian Minister of Finance (b. 1950)
    • 2015 – Boris Morukov, Russian physician and astronaut (b. 1950)
    • 2015 – Donna Douglas, American actress (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Mario Cuomo, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New York (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Omar Karami, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 58th Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1934)
    • 2016 – Dale Bumpers, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 38th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1925)
    • 2016 – Fazu Aliyeva, Russian poet and journalist (b. 1932)
    • 2016 – Vilmos Zsigmond, Hungarian-American cinematographer and producer (b. 1930)
    • 2017 – Derek Parfit, British philosopher (b. 1942)
    • 2017 – Tony Atkinson, British economist (b. 1944)
    • 2017 – Yvon Dupuis, Canadian politician (b. 1926)
    • 2018 – Robert Mann, American violinist (b. 1920)
    • 2019 – Pegi Young, American singer, songwriter, environmentalist, educator and philanthropist (b. 1952)
    • 2019 – Paul Neville, Australian politician (b. 1940)
    • 2020 – David Stern, American lawyer and businessman (b. 1942)
    • 2020 – Alexander Frater, British travel writer and journalist (b. 1937)
    • 2020 – Barry McDonald, Australian rugby union player (b. 1940)

    Holidays and observances on January 1

    • Christian feast day:
      • Adalard of Corbie
      • Basil the Great (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
        • Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church)
        • Feast of Fools (Medieval Europe)
      • Fulgentius of Ruspe
      • Giuseppe Maria Tomasi
      • Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the Octave Day of Christmas, considered a holy day of obligation in some countries (Catholic Church); and its related observances:
        • World Day of Peace
      • Telemachus
      • Zygmunt Gorazdowski
      • January 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Handsel Monday can fall, while January 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of the year (Scotland)
    • The second day of Hogmanay (Scotland) December 31-January 1, in some cases until January 2.
    • The last day of Kwanzaa (African-Americans)
    • The eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
    • Constitution Day (Italy)
    • Dissolution of Czechoslovakia-related observances:
      • Day of the Establishment of the Slovak Republic (Slovakia)
      • Restoration Day of the Independent Czech State (Czech Republic)
    • Emancipation Day (United States)
    • Euro Day (European Union)
    • Flag Day (Lithuania) commemorates raising of the Lithuanian flag on Gediminas’ Tower in 1919
    • Founding Day (Taiwan) commemorates the establishment of the Provisional Government in Nanjing
    • Global Family Day
    • Independence Day (Brunei, Cameroon, Haiti, Sudan)
    • International Nepali Dhoti and Nepali Topi Day
    • Jump-up Day (Montserrat)
    • Kalpataru Day (Ramakrishna Movement)
    • Kamakura Ebisu, January 1–3 (Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan)
    • National Bloody Mary Day (United States)
    • National Tree Planting Day (Tanzania)
    • New Year’s Day (Gregorian calendar)
      • Japanese New Year
      • Novy God Day (Russia)
      • Sjoogwachi (Okinawa Islands)
    • Polar Bear Swim Day (Canada and United States)
    • Public Domain Day (multiple countries)
    • Triumph of the Revolution (Cuba)