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February 9 in History
- 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland.
- 1555 – Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake.
- 1621 – Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.
- 1654 – The Capture of Fort Rocher takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.
- 1778 – Rhode Island becomes the fourth US state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
- 1788 – The Habsburg Empire joins the Russo-Turkish War in the Russian camp.
- 1825 – After no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the US presidential election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as President of the United States.
- 1849 – The new Roman Republic is declared.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
- 1870 – US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau.
- 1889 – US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.
- 1895 – William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball.
- 1900 – The Davis Cup competition is established.
- 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur concludes.
- 1907 – The Mud March is the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
- 1913 – A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of North and South America, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth.
- 1920 – Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized.
- 1922 – Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1934 – The Balkan Entente is formed.
- 1941 – World War II: The Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy, is struck by a bomb which fails to detonate.
- 1942 – World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
- 1942 – Year-round Daylight saving time (aka War Time) is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.
- 1943 – World War II: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal.
- 1945 – World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: HMS Venturer sinks U-864 off the coast of Fedje, Norway, in a rare instance of submarine-to-submarine combat.
- 1945 – World War II: A force of Allied aircraft unsuccessfully attacked a German destroyer in Førdefjorden, Norway.
- 1950 – Second Red Scare: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists.
- 1951 – Korean War: The two-day Geochang massacre begins as a battalion of the 11th Division of the South Korean Army kills 719 unarmed citizens in Geochang, in the South Gyeongsang district of South Korea
- 1959 – The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.
- 1964 – The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a “record-busting” audience of 73 million viewers across the USA.
- 1965 – The United States Marine Corps sends a MIM-23 Hawk missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission.
- 1971 – The 6.5–6.7 Mw Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000.
- 1971 – Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be voted into the USA’s Baseball Hall of Fame.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned Moon landing.
- 1975 – The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
- 1976 – Aeroflot Flight 3739, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashes during takeoff from Irkutsk Airport, killing 24.
- 1978 – The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1986 – Halley’s Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.
- 1991 – Voters in Lithuania vote for independence.
- 1996 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares the end to its 18-month ceasefire and explodes a large bomb in London’s Canary Wharf, killing two people.
- 1996 – Copernicium is discovered, by Sigurd Hofmann, Victor Ninov et al.
- 2016 – Two passenger trains collided in the German town of Bad Aibling in the state of Bavaria. Twelve people died, and 85 others were injured.
- 2018 – Winter Olympics: Opening ceremony is performed in Pyeongchang County in South Korea.
Births on February 9
- 1060 – Honorius II, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1130)
- 1274 – Louis of Toulouse, French bishop (d. 1297)
- 1313 – Maria of Portugal, Queen of Castile, Portuguese infanta (d. 1357)
- 1344 – Meinhard III, count of Tyrol (d. 1363)
- 1441 – Ali-Shir Nava’i, Turkic poet, linguist, and painter (d. 1501)
- 1533 – Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese daimyō (d. 1611)
- 1579 – Johannes Meursius, Dutch classical scholar (d. 1639)
- 1651 – Procopio Cutò, French entrepreneur (d. 1727)
- 1666 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, Scottish field marshal (d. 1737)
- 1711 – Luis Vicente de Velasco e Isla, Spanish sailor and commander (d. 1762)
- 1737 – Thomas Paine, English-American philosopher, author, and activist (d. 1809)
- 1741 – Henri-Joseph Rigel, German-French composer (d. 1799)
- 1748 – Sir John Duckworth, 1st Baronet, English admiral and politician, Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1817)
- 1763 – Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden (d. 1830)
- 1769 – George W. Campbell, Scottish-American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1848)
- 1773 – William Henry Harrison, American general and politician, 9th President of the United States (d. 1841)
- 1775 – Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1856)
- 1781 – Johann Baptist von Spix, German biologist and explorer (d. 1826)
- 1783 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator (d. 1852)
- 1789 – Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, German engineer, invented Gabelsberger shorthand (d. 1849)
- 1800 – Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (d. 1844)
- 1814 – Samuel J. Tilden, American lawyer and politician, 28th Governor of New York (d. 1886)
- 1815 – Federico de Madrazo, Spanish painter (d.1894)
- 1834 – Felix Dahn, German lawyer, historian, and author (d. 1912)
- 1826 – Keʻelikōlani, Hawaiian royal and governor (d. 1883)
- 1837 – José Burgos, Filipino priest and revolutionary (d. 1872)
- 1839 – Silas Adams, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 1896)
- 1846 – Wilhelm Maybach, German engineer and businessman, founded Maybach (d. 1929)
- 1846 – Whitaker Wright, English businessman and financier (d. 1904)
- 1847 – Hugh Price Hughes, Welsh-English clergyman and theologian (d. 1902)
- 1854 – Aletta Jacobs, Dutch physician and suffrage activist (d. 1929)
- 1856 – Hara Takashi, Japanese politician, 10th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1921)
- 1859 – Akiyama Yoshifuru, Japanese general (d. 1930)
- 1863 – Anthony Hope, English author and playwright (d. 1933)
- 1864 – Miina Härma, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941)
- 1865 – Mrs. Patrick Campbell, English-French actress (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Erich von Drygalski, German geographer and geophysicist (d. 1949)
- 1867 – Natsume Sōseki, Japanese author and poet (d. 1916)
- 1871 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist and physician (d. 1910)
- 1874 – Amy Lowell, American poet, critic, and educator (d. 1925)
- 1876 – Arthur Edward Moore, New Zealand-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Queensland (d. 1963)
- 1878 – Jack Kirwan, Irish international footballer (d. 1959)
- 1880 – Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1959)
- 1883 – Jules Berry, French actor and director (d. 1951)
- 1885 – Alban Berg, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1935)
- 1885 – Clarence H. Haring, American historian and author (d. 1960)
- 1889 – Larry Semon, American actor, producer, director and screenwriter (d. 1928)
- 1891 – Ronald Colman, English-American actor (d. 1958)
- 1892 – Peggy Wood, American actress (d. 1978)
- 1893 – Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, Greek lawyer and politician, 163rd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1987)
- 1895 – Hermann Brill, German lawyer and politician, 8th Minister-President of Thuringia (d. 1959)
- 1896 – Alberto Vargas, Peruvian-American painter and illustrator (d. 1982)
- 1897 – Charles Kingsford Smith, Australian captain and pilot (d. 1935)
- 1898 – Jūkichi Yagi, Japanese poet and educator (d. 1927)
- 1901 – Brian Donlevy, American actor (d. 1972)
- 1901 – James Murray, American actor (d. 1936)
- 1905 – David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, English hurdler and politician (d. 1981)
- 1906 – André Kostolany, Hungarian-French economist and journalist (d. 1999)
- 1907 – Trường Chinh, Vietnamese politician, 4th President of Vietnam (d. 1988)
- 1907 – Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter, English-Canadian mathematician and academic (d. 2003)
- 1909 – Heather Angel, English-American actress (d. 1986)
- 1909 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-Brazilian actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1955)
- 1909 – Dean Rusk, American colonel and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Jacques Monod, French biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
- 1911 – William Orlando Darby, American general (d. 1945)
- 1912 – Futabayama Sadaji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 35th Yokozuna (d. 1968)
- 1912 – Ginette Leclerc, French actress (d. 1992)
- 1914 – Ernest Tubb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)
- 1916 – Tex Hughson, American baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1918 – Lloyd Noel Ferguson, African American chemist (d. 2011)
- 1920 – Fred Allen, New Zealand rugby player and coach (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Kathryn Grayson, American actress and soprano (d. 2010)
- 1922 – Jim Laker, English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1986)
- 1922 – C. P. Krishnan Nair, Indian businessman, founded The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Robert E. Ogren, American zoologist (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Brendan Behan, Irish rebel, poet, and playwright (d. 1964)
- 1923 – Tonie Nathan, American radio host, producer, and politician (d. 2014)
- 1925 – John B. Cobb, American philosopher and theologian
- 1925 – Burkhard Heim, German physicist and academic (d. 2001)
- 1926 – Garret FitzGerald, Irish lawyer and politician, 7th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 2011)
- 1927 – Richard A. Long, American historian and author (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Frank Frazetta, American painter and illustrator (d. 2010)
- 1928 – Rinus Michels, Dutch footballer and coach (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Roger Mudd, American journalist
- 1929 – A. R. Antulay, Indian social worker and politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2014)
- 1929 – Clement Meadmore, Australian-American sculptor (d. 2005)
- 1930 – Garner Ted Armstrong, American evangelist and author (d. 2003)
- 1931 – Thomas Bernhard, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1989)
- 1931 – Josef Masopust, Czech footballer and coach (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Robert Morris, American sculptor and painter (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Tatsuro Hirooka, Japanese baseball player and manager
- 1932 – Gerhard Richter, German painter and photographer
- 1935 – Lionel Fanthorpe, English-Welsh priest, journalist, and author
- 1936 – Clive Swift, English actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2019)
- 1937 – Clete Boyer, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Ron Logan, Disney theatrical producer and professor
- 1939 – Mahala Andrews, British vertebrae palaeontologist (d. 1997)
- 1939 – Barry Mann, American pianist, songwriter, and producer
- 1939 – Janet Suzman, South African-British actress and director
- 1940 – Brian Bennett, English drummer and songwriter
- 1940 – J. M. Coetzee, South African-Australian novelist, essayist, and linguist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Kermit Gosnell, American abortionist and serial killer
- 1941 – Sheila Kuehl, American actress, lawyer, gay rights activist, and politician
- 1942 – Carole King, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1943 – Barbara Lewis, American soul/R&B singer-songwriter
- 1943 – Joe Pesci, American actor
- 1943 – Joseph Stiglitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1944 – Derryn Hinch, New Zealand-Australian radio and television host and politician
- 1944 – Alice Walker, American novelist, short story writer, and poet
- 1945 – Mia Farrow, American actress, activist, and former fashion model
- 1945 – Yoshinori Ohsumi, Japanese cell biologist, 2016 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
- 1945 – Carol Wood, American mathematician and academic
- 1946 – Bob Eastwood, American golfer
- 1946 – Vince Papale, American football player and sportscaster
- 1946 – Jim Webb, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of the Navy
- 1947 – Carla Del Ponte, Swiss lawyer and diplomat
- 1947 – Joe Ely, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Major Harris, American R&B singer (d. 2012)
- 1947 – Alexis Smirnoff, Canadian-American wrestler and actor (d. 2019)
- 1948 – Guy Standing, English economist and academic
- 1949 – Bernard Gallacher, Scottish golfer and journalist
- 1949 – Judith Light, American actress
- 1950 – Richard F. Colburn, American sergeant and politician
- 1951 – David Pomeranz, American singer, musician, and composer
- 1952 – Danny White, American football player and sportscaster
- 1953 – Ciarán Hinds, Irish actor
- 1953 – Ezechiele Ramin, Italian missionary, priest, and martyr (d. 1985)
- 1953 – Gabriel Rotello, American journalist and author, founded OutWeek
- 1954 – Jo Duffy, American author
- 1954 – Chris Gardner, American businessman and philanthropist
- 1954 – Kevin Warwick, English cybernetics scientist
- 1955 – Jerry Beck, American historian and author
- 1955 – Jimmy Pursey, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1955 – Charles Shaughnessy, English actor
- 1956 – Mookie Wilson, American baseball player and coach
- 1957 – Terry McAuliffe, American businessman and politician, 72nd Governor of Virginia
- 1957 – Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1958 – Sandy Lyle, Scottish golfer
- 1958 – Chris Nilan, American ice hockey player, coach, and radio host
- 1960 – Holly Johnson, English singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1960 – David Simon, American journalist, author, screenwriter, and television producer
- 1960 – Peggy Whitson, American biochemist and astronaut
- 1961 – John Kruk, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1962 – Anik Bissonnette, Canadian ballerina
- 1963 – Brian Greene, American physicist
- 1963 – Peter Rowsthorn, Australian comedian and actor
- 1963 – Travis Tritt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1964 – Debrah Miceli, Italian-American wrestler and manager
- 1964 – Dewi Morris, English rugby player
- 1964 – Ernesto Valverde, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1964 – Alejandro Ávila, Mexican telenovela actor
- 1964 – Ernesto Valverde, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1965 – Dieter Baumann, German runner
- 1966 – Harald Eia, Norwegian comedian, actor, and screenwriter
- 1967 – Todd Pratt, American baseball player and coach
- 1967 – Dan Shulman, Canadian sportscaster
- 1967 – Gaston Browne, Antiguan and Barbudan Prime Minister
- 1968 – Alejandra Guzmán, Mexican singer-songwriter and actress
- 1968 – Derek Strong, American basketball player and race car driver
- 1968 – Gloria Trevi, Mexican singer and actress
- 1969 – Jimmy Smith, American football player
- 1970 – Glenn McGrath, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1971 – Matt Gogel, American golfer
- 1971 – Johan Mjällby, Swedish footballer and manager
- 1972 – Darren Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1973 – Svetlana Boginskaya, Belarusian gymnast
- 1973 – Colin Egglesfield, American actor
- 1973 – Makoto Shinkai, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter
- 1974 – Jordi Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1974 – Brad Maynard, American football player
- 1974 – Amber Valletta, American model
- 1974 – John Wallace, American basketball player and coach
- 1975 – Kurt Asle Arvesen, Norwegian cyclist and coach
- 1975 – Clinton Grybas, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2008)
- 1975 – Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1976 – Charlie Day, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1978 – A. J. Buckley, Irish-Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1979 – Akinori Iwamura, Japanese baseball player
- 1979 – Irina Slutskaya, Russian figure skater
- 1980 – Angelos Charisteas, Greek footballer
- 1980 – Margarita Levieva, Russian-American actress
- 1980 – Manu Raju, American journalist
- 1981 – Tom Hiddleston, English actor, producer, and musical performer
- 1981 – Daisuke Sekimoto, Japanese wrestler
- 1982 – Domingo Cisma, Spanish footballer
- 1982 – Jameer Nelson, American basketball player
- 1982 – Ami Suzuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
- 1982 – Chris Weale, English footballer and manager
- 1983 – Mikel Arruabarrena, Spanish footballer
- 1984 – Maurice Ager, American basketball player, singer, and producer
- 1984 – Shōhōzan Yūya, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1985 – David Gallagher, American actor
- 1987 – Sam Coulson, English guitarist
- 1987 – Michael B. Jordan, American actor
- 1987 – Davide Lanzafame, Italian footballer
- 1987 – Magdalena Neuner, German biathlete
- 1988 – Lotte Friis, Danish swimmer
- 1989 – Maxime Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian skier
- 1990 – Tariq Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
- 1991 – Logan Ryan, American football player
- 1992 – Kyle Feldt, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Mitchell Frei, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Avan Jogia, Canadian actor
- 1993 – Niclas Füllkrug, German footballer
- 1995 – André Burakovsky, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1995 – Mario Pašalić, Croatian footballer
- 1997 – Saquon Barkley, American football player
Deaths on February 9
- 966 – Ono no Michikaze, Japanese calligrapher (b. 894)
- 967 – Sayf al-Dawla, emir of Aleppo (b. 916)
- 978 – Luitgarde, duchess consort of Normandy
- 1011 – Bernard I, Duke of Saxony
- 1014 – Yang Yanzhao, Chinese general
- 1135 – Tai Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1075)
- 1199 – Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shōgun (b. 1147)
- 1251 – Matthias II, duke of Lorraine
- 1407 – William I, margrave of Meissen (b. 1343)
- 1450 – Agnès Sorel, French mistress of Charles VII of France (b. 1421)
- 1555 – John Hooper, English bishop and martyr (b. 1495)
- 1555 – Rowland Taylor, English priest and martyr (b. 1510)
- 1588 – Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, Spanish admiral (b. 1526)
- 1600 – John Frederick, Duke of Pomerania (b. 1542)
- 1619 – Lucilio Vanini, Italian physician and philosopher (b. 1585)
- 1640 – Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1612)
- 1670 – Frederick III of Denmark (b. 1609)
- 1675 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (b. 1613)
- 1709 – François Louis, Prince of Conti (b. 1664)
- 1777 – Seth Pomeroy, American general and gunsmith (b. 1706)
- 1803 – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French soldier, poet, and philosopher (b. 1716)
- 1857 – Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet and translator (b. 1798)
- 1874 – Jules Michelet, French historian, philosopher, and academic (b. 1798)
- 1881 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and philosopher (b. 1821)
- 1891 – Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (b. 1819)
- 1903 – Charles Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Victoria (b. 1816)
- 1906 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1872)
- 1928 – William Gillies, Australian politician, 21st Premier of Queensland (b. 1868)
- 1930 – Richard With, Norwegian captain and businessman, founded Hurtigruten (b. 1846)
- 1932 – Junnosuke Inoue, Japanese businessman and banker (b. 1869)
- 1932 – A.K. Golam Jilani, Bangladeshi soldier and activist (b. 1904)
- 1945 – Ella D. Barrier, American educator (b. 1852)
- 1950 – Ted Theodore, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Queensland (b. 1884)
- 1951 – Eddy Duchin, American pianist, bandleader, and actor (b. 1910)
- 1957 – Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and politician, Regent of Hungary (b. 1868)
- 1960 – Alexandre Benois, Russian painter and critic (b. 1870)
- 1960 – Ernő Dohnányi, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1877)
- 1965 – Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, Bangladeshi theologian and educator (b. 1874)
- 1966 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer (b. 1884)
- 1969 – George “Gabby” Hayes, American actor and singer (b. 1885)
- 1976 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer and conductor (b. 1908)
- 1977 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer and businessman, founded the Ilyushin Design Company (b. 1894)
- 1978 – Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist and coach (b. 1893)
- 1979 – Allen Tate, American poet and academic (b. 1899)
- 1980 – Tom Macdonald, Welsh journalist and author (b. 1900)
- 1981 – M. C. Chagla, Indian jurist and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1900)
- 1981 – Bill Haley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1925)
- 1984 – Yuri Andropov, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1914)
- 1989 – Osamu Tezuka, Japanese illustrator, animator, and producer (b. 1928)
- 1994 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1934)
- 1995 – J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
- 1995 – David Wayne, American actor (b. 1914)
- 1998 – Maurice Schumann, French journalist and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1911)
- 2001 – Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist, economist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Isabelle Holland, Swiss-American author (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (b. 1930)
- 2003 – Masatoshi Gündüz Ikeda, Japanese-Turkish mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
- 2004 – Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Robert Kearns, American engineer, invented the windscreen wiper (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Freddie Laker, English pilot and businessman, founded Laker Airways (b. 1922)
- 2007 – Hank Bauer, American baseball player and manager (b. 1922)
- 2007 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (b. 1934)
- 2008 – Christopher Hyatt, American occultist and author (b. 1943)
- 2008 – Jazeh Tabatabai, Iranian painter, poet, and sculptor (b. 1931)
- 2009 – Orlando “Cachaíto” López, Cuban bassist and composer (b. 1933)
- 2010 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman, invented the Frisbee (b. 1920)
- 2011 – Miltiadis Evert, Greek lawyer and politician, 69th Mayor of Athens (b. 1939)
- 2012 – O. P. Dutta, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 2012 – John Hick, English philosopher and academic (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Joe Moretti, Scottish-South African guitarist and songwriter (b. 1938)
- 2013 – Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-American martial artist and trainer (b. 1913)
- 2013 – Jimmy Smyth, Irish hurler (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Gabriel Axel, Danish actor, director, and producer (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Hal Herring, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Logan Scott-Bowden, English general (b. 1920)
- 2015 – Liu Han, Chinese businessman and philanthropist (b. 1965)
- 2015 – Ed Sabol, American film producer, co-founded NFL Films (b. 1916)
- 2016 – Sushil Koirala, Nepalese politician, 37th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1939)
- 2016 – Zdravko Tolimir, Bosnian Serb military commander (b. 1948)
- 2017 – André Salvat, French Army colonel (b. 1920)
- 2018 – Reg E. Cathey, American actor of stage, film, and television (b. 1958)
- 2018 – Nebojša Glogovac, Serbian actor (b. 1969)
- 2018 – Jóhann Jóhannsson, Icelandic composer (b. 1969)
- 2018 – John Gavin, American actor and United States ambassador to Mexico (b. 1931)
- 2020 – Sergiy Vilkomir, Ukrainian-born computer scientist (b. 1956)
Holidays and observances on February 9
- Christian feast day:
- Alto of Altomünster
- Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich
- Ansbert of Rouen
- Apollonia
- Bracchio
- Blessed Leopold of Alpandeire
- Maron (Maronite Church)
- Miguel Febres Cordero
- Nebridius
- Sabinus of Canosa
- Teilo (Wales)
- February 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Clean Monday can fall, while March 15 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of Great Lent. (Eastern Christianity)
- Earliest day on which People’s Sunday can fall, while March 15 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday of Lent. (Malta)
- St. Maroun’s Day (public holiday in Lebanon)
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February 5 in History
- AD 62 – Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
- 756 – An Lushan, leader of a revolt against the Tang Dynasty, declares himself emperor and establishes the state of Yan.
- 789 – Idris I reaches Volubilis and founds the Idrisid dynasty, ceding Morocco from the Abbasid caliphate and founding the first Moroccan state.
- 1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
- 1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society.
- 1649 – Charles Stuart, the son of King Charles I, is declared King Charles II of England and Scotland by the Scottish Parliament.
- 1778 – South Carolina becomes the second state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
- 1782 – Spanish defeat British forces and capture Menorca.
- 1783 – In Calabria, a sequence of strong earthquakes begins.
- 1807 – HMS Blenheim and HMS Java disappear off the coast of Rodrigues.
- 1810 – Peninsular War: Siege of Cádiz begins.
- 1818 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.
- 1849 – University of Wisconsin–Madison’s first class meets at Madison Female Academy.
- 1852 – The New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opens to the public.
- 1859 – Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Moldavia, is also elected as the prince of Wallachia, joining the two principalities as a personal union called the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, which ushered the birth of the modern Romanian state.
- 1862 – Moldavia and Wallachia formally unite to create the Romanian United Principalities.
- 1869 – The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the “Welcome Stranger”, is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia.
- 1885 – King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.
- 1905 – In Mexico, the General Hospital of Mexico is inaugurated, started with four basic specialties.
- 1907 – Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic.
- 1913 – Greek military aviators, Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.
- 1917 – The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
- 1917 – The Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto.
- 1918 – Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane; this is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military.
- 1918 – SS Tuscania is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.
- 1919 – Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.
- 1924 – The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal.
- 1933 – Mutiny on Royal Netherlands Navy warship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën off the coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.
- 1939 – Generalísimo Francisco Franco becomes the 68th “Caudillo de España“, or Leader of Spain.
- 1941 – World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.
- 1945 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
- 1958 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
- 1958 – A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
- 1962 – French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
- 1963 – The European Court of Justice’s ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen establishes the principle of direct effect, one of the most important, if not the most important, decisions in the development of European Union law.
- 1971 – Astronauts land on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission.
- 1975 – Riots break in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising (locally known as the Limazo) is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.
- 1985 – Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.
- 1988 – Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.
- 1994 – Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
- 1994 – Markale massacres, more than 60 people are killed and some 200 wounded as a mortar shell explodes in a downtown marketplace in Sarajevo.
- 1997 – The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.
- 2000 – Russian forces massacre at least 60 civilians in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, Chechnya.
- 2004 – Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.
- 2008 – A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States kills 57.
- 2020 – United States President Donald Trump is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
Births on February 5
- 976 – Sanjō, emperor of Japan (d. 1017)
- 1321 – John II, marquess of Montferrat (d. 1372)
- 1438 – Philip II, duke of Savoy (d. 1497)
- 1505 – Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss statesman and historian (d. 1572)
- 1519 – René of Châlon, prince of Orange (d. 1544)
- 1525 – Juraj Drašković, Croatian Catholic cardinal (d. 1587)
- 1533 – Andreas Dudith, Croatian-Hungarian nobleman and diplomat (d. 1589)
- 1534 – Giovanni de’ Bardi, Italian soldier, composer, and critic (d. 1612)
- 1589 – Esteban Manuel de Villegas, Spanish poet and educator (d. 1669)
- 1594 – Biagio Marini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1663)
- 1605 – Bernard of Corleone, Italian saint (d. 1667)
- 1608 – Gaspar Schott, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1666)
- 1626 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (d. 1696)
- 1650 – Anne Jules de Noailles, French general (d. 1708)
- 1703 – Gilbert Tennent, Irish-American minister (d. 1764)
- 1723 – John Witherspoon, Scottish-American minister and academic (d. 1794)
- 1725 – James Otis, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1783)
- 1748 – Christian Gottlob Neefe, German composer and conductor (d. 1798)
- 1788 – Robert Peel, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1850)
- 1795 – Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist, geologist, and physicist (d. 1871)
- 1804 – Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet and hymn-writer (d. 1877)
- 1808 – Carl Spitzweg, German painter and poet (d. 1885)
- 1810 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist and composer (d. 1880)
- 1827 – Peter Lalor, Irish-Australian activist and politician (d. 1889)
- 1837 – Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist and publisher, founded Moody Church, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers (d. 1899)
- 1840 – John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish businessman, co-founded Dunlop Rubber (d. 1921)
- 1840 – Hiram Maxim, American engineer, invented the Maxim gun (d. 1916)
- 1847 – Eduard Magnus Jakobson, Estonian missionary and engraver (d. 1903)
- 1848 – Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author and critic (d. 1907)
- 1848 – Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Chilean lieutenant (d. 1882)
- 1852 – Terauchi Masatake, Japanese field marshal and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1919)
- 1866 – Domhnall Ua Buachalla, Irish politician, 3rd and last Governor-General of the Irish Free State (d. 1963)
- 1870 – Charles Edmund Brock, British painter and book illustrator (d. 1938)
- 1876 – Ernie McLea, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1931)
- 1878 – André Citroën, French engineer and businessman, founded Citroën (d. 1935)
- 1880 – Gabriel Voisin, French pilot and engineer (d. 1973)
- 1889 – Patsy Hendren, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1962)
- 1889 – Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (d. 1962)
- 1889 – Recep Peker, Turkish officer and politician (d. 1950)
- 1891 – Renato Petronio, Italian rower (d. 1976)
- 1892 – Elizabeth Ryan, American tennis player (d. 1979)
- 1897 – Dirk Stikker, Dutch businessman and politician, 3rd Secretary General of NATO (d. 1979)
- 1900 – Adlai Stevenson II, American soldier, politician, and diplomat, 5th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 1965)
- 1903 – Koto Matsudaira, Japanese diplomat, ambassador to the United Nations (d. 1994)
- 1903 – Joan Whitney Payson, American businesswoman and philanthropist (d. 1975)
- 1906 – John Carradine, American actor (d. 1988)
- 1907 – Birgit Dalland, Norwegian politician (d. 2007)
- 1907 – Pierre Pflimlin, French politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2000)
- 1908 – Marie Baron, Dutch swimmer and diver (d. 1948)
- 1908 – Peg Entwistle, Welsh-American actress (d. 1932)
- 1908 – Daisy and Violet Hilton, English conjoined twins (d. 1969)
- 1908 – Eugen Weidmann, German criminal (d. 1939)
- 1909 – Grażyna Bacewicz, Polish violinist and composer (d. 1969)
- 1910 – Charles Philippe Leblond, French-Canadian biologist and academic (d. 2007)
- 1910 – Francisco Varallo, Argentinian footballer (d. 2010)
- 1911 – Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (d. 1960)
- 1914 – William S. Burroughs, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist, biophysicist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- 1915 – Robert Hofstadter, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
- 1917 – Edward J. Mortola, American academic and president of Pace University (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Isuzu Yamada, Japanese actress (d. 2012)
- 1919 – Red Buttons, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1919 – Tim Holt, American actor (d. 1973)
- 1919 – Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1996)
- 1921 – Ken Adam, German-born English production designer and art director (d. 2016)
- 1923 – Claude King, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
- 1923 – James E. Bowman, American physician and academic (d. 2011)
- 1924 – Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Indian cardinal (d. 2014)
- 1927 – Robert Allen, American pianist and composer (d. 2000)
- 1927 – Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch captain and pilot (d. 1977)
- 1928 – Tage Danielsson, Swedish author, actor, and director (d. 1985)
- 1928 – Andrew Greeley, American priest, sociologist, and author (d. 2013)
- 1928 – P. J. Vatikiotis, Israeli-American historian and political scientist (d. 1997)
- 1929 – Hal Blaine, American session drummer (d. 2019)
- 1929 – Luc Ferrari, French pianist and composer (d. 2005)
- 1929 – Fred Sinowatz, Austrian politician, 19th Chancellor of Austria (d. 2008)
- 1932 – Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer and manager (d. 2016)
- 1933 – Jörn Donner, Finnish director and screenwriter (d. 2020)
- 1933 – B. S. Johnson, English author, poet, and critic (d. 1973)
- 1934 – Hank Aaron, American baseball player
- 1934 – Don Cherry, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1935 – Alex Harvey, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1982)
- 1935 – Johannes Geldenhuys, South African military commander (d. 2018)
- 1936 – K. S. Nissar Ahmed, Indian poet and academic
- 1937 – Stuart Damon, American actor and singer
- 1937 – Larry Hillman, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1937 – Gaston Roelants, Belgian runner
- 1937 – Alar Toomre, Estonian-American astronomer and mathematician
- 1937 – Wang Xuan, Chinese computer scientist and academic (d. 2006)
- 1938 – Rafael Nieto Navia, Colombian lawyer, jurist, and diplomat
- 1939 – Brian Luckhurst, English cricketer (d. 2005)
- 1940 – H. R. Giger, Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer (d. 2014)
- 1940 – Luke Graham, American wrestler (d. 2006)
- 1941 – Stephen J. Cannell, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
- 1941 – Henson Cargill, American country music singer (d. 2007)
- 1941 – David Selby, American actor and playwright
- 1941 – Barrett Strong, American soul singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1941 – Kaspar Villiger, Swiss engineer and politician, 85th President of the Swiss Confederation
- 1941 – Cory Wells, American pop-rock singer (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Roger Staubach, American football player, sportscaster, and businessman
- 1943 – Nolan Bushnell, American engineer and businessman, founded Atari, Inc.
- 1943 – Michael Mann, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1943 – Craig Morton, American football player and sportscaster
- 1943 – Dušan Uhrin, Czech and Slovak footballer and manager
- 1944 – J. R. Cobb, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1944 – Henfil, Brazilian journalist, author, and illustrator (d. 1988)
- 1944 – Al Kooper, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1944 – Tamanoumi Masahiro, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 51st Yokozuna (d. 1971)
- 1945 – Douglas Hogg, English lawyer and politician, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
- 1946 – Amnon Dankner, Israeli journalist and author (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Charlotte Rampling, English actress
- 1947 – Mary L. Cleave, American engineer and astronaut
- 1947 – Clemente Mastella, Italian politician, Italian Minister of Justice
- 1947 – Darrell Waltrip, American race car driver and sportscaster
- 1948 – Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish footballer and manager
- 1948 – Christopher Guest, American actor and director
- 1948 – Barbara Hershey, American actress
- 1948 – Errol Morris, American director and producer
- 1948 – Tom Wilkinson, English actor
- 1949 – Kurt Beck, German politician
- 1949 – Yvon Vallières, Canadian educator and politician
- 1950 – Jonathan Freeman, American actor and singer
- 1950 – Rafael Puente, Mexican footballer
- 1951 – Nikolay Merkushkin, Mordovian engineer and politician, 1st Head of the Republic of Mordovia
- 1952 – Daniel Balavoine, French singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1986)
- 1952 – Vladimir Moskovkin, Ukrainian-Russian geographer, economist, and academic
- 1953 – Freddie Aguilar, Filipino singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1953 – John Beilein, American basketball player and coach
- 1953 – Gustavo Benítez, Paraguayan footballer and manager
- 1954 – Cliff Martinez, American drummer and songwriter
- 1954 – Frank Walker, Australian journalist and author
- 1955 – Mike Heath, American baseball player and manager
- 1956 – Vinnie Colaiuta, American drummer
- 1956 – Héctor Rebaque, Mexican race car driver
- 1956 – David Wiesner, American author and illustrator
- 1956 – Mao Daichi, Japanese actress
- 1957 – Jüri Tamm, Estonian hammer thrower and politician
- 1959 – Jennifer Granholm, Canadian-American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of Michigan
- 1960 – Aris Christofellis, Greek soprano and musicologist
- 1960 – Bonnie Crombie, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 6th Mayor of Mississauga
- 1960 – Micky Hazard, English footballer, central midfielder
- 1961 – Savvas Kofidis, Greek footballer and manager
- 1961 – Tim Meadows, American actor and screenwriter
- 1962 – Jennifer Jason Leigh, American actress, screenwriter, producer and director
- 1963 – Steven Shainberg, American film director and producer
- 1964 – Laura Linney, American actress
- 1964 – Ha Seungmoo, Korean Poet, Pastor, Historical theologian
- 1964 – Duff McKagan, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
- 1965 – Tarik Benhabiles, Algerian-French tennis player and coach
- 1965 – Gheorghe Hagi, Romanian footballer and manager
- 1965 – Keith Moseley, American bass player and songwriter
- 1965 – Quique Sánchez Flores, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1966 – José María Olazábal, Spanish golfer
- 1966 – Rok Petrovič, Slovenian skier (d. 1993)
- 1967 – Chris Parnell, American actor and comedian
- 1968 – Roberto Alomar, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
- 1968 – Marcus Grönholm, Finnish race car driver
- 1969 – Bobby Brown, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
- 1969 – Michael Sheen, Welsh actor and director
- 1969 – Derek Stephen Prince, American voice actor
- 1970 – Jean-Marc Jaumin, Belgian basketball player and coach
- 1970 – Darren Lehmann, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1971 – Michel Breistroff, French ice hockey player (d. 1996)
- 1971 – Sara Evans, American country singer
- 1972 – Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark
- 1972 – Brad Fittler, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1973 – Richard Matvichuk, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1973 – Trijntje Oosterhuis, Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1973 – Luke Ricketson, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
- 1974 – Michael Maguire, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1975 – Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1976 – John Aloisi, Australian footballer and manager
- 1976 – Abhishek Bachchan, Indian actor
- 1977 – Ben Ainslie, English sailor
- 1977 – Adam Dykes, Australian rugby league player
- 1977 – Adam Everett, American baseball player and coach
- 1978 – Brian Russell, American football player
- 1978 – Samuel Sánchez, Spanish cyclist
- 1979 – Nate Holzapfel, American entrepreneur and television personality
- 1980 – Brad Fitzpatrick, American programmer, created LiveJournal
- 1980 – Jo Swinson, Scottish politician
- 1981 – Mia Hansen-Løve, French director and screenwriter
- 1981 – Loukas Vyntra, Czech-Greek footballer
- 1982 – Laura del Rio, Spanish footballer
- 1982 – Kevin Everett, American football player
- 1982 – Tomáš Kopecký, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1982 – Rodrigo Palacio, Argentinian footballer
- 1983 – Anja Hammerseng-Edin, Norwegian handball player
- 1984 – Carlos Tevez, Argentinian footballer
- 1985 – Lloyd Johansson, Australian rugby player
- 1985 – Laurence Maroney, American football player
- 1985 – Paul Vandervort, American actor, film producer, and former model
- 1985 – Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer
- 1986 – Vedran Ćorluka, Croatian footballer, centre back
- 1986 – Marcos Díaz, Argentinian footballer
- 1986 – Kevin Gates, American rapper, singer, and entrepreneur
- 1986 – Sekope Kepu, Australian rugby player
- 1986 – Billy Sharp, English footballer
- 1986 – Reed Sorenson, American race car driver
- 1986 – Carlos Villanueva, Chilean footballer
- 1987 – Darren Criss, American actor, singer, and entrepreneur
- 1987 – Curtis Jerrells, American basketball player
- 1987 – Alex Kuznetsov, Ukrainian-American tennis player
- 1987 – Linus Omark, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1987 – Donald Sanford, American-Israeli sprinter
- 1988 – Karin Ontiveros, Mexican model
- 1989 – Marina Melnikova, Russian tennis player
- 1990 – Dmitry Andreikin, Russian chess player
- 1990 – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Indian cricketer
- 1990 – Jordan Rhodes, Scottish footballer
- 1991 – Nabil Bahoui, Swedish footballer
- 1991 – Gerald Tusha, Albanian footballer
- 1992 – Stefan de Vrij, Dutch footballer
- 1992 – Neymar, Brazilian footballer
- 1993 – Leilani Latu, Australian rugby league player
- 1993 – Ty Rattie, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1995 – Adnan Januzaj, Belgian-Albanian footballer
- 1996 – Stina Blackstenius, Swedish footballer
- 1997 – Patrick Roberts, English footballer
- 2016 – Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, Bhutanese prince
Deaths on February 5
- 523 – Avitus of Vienne, Gallo-Roman bishop
- 806 – Kanmu, emperor of Japan (b. 736)
- 994 – William IV, duke of Aquitaine (b. 937)
- 1015 – Adelaide, German abbess and saint
- 1036 – Alfred Aetheling, Anglo-Saxon prince
- 1146 – Zafadola, Arab emir of Zaragoza
- 1578 – Giovanni Battista Moroni, Italian painter (b. 1520)
- 1661 – Shunzhi, Chinese emperor of the Qing Dynasty (b. 1638)
- 1705 – Philipp Spener, German theologian and author (b. 1635)
- 1751 – Henri François d’Aguesseau, French jurist and politician, Chancellor of France (b. 1668)
- 1754 – Nicolaas Kruik, Dutch astronomer and cartographer (b. 1678)
- 1766 – Count Leopold Joseph von Daun, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)
- 1775 – Eusebius Amort, German theologian and academic (b. 1692)
- 1790 – William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (b. 1710)
- 1807 – Pasquale Paoli, Corsican commander and politician (b. 1725)
- 1818 – Charles XIII, king of Sweden (b. 1748)
- 1881 – Thomas Carlyle, Scottish philosopher, historian, and academic (b. 1795)
- 1882 – Adolfo Rivadeneyra, Spanish orientalist and diplomat (b. 1841)
- 1892 – Emilie Flygare-Carlén, Swedish author (b. 1807)
- 1915 – Ross Barnes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1850)
- 1917 – Jaber II Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler (b. 1860)
- 1922 – Christiaan de Wet, South African general and politician, State President of the Orange Free State (b. 1854)
- 1922 – Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, Croatian engineer, invented the mechanical pencil (b. 1871)
- 1927 – Inayat Khan, Indian mystic and educator (b. 1882)
- 1931 – Athanasios Eftaxias, Greek politician, 118th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1849)
- 1933 – Josiah Thomas, English-Australian miner and politician (b. 1863)
- 1937 – Lou Andreas-Salomé, Russian-German psychoanalyst and author (b. 1861)
- 1938 – Hans Litten, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1903)
- 1941 – Banjo Paterson, Australian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1864)
- 1941 – Otto Strandman, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1875)
- 1946 – George Arliss, English actor and playwright (b. 1868)
- 1948 – Johannes Blaskowitz, German general (b. 1883)
- 1952 – Adela Verne, English pianist and composer (b. 1877)
- 1954 – Hossein Sami’i, Iranian politician, diplomat, writer and poet (b. 1876)
- 1955 – Victor Houteff, Bulgarian religious reformer and author (b. 1885)
- 1957 – Sami Ibrahim Haddad, Lebanese surgeon and author (b. 1890)
- 1962 – Jacques Ibert, French-Swiss composer (b. 1890)
- 1967 – Leon Leonwood Bean, American businessman, founded L.L.Bean (b. 1872)
- 1969 – Thelma Ritter, American actress (b. 1902)
- 1970 – Rudy York, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1913)
- 1971 – Lew “Sneaky Pete” Robinson, drag racer (b. 1933)
- 1972 – Marianne Moore, American poet, author, critic, and translator (b. 1887)
- 1976 – Rudy Pompilli, American saxophonist (Bill Haley & His Comets) (b. 1926)
- 1977 – Oskar Klein, Swedish physicist and academic (b. 1894)
- 1981 – Ella T. Grasso, American politician, 83rd Governor of Connecticut (b. 1919)
- 1982 – Neil Aggett, Kenyan-South African physician and union leader (b. 1953)
- 1983 – Margaret Oakley Dayhoff, American chemist and academic (b. 1925)
- 1987 – William Collier, Jr., American actor and producer (b. 1902)
- 1989 – Joe Raposo, American pianist and composer (b. 1937)
- 1991 – Dean Jagger, American actor (b. 1903)
- 1992 – Miguel Rolando Covian, Argentinian-Brazilian physiologist and academic (b. 1913)
- 1993 – Seán Flanagan, Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health (b. 1922)
- 1993 – Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1909)
- 1993 – William Pène du Bois, American author and illustrator (b. 1916)
- 1995 – Doug McClure, American actor (b. 1935)
- 1997 – Pamela Harriman, English-American diplomat, 58th United States Ambassador to France (b. 1920)
- 1997 – René Huyghe, French historian and author (b. 1906)
- 1998 – Tim Kelly, American guitarist (b. 1963)
- 1999 – Wassily Leontief, Russian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
- 2000 – Claude Autant-Lara, French director and screenwriter (b. 1901)
- 2004 – John Hench, American animator (b. 1908)
- 2005 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma, Togolese general and politician, President of Togo (b. 1937)
- 2005 – Michalina Wisłocka, Polish gynecologist and sexologist (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Norma Candal, Puerto Rican-American actress (b. 1927)
- 2007 – Leo T. McCarthy, New Zealand-American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 43rd Lieutenant Governor of California (b. 1930)
- 2007 – Alfred Worm, Austrian journalist, author, and academic (b. 1945)
- 2008 – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian guru, founded Transcendental Meditation (b. 1918)
- 2010 – Brendan Burke, Canadian ice hockey player and activist (b. 1988)
- 2010 – Harry Schwarz, South African lawyer, anti-apartheid leader, and diplomat, 13th South Africa Ambassador to United States (b. 1924)
- 2011 – Brian Jacques, English author and radio host (b. 1939)
- 2011 – Peggy Rea, American actress and casting director (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Sam Coppola, American actor (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Al De Lory, American keyboard player, conductor, and producer (b. 1930)
- 2012 – John Turner Sargent, Sr., American publisher (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Jo Zwaan, Dutch sprinter (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Reinaldo Gargano, Uruguayan journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Uruguay (b. 1934)
- 2013 – Egil Hovland, Norwegian composer and conductor (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Tom McGuigan, New Zealand soldier and politician, 23rd New Zealand Minister of Health (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Robert A. Dahl, American political scientist and academic (b. 1915)
- 2015 – K. N. Choksy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka (b. 1933)
- 2015 – Marisa Del Frate, Italian actress and singer (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Val Logsdon Fitch, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
- 2015 – Herman Rosenblat, Polish-American author (b. 1929)
- 2016 – Ciriaco Cañete, Filipino martial artist (b. 1919)
- 2020 – Kirk Douglas, American actor (b. 1916)
Holidays and observances on February 5
- Christian feast day:
- Adelaide of Vilich
- Agatha of Sicily
- Avitus of Vienne
- Bertulf (Bertoul) of Renty
- Ingenuinus (Jenewein)
- Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan (in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Anglican Church in Japan)
- February 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Day (Mexico)
- Crown Princess Mary’s birthday (Denmark)
- Kashmir Solidarity Day (Pakistan)
- Liberation Day (San Marino)
- Runeberg’s Birthday (Finland)
- Unity Day (Burundi)
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January 31 in History
- 314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as a successor to the late Pope Miltiades.
- 1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the throne as King Eric X of Sweden.
- 1504 – The Treaty of Lyon ends the Italian War, confirming French domination of northern Italy, while Spain receives the Kingdom of Naples.
- 1578 – Eighty Years’ War and Anglo-Spanish War: The Battle of Gembloux is a victory for Spanish forces led by Don John of Austria over a rebel army of Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, German, French and Walloons.
- 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Four of the conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering, for plotting against Parliament and King James.
- 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
- 1814 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina).
- 1846 – After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee.
- 1848 – John C. Frémont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders.
- 1862 – Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.
- 1865 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery and submits it to the states for ratification.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
- 1891 – History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
- 1897 – Czechoslav Trade Union Association is founded in Prague.
- 1900 – Datu Muhammad Salleh is killed in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.
- 1915 – World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.
- 1917 – World War I: Germany announces that its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare after a two-year hiatus.
- 1918 – A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
- 1919 – The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, during a campaign for shorter working hours.
- 1928 – Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata.
- 1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
- 1942 – World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to Singapore.
- 1943 – World War II: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war’s fiercest battles.
- 1944 – World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
- 1944 – World War II: During the Anzio campaign, the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby’s Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
- 1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.
- 1945 – World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.
- 1945 – World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula.
- 1946 – Cold War: Yugoslavia’s new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
- 1946 – The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.
- 1949 – These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.
- 1950 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
- 1951 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to Korean War is adopted.
- 1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom.
- 1957 – Eight people (5 total crew from 2 aircraft and 3 on the ground) in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
- 1958 – Cold War: Space Race: The first successful American satellite detects the Van Allen radiation belt.
- 1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
- 1966 – The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
- 1968 – Nauru gains independence from Australia.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
- 1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.
- 1978 – The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) goes on public display after being returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.
- 1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.
- 2000 – Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard.
- 2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
- 2009 – In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.
- 2018 – Both a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse occur.
- 2019 – Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- 2020 – The United Kingdom’s membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state.
Births on January 31
- 1512 – Henry, King of Portugal (d. 1580)
- 1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1616)
- 1583 – Peter Bulkley, English and later American Puritan (d. 1659)
- 1597 – John Francis Regis, French priest and saint (d. 1640)
- 1607 – James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby (d. 1651)
- 1624 – Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher and academic (d. 1669)
- 1673 – Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (d. 1716)
- 1686 – Hans Egede, Norwegian missionary and explorer (d. 1758)
- 1752 – Gouverneur Morris, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (d. 1816)
- 1759 – François Devienne, French flute player and composer (d. 1803)
- 1769 – André-Jacques Garnerin, French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute (d. 1823)
- 1785 – Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová, Czech cook book author (d. 1845)
- 1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1828)
- 1799 – Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist (d. 1846)
- 1820 – William B. Washburn, American politician, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
- 1835 – Lunalilo of Hawaii (d. 1874)
- 1854 – David Emmanuel, Romanian mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
- 1865 – Henri Desgrange, French cyclist and journalist (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader, founded BAPS (d. 1951)
- 1868 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
- 1872 – Zane Grey, American author (d. 1939)
- 1881 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
- 1884 – Theodor Heuss, German journalist and politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Germany (d. 1963)
- 1884 – Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Azerbaijani scholar and politician, 1st President of The Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (d. 1955)
- 1889 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
- 1892 – Eddie Cantor, American singer-songwriter, actor, and dancer (d. 1964)
- 1894 – Isham Jones, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1956)
- 1896 – Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1966)
- 1900 – Betty Parsons, American artist, art dealer and collector (d. 1982)
- 1902 – Nat Bailey, Canadian businessman, founded White Spot (d. 1978)
- 1902 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1902 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
- 1902 – Julian Steward, American anthropologist (d. 1972)
- 1905 – John O’Hara, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1970)
- 1909 – Miron Grindea, Romanian-English journalist (d. 1995)
- 1913 – Don Hutson, American football player and coach (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer and police officer (d. 1994)
- 1915 – Bobby Hackett, American trumpet player and cornet player (d. 1976)
- 1915 – Alan Lomax, American historian, author, and scholar (d. 2002)
- 1915 – Thomas Merton, American monk and author (d. 1968)
- 1915 – Garry Moore, American comedian and game show host (d. 1993)
- 1916 – Frank Parker, American tennis player (d. 1997)
- 1917 – Fred Bassetti, American architect and academic, founded Bassetti Architects (d. 2013)
- 1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1972)
- 1920 – Stewart Udall, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 2010)
- 1920 – Bert Williams, English footballer (d. 2004)
- 1921 – John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Carol Channing, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2019)
- 1921 – E. Fay Jones, American architect, designed the Thorncrown Chapel (d. 2004)
- 1921 – Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (d. 1959)
- 1922 – Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1923 – Norman Mailer, American journalist and author (d. 2007)
- 1925 – Benjamin Hooks, American minister, lawyer, and activist (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Tom Alston, American baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1926 – Chuck Willis, American singer-songwriter (d. 1958)
- 1927 – Norm Prescott, American animator, producer, and composer, co-founded Filmation Studios (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Irma Wyman, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Jean Simmons, English-American actress (d. 2010)
- 1930 – Joakim Bonnier, Swedish race car driver (d. 1972)
- 1930 – Al De Lory, American composer, conductor, and producer (d. 2012)
- 1931 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Christopher Chataway, English runner, journalist, and politician (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Miron Babiak, Polish sea captain (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1997)
- 1933 – Morton Mower, American cardiologist and inventor
- 1934 – Ernesto Brambilla, Italian motorcycle racer and race car driver
- 1934 – Gene DeWeese, American author (d. 2012)
- 1934 – James Franciscus, American actor and producer (d. 1991)
- 1934 – Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
- 1935 – Kenzaburō Ōe, Japanese author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1936 – Can Bartu, Turkish former basketball and football player
- 1937 – Regimantas Adomaitis, Lithuanian actor
- 1937 – Andrée Boucher, Canadian educator and politician, 39th Mayor of Quebec City (d. 2007)
- 1937 – Philip Glass, American composer
- 1937 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
- 1938 – Beatrix of the Netherlands
- 1938 – Lynn Carlin, American actress
- 1938 – James G. Watt, American lawyer and politician, 43rd United States Secretary of the Interior
- 1940 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby player and coach (d. 1998)
- 1940 – Stuart Margolin, American actor and director
- 1941 – Dick Gephardt, American lawyer and politician
- 1941 – Gerald McDermott, American author and illustrator (d. 2012)
- 1941 – Jessica Walter, American actress
- 1942 – Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
- 1942 – Derek Jarman, English director, stage designer, and author (d. 1994)
- 1944 – John Inverarity, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1945 – Rynn Berry, American historian and author (d. 2014)
- 1945 – Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, English lawyer, judge, and academic
- 1945 – Joseph Kosuth, American sculptor and theorist
- 1946 – Terry Kath, American guitarist and singer-songwriter (Chicago) (d. 1978)
- 1946 – Medin Zhega, Albanian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
- 1947 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
- 1947 – Matt Minglewood, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Glynn Turman, American actor
- 1948 – Volkmar Groß, German footballer (d. 2014)
- 1948 – Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
- 1949 – Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and journalist
- 1949 – Norris Church Mailer, American model and educator (d. 2010)
- 1949 – Ken Wilber, American sociologist, philosopher, and author
- 1950 – Denise Fleming, American author and illustrator
- 1950 – Alexander Korzhakov, Russian general and bodyguard
- 1950 – Janice Rebibo, American-Israeli author and poet (d. 2015)
- 1951 – Harry Wayne Casey, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
- 1954 – Faoud Bacchus, Guyanese cricketer
- 1954 – Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch guitarist and songwriter
- 1955 – Virginia Ruzici, Romanian tennis player and manager
- 1956 – Guido van Rossum, Dutch programmer, creator of the Python programming language
- 1956 – John Lydon, English singer-songwriter
- 1957 – Shirley Babashoff, American swimmer
- 1958 – Armin Reichel, German footballer and manager
- 1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor and producer
- 1959 – Kelly Lynch, American model and actress
- 1960 – Akbar Ganji, Iranian journalist and author
- 1960 – Grant Morrison, Scottish author and screenwriter
- 1960 – Željko Šturanović, Montenegrin politician, 31st Prime Minister of Montenegro (d. 2014)
- 1961 – Elizabeth Barker, Baroness Barker, English politician
- 1961 – Fatou Bensouda, Gambian lawyer and judge
- 1961 – Lloyd Cole, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1963 – Craig Coleman, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1963 – Gwen Graham, American lawyer and politician
- 1964 – Martha MacCallum, American journalist
- 1964 – Dawn Prince-Hughes, American scientist
- 1965 – Giorgos Gasparis, Greek basketball player and coach
- 1965 – Ofra Harnoy, Israeli-Canadian cellist
- 1965 – Peter Sagal, American author and radio host
- 1966 – Umar Alisha, Indian journalist and philanthropist
- 1966 – Thant Myint-U, Myanmar historian, diplomat, conservationist, and former presidential advisor.
- 1966 – Dexter Fletcher, English actor and director
- 1967 – Fat Mike, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
- 1968 – John Collins, Scottish footballer, midfielder and manager
- 1968 – Matt King, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1968 – Ulrica Messing, Swedish politician, 2nd Swedish Minister for Infrastructure
- 1968 – Patrick Stevens, Belgian sprinter
- 1969 – Dov Charney, Canadian-American fashion designer and businessman, founded American Apparel
- 1969 – Daniel Moder, American cinematographer
- 1970 – Minnie Driver, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1970 – Danny Michel, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
- 1971 – Patricia Velásquez, Venezuelan model and actress
- 1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian-American actress
- 1974 – Othella Harrington, American basketball player and coach
- 1974 – Ariel Pestano, Cuban baseball player
- 1975 – Fred Coleman, American football player and coach
- 1975 – Preity Zinta, Indian actress, producer, and television host
- 1976 – Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer and manager
- 1976 – Buddy Rice, American race car driver
- 1976 – Paul Scheer, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1977 – Suchitra Singh, Indian cricketer
- 1977 – Kerry Washington, American actress
- 1978 – Fabián Caballero, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1979 – Daniel Tammet, English author and educator
- 1980 – James Adomian, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
- 1980 – Gary Doherty, Irish footballer, centre forward
- 1980 – Shim Yi-young, South Korean actress
- 1981 – Julio Arca, Argentinian footballer
- 1981 – Mark Cameron, Australian cricketer
- 1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
- 1982 – Maret Ani, Estonian tennis player
- 1982 – Yuniesky Betancourt, Cuban baseball player
- 1982 – Andreas Görlitz, German footballer
- 1982 – Salvatore Masiello, Italian footballer
- 1982 – Allan McGregor, Scottish footballer
- 1982 – Jānis Sprukts, Latvian ice hockey player
- 1982 – Yukimi Nagano, Swedish singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Brad Thompson, American baseball player
- 1983 – James Sutton, English actor
- 1983 – Fabio Quagliarella, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Vernon Davis, American football player
- 1984 – Josh Johnson, Canadian-American baseball player
- 1984 – Jeremy Wariner, American runner
- 1984 – Alessandro Zanni, Italian rugby player
- 1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer
- 1985 – Mario Williams, American football player
- 1986 – Walter Dix, American sprinter
- 1986 – Megan Ellison, American film producer, founded Annapurna Pictures
- 1986 – George Elokobi, Cameroonian footballer
- 1986 – Yves Ma-Kalambay, Belgian footballer
- 1986 – Pauline Parmentier, French tennis player
- 1987 – Marcus Mumford, American-English singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Brett Pitman, English footballer
- 1988 – Taijo Teniste, Estonian footballer
- 1990 – Jacopo Fortunato, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Jacob Markström, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1990 – Kota Yabu, Japanese idol, singer-songwriter, model, actor
Deaths on January 31
- 632 – Máedóc of Ferns, Irish bishop and saint (b. 550)
- 876 – Hemma of Altdorf, Frankish queen
- 985 – Ryōgen, Japanese monk and abbot (b. 912)
- 1030 – William V, duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
- 1216 – Theodore II, patriarch of Constantinople
- 1398 – Sukō, emperor of Japan (b. 1334)
- 1418 – Mircea I, prince of Wallachia (b. 1355)
- 1435 – Xuande, emperor of China (b. 1398)
- 1561 – Bairam Khan, Mughalan general (b. 1501)
- 1561 – Menno Simons, Dutch minister and theologian (b. 1496)
- 1580 – Henry, king of Portugal (b. 1512)
- 1606 – Guy Fawkes, English conspirator, leader of the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1570)
- 1606 – Ambrose Rookwood, English Gunpowder Plot conspirator (b. 1578)
- 1606 – Thomas Wintour, English Gunpowder Plot conspirator (b. 1571)
- 1615 – Claudio Acquaviva, Italian priest, 5th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1543)
- 1632 – Jost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
- 1665 – Johannes Clauberg, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1622)
- 1686 – Jean Mairet, French playwright (b. 1604)
- 1720 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1654)
- 1729 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
- 1736 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect and set designer, designed the Basilica of Superga (b. 1678)
- 1790 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born American lawyer and surveyor (b. 1718)
- 1794 – Mariot Arbuthnot, English admiral and politician, 12th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (b. 1711)
- 1811 – Manuel Alberti, Argentinian priest and journalist (b. 1763)
- 1815 – José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan soldier (b. 1775)
- 1828 – Alexander Ypsilantis, Greek general (b. 1792)
- 1836 – John Cheyne, English physician and author (b. 1777)
- 1844 – Henri Gatien Bertrand, French general (b. 1773)
- 1856 – 11th Dalai Lama (b. 1838)
- 1870 – Cilibi Moise, Moldavian-Romanian journalist and author (b. 1812)
- 1888 – John Bosco, Italian priest and educator, founded the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
- 1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English pastor and author (b. 1834)
- 1900 – John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Scottish nobleman (b. 1844)
- 1907 – Timothy Eaton, Canadian businessman, founded Eaton’s (b. 1834)
- 1923 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish painter and critic (b. 1869)
- 1933 – John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- 1942 – Henry Larkin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1860)
- 1944 – Jean Giraudoux, French author and playwright (b. 1882)
- 1954 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American engineer, invented FM radio (b. 1890)
- 1954 – Vivian Woodward, English captain and footballer (b. 1879)
- 1955 – John Mott, American activist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright, created Winnie-the-Pooh (b. 1882)
- 1958 – Karl Selter, Estonian politician, 14th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1898)
- 1960 – Auguste Herbin, French painter (b. 1882)
- 1961 – Krishna Singh, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1887)
- 1966 – Arthur Percival, English general (b. 1887)
- 1967 – Eddie Tolan, American sprinter and educator (b. 1908)
- 1969 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (b. 1894)
- 1971 – Viktor Zhirmunsky, Russian historian and linguist (b. 1891)
- 1973 – Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
- 1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-American film producer, co-founded Goldwyn Pictures (b. 1882)
- 1976 – Ernesto Miranda, American criminal (b. 1941)
- 1976 – Evert Taube, Swedish author and composer (b. 1890)
- 1985 – Reginald Baker, English-Australian film producer (b. 1896)
- 1985 – Tatsuzō Ishikawa, Japanese author (b. 1905)
- 1987 – Yves Allégret, French director and screenwriter (b. 1907)
- 1989 – William Stephenson, Canadian captain and spy (b. 1896)
- 1990 – Eveline Du Bois-Reymond Marcus, German zoologist and academic (b. 1901)
- 1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-American biochemist and academic (b. 1935)
- 1995 – George Abbott, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1887)
- 1997 – John Joseph Scanlan, Irish-American bishop (b. 1930)
- 1999 – Giant Baba, Japanese wrestler and trainer, co-founded All Japan Pro Wrestling (b. 1938)
- 1999 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
- 2000 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American author and illustrator (b. 1926)
- 2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian-American author (b. 1923)
- 2002 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (b. 1919)
- 2004 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer and actress (b. 1913)
- 2004 – Suraiya, Indian actress and playback singer (b. 1929)
- 2006 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress and ballerina (b. 1926)
- 2007 – Molly Ivins, American journalist and author (b. 1944)
- 2007 – Adelaide Tambo, South African activist and politician (b. 1929)
- 2008 – František Čapek, Czechoslovakian canoeist (b. 1914)
- 2011 – Bartolomeu Anania, Romanian bishop and poet (b. 1921)
- 2011 – Mark Ryan, English guitarist and playwright (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Mani Ram Bagri, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Anthony Bevilacqua, American cardinal (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Tristram Potter Coffin, American author, scholar, and academic (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Dorothea Tanning, American painter and sculptor (b. 1910)
- 2013 – Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Hassan Habibi, Iranian lawyer and politician, 1st Vice President of Iran (b. 1937)
- 2014 – Francis M. Fesmire, American cardiologist and physician (b. 1959)
- 2014 – Anna Gordy Gaye, American songwriter and producer, co-founded Anna Records (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Abdirizak Haji Hussein, Somalian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Somalia (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Miklós Jancsó, Hungarian director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Joseph Willcox Jenkins, American composer, conductor, and educator (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Christopher Jones, American actor (b. 1941)
- 2015 – Vic Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, coach, and journalist (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Lizabeth Scott, American actress (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Richard von Weizsäcker, German captain and politician, 6th President of Germany (b. 1920)
- 2016 – Gil Carmichael, American businessman and politician (b. 1927)
- 2016 – Terry Wogan, Irish-British radio and television host (b. 1938)
- 2017 – Rob Stewart, Canadian filmmaker (b. 1979)
- 2018 – Rasual Butler, American professional basketball player (b. 1979)
- 2018 – Leah LaBelle, American singer (b. 1986)
Holidays and observances on January 31
- Christian feast day:
- Domitius (Domice) of Amiens
- Francis Xavier Bianchi
- Geminianus
- John Bosco
- Julius of Novara
- Blessed Ludovica
- Máedóc (Mogue, Aiden)
- Marcella
- Samuel Shoemaker (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Tysul
- Ulphia
- Wilgils
- January 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Amartithi (Meherabad, India, followers of Meher Baba)
- Independence Day (Nauru), celebrates independence from Australia in 1968.
- Street Children’s Day (Austria)
-
January 29 in History
- 904 – Sergius III is consecrated pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
- 946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu’izz al-Dawla, ruler of the Buyid Empire. He is succeeded by Al-Muti as caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.
- 1258 – First Mongol invasion of Đại Việt: Đại Việt defeats the Mongols at the battle of Đông Bộ Đầu, forcing the Mongols to withdraw from the country.
- 1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: France defeats Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.
- 1819 – Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.
- 1845 – “The Raven” is published in The Evening Mirror in New York, the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe.
- 1850 – Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.
- 1856 – Queen Victoria issues a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual that establishes the Victoria Cross to recognise acts of valour by British military personnel during the Crimean War.
- 1861 – Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
- 1863 – The Bear River Massacre: A detachment of California Volunteers led by Colonel Patrick Edward Connor engage the Shoshone at Bear River, Washington Territory, killing hundreds of men, women and children.
- 1886 – Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
- 1891 – Liliuokalani is proclaimed the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
- 1907 – Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator.
- 1911 – Mexican Revolution: Mexicali is captured by the Mexican Liberal Party, igniting the Magonista rebellion of 1911.
- 1916 – World War I: Paris is first bombed by German zeppelins.
- 1918 – Ukrainian–Soviet War: The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kiev, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty.
- 1918 – Ukrainian–Soviet War: An armed uprising organized by the Bolsheviks in anticipation of the encroaching Red Army begins at the Kiev Arsenal, which will be put down six days later.
- 1936 – The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced.
- 1940 – Three trains on the Nishinari Line; present Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station. One hundred and eighty-one people are killed.
- 1941 – Alexandros Koryzis becomes Prime Minister of Greece upon the sudden death of his predecessor, dictator Ioannis Metaxas.
- 1943 – World War II: The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, USS Chicago (CA-29) is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.
- 1944 – World War II: Approximately 38 people are killed and about a dozen injured when the Polish village of Koniuchy (present-day Kaniūkai, Lithuania) is attacked by Soviet partisan units.
- 1944 – In Bologna, Italy, the Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio is completely destroyed in an air-raid, during the Second World War.
- 1948 – The Pakistan Socialist Party is founded in Karachi.
- 1959 – The first Melodifestivalen is held in Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden.
- 1963 – The first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced.
- 1967 – The “ultimate high” of the hippie era, the Mantra-Rock Dance, takes place in San Francisco and features Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg.
- 1980 – The Rubik’s Cube makes its international debut at the Ideal Toy Corp. in Earl’s Court, London.
- 1989 – Cold War: Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so.
- 1991 – Gulf War: The Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the war, as well as its deadliest, begins.
- 1996 – President Jacques Chirac announces a “definitive end” to French nuclear weapons testing.
- 2001 – Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.
- 2002 – In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes “regimes that sponsor terror” as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
- 2005 – The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing.
- 2009 – The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.
- 2009 – Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is removed from office following his conviction of several corruption charges, including the alleged solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate as a replacement for then-U.S. president-elect Barack Obama.
- 2013 – SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashes near the Kazakh city of Almaty, killing 21 people.
- 2013 – Alabama bunker hostage crisis: After shooting and killing of school bus driver, 66 years old Charles Albert Poland, Jr, by 65 year old Vietnam War era veteran, Jimmy Lee Dykes.
- 2017 – Quebec City mosque shooting: Alexandre Bissonnette opens fire at mosque in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, killing six and wounding 19 others in a spree shooting.
Births on January 29
- 919 – Shi Zong, emperor of the Liao Dynasty (d. 951)
- 1455 – Johann Reuchlin, German-born humanist and scholar (d. 1522)
- 1475 – Giuliano Bugiardini, Italian painter (d. 1555)
- 1499 – Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther; formerly a Roman Catholic nun (d. 1552)
- 1525 – Lelio Sozzini, Italian humanist and reformer (d. 1562)
- 1584 – Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (d. 1647)
- 1591 – Franciscus Junius, pioneer of Germanic philology (d. 1677)
- 1602 – Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg (d. 1651)
- 1632 – Johann Georg Graevius, German scholar and critic (d. 1703)
- 1650 – Juan de Galavís, Spanish Roman Catholic archbishop of Santo Domingo and Bogotá (d. 1739)
- 1688 – Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish astronomer, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1772)
- 1711 – Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (d. 1788)
- 1715 – Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1777)
- 1717 – Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, English field marshal and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1797)
- 1718 – Paul Rabaut, French pastor (d. 1794)
- 1737 – Thomas Paine, prominent for publishing Common Sense (1776), which established him as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States (d. 1809)
- 1749 – Christian VII of Denmark (d. 1808)
- 1754 – Moses Cleaveland, American general, lawyer, and politician, founded Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1806)
- 1756 – Henry Lee III, American general and politician, 9th Governor of Virginia (d. 1818)
- 1761 – Albert Gallatin, Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, and politician, 4th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1849)
- 1782 – Daniel Auber, French composer (d. 1871)
- 1801 – Johannes Bernardus van Bree, Dutch violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1857)
- 1810 – Ernst Kummer, Polish-German mathematician and academic (d. 1893)
- 1810 – Mary Whitwell Hale, American teacher, school founder, and hymnwriter (d. 1862)
- 1843 – William McKinley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 25th President of the United States (d. 1901)
- 1846 – Karol Olszewski, Polish chemist, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1915)
- 1852 – Frederic Hymen Cowen, Jamaican-English pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1935)
- 1858 – Henry Ward Ranger, American painter and academic (d. 1916)
- 1860 – Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer (d. 1904)
- 1861 – Florida Ruffin Ridley, African-American civil rights activist, teacher, editor, and writer (d. 1943)
- 1862 – Frederick Delius, English composer (d. 1934)
- 1866 – Julio Peris Brell, Spanish painter (d. 1944)
- 1866 – Romain Rolland, French historian, author, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)
- 1867 – Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Spanish journalist and author (d. 1928)
- 1870 – Süleyman Nazif, Turkish poet and civil servant (d. 1927)
- 1874 – John D. Rockefeller, Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1960)
- 1876 – Havergal Brian, English composer (d. 1972)
- 1877 – Georges Catroux, French general and diplomat (d. 1969)
- 1880 – W. C. Fields, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (d. 1946)
- 1881 – Alice Catherine Evans, American microbiologist (d. 1975)
- 1884 – Juhan Aavik, Estonian-Swedish composer and conductor (d. 1982)
- 1888 – Sydney Chapman, English mathematician and geophysicist (d. 1970)
- 1888 – Wellington Koo, Chinese statesman (d. 1985)
- 1891 – Elizaveta Gerdt, Russian ballerina and educator (d. 1975)
- 1891 – R. Norris Williams, Swiss-American tennis player and banker (d. 1968)
- 1892 – Ernst Lubitsch, German American film director, producer, writer, and actor (d. 1947)
- 1895 – Muna Lee, American poet and author (d. 1965)
- 1901 – Allen B. DuMont, American engineer and broadcaster, founded the DuMont Television Network (d. 1965)
- 1901 – E. P. Taylor, Canadian businessman and horse breeder (d. 1989)
- 1903 – Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Russian-Israeli biochemist and philosopher (d. 1994)
- 1905 – Barnett Newman, American painter and etcher (d. 1970)
- 1906 – Joe Primeau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1989)
- 1913 – Victor Mature, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1915 – Bill Peet, American author and illustrator (d. 2002)
- 1915 – John Serry Sr., Italian-American concert accordionist and composer (d.2003)
- 1917 – John Raitt, American actor and singer (d. 2005)
- 1918 – John Forsythe, American actor (d. 2010)
- 1921 – Geraldine Pittman Woods, American science administrator and embryologist (d. 1999)
- 1923 – Jack Burke Jr., American golfer
- 1923 – Paddy Chayefsky, American author and screenwriter (d. 1981)
- 1926 – Abdus Salam, Pakistani-British physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- 1926 – Amelita Ramos, 11th First Lady of the Philippines
- 1927 – Edward Abbey, American environmentalist and author (d. 1989)
- 1929 – Elio Petri, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1982)
- 1929 – Joseph Kruskal, American mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2010)
- 1931 – Leslie Bricusse, English playwright and composer
- 1931 – Ferenc Mádl, Hungarian academic and politician, 2nd President of Hungary (d. 2011)
- 1932 – Raman Subba Row, English cricketer and referee
- 1932 – Tommy Taylor, English footballer (d. 1958)
- 1933 – Sacha Distel, French singer and guitarist (d. 2004)
- 1934 – Branko Miljković, Serbian poet and academic (d. 1961)
- 1936 – Veturi Sundararama Murthy, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 2010)
- 1937 – Hassan Habibi, Iranian lawyer and politician, 1st Vice President of Iran (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Bobby Scott, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1990)
- 1939 – Germaine Greer, Australian journalist and author
- 1940 – Katharine Ross, American actress and author
- 1940 – Kunimitsu Takahashi, Japanese motorcycle racer and race car driver
- 1941 – Robin Morgan, American actress, journalist, and author
- 1943 – Tony Blackburn, English radio and television host
- 1943 – Pat Quinn, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2014)
- 1944 – Andrew Loog Oldham, English record producer and manager
- 1944 – Patrick Lipton Robinson, Jamaican lawyer and judge
- 1944 – Pauline van der Wildt, Dutch swimmer
- 1945 – Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, Malian academic and politician, Prime Minister of Mali
- 1945 – Jim Nicholson, Northern Irish politician
- 1945 – Tom Selleck, American actor and businessman
- 1946 – Bettye LaVette, American singer-songwriter
- 1947 – Linda B. Buck, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1947 – David Byron, English singer-songwriter (d. 1985)
- 1947 – Marián Varga, Slovak organist and composer
- 1948 – Raymond Keene, English chess player and author
- 1949 – doris davenport, American poet and teacher
- 1949 – Evgeny Lovchev, Russian footballer and manager
- 1949 – Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-American drummer and producer (d. 2014)
- 1950 – Ann Jillian, American actress and singer
- 1950 – Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver and sportscaster
- 1951 – Fereydoon Forooghi, Iranian singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
- 1951 – Andy Roberts, Caribbean cricketer
- 1953 – Peter Baumann, German keyboard player and songwriter
- 1953 – Charlie Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1953 – Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (d. 1995)
- 1954 – Christian Bjelland IV, Norwegian businessman and art collector
- 1954 – Terry Kinney, American actor and director
- 1954 – Oprah Winfrey, American talk show host, actress, and producer, founded Harpo Productions
- 1956 – Jan Jakub Kolski, Polish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer
- 1957 – Philippe Dintrans, French rugby player
- 1957 – Ron Franscell, American author and journalist
- 1957 – Grażyna Miller, Italian journalist and poet
- 1959 – Mike Foligno, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1960 – Gia Carangi, American supermodel (d. 1986)
- 1960 – Greg Louganis, American diver and author
- 1961 – Petra Thümer, German swimmer and photographer
- 1962 – Nicholas Turturro, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1964 – John Anthony Gallagher, English-New Zealand rugby player
- 1965 – Dominik Hašek, Czech ice hockey player
- 1965 – Peter Lundgren, Swedish tennis player and coach
- 1966 – Romário, Brazilian footballer, manager, and politician
- 1967 – Stacey King, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
- 1968 – Edward Burns, American actor, director, and producer
- 1968 – Susi Erdmann, German luger and bobsledder
- 1970 – Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian colonel and politician
- 1970 – Heather Graham, American actress
- 1970 – Jörg Hoffmann, German swimmer
- 1970 – Paul Ryan, American economist and politician, 62nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
- 1970 – Mohammed Yusuf, Nigerian Islamist leader, founded Boko Haram (d. 2009)
- 1975 – Sara Gilbert, American actress, producer, and talk show host
- 1980 – Ivan Klasnic, German-Croatian footballer
- 1982 – Adam Lambert, American singer, songwriter and actor
- 1984 – Natalie du Toit, South African swimmer
- 1984 – Nuno Morais, Portuguese footballer
- 1985 – Marc Gasol, Spanish basketball player
- 1987 – José Abreu, Cuban baseball player
- 1988 – Tatyana Chernova, Russian heptathlete
- 1988 – Shay Logan, English footballer
- 1988 – Aydın Yılmaz, Turkish footballer
- 1989 – Kevin Shattenkirk, American ice hockey player
- 1993 – Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Japanese singer
Deaths on January 29
- 661 – Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad (b. 601)
- 702 – Princess Ōku of Japan (b. 661)
- 757 – An Lushan, Chinese general (b. 703)
- 870 – Salih ibn Wasif, Muslim general
- 1119 – Pope Gelasius II (b. 1060)
- 1327 – Adolf, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1300)
- 1465 – Louis, Duke of Savoy (b. 1413)
- 1597 – Elias Ammerbach, German organist and composer (b. 1530)
- 1608 – Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1557)
- 1647 – Francis Meres, English priest and author (b. 1565)
- 1678 – Jerónimo Lobo, Portuguese missionary and author (b. 1593)
- 1706 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and courtier (b. 1638)
- 1737 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, Scottish-English field marshal and politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1666)
- 1743 – André-Hercule de Fleury, French cardinal (b. 1653)
- 1763 – Louis Racine, French poet (b. 1692)
- 1820 – George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)
- 1829 – Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, French captain and politician (b. 1755)
- 1829 – István Pauli, Hungarian-Slovenian priest and poet (b. 1760)
- 1870 – Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1797)
- 1871 – Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, Canadian author (b. 1786)
- 1888 – Edward Lear, English poet and illustrator (b. 1812)
- 1899 – Alfred Sisley, French-English painter (b. 1839)
- 1906 – Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818)
- 1928 – Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Scottish field marshal (b. 1861)
- 1931 – Henri Mathias Berthelot, French general during World War I (b. 1861)
- 1933 – Sara Teasdale, American poet (b. 1884)
- 1934 – Fritz Haber, Polish-German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
- 1941 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and politician, 130th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1871)
- 1944 – William Allen White, American journalist and author (b. 1868)
- 1946 – Harry Hopkins, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1890)
- 1948 – Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta (b. 1900)
- 1950 – Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler (b. 1885)
- 1951 – Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer and umpire (b. 1880)
- 1956 – H. L. Mencken, American journalist and critic (b. 1880)
- 1959 – Winifred Brunton, South African painter and illustrator (b. 1880)
- 1962 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-American violinist and composer (b. 1875)
- 1963 – Robert Frost, American poet and playwright (b. 1874)
- 1964 – Alan Ladd, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1969 – Allen Welsh Dulles, American banker, lawyer, and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1893)
- 1970 – B. H. Liddell Hart, French-English soldier, historian, and journalist (b. 1895)
- 1977 – Freddie Prinze, American comedian and actor (b. 1954)
- 1978 – Frank Nicklin, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Queensland (b. 1895)
- 1980 – Jimmy Durante, American entertainer (b. 1893)
- 1991 – Yasushi Inoue, Japanese author and poet (b. 1907)
- 1992 – Willie Dixon, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1915)
- 1993 – Adetokunbo Ademola, Nigerian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of Nigeria (b. 1906)
- 1994 – Ulrike Maier, Austrian skier (b. 1967)
- 1999 – Lili St. Cyr, American model and dancer (b. 1918)
- 2002 – Harold Russell, Canadian-American soldier and actor (b. 1914)
- 2003 – Frank Moss, American lawyer and politician (b. 1911)
- 2004 – Janet Frame, New Zealand author and poet (b. 1924)
- 2005 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli author, screenwriter, and director (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Nam June Paik, South Korean-American artist, (b. 1932)
- 2008 – Bengt Lindström, Swedish painter and sculptor (b. 1925)
- 2008 – Margaret Truman, American singer and author (b. 1924)
- 2009 – Hélio Gracie, Brazilian martial artist (b. 1913)
- 2011 – Milton Babbitt, American composer, educator, and theorist (b. 1916)
- 2012 – Ranjit Singh Dyal, Indian general and politician, 10th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Italian lawyer and politician, 9th President of Italy (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Camilla Williams, American soprano and educator (b. 1919)
- 2014 – François Cavanna, French journalist and author (b. 1923)
- 2015 – Colleen McCullough, Australian neuroscientist, author, and academic (b. 1937)
- 2015 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1933)
- 2015 – Alexander Vraciu, American commander and pilot (b. 1918)
- 2016 – Jean-Marie Doré, Guinean lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Guinea (b. 1938)
- 2016 – Jacques Rivette, French director, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1928)
- 2019 – George Fernandes, Indian politician (b. 1930)
- 2019 – James Ingram, American musician (b. 1952)
Holidays and observances on January 29
- Christian feast day:
- Andrei Rublev (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Aquilinus of Milan
- Constantius of Perugia
- Dallán Forgaill
- Gildas
- Juniper
- Sabinian of Troyes
- Sulpitius I of Bourges
- Valerius of Trèves
- January 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Fat Thursday can fall, while March 4 is the latest; celebrated on Thursday before Ash Wednesday. (Christianity)
- Kansas Day (Kansas, United States)
-
January 21 in History
- 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
- 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
- 1535 – Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris.
- 1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
- 1749 – The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire, as a result of a torch being left behind in the box of a nobleman after a performance. It is rebuilt in 1754.
- 1774 – Abdul Hamid I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
- 1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.
- 1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.
- 1854 – The RMS Tayleur sinks off Lambay Island on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia with great loss of life.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
- 1893 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.
- 1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
- 1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.
- 1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit.
- 1919 – A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place.
- 1925 – Albania declares itself a republic.
- 1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
- 1941 – Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania the day before, members of the Iron Guard engaged in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews.
- 1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Québec Flag Day.
- 1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
- 1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
- 1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.
- 1960 – Avianca Flight 671 crashes at Montego Bay, Jamaica airport, killing 37 people.
- 1960 – A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.
- 1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
- 1971 – The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.
- 1976 – Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.
- 1980 – Iran Air Flight 291 crashes in the Alborz Mountains while on approach to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 128 people.
- 1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
- 1985 – Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashes near Reno–Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 people.
- 1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.
- 1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.
- 2000 – Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutiérrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad.
- 2003 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless.
- 2004 – NASA’s MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
- 2005 – In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government’s new taxes erupts into riots.
- 2009 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continues in the weeks to follow.
- 2011 – Anti government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Five people lose their lives from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister’s office. To date, no one has been held accountable for the deaths.
- 2017 – Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women’s march, on Donald Trump’s first full day as President of the United States.
- 2018 – Rocket Lab’s Electron becomes the first rocket to reach orbit using an electric pump-fed engine and deploys three CubeSats.
Births on January 21
- 1264 – Alexander, Prince of Scotland (d. 1284)
- 1277 – Galeazzo I Visconti, lord of Milan
- 1338 – Charles V of France (d. 1380)
- 1493 – Giovanni Poggio, Italian cardinal and diplomat (d. 1556)
- 1598 – Matsudaira Tadamasa, Japanese samurai and daimyō (d. 1645)
- 1612 – Henry Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz, count of Nassau-Dietz (d. 1640)
- 1636 – Melchiorre Cafà, Maltese Baroque sculptor (baptised; d. 1667)
- 1655 – Antonio Molinari, Italian painter (d. 1704)
- 1659 – Adriaen van der Werff, Dutch painter (d. 1722)
- 1675 – Duchess Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg, Margravine of Baden-Baden (d. 1733)
- 1714 – Anna Morandi Manzolini, Spanish anatomist (d. 1774)
- 1717 – Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish military officer and governor of Cuba (d. 1779)
- 1721 – James Murray, Scottish-English general and politician, Governor of Minorca (d. 1794)
- 1724 – Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, French rococo painter (d. 1805)
- 1732 – Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, son of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, and Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis (d. 1797)
- 1738 – Ethan Allen, American general (d. 1789)
- 1741 – Chaim of Volozhin, Orthodox rabbi (d. 1821)
- 1763 – Augustin Robespierre, younger brother of French Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre (d. 1794)
- 1775 – Manuel Garcia, Spanish opera singer and composer (d. 1832)
- 1784 – Peter De Wint, English painter (d. 1849)
- 1788 – William Henry Smyth, Royal Navy officer, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist
- 1796 – Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel, consort of George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1880)
- 1797 – Joseph Méry, French author and journalist (d. 1866)
- 1800 – Theodor Fliedner, German Lutheran minister (d. 1864)
- 1801 – John Batman, Australian entrepreneur and explorer (d. 1839)
- 1804 – Moritz von Schwind, Austrian painter (d. 1871)
- 1808 – Juan Crisóstomo Torrico, 16th President of Peru (d. 1875)
- 1810 – Pierre Louis Charles de Failly, French general (d. 1892)
- 1811 – James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, British statesman (d. 1885)
- 1813 – John C. Frémont, American general, explorer, and politician, 5th Territorial Governor of Arizona (d. 1890)
- 1813 – Giuseppe Montanelli, Italian statesman and author (d. 1862)
- 1814 – Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, German bibliographer and historian (d. 1885)
- 1815 – Horace Wells, American dentist (d. 1848)
- 1820 – Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator (d. 1899)
- 1820 – Egide Walschaerts, Belgian mechanical engineer (d. 1901)
- 1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (d. 1863)
- 1827 – Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1900)
- 1829 – Oscar II of Sweden (d. 1907)
- 1839 – Caterina Volpicelli, Italian Roman Catholic nun (d. 1894)
- 1840 – Sophia Jex-Blake, English physician and feminist (d. 1912)
- 1841 – Édouard Schuré, French philosopher and author (d. 1929)
- 1843 – Émile Levassor, French engineer (d. 1897)
- 1845 – Harriet Backer, Norwegian painter (d. 1932)
- 1846 – Pieter Hendrik Schoute, Dutch mathematician and academic (d. 1923)
- 1846 – Albert Lavignac, French music scholar (d. 1916)
- 1847 – Joseph Achille Le Bel, French chemist (d. 1930)
- 1848 – Henri Duparc, French soldier and composer (d. 1933)
- 1851 – Giuseppe Allamano, Italian Roman Catholic priest (d. 1926)
- 1854 – Karl Julius Beloch, German classical and economic historian (d. 1929)
- 1854 – Eusapia Palladino, Italian Spiritualist (d. 1918)
- 1855 – Princess Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1874)
- 1860 – Karl Staaff, Swedish lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1915)
- 1864 – Israel Zangwill, British author (d. 1926)
- 1865 – Heinrich Albers-Schonberg, German gynecologist and radiologist (d. 1921)
- 1867 – Ludwig Thoma, German paramedic and author (d. 1921)
- 1867 – Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general (d. 1965)
- 1868 – Felix Hoffmann, German chemist (d. 1946)
- 1869 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian Mystic (d. 1916)
- 1871 – Olga Preobrajenska, Russian ballerina (d. 1962)
- 1873 – Arturo Labriola, Italian revolutionary syndicalist (d. 1959)
- 1874 – René-Louis Baire, French mathematician (d. 1932)
- 1875 – Paul E. Kahle, German orientalist (d. 1964)
- 1877 – Baldassarre Negroni, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1948)
- 1878 – Vahan Tekeyan, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1948)
- 1879 – Joseph Roffo, French rugby player and tug of war competitor (d. 1933)
- 1880 – George Van Biesbroeck, Belgian–American astronomer (d. 1974)
- 1881 – Ernst Fast, Swedish runner (d. 1959)
- 1881 – André Godard, French archaeologist, architect and historian (d. 1965)
- 1881 – Ivan Ribar, Yugoslav politician (d. 1968)
- 1882 – Pavel Florensky, Russian mathematician and theologian (d. 1937)
- 1882 – Francis Gailey, Australian-American swimmer (d. 1972)
- 1883 – Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet and educator (d. 1929)
- 1883 – Mathias Hynes, British tug of war competitor (d. 1926)
- 1885 – Duncan Grant, British painter and designer (d. 1978)
- 1885 – Umberto Nobile, Italian engineer and explorer (d. 1978)
- 1885 – Harold A. Wilson, English runner (d. 1932)
- 1886 – John M. Stahl, American director and producer (d. 1950)
- 1887 – Wolfgang Köhler, German psychologist and phenomenologist (d. 1967)
- 1887 – Ernest Holmes, American New Thought writer (d. 1960)
- 1887 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1926)
- 1889 – Pitirim Sorokin, American sociologist and political activist (d. 1968)
- 1891 – Albert Battel, German Army lieutenant and lawyer (d. 1952)
- 1891 – Francisco Lázaro, Portuguese marathon runner (d. 1912)
- 1895 – Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer, founded Balenciaga (d. 1972)
- 1895 – Daniel Chalonge, French astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1977)
- 1895 – Noe Itō, Japanese anarchist, author and feminist (d. 1923)
- 1896 – Guy Gilpatric, American pilot and journalist (d. 1950)
- 1896 – Paula Hitler, younger sister of Adolf Hitler (d. 1960)
- 1896 – J. Carrol Naish, American actor (d. 1973)
- 1896 – Masa Perttilä, Finnish wrestler (d. 1968)
- 1897 – René Iché, French sculptor (d. 1954)
- 1898 – Rudolph Maté, Polish-Hungarian-American cinematographer, producer and director (d. 1964)
- 1898 – Ahmad Shah Qajar, Shah of Persia (d. 1930)
- 1898 – Eduard Zintl, German chemist (d. 1941)
- 1899 – John Bodkin Adams, British general practitioner and convict (d. 1983)
- 1899 – Gyula Mándi, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1969)
- 1899 – Edith Tolkien, wife and muse of J. R. R. Tolkien (d. 1971)
- 1899 – Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian-American pianist and composer (d. 1977)
- 1900 – Elof Ahrle, Swedish actor and director (d. 1965)
- 1900 – Anselm Franz, Austrian engineer (d. 1994)
- 1900 – Bernhard Rensch, German evolutionary biologist (d. 1990)
- 1900 – Fernando Quiroga Palacios, Spanish Cardinal (d. 1971)
- 1901 – Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1978)
- 1903 – William Lyon, American film editor (d. 1974)
- 1903 – Raymond Suvigny, French weightlifter (d. 1945)
- 1904 – Puck van Heel, Dutch footballer (d. 1984)
- 1904 – John Porter, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1997)
- 1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer, founded Christian Dior S.A. (d. 1957)
- 1905 – Karl Wallenda, German-American acrobat and tightrope walker, founded The Flying Wallendas (d. 1978)
- 1906 – Leo Halle, Dutch footballer (d. 1992)
- 1906 – Igor Moiseyev, Russian choreographer (d. 2007)
- 1907 – Carlo Cavagnoli, Italian boxer (d. 1991)
- 1907 – Jānis Mendriks, Latvian Catholic priest (d. 1953)
- 1909 – Todor Skalovski, Macedonian composer and conductor (d. 2004)
- 1909 – Teofilo Spasojević, Serbian footballer (d. 1970)
- 1910 – Hideo Shinojima, Japanese footballer (d. 1975)
- 1910 – Albert Rosellini, American lawyer and politician, 15th Governor of Washington (d. 2011)
- 1910 – Rosa Kellner, German athlete (d. 1984)
- 1910 – Károly Takács, Hungarian shooter (d. 1976)
- 1911 – Dick Garrard, Australian wrestler (d. 2003)
- 1911 – Lee Yoo-hyung, Korean footballer and manager (d. 2003)
- 1912 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
- 1915 – André Lichnerowicz, French mathematician (d. 1998)
- 1915 – Orazio Mariani, Italian sprinter (d. 1981)
- 1916 – Pietro Rava, Italian footballer (d. 2006)
- 1916 – Zypora Spaisman, Polish midwife; American and Yiddish-language actress; producer of the Yiddish stage (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Erling Persson, H&M founder (d. 2002)
- 1918 – Jimmy Hagan, English footballer (d. 1998)
- 1918 – Richard Winters, American soldier (d. 2011)
- 1918 – Antonio Janigro, Italian cellist and conductor (d. 1989)
- 1919 – Eric Brown, Scottish-English captain and pilot (d. 2016)
- 1920 – Errol Barrow, first Prime Minister of Barbados (d. 1987)
- 1921 – Lincoln Alexander, Canadian lawyer and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Labour (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Telly Savalas, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1922 – Paul Scofield, English actor (d. 2008)
- 1922 – Predrag Vranicki, Croatian Marxist Humanist, and member of the Praxis school in the 1960s in Yugoslavia (d. 2002)
- 1923 – Lola Flores, Spanish singer, dancer, and actress (d. 1995)
- 1923 – Alberto de Mendoza, Argentine actor (d. 2011)
- 1923 – Pahiño, Spanish footballer (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Benny Hill, English actor, singer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
- 1925 – Charles Aidman, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1925 – Alex Forbes, Scottish footballer (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Eva Ibbotson, Austrian-English author (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Arnold Skaaland, American wrestler and manager (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Clive Donner, British director (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Franco Evangelisti, Italian composer (d. 1980)
- 1926 – Steve Reeves, American bodybuilder (d. 2000)
- 1926 – Roger Taillibert, French architect (d. 2019)
- 1926 – Robert J. White, American neurosurgeon (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Rudolf Kraus, German footballer (d. 2003)
- 1928 – Gene Sharp, American political scientist and academic, founded the Albert Einstein Institution (d. 2018)
- 1928 – Reynaldo Bignone, Argentinian general and politician, 41st President of Argentina (d. 2018)
- 1929 – Radley Metzger, American filmmaker (d. 2017)
- 1930 – Mainza Chona, Zambian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Zambia (d. 2001)
- 1931 – Yoshiko Kuga, Japanese actress
- 1933 – Habib Thiam, Senegalese politician (d. 2017)
- 1933 – Tony Marchi, English footballer, wing half
- 1934 – Audrey Dalton, Irish actress
- 1934 – Antonio Karmany, Spanish cyclist
- 1934 – Alfonso Portugal, Mexican footballer (d. 2016)
- 1934 – Ann Wedgeworth, American actress (d. 2017)
- 1936 – Dick Davies, American basketball player (d. 2012)
- 1937 – Judit Ágoston-Mendelényi, Hungarian fencer (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria, the youngest son of Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria
- 1938 – Sandy Barr, American wrestler and referee (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Romano Fogli, Italian footballer
- 1938 – Wolfman Jack, American radio host (d. 1995)
- 1938 – Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
- 1939 – Paul Genevay, French sprinter
- 1939 – Friedel Lutz, German footballer
- 1939 – Steve Paxton, American dancer and choreographer
- 1939 – Viacheslav Platonov, Russian volleyball player and coach (d. 2005)
- 1940 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer and sportscaster
- 1940 – Patrick Robinson, British novelist
- 1941 – Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian prince (d. 2013)
- 1941 – Plácido Domingo, Spanish tenor and conductor
- 1941 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
- 1941 – Mike Medavoy, Chinese-American film producer, co-founded Orion Pictures
- 1941 – Ivan Putski, Polish-American wrestler and bodybuilder
- 1941 – Elaine Showalter, American author and critic
- 1942 – Freddy Breck, German singer, producer, and news anchor (d. 2008)
- 1942 – Eugène Camara, Prime Minister of Guinea (d. 2019)
- 1942 – Han Pil-hwa, North Korean speed skater
- 1942 – Mac Davis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1942 – Edwin Starr, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
- 1942 – Michael G. Wilson, American producer and screenwriter
- 1943 – Zdravko Hebel, Croatian water polo player (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Arnar Jónsson, Icelandic actor
- 1943 – Alfons Peeters, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
- 1943 – Kenzo Yokoyama, Japanese footballer
- 1944 – Uto Ughi, Italian violinist
- 1945 – Pete Kircher, English drummer
- 1945 – Martin Shaw, English actor and producer
- 1946 – Ichiro Hosotani, Japanese footballer
- 1946 – Nella Martinetti, Swiss singer (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Tomás Pineda, El Salvadoran footballer
- 1946 – Miguel Reina, Spanish footballer
- 1947 – Jill Eikenberry, American actress
- 1947 – Andrzej Bachleda, Polish former alpine skier
- 1947 – Dorian M. Goldfeld, American mathematician
- 1947 – Pye Hastings, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Michel Jonasz, French singer-songwriter and actor
- 1947 – Joseph Nicolosi, American clinical psychologist (d. 2017)
- 1947 – Giuseppe Savoldi, Italian footballer
- 1947 – Roberto Zywica, Argentine footballer
- 1948 – Zygmunt Kukla, Polish footballer (d. 2016)
- 1948 – Hugo Tocalli, Argentine footballer
- 1949 – Trương Tấn Sang, Vietnamese politician and 7th President of Vietnam
- 1949 – Clifford Ray, American basketball coach and player
- 1950 – Marion Becker, German javelin thrower
- 1950 – Gary Locke, American politician and diplomat, 36th United States Secretary of Commerce
- 1950 – José Marín, Spanish racewalker
- 1950 – Billy Ocean, Trinidadian-English singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Agnes van Ardenne, Dutch politician and diplomat, Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation
- 1951 – Eric Holder, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 82nd United States Attorney General
- 1952 – Marco Camenisch, Swiss activist and murderer
- 1952 – Werner Grissmann, Austrian alpine skier
- 1952 – Mikhail Umansky, Russian chess player (d. 2010)
- 1953 – Paul Allen, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Microsoft (d. 2018)
- 1953 – Felipe Yáñez, Spanish cyclist
- 1954 – Thomas de Maizière, German politician of the Christian Democratic Union
- 1954 – Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkinabé director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
- 1954 – Phil Thompson, English footballer and coach
- 1955 – Peter Fleming, American tennis player
- 1955 – Jeff Koons, American painter and sculptor
- 1955 – Nello Musumeci, Italian politician and President of Sicily
- 1956 – Robby Benson, American actor and director
- 1956 – Geena Davis, American actress and producer
- 1958 – Matt Salmon, American politician
- 1958 – Hussein Saeed, Iraqi footballer
- 1958 – Sergei Walter, Ukrainian politician (d. 2015)
- 1958 – Michael Wincott, Canadian actor
- 1959 – Sergei Alifirenko, Russian pistol shooter
- 1959 – Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1960 – Sidney Lowe, American basketball player
- 1960 – Mike Terrana, American hard rock and heavy metal drummer
- 1961 – Kevin Cramer, American politician
- 1961 – Cornelia Pröll, Austrian alpine skier
- 1961 – Ivo Pukanić Croatian journalist (d. 2008)
- 1961 – Gary Shaw, English footballer
- 1961 – Piotr Ugrumov, Russian cyclist
- 1962 – Tyler Cowen, American economist and academic
- 1962 – Isabelle Nanty, French actress, director and screenwriter
- 1962 – Gabriele Pin, Italian footballer and coach
- 1962 – Zoran Thaler, Slovenian politician
- 1962 – Erik Verlinde, Dutch theoretical physicist
- 1962 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
- 1963 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-American basketball player
- 1963 – Detlef Schrempf, German basketball player and coach
- 1964 – Andreas Bauer, German ski jumper
- 1964 – Tony Dolan, English musician and actor
- 1964 – Gérald Passi, French footballer
- 1964 – Ricardo Serna, Spanish footballer
- 1964 – Aleksandar Šoštar, Serbian water polo player
- 1964 – Danny Wallace, English footballer
- 1965 – Robert Del Naja, British artist, musician and singer
- 1965 – Jam Master Jay, American DJ, rapper, and producer (d. 2002)
- 1965 – Masahiro Wada, Japanese footballer
- 1967 – Artashes Minasian, Armenian chess player
- 1967 – Alfred Jermaniš, Slovenian footballer
- 1967 – Gorō Miyazaki, Japanese film director and landscaper
- 1968 – Dmitry Fomin, Soviet and Russian volleyball player
- 1968 – Ilya Smirin, Israeli chess Grandmaster
- 1968 – Artur Dmitriev, Soviet and Russian ice skater
- 1968 – Sébastien Lifshitz, French director
- 1968 – Charlotte Ross, American actress
- 1969 – John Ducey, American actor
- 1969 – Eduard Hämäläinen, Finnish-Belarusian decathlete
- 1969 – Karina Lombard, French-American actress and singer
- 1969 – Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese comic artist
- 1970 – Alen Bokšić, former Croatian footballer
- 1970 – Marina Foïs, French actress
- 1970 – Ken Leung, American actor
- 1970 – Oren Peli, Israeli-American director, producer and screenwriter
- 1971 – Uni Arge, Faroese footballer and entertainer
- 1971 – Rafael Berges, Spanish footballer
- 1971 – Doug Edwards, American basketball player
- 1971 – Dmitri Khlestov, Russian footballer
- 1971 – Dylan Kussman, American actor
- 1971 – Sergey Klevchenya, Russian speed skater
- 1971 – Doug Weight, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1972 – Billel Dziri, Algerian footballer and manager
- 1972 – Rick Falkvinge, Swedish businessman and politician
- 1972 – Sead Kapetanović, Bosnian footballer
- 1972 – Yasunori Mitsuda, Japanese composer and producer
- 1972 – Cat Power, American singer, musician and actress
- 1972 – Shawn Rojeski, American curler
- 1972 – Sabina Valbusa, Italian cross-country skier
- 1973 – Rob Hayles, English cyclist
- 1973 – Chris Kilmore, American musician and DJ
- 1973 – Edvinas Krungolcas, Lithuanian modern pentathlete
- 1973 – Flavio Maestri, Peruvian footballer
- 1974 – Malena Alterio, Spanish actress
- 1974 – Maxwell Atoms, American animator, screenwriter and voice actor
- 1974 – Kim Dotcom, German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and political activist
- 1974 – Arthémon Hatungimana, Burundian middle distance runner
- 1974 – Vincent Laresca, American actor
- 1974 – Ulrich Le Pen, French footballer
- 1974 – Marco Zanotti, Italian cyclist
- 1975 – Nicky Butt, English footballer and coach
- 1975 – Casey FitzRandolph, American speedskater
- 1975 – Yuji Ide, Japanese race car driver
- 1975 – Ito, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1975 – Willem Korsten, Dutch footballer, left winger
- 1975 – Jason Moran, American jazz pianist, composer and educator
- 1975 – Florin Șerban, Romanian director
- 1975 – Alyaksandr Yermakovich, Belarusian footballer and manager
- 1976 – Aivaras Abromavičius, Lithuanian-Ukrainian banker and politician; 15th Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development
- 1976 – Raivis Belohvoščiks, Latvian cyclist
- 1976 – Emma Bunton, English singer
- 1976 – Lars Eidinger, German actor
- 1976 – Giorgio Frezzolini, Italian footballer
- 1976 – Igors Stepanovs, Latvian footballer
- 1977 – Hussein Abdulghani, Saudi Arabian footballer
- 1977 – Bradley Carnell, South African footballer
- 1977 – John DeSantis, Canadian actor
- 1977 – Kirsten Klose, German hammer thrower
- 1977 – Denis Lunghi, Italian cyclist
- 1977 – Ulrike Maisch, German runner
- 1977 – Phil Neville, English footballer and manager
- 1977 – Michael Ruffin, American basketball player
- 1977 – Jerry Trainor, American actor, director, and producer
- 1978 – Faris Al-Sultan, German triathlete
- 1978 – Peter von Allmen, Swiss cross-country skier
- 1978 – Hernán Rodrigo López, Uruguayan footballer
- 1978 – Andrei Zyuzin, Russian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Quinton Jacobs, Namibian footballer
- 1979 – Byung-hyun Kim, South Korean baseball player
- 1979 – Spider Loc, American rapper and actor
- 1979 – Melendi, Spanish singer
- 1979 – Brian O’Driscoll, Irish rugby player
- 1979 – Sebastian Schindzielorz, German footballer
- 1980 – Troy Dumais, American diver
- 1980 – Karsten Forsterling, Australian rower
- 1980 – Dave Kitson, English footballer and manager
- 1980 – Lee Kyung-won, South Korean badminton player
- 1980 – Kevin McKenna, Canadian soccer player
- 1980 – Nana Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress
- 1980 – Alexander Os, former Norwegian biathlete
- 1980 – Xavier Pons, Spanish rally diver
- 1980 – Mari Possa, El Salvadoran pornographic actress
- 1980 – Bratislav Ristić, Serbian footballer
- 1981 – Gillian Chung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress
- 1981 – Ivan Ergić, Serbian footballer
- 1981 – Roberto Guana Italian footballer
- 1981 – Wu Hanxiong, Chinese fencer
- 1981 – Dany Heatley, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1981 – Andy Lee, South Korean singer and actor
- 1981 – Izabella Miko, Polish actress, dancer, and producer
- 1981 – Shawn Redhage, American-Australian basketball player
- 1981 – Michel Teló, Brazilian singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Jung Ryeo-won, South Korean actress
- 1981 – David F. Sandberg, Swedish filmmaker
- 1982 – Richard José Blanco, Venezuelan footballer
- 1982 – Adriano Ferreira Martins, Brazilian footballer
- 1982 – Nicolas Mahut, French tennis player
- 1982 – Sarah Ourahmoune, French boxer
- 1982 – Simon Rolfes, German footballer
- 1982 – Dean Whitehead, English footballer
- 1983 – Alex Acker, American basketball player
- 1983 – Monique Adamczak, Australian tennis player
- 1983 – Victor Leandro Bagy, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Ranko Despotović, Serbian footballer
- 1983 – Svetlana Khodchenkova, Russian actress
- 1983 – Marieke van den Ham, Dutch water polo player
- 1983 – Billy Mwanza, Zambian footballer
- 1983 – Maryse Ouellet, French-Canadian wrestler
- 1983 – Álvaro Quirós, Spanish golfer
- 1983 – Francesca Segat, Italian swimmer
- 1983 – Moritz Volz, German footballer, right back, football pundit and scout
- 1983 – Kelly VanderBeek, Canadian alpine skier
- 1984 – Leonardo Burián, Uruguayan footballer
- 1984 – Luke Grimes, American actor
- 1984 – Amy Hastings, American track and fielder
- 1984 – Alex Koslov, Moldovan-American wrestler
- 1984 – Dejan Milovanović, Serbian footballer
- 1984 – Wes Morgan, Jamaican footballer
- 1984 – Haloti Ngata, American footballer
- 1985 – Markus Berger, Austrian footballer
- 1985 – Artur Beterbiev, Russian boxer
- 1985 – Aura Dione, Danish singer and songwriter
- 1985 – Nick Gehlfuss, American actor
- 1985 – Salvatore Giunta, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient
- 1985 – Yumi Hara, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1985 – Sasha Pivovarova, Russian model and actress
- 1985 – Rodrigo San Miguel, Spanish basketball player
- 1985 – Ri Se-gwang, North Korean artistic gymnast
- 1985 – Dmitri Sokolov, Russian basketball player
- 1985 – Ryan Suter, American ice hockey player
- 1986 – César Arzo, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Edson Barboza, Brazilian mixed martial artist
- 1986 – João Gomes Júnior, Brazilian swimmer
- 1986 – Javi López, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Gina Mambrú, volleyball player from Dominican Republic
- 1986 – Jonathan Quick, American ice hockey player
- 1986 – Mike Taylor, American basketball player
- 1986 – Óscar Vílchez, Peruvian footballer
- 1986 – Sushant Singh Rajput, Indian actor
- 1987 – Ioannis Athanasoulas, Greek basketball player
- 1987 – Andrei Cojocari, Moldovan footballer
- 1987 – Alexander Dercho, German footballer
- 1987 – Aida Hadzialic, Swedish politician
- 1987 – Shaun Keeling, South African rower
- 1987 – Augustine Kiprono Choge, Kenyan runner
- 1987 – Kevin Kratz, German footballer
- 1987 – Danny Munyao, Zambian footballer
- 1987 – Henrico Drost, Dutch footballer
- 1987 – Darren Helm, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Will Johnson, Canadian footballer
- 1987 – Mulopo Kudimbana, Congolese footballer
- 1987 – Nyasha Mushekwi, Zimbabwean footballer
- 1987 – Dominik Roels, German cyclist
- 1987 – Maša Zec Peškirič, Slovenian tennis player
- 1987 – Ikumi Yoshimatsu, Japanese actress
- 1988 – Glaiza de Castro, Filipino actress and singer
- 1988 – Ashton Eaton, American decathlete
- 1988 – Rolands Freimanis, Latvian basketball player
- 1988 – Vanessa Hessler, Italian-American model and actress
- 1988 – Aleksandar Lazevski, Macedonian footballer
- 1988 – Ángel Mena, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1988 – Valérie Tétreault, Canadian tennis player
- 1988 – Pieter Timmers, Belgian swimmer
- 1988 – Nemanja Tomić, Serbian footballer
- 1988 – Ben Turner, English footballer
- 1989 – Doğuş Balbay, Turkish basketball player
- 1989 – Kayla Banwarth, American indoor volleyball player
- 1989 – Férébory Doré, Congolese footballer
- 1989 – Sergey Fesikov, Russian swimmer
- 1989 – Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Armenian footballer
- 1989 – Matteo Pelucchi, Italian cyclist
- 1989 – Zhang Shuai, Chinese tennis player
- 1990 – Arash Afshin, Iranian footballer
- 1990 – Diogo Amado, Portuguese footballer
- 1990 – Andriy Bohdanov, Ukrainian footballer
- 1990 – Kelly Rohrbach, American model and actress
- 1990 – André Martins, Portuguese footballer
- 1990 – Knowledge Musona, Zimbabwean footballer
- 1990 – Jacob Smith, American actor
- 1990 – Doni Tata Pradita, Indonesian motorcycle racer
- 1991 – Ali Al-Busaidi, Omani footballer
- 1991 – Javier Calvo, Spanish actor and director
- 1991 – Mohammad Ghadir, Arab-Israeli footballer
- 1991 – Jan Hirt, Czech cyclist
- 1991 – Mateusz Mika, Polish volleyball player
- 1991 – Alfredo Ortuño, Spanish footballer
- 1991 – Marta Pagnini, Italian gymnast
- 1991 – Craig Roberts, Welsh actor and director
- 1991 – Luis Alfonso Rodríguez, Mexican footballer
- 1992 – Verónica Cepede Royg, Paraguayan tennis player
- 1992 – Sven Erik Bystrøm, Norwegian cyclist
- 1992 – James Duckworth, Australian tennis player
- 1992 – Kwame Karikari, Ghanaian footballer
- 1992 – Nicolás Mezquida, Uruguayan footballer
- 1992 – Roland Szolnoki, Hungarian footballer
- 1993 – Clément Mignon, French swimmer
- 1993 – Muralha, Brazilian footballer
- 1993 – Chiara Pierobon, Italian cyclist (d. 2015)
- 1994 – Amin Affane, Swedish footballer
- 1994 – Laura Robson, Australian-English tennis player
- 1994 – Kang Seung-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
- 1994 – Nils Allen “Booboo” Stewart Jr., American actor
- 1994 – Lim Kim, South Korean singer and actress
- 1995 – Yulia Belorukova, Russian cross-country skier
- 1995 – Nguyễn Công Phượng, Vietnamese footballer
- 1995 – Marine Johannes, French basketball player
- 1995 – Alanna Kennedy, Australian footballer player
- 1996 – Marco Asensio, Spanish footballer
- 1996 – Aldo Kalulu, French footballer
- 1996 – Cristian Pavón, Argentine footballer
- 1997 – Jeremy Shada, American actor, musician and singer
- 1998 – Borna Sosa, Croatian footballer
- 1999 – Rubina Ali, Indian actress
- 2003 – Natalie Garcia, rhythmic gymnast
- 2004 – Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, 2nd in line for the Norwegian throne
Deaths on January 21
- 420 – Yazdegerd I, king of the Sassanid Empire
- 496 – Epiphanius of Pavia, Italian bishop and saint (b. 438)
- 917 – Erchanger, Duke of Swabia (b. 880)
- 918 – Liu Zhijun, Chinese general
- 939 – Yang Pu, Chinese emperor (b. 900)
- 942 – An Chongrong, Chinese general (Five Dynasties)
- 945 – Yang Tan, Chinese general and governor
- 1118 – Pope Paschal II (b. 1050)
- 1203 – Agnes II, Abbess of Quedlinburg (b. 1139)
- 1320 – Árni Helgason, Icelandic bishop (b. c. 1260)
- 1527 – Juan de Grijalva, Spanish explorer (b. 1489)
- 1546 – Azai Sukemasa, Japanese daimyō (b. 1491)
- 1609 – Joseph Justus Scaliger, French historian and scholar (b. 1540)
- 1638 – Ignazio Donati, Italian composer (b. 1570)
- 1670 – Claude Duval, French highwayman (b. 1643)
- 1683 – Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1621)
- 1699 – Obadiah Walker, English historian and academic (b. 1616)
- 1706 – Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (b. 1649)
- 1710 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic and critic (b. 1638)
- 1722 – Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1661)
- 1731 – Ignjat Đurđević, Croatian poet and translator (b. 1675)
- 1773 – Alexis Piron, French playwright and author (b. 1689)
- 1774 – Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1717)
- 1775 – Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian rebel (b. 1742)
- 1789 – Baron d’Holbach, French-German philosopher and author (b. 1723)
- 1793 – Louis XVI of France (b. 1754)
- 1795 – Samuel Wallis, English navigator and explorer (b. 1728)
- 1809 – Josiah Hornblower, American engineer and politician (b. 1729)
- 1814 – Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, French botanist and author (b. 1737)
- 1823 – Cayetano José Rodríguez, Argentinian cleric, journalist, and poet (b. 1761)
- 1831 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and author (b. 1781)
- 1851 – Albert Lortzing, German actor and composer (b. 1801)
- 1862 – Božena Němcová, Austrian-Czech author and poet (b. 1820)
- 1870 – Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and author (b. 1812)
- 1872 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian playwright and poet (b. 1791)
- 1881 – Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, Swiss lawyer and politician (b. 1802)
- 1891 – Calixa Lavallée, Canadian-American lieutenant and composer (b. 1842)
- 1901 – Elisha Gray, American engineer, co-founded Western Electric (b. 1835)
- 1914 – Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian painter and illustrator (b. 1857)
- 1918 – Jan Drozdowski, Polish pianist and music teacher (b. 1857)
- 1919 – Gojong of Korea (b. 1852)
- 1919 – Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 277th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1839)
- 1924 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1870)
- 1926 – Camillo Golgi, Italian physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1843)
- 1928 – George Washington Goethals, American general and engineer (b. 1858)
- 1931 – Felix Blumenfeld, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1863)
- 1932 – Lytton Strachey, English writer and critic (b. 1880)
- 1933 – George Moore, Irish author, poet, and critic (b. 1852)
- 1937 – Marie Prevost, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1898)
- 1938 – Georges Méliès, French actor, director, and producer (b. 1861)
- 1945 – Rash Behari Bose, Indian soldier and engineer (b. 1886)
- 1948 – Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer and educator (b. 1876)
- 1950 – George Orwell, British novelist, essayist, and critic (b. 1903)
- 1955 – Archie Hahn, German-American runner and coach (b. 1880)
- 1956 – Sam Langford, Canadian-American boxer (b. 1883)
- 1959 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1881)
- 1959 – Frances Gertrude McGill, pioneering Canadian forensic pathologist (b. 1882)
- 1959 – Carl Switzer, American child actor and hunting guide (b. 1927)
- 1960 – Matt Moore, Irish-American actor and director (b. 1888)
- 1961 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss author and poet (b. 1887)
- 1963 – Acharya Shivpujan Sahay, Indian author, poet, and academic (b. 1893)
- 1963 – Spiros Xenos, Greek-Swedish painter (b. 1881)
- 1965 – Gwynne Evans, American swimmer and water polo player (b. 1880)
- 1967 – Ann Sheridan, American actress (b. 1915)
- 1968 – Will Lang, Jr., American journalist (b. 1914)
- 1977 – Sandro Penna, Italian poet and journalist (b. 1906)
- 1978 – Freda Utley, English scholar and author (b. 1898)
- 1983 – Lamar Williams, American bass player (b. 1949)
- 1984 – Giannis Skarimpas, Greek playwright and poet (b. 1893)
- 1984 – Jackie Wilson, American singer (b. 1934)
- 1985 – James Beard, American chef and author (b. 1903)
- 1985 – Eddie Graham, American wrestler and promoter (b. 1930)
- 1987 – Charles Goodell, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1926)
- 1988 – Vincent Lingiari, Australian Aboriginal rights activist (b. 1919)
- 1989 – Carl Furillo, American baseball player (b. 1922)
- 1989 – Billy Tipton, American pianist and saxophonist (b. 1914)
- 1993 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player and manager (b. 1903)
- 1994 – Bassel al-Assad, Son of the former President of the Syrian Arab Republic Hafez al-Assad (b. 1962)
- 1998 – Jack Lord, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1920)
- 1999 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (b. 1938)
- 2002 – Peggy Lee, American singer (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Paul Haines, American-Canadian poet and songwriter (b. 1933)
- 2003 – Paul Kuusberg, Estonian journalist and author (b. 1916)
- 2004 – Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian author and playwright (b. 1929)
- 2005 – Theun de Vries, Dutch author and poet (b. 1907)
- 2005 – John L. Hess, American journalist and critic (b. 1917)
- 2005 – Kaljo Raid, Estonian cellist, composer, and pastor (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo journalist and politician, 1st President of Kosovo (b. 1944)
- 2009 – Krista Kilvet, Estonian journalist, politician and diplomat (b. 1946)
- 2010 – Paul Quarrington, Canadian author, playwright, guitarist, and composer (b. 1953)
- 2011 – Theoni V. Aldredge, Greek-American costume designer (b. 1922)
- 2011 – Dennis Oppenheim, American sculptor and photographer (b. 1938)
- 2011 – E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1958)
- 2013 – Ahmet Mete Işıkara, Turkish geophysicist and academic (b. 1941)
- 2013 – Chumpol Silpa-archa, Thai academic and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1940)
- 2013 – Michael Winner, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Marcus Borg, American scholar, theologian, and author (b. 1942)
- 2015 – Leon Brittan, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Johnnie Lewis, Liberian lawyer and politician, 18th Chief Justice of Liberia (b. 1946)
- 2016 – Bill Johnson, American skier (b. 1960)
- 2016 – Mrinalini Sarabhai, a 1992-Padma Bhushan award winner Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor. (b. 1918)
- 2019 – Kaye Ballard, American actress (b. 1925)
- 2019 – Henri, Count of Paris, Head of the House of Orléans (b. 1933)
- 2019 – Emiliano Sala, Argentine footballer (b. 1990)
- 2019 – Harris Wofford, American politician, author and civil rights activist (b. 1926)
- 2020 – Terry Jones, Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
- 2020 – Morgan Wootten, American high school basketball coach (b. 1931)
Holidays and observances on January 21
- Babinden (Bulgaria, Serbia)
- Birthday of Princess Ingrid Alexandra (Norway)
- Christian feast day:
- Agnes
- Demiana (Coptic Church)
- Fructuosus
- John Yi Yun-il (one of The Korean Martyrs)
- Meinrad of Einsiedeln
- January 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Errol Barrow Day (Barbados)
- Flag Day (Quebec)
- Grandmother’s Day (Poland)
- Lady of Altagracia Day (Dominican Republic)
- Lincoln Alexander Day (Canada)
-
January 17 in History
- 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
- 1362 – Saint Marcellus’ flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
- 1377 – Pope Gregory XI reaches Rome, after deciding to move the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
- 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
- 1562 – France grants religious toleration to the Huguenots in the Edict of Saint-Germain.
- 1595 – During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
- 1608 – Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.
- 1648 – England’s Long Parliament passes the “Vote of No Addresses”, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
- 1773 – Captain James Cook leads the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.
- 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
- 1799 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
- 1811 – Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.
- 1852 – The United Kingdom signs the Sand River Convention with the South African Republic.
- 1873 – A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.
- 1885 – A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
- 1893 – Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens’ Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani.
- 1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1903 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
- 1904 – Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
- 1912 – British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
- 1915 – Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey in the Battle of Sarikamish during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I.
- 1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
- 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
- 1920 – Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect.
- 1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
- 1941 – Franco-Thai War: Vichy French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
- 1943 – World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel Agios Stefanos and mans her with part of her crew.
- 1944 – World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
- 1945 – World War II: The Vistula–Oder Offensive forces German troops out of Warsaw.
- 1945 – The SS-Totenkopfverbände begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
- 1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
- 1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session.
- 1948 – The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia is ratified.
- 1950 – The Great Brink’s Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company’s offices in Boston.
- 1950 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 79 relating to arms control is adopted.
- 1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the “military–industrial complex” as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.
- 1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
- 1966 – Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.
- 1969 – Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
- 1977 – Capital punishment in the United States resumes after a ten-year hiatus, as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah.
- 1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
- 1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq, it is also the first major combat sortie for the F-117. LCDR Scott Speicher’s F/A-18C Hornet from VFA-81 is shot down by a Mig-25 and is the first American casualty of the War. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
- 1991 – Crown prince Harald V of Norway becomes King Harald V, following the death of his father, King Olav V.
- 1992 – During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
- 1994 – The 6.7 Mw Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
- 1995 – The 6.9 Mw Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of VII, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.
- 1996 – The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
- 1997 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying the GPS IIR-1 satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
- 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his Drudge Report website.
- 2002 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
- 2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea’s nuclear testing.
- 2010 – Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths.
Births on January 17
- 1342 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)
- 1429 – Antonio del Pollaiolo, Italian artist (d.c. 1498)
- 1463 – Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)
- 1463 – Antoine Duprat, French cardinal (d. 1535)
- 1472 – Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian captain (d. 1508)
- 1484 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (d. 1545)
- 1501 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
- 1504 – Pope Pius V (d. 1572)
- 1517 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English Duke (d. 1554)
- 1560 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist, physician, and academic (d. 1624)
- 1574 – Robert Fludd, English physician, astrologer, and mathematician (d. 1637)
- 1593 – William Backhouse, English alchemist and astrologer (d. 1662)
- 1600 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright and poet (d. 1681)
- 1612 – Thomas Fairfax, English general and politician (d. 1671)
- 1640 – Jonathan Singletary Dunham, American settler (d. 1724)
- 1659 – Antonio Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1745)
- 1666 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (d. 1723)
- 1686 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian and author (d. 1766)
- 1706 – Benjamin Franklin, American publisher, inventor, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (d. 1790)
- 1712 – John Stanley, English organist and composer (d. 1786)
- 1719 – William Vernon, American businessman (d. 1806)
- 1728 – Johann Gottfried Müthel, German pianist and composer (d. 1788)
- 1732 – Stanisław August Poniatowski, Polish-Lithuanian king (d. 1798)
- 1734 – François-Joseph Gossec, French composer and conductor (d. 1829)
- 1761 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (d. 1832)
- 1789 – August Neander, German historian and theologian (d. 1850)
- 1793 – Antonio José Martínez, Spanish-American priest, rancher and politician (d. 1867)
- 1814 – Ellen Wood, English author (d. 1887)
- 1820 – Anne Brontë, English author and poet (d. 1849)
- 1828 – Lewis A. Grant, American lawyer and general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918)
- 1828 – Ede Reményi, Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1898)
- 1832 – Henry Martyn Baird, American historian and academic (d. 1906)
- 1834 – August Weismann, German biologist, zoologist, and geneticist (d. 1914)
- 1850 – Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Brazilian cardinal (d. 1930)
- 1850 – Alexander Taneyev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1918)
- 1851 – A. B. Frost, American author and illustrator (d. 1928)
- 1853 – Alva Belmont, American suffragist (d. 1933)
- 1852 – T. Alexander Harrison, American painter and academic (d. 1930)
- 1857 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941)
- 1857 – Eugene Augustin Lauste, French-American engineer (d. 1935)
- 1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian author (d. 1940)
- 1860 – Douglas Hyde, Irish academic and politician, 1st President of Ireland (d. 1949)
- 1863 – David Lloyd George, Welsh lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)
- 1863 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (d. 1938)
- 1865 – Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951)
- 1867 – Carl Laemmle, German-born American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1939)
- 1867 – Sir Alfred Rawlinson, 3rd Baronet, English colonel, pilot, and polo player (d. 1934)
- 1871 – David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, English admiral (d. 1936)
- 1871 – Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1940)
- 1875 – Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan journalist and playwright (d. 1910)
- 1876 – Frank Hague, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Jersey City (d. 1956)
- 1877 – Marie Zdeňka Baborová-Čiháková, Czech botanist and zoologist (d. 1937)
- 1877 – May Gibbs, English-Australian author and illustrator (d. 1969)
- 1880 – Mack Sennett, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1960)
- 1881 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
- 1881 – Harry Price, English psychologist and author (d. 1948)
- 1882 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
- 1883 – Compton Mackenzie, English-Scottish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1972)
- 1886 – Glenn L. Martin, American pilot and businessman, founded the Glenn L. Martin Company (d. 1955)
- 1887 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
- 1888 – Babu Gulabrai, Indian philosopher and author (d. 1963)
- 1897 – Marcel Petiot, French physician and serial killer (d. 1946)
- 1898 – Lela Mevorah, Serbian librarian (d. 1972)
- 1899 – Al Capone, American mob boss (d. 1947)
- 1899 – Robert Maynard Hutchins, American philosopher and academic (d. 1977)
- 1899 – Nevil Shute, English engineer and author (d. 1960)
- 1901 – Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-American philosopher and author (d. 1973)
- 1904 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai painter and illustrator (d. 1969)
- 1905 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1905 – Peggy Gilbert, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
- 1905 – Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, educator, and critic (d. 1950)
- 1905 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1966)
- 1905 – Jan Zahradníček, Czech poet and translator (d. 1960)
- 1907 – Henk Badings, Indonesian-Dutch composer and engineer (d. 1987)
- 1907 – Alfred Wainwright, British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator (d. 1991)
- 1908 – Cus D’Amato, American boxing manager and trainer (d. 1985)
- 1911 – Busher Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1966)
- 1911 – John S. McCain Jr., American admiral (d. 1981)
- 1911 – George Stigler, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
- 1914 – Anacleto Angelini, Italian-Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
- 1914 – Irving Brecher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
- 1914 – Paul Royle, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 2015)
- 1914 – William Stafford, American poet and author (d. 1993)
- 1916 – Peter Frelinghuysen Jr., American lieutenant and politician (d. 2011)
- 1917 – M. G. Ramachandran, Indian actor, director, and politician, 5th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 1987)
- 1918 – Keith Joseph, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Education (d. 1994)
- 1918 – George M. Leader, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2013)
- 1920 – Georges Pichard, French author and illustrator (d. 2003)
- 1921 – Asghar Khan, Pakistani general and politician (d. 2018)
- 1921 – Jackie Henderson, Scottish footballer, forward (d. 2005)
- 1921 – Charlie Mitten, English footballer, outside forward and manager (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Antonio Prohías, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
- 1922 – Luis Echeverría, Mexican academic and politician, 50th President of Mexico
- 1922 – Nicholas Katzenbach, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 65th United States Attorney General (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Betty White, American actress, game show panelist, television personality, and animal rights activist
- 1923 – Rangeya Raghav, Indian author and playwright (d. 1962)
- 1924 – Rik De Saedeleer, Belgian footballer and journalist (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Jewel Plummer Cobb, American biologist, cancer researcher, and academic (d. 2017)
- 1925 – Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-American architect (d. 2017)
- 1925 – Robert Cormier, American author and journalist (d. 2000)
- 1925 – Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer and author (d. 1996)
- 1926 – Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and politician
- 1926 – Moira Shearer, Scottish-English ballerina and actress (d. 2006)
- 1926 – Clyde Walcott, Barbadian cricketer (d. 2006)
- 1927 – Thomas Anthony Dooley III, American physician and humanitarian (d. 1961)
- 1927 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
- 1927 – Harlan Mathews, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
- 1927 – E. W. Swackhamer, American director and producer (d. 1994)
- 1928 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)
- 1928 – Vidal Sassoon, English-American hairdresser and businessman (d. 2012)
- 1929 – Jacques Plante, Canadian-Swiss ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1986)
- 1929 – Tan Boon Teik, Malaysian-Singaporean lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of Singapore (d. 2012)
- 1931 – James Earl Jones, American actor
- 1931 – Douglas Wilder, American sergeant and politician, 66th Governor of Virginia
- 1931 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Sheree North, American actress and dancer (d. 2005)
- 1933 – Dalida, Egyptian-French singer and actress (d. 1987)
- 1933 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French-Pakistani diplomat, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (d. 2003)
- 1933 – Shari Lewis, American actress, puppeteer/ventriloquist, and television host (d. 1998)
- 1934 – Donald Cammell, Scottish-American director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
- 1935 – Ruth Ann Minner, American businesswoman and politician, 72nd Governor of Delaware
- 1936 – John Boyd, English academic and diplomat, British ambassador to Japan
- 1936 – A. Thangathurai, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1997)
- 1937 – Alain Badiou, French philosopher and academic
- 1938 – John Bellairs, American author and academic (d. 1991)
- 1938 – Toini Gustafsson, Swedish cross country skier
- 1939 – Christodoulos of Athens, Greek archbishop (d. 2008)
- 1939 – Maury Povich, American talk show host and producer
- 1940 – Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Egyptian-Armenian patriarch (d. 2015)
- 1940 – Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan athlete
- 1940 – Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguayan physician and politician, 39th President of Uruguay
- 1941 – István Horthy, Jr., Hungarian physicist and architect
- 1942 – Muhammad Ali, American boxer and activist (d. 2016)
- 1942 – Ita Buttrose, Australian journalist and author
- 1942 – Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist and educator
- 1942 – Nigel McCulloch, English bishop
- 1943 – Chris Montez, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1943 – René Préval, Haitian agronomist and politician, 52nd President of Haiti (d. 2017)
- 1944 – Ann Oakley, English sociologist, author, and academic
- 1945 – Javed Akhtar, Indian poet, playwright, and composer
- 1945 – Anne Cutler, Australian psychologist and academic
- 1948 – Davíð Oddsson, Icelandic politician, 21st Prime Minister of Iceland
- 1949 – Anita Borg, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2003)
- 1949 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (d. 2014)
- 1949 – Augustin Dumay, French violinist and conductor
- 1949 – Andy Kaufman, American actor and comedian (d. 1984)
- 1949 – Mick Taylor, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1950 – Luis López Nieves, Puerto Rican-American author and academic
- 1952 – Tom Deitz, American author (d. 2009)
- 1952 – Darrell Porter, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
- 1952 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese pianist, composer, and producer
- 1953 – Jeff Berlin, American bass player and educator
- 1953 – Carlos Johnson, American singer and guitarist
- 1954 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer, radio host, activist, and environmentalist
- 1955 – Steve Earle, American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, author and actor
- 1955 – Pietro Parolin, Italian cardinal
- 1955 – Steve Javie, American basketball player and referee
- 1956 – Damian Green, English journalist and politician
- 1956 – Paul Young, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1957 – Steve Harvey, American actor, comedian, television personality and game show host
- 1957 – Ann Nocenti, American journalist and author
- 1958 – Tony Kouzarides, English biologist, cancer researcher
- 1959 – Susanna Hoffs, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
- 1960 – John Crawford, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1960 – Chili Davis, Jamaican-American baseball player and coach
- 1961 – Brian Helgeland, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1962 – Jun Azumi, Japanese broadcaster and politician, 46th Japanese Minister of Finance
- 1962 – Jim Carrey, Canadian-American actor and producer
- 1962 – Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author
- 1963 – Kai Hansen, German singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1963 – Colin Gordon, English footballer, striker, agent, manager, chief executive
- 1964 – Michelle Obama, American lawyer and activist, 46th First Lady of the United States
- 1964 – John Schuster, Samoan-New Zealand rugby player
- 1965 – Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1966 – Trish Johnson, English golfer
- 1966 – Joshua Malina, American actor
- 1967 – Richard Hawley, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1968 – Rowan Pelling, English journalist and author
- 1968 – Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch author, poet, and scholar
- 1969 – Naveen Andrews, English actor
- 1969 – Lukas Moodysson, Swedish director, screenwriter, and author
- 1969 – Tiësto, Dutch DJ and producer
- 1970 – Cássio Alves de Barros, Brazilian footballer
- 1970 – Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player and actor
- 1970 – Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-American animator, director, and producer
- 1971 – Giorgos Balogiannis, Greek basketball player
- 1971 – Richard Burns, English race car driver (d. 2005)
- 1971 – Kid Rock, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1971 – Sylvie Testud, French actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1973 – Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer and actor
- 1973 – Chris Bowen, Australian politician, 37th Treasurer of Australia
- 1973 – Liz Ellis, Australian netball player and sportscaster
- 1973 – Aaron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1974 – Yang Chen, Chinese footballer and manager
- 1974 – Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian viola player, composer, and producer
- 1974 – Derrick Mason, American football player
- 1975 – Freddy Rodriguez, American actor
- 1978 – Lisa Llorens, Australian Paralympian
- 1978 – Ricky Wilson, English singer-songwriter
- 1980 – Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian-American dancer and choreographer
- 1980 – Zooey Deschanel, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1980 – Modestas Stonys, Lithuanian footballer
- 1981 – Warren Feeney, Northern Irish footballer and manager
- 1982 – Dwyane Wade, American basketball player
- 1982 – Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer
- 1983 – Álvaro Arbeloa, Spanish footballer
- 1983 – Johannes Herber, German basketball player
- 1983 – Rick Kelly, Australian race car driver
- 1983 – Marcelo Garcia, Brazilian martial artist
- 1984 – Calvin Harris, Scottish singer-songwriter, DJ, and producer
- 1985 – Pablo Barrientos, Argentinian footballer
- 1985 – Betsy Ruth, American wrestler and manager
- 1985 – Simone Simons, Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Cody Decker, American baseball player
- 1988 – Andrea Antonelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2013)
- 1988 – Will Genia, Australian rugby player
- 1988 – Héctor Moreno, Mexican footballer
- 1989 – Taylor Jordan, American baseball player
- 1989 – Kelly Marie Tran, American actress
- 1990 – Santiago Tréllez, Colombian footballer
- 1991 – Trevor Bauer, American baseball player
- 1991 – Esapekka Lappi, Finnish Rally Driver
- 1991 – Slade Griffin, Australian rugby league player
- 1991 – Alise Post, American BMX rider
- 1993 – Frankie Cocozza, British singer
- 1994 – Mark Steketee, Australian cricketer
- 1998 – Jeff Reine-Adelaide, French footballer
- 1998 – Sophie Molineux, Australian cricketer
- 2000 – Devlin DeFrancesco, Canadian race car driver
Deaths on January 17
- 395 – Theodosius I, Roman emperor (b. 347)
- 644 – Sulpitius the Pious, French bishop and saint
- 764 – Joseph of Freising, German bishop
- 1040 – Mas’ud I of Ghazni, Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire (b. 998)
- 1156 – André de Montbard, fifth Grand Master of the Knights Templar
- 1168 – Thierry, Count of Flanders (b. 1099)
- 1229 – Albert of Riga, German bishop (b. 1165)
- 1329 – Saint Roseline, Carthusian nun (b. 1263)
- 1334 – John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond (b. 1266)
- 1345 – Henry of Asti, Greek patriarch
- 1345 – Martino Zaccaria, Genoese Lord of Chios
- 1369 – Peter I of Cyprus (b. 1328)
- 1456 – Elisabeth of Lorraine-Vaudémont, French translator (b. 1395)
- 1468 – Skanderbeg, Albanian soldier and politician (b. 1405)
- 1588 – Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (b. 1528)
- 1598 – Feodor I of Russia (b. 1557)
- 1617 – Fausto Veranzio, Croatian bishop and lexicographer (b. 1551)
- 1705 – John Ray, English botanist and historian (b. 1627)
- 1718 – Benjamin Church, American colonel (b. 1639)
- 1737 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)
- 1738 – Jean-François Dandrieu, French organist and composer (b. 1682)
- 1751 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1671)
- 1826 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish-French composer (b. 1806)
- 1834 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1762)
- 1861 – Lola Montez, Irish actress and dancer (b. 1821)
- 1863 – Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)
- 1869 – Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813)
- 1878 – Edward Shepherd Creasy, English historian and jurist (b. 1812)
- 1884 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist and herpetologist (b. 1804)
- 1887 – William Giblin, Australian lawyer and politician, 13th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
- 1888 – Big Bear, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1825)
- 1891 – George Bancroft, American historian and politician, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1800)
- 1893 – Rutherford B. Hayes, American general, lawyer, and politician, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)
- 1903 – Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
- 1908 – Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835)
- 1909 – Francis Smith, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819)
- 1911 – Francis Galton, English polymath, anthropologist, and geographer (b. 1822)
- 1927 – Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860)
- 1930 – Gauhar Jaan, One of the first performers to record music on 78 rpm records in India. (b. 1873)
- 1931 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia (b. 1864)
- 1932 – Ahmet Derviş, Turkish general (b. 1881)
- 1932 – Albert Jacka, Australian captain, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1893)
- 1933 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (b. 1848)
- 1936 – Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1885)
- 1942 – Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)
- 1947 – Pyotr Krasnov, Russian historian and general (b. 1869)
- 1947 – Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, Canadian cardinal (b. 1883)
- 1951 – Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Indian poet, playwright, and director (b. 1903)
- 1952 – Walter Briggs Sr., American businessman (b. 1877)
- 1961 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)
- 1970 – Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoon player and educator (b. 1890)
- 1972 – Betty Smith, American author and playwright (b. 1896)
- 1977 – Dougal Haston, Scottish mountaineer (b. 1940)
- 1977 – Gary Gilmore, American murderer (b. 1940)
- 1981 – Loukas Panourgias, Greek footballer and lawyer (b. 1899)
- 1984 – Kostas Giannidis, Greek pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1903)
- 1987 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentinian director and screenwriter (b. 1908)
- 1988 – Percy Qoboza, South African journalist and author (b. 1938)
- 1991 – Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)
- 1992 – Frank Pullen, English soldier and businessman (b. 1915)
- 1993 – Albert Hourani, English-Lebanese historian and academic (b. 1915)
- 1994 – Yevgeni Ivanov, Russian spy (b. 1926)
- 1994 – Helen Stephens, American runner, shot putter, and discus thrower (b. 1918)
- 1996 – Barbara Jordan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1936)
- 1996 – Sylvia Lawler, English geneticist (b. 1922))
- 1997 – Bert Kelly, Australian farmer and politician, 20th Australian Minister for the Navy (b. 1912)
- 1997 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (b. 1906)
- 2000 – Philip Jones, English trumpet player and educator (b. 1928)
- 2000 – Ion Rațiu, Romanian journalist and politician (b. 1917)
- 2002 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Roman Personov, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1932)
- 2003 – Richard Crenna, American actor and director (b. 1926)
- 2004 – Raymond Bonham Carter, English banker (b. 1929)
- 2004 – Harry Brecheen, American baseball player and coach (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Ray Stark, American film producer (b. 1915)
- 2004 – Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931)
- 2005 – Charlie Bell, Australian businessman (b. 1960)
- 2005 – Virginia Mayo, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Albert Schatz, American microbiologist and academic (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Zhao Ziyang, Chinese politician, 3rd Premier of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1919)
- 2006 – Pierre Grondin, Canadian surgeon (b. 1925)
- 2007 – Art Buchwald, American journalist and author (b. 1925)
- 2007 – Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian engineer and politician (b. 1951)
- 2008 – Bobby Fischer, American chess player and author (b. 1943)
- 2008 – Ernie Holmes, American football player, wrestler, and actor (b. 1948)
- 2009 – Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist and historian (b. 1943)
- 2010 – Gaines Adams, American football player (b. 1983)
- 2010 – Jyoti Basu, Indian politician and CM of West Bengal for 23 years (b. 1914)
- 2010 – Michalis Papakonstantinou, Greek journalist and politician, Foreign Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
- 2010 – Erich Segal, American author and screenwriter (b. 1937)
- 2011 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Ernie Alexander, American educator and politician (b. 1933)
- 2012 – Julius Meimberg, German soldier and pilot (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Johnny Otis, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Marty Springstead, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1937)
- 2013 – Mehmet Ali Birand, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1941)
- 2013 – Jakob Arjouni, German author (b. 1964)
- 2013 – Yves Debay, Belgian journalist (b. 1954)
- 2013 – John Nkomo, Zimbabwean politician, Vice President of Zimbabwe (b. 1934)
- 2013 – Lizbeth Webb, English soprano and actress (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, Indian spiritual leader, 52nd Da’i al-Mutlaq (b. 1915)
- 2014 – Francine Lalonde, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green, English businessman and politician (b. 1942)
- 2014 – John J. McGinty III, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Sunanda Pushkar, Indian-Canadian businesswoman (b. 1962)
- 2014 – Suchitra Sen, Indian film actress (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Ken Furphy, English footballer and manager (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress and producer (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Don Harron, Canadian actor and screenwriter (b. 1924)
- 2016 – Blowfly, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
- 2016 – Melvin Day, New Zealand painter and historian (b. 1923)
- 2016 – V. Rama Rao, Indian lawyer and politician, 12th Governor of Sikkim (b. 1935)
- 2016 – Sudhindra Thirtha, Indian religious leader (b. 1926)
- 2017 – Tirrel Burton, American football player and coach (b. 1929)
- 2018 – Jessica Falkholt, Australian actress (b. 1988)
- 2019 – S. Balakrishnan, Malayalam movie composer (b. 1948)
- 2020 – Derek Fowlds, British actor (b.1937)
Holidays and observances on January 17
- Christian feast day:
- Anthony the Great
- Blessed Angelo Paoli
- Blessed Gamelbert of Michaelsbuch
- Charles Gore (Church of England)
- Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo (one of Saints of the Cristero War)
- Mildgyth
- Our Lady of Pontmain
- Sulpitius the Pious
- January 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- National Day (Menorca, Spain)
- The opening ceremony of Patras Carnival, celebrated until Clean Monday. (Patras)
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January 16 in History
- 27 BCE – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
- 378 – General Siyaj K’ak’ conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacán.
- 550 – Gothic War: The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
- 929 – Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III established the Caliphate of Córdoba.
- 1120 – The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
- 1362 – Saint Marcellus’s flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
- 1412 – The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.
- 1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I.
- 1547 – Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia, replacing the 264-year-old Grand Duchy of Moscow with the Tsardom of Russia.
- 1556 – Philip II becomes King of Spain.
- 1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
- 1605 – The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain.
- 1707 – The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.
- 1757 – Forces of the Maratha Empire defeat a 5,000-strong army of the Durrani Empire in the Battle of Narela.
- 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
- 1786 – Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.
- 1809 – Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
- 1847 – John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
- 1862 – Hartley Colliery disaster: Two hundred and four men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompting a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.
- 1878 – Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Battle of Philippopolis: Captain Aleksandr Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.
- 1883 – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is enacted by Congress.
- 1900 – The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.
- 1909 – Ernest Shackleton’s expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
- 1919 – Nebraska becomes the 36th state to approve the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. With the necessary three-quarters of the states approving the amendment, Prohibition is constitutionally mandated in the United States one year later.
- 1920 – Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated was founded on the campus of Howard University.
- 1920 – The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, France.
- 1921 – The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine holds its founding congress in Ľubochňa.
- 1942 – Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard.
- 1945 – Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
- 1964 – Hello, Dolly! opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances.
- 1969 – Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in protest against the Soviets’ crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
- 1969 – Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.
- 1979 – The last Iranian Shah flees Iran with his family for good and relocates to Egypt.
- 1991 – Coalition Forces go to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War.
- 1992 – El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City, Mexico ending the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War that claimed at least 75,000 lives.
- 2001 – Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
- 2001 – US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War.
- 2002 – The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
- 2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.
- 2006 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia’s new president. She becomes Africa’s first female elected head of state.
- 2016 – Thirty-three out of 126 freed hostages are injured and 23 killed in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on a hotel and a nearby restaurant.
- 2018 – Myanmar police open fire on a group of ethnic Rakhine protesters, killing seven and wounding twelve.
- 2020 – The impeachment of Donald John Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate.
Births on January 16
- 972 – Sheng Zong, emperor of the Liao Dynasty (d. 1031)
- 1093 – Isaac Komnenos, son of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (d. 1152)
- 1245 – Edmund Crouchback, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 1296)
- 1362 – Robert de Vere, duke of Ireland (d. 1392)
- 1409 – René of Anjou, king of Naples (d. 1480)
- 1477 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
- 1501 – Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
- 1516 – Bayinnaung, king of Burma (d. 1581)
- 1558 – Jakobea of Baden, Margravine of Baden by birth, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg by marriage (d. 1597)
- 1616 – François de Vendôme, duke of Beaufort (d. 1669)
- 1626 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Belgian painter and educator (d. 1699)
- 1630 – Guru Har Rai, Sikh Guru (d. 1661)
- 1634 – Dorothe Engelbretsdatter, Norwegian author and poet (d. 1716)
- 1675 – Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1755)
- 1691 – Peter Scheemakers, Belgian sculptor and educator (d. 1781)
- 1728 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer and educator (d. 1800)
- 1749 – Vittorio Alfieri, Italian poet and playwright (d. 1803)
- 1757 – Richard Goodwin Keats, English admiral and politician, 3rd Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1834)
- 1807 – Charles Henry Davis, American admiral (d. 1877)
- 1815 – Henry Halleck, American lawyer, general, and scholar (d. 1872)
- 1821 – John C. Breckinridge, American general and politician, 14th Vice President of the United States (d. 1875)
- 1834 – Robert R. Hitt, American lawyer and politician, 13th United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1906)
- 1836 – Francis II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1894)
- 1838 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
- 1851 – William Hall-Jones, English-New Zealand politician, 16th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1936)
- 1853 – Johnston Forbes-Robertson, English actor and manager (d. 1937)
- 1853 – Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, Greek-English general (d. 1947)
- 1853 – André Michelin, French businessman, co-founded the Michelin Tyre Company (d. 1931)
- 1870 – Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, State Elder of Estonia (d. 1942)
- 1872 – Henri Büsser, French organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1973)
- 1874 – Robert W. Service, English-Canadian poet and author (d. 1958)
- 1875 – Leonor Michaelis, German biochemist and physician (d. 1949)
- 1876 – Claude Buckenham, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1937)
- 1878 – Harry Carey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1947)
- 1880 – Samuel Jones, American high jumper (d. 1954)
- 1882 – Margaret Wilson, American author (d. 1973)
- 1885 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese author and translator (d. 1967)
- 1888 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (d. 1945)
- 1892 – Homer Burton Adkins, American chemist (d. 1949)
- 1893 – Daisy Kennedy, Australian-English violinist (d. 1981)
- 1894 – Irving Mills, American publisher (d. 1985)
- 1895 – Evripidis Bakirtzis, Greek soldier and politician (d. 1947)
- 1895 – T. M. Sabaratnam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1966)
- 1895 – Nat Schachner, American lawyer, chemist, and author (d. 1955)
- 1897 – Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet and academic (d. 1977)
- 1898 – Margaret Booth, American producer and editor (d. 2002)
- 1898 – Irving Rapper, American film director and producer (d. 1999)
- 1900 – Kiku Amino, Japanese author and translator (d. 1978)
- 1900 – Edith Frank, German-Dutch mother of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
- 1901 – Fulgencio Batista, Cuban colonel and politician, 9th President of Cuba (d. 1973)
- 1902 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner, rugby player, and missionary (d. 1945)
- 1903 – William Grover-Williams, English-French race car driver (d. 1945)
- 1905 – Ernesto Halffter, Spanish composer and conductor (d. 1989)
- 1906 – Johannes Brenner, Estonian footballer and pilot (d. 1975)
- 1906 – Diana Wynyard, English actress (d. 1964)
- 1907 – Alexander Knox, Canadian-English actor and screenwriter (d. 1995)
- 1907 – Paul Nitze, American banker and politician, 10th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 2004)
- 1908 – Sammy Crooks, English footballer (d. 1981)
- 1908 – Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (d. 1984)
- 1908 – Günther Prien, German captain (d. 1941)
- 1909 – Clement Greenberg, American art critic (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Dizzy Dean, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1974)
- 1911 – Ivan Barrow, Jamaican cricketer (d. 1979)
- 1911 – Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chilean lawyer and politician, 28th President of Chile (d. 1982)
- 1911 – Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)
- 1914 – Roger Wagner, French-American conductor and educator (d. 1992)
- 1915 – Leslie H. Martinson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1916 – Eddie Burns, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2004)
- 1916 – Philip Lucock, English-Australian minister and politician (d. 1996)
- 1917 – Carl Karcher, American businessman, founded Carl’s Jr. (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Nel Benschop, Dutch poet and educator (d. 2005)
- 1918 – Allan Ekelund, Swedish director, producer, and production manager (d. 2009)
- 1918 – Clem Jones, Australian surveyor and politician, 8th Lord Mayor of Brisbane (d. 2007)
- 1918 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1996)
- 1919 – Jerome Horwitz, American chemist and academic (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Alberto Crespo, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1991)
- 1920 – Elliott Reid, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Francesco Scavullo, American photographer (d. 2004)
- 1923 – Gene Feist, American director and playwright, co-founded the Roundabout Theatre Company (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
- 1925 – Peter Hirsch, German-English metallurgist and academic
- 1925 – James Robinson Risner, American general and pilot (d. 2013)
- 1928 – William Kennedy, American novelist and journalist
- 1928 – Pilar Lorengar, Spanish soprano and actress (d. 1996)
- 1929 – Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, Sri Lankan anthropologist and academic (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Mary Ann McMorrow, American lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Norman Podhoretz, American journalist and author
- 1931 – John Enderby, English physicist and academic
- 1931 – Robert L. Park, American physicist and academic
- 1931 – Johannes Rau, German journalist and politician, 8th Federal President of Germany (d. 2006)
- 1932 – Victor Ciocâltea, Romanian chess player (d. 1983)
- 1932 – Dian Fossey, American zoologist and anthropologist (d. 1985)
- 1933 – Susan Sontag, American novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 2004)
- 1934 – Bob Bogle, American rock guitarist and bass player (d. 2009)
- 1934 – Marilyn Horne, American soprano and actress
- 1935 – A. J. Foyt, American race car driver
- 1935 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2015)
- 1936 – Michael White, Scottish actor and producer (d. 2016)
- 1937 – Luiz Bueno, Brazilian race car driver (d. 2011)
- 1937 – Francis George, American cardinal (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Marina Vaizey, American journalist and critic
- 1939 – Ralph Gibson, American photographer
- 1941 – Christine Truman, English tennis player and sportscaster
- 1942 – René Angélil, Canadian singer and manager (d. 2016)
- 1942 – Barbara Lynn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1943 – Gavin Bryars, English bassist and composer
- 1943 – Ronnie Milsap, American singer and pianist
- 1944 – Dieter Moebius, Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (d. 2015)
- 1944 – Jim Stafford, American singer-songwriter and actor
- 1944 – Jill Tarter, American astronomer and biologist
- 1944 – Judy Baar Topinka, American journalist and politician (d. 2014)
- 1945 – Wim Suurbier, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1946 – Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
- 1946 – Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano and actress
- 1947 – Elaine Murphy, Baroness Murphy, English academic and politician
- 1947 – Harvey Proctor, English politician
- 1947 – Laura Schlessinger, American physiologist, talk show host, and author
- 1948 – John Carpenter, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer
- 1948 – Ants Laaneots, Estonian general
- 1948 – Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
- 1948 – Ruth Reichl, American journalist and critic
- 1949 – Anne F. Beiler, American businesswoman, founded Auntie Anne’s
- 1949 – R. F. Foster, Irish historian and academic
- 1949 – Andrew Refshauge, Australian physician and politician, 13th Deputy Premier of New South Wales
- 1950 – Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
- 1950 – Robert Schimmel, American comedian, actor, and producer (d. 2010)
- 1952 – Fuad II, King of Egypt
- 1952 – Piercarlo Ghinzani, Italian race car driver and manager
- 1952 – L. Blaine Hammond, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
- 1952 – Julie Anne Peters, American engineer and author
- 1953 – Robert Jay Mathews, American militant, founded The Order (d. 1984)
- 1954 – Wolfgang Schmidt, German discus thrower
- 1954 – Vasili Zhupikov, Russian footballer and coach (d. 2015)
- 1955 – Jerry M. Linenger, American captain, physician, and astronaut
- 1956 – Wayne Daniel, Barbadian cricketer
- 1956 – Martin Jol, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1956 – Greedy Smith, Australian singer-songwriter and keyboardist (d. 2019)
- 1957 – Jurijs Andrejevs, Latvian footballer and manager
- 1957 – Ricardo Darín, Argentinian actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1957 – Mark Pawsey, English businessman and politician
- 1958 – Anatoli Boukreev, Russian mountaineer and explorer (d. 1997)
- 1958 – Lena Ek, Swedish lawyer and politician, 9th Swedish Minister for the Environment
- 1958 – Andris Šķēle, Latvian businessman and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Latvia
- 1959 – Lisa Milroy, Canadian painter and educator
- 1959 – Sade, Nigerian-English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1961 – Kenneth Sivertsen, Norwegian guitarist and composer (d. 2006)
- 1962 – Joel Fitzgibbon, Australian electrician and politician, 51st Australian Minister of Defence
- 1962 – Maxine Jones, American R&B singer–songwriter and actress
- 1963 – James May, British journalist/co-host of Top Gear
- 1964 – Gail Graham, Canadian golfer
- 1966 – Jack McDowell, American baseball player
- 1968 – Rebecca Stead, American author
- 1969 – Neil Back, English rugby player and coach
- 1969 – Marinus Bester, German footballer
- 1969 – Stevie Jackson, Scottish guitarist and songwriter
- 1969 – Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
- 1970 – Ron Villone, American baseball player and coach
- 1971 – Sergi Bruguera, Spanish tennis player and coach
- 1971 – Josh Evans, American film producer, screenwriter and actor
- 1971 – Jonathan Mangum, American actor
- 1972 – Ruben Bagger, Danish footballer
- 1972 – Ang Christou, Australian footballer
- 1972 – Yuri Alekseevich Drozdov, Russian footballer and manager
- 1972 – Ezra Hendrickson, Vincentian footballer and manager
- 1972 – Joe Horn, American football player and coach
- 1974 – Marlon Anderson, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1974 – John Hopoate, Tongan-Australian rugby league player and boxer
- 1974 – Kate Moss, English model and fashion designer
- 1976 – Viktor Maslov, Russian race car driver
- 1976 – Martina Moravcová, Slovak swimmer
- 1977 – Jeff Foster, American basketball player
- 1978 – Alfredo Amézaga, Mexican baseball player
- 1979 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (d. 2001)
- 1979 – Brenden Morrow, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Jason Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Lin-Manuel Miranda, American actor, playwright, and composer
- 1980 – Albert Pujols, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1981 – Jamie Lundmark, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1981 – Paul Rofe, Australian cricketer
- 1981 – Bobby Zamora, English footballer, striker
- 1982 – Preston, English singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Tuncay, Turkish footballer
- 1983 – Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer
- 1983 – Andriy Rusol, Ukrainian footballer
- 1984 – Stephan Lichtsteiner, Swiss footballer
- 1984 – Miroslav Radović, Serbian footballer
- 1985 – Joe Flacco, American football player
- 1985 – Jayde Herrick, Australian cricketer
- 1985 – Gintaras Januševičius, Russian-Lithuanian pianist
- 1985 – Twins Jonathan and Simon Richter, Danish-Gambian footballers
- 1985 – Sidharth Malhotra, Indian actor
- 1986 – Johannes Rahn, German footballer
- 1986 – Mark Trumbo, American baseball player
- 1986 – Reto Ziegler, Swiss footballer, left back
- 1987 – Jake Epstein, Canadian actor
- 1987 – Charlotte Henshaw, English swimmer
- 1988 – Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer
- 1988 – Jorge Torres Nilo, Mexican footballer
- 1991 – Matt Duchene, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1993 – Hannes Anier, Estonian footballer
- 1993 – Amandine Hesse, French tennis player
- 1994 – Chris Smith, Australian rugby league player
- 1995 – Mikaela Turik, Australian-Canadian cricketer
- 1998 – Cameron Murray, Australian rugby league player
- 2003 – Adriana Hernández, Mexican rhythmic gymnast
Deaths on January 16
- 654 – Gao Jifu, Chinese politician and chancellor (b. 596)
- 957 – Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ali al-Madhara’i, Tulunid vizier (b. 871)
- 970 – Polyeuctus of Constantinople, Byzantine patriarch (b. 956)
- 1263 – Shinran Shonin, Japanese founder of the Jodo Shinshu branch of Pure Land Buddhism
- 1289 – Buqa, Mongol minister
- 1327 – Nikephoros Choumnos, Byzantine monk, scholar, and politician (b. 1250)
- 1354 – Joanna of Châtillon, duchess of Athens (b. c.1285)
- 1373 – Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (b. 1342)
- 1391 – Muhammed V of Granada, Nasrid emir (b. 1338)
- 1400 – John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician, Lord Great Chamberlain (b. 1352)
- 1443 – Erasmo of Narni, Italian mercenary (b. 1370)
- 1545 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (b. 1484)
- 1547 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
- 1554 – Christiern Pedersen, Danish publisher and scholar (b. 1480)
- 1585 – Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral and politician (b. 1512)
- 1595 – Murad III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1546)
- 1659 – Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
- 1710 – Higashiyama, Japanese emperor (b. 1675)
- 1711 – Joseph Vaz, Indian-Sri Lankan priest and saint (b. 1651)
- 1747 – Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet and playwright (b. 1680)
- 1748 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch lawyer and scholar (b. 1684)
- 1750 – Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshal and politician (b. 1667)
- 1752 – Francis Blomefield, English historian and author (b. 1705)
- 1794 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (b. 1737)
- 1809 – John Moore, Scottish general and politician (b. 1761)
- 1817 – Alexander J. Dallas, Jamaican-American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1759)
- 1834 – Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician and academic (b. 1769)
- 1856 – Thaddeus William Harris, American entomologist and botanist (b. 1795)
- 1864 – Anton Schindler, Austrian secretary and author (b. 1795)
- 1865 – Edmond François Valentin About, French journalist and author (b. 1828)
- 1879 – Octave Crémazie, Canadian-French poet and bookseller (b. 1827)
- 1886 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer and academic (b. 1834)
- 1891 – Léo Delibes, French pianist and composer (b. 1836)
- 1898 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (b. 1802)
- 1901 – Jules Barbier, French poet and playwright (b. 1825)
- 1901 – Arnold Böcklin, Swiss painter and academic (b. 1827)
- 1901 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, American soldier, minister, and politician (b. 1822)
- 1906 – Marshall Field, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Marshall Field’s (b. 1834)
- 1917 – George Dewey, American admiral (b. 1837)
- 1919 – Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 5th President of Brazil (b. 1848)
- 1933 – Bekir Sami Kunduh, Turkish politician (b. 1867)
- 1936 – Albert Fish, American serial killer, rapist and cannibal (b. 1870)
- 1938 – Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Indian author and playwright (b. 1876)
- 1942 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (b. 1850)
- 1942 – Villem Grünthal-Ridala, Estonian poet and linguist (b. 1885)
- 1942 – Carole Lombard, American actress and comedian (b. 1908)
- 1942 – Ernst Scheller, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Marburg (b. 1899)
- 1957 – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, English general and politician, 16th Governor General of Canada (b. 1874)
- 1957 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian cellist and conductor (b. 1867)
- 1959 – Phan Khôi, Vietnamese journalist and author (b. 1887)
- 1960 – Arthur Darby, English rugby player (b. 1876)
- 1961 – Max Schöne, German swimmer (b. 1880)
- 1962 – Frank Hurley, Australian photographer, director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1885)
- 1962 – Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor and architect, designed the Monument to the Unknown Hero (b. 1883)
- 1967 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and academic (b. 1901)
- 1968 – Bob Jones Sr., American evangelist, founded Bob Jones University (b. 1883)
- 1968 – Panagiotis Poulitsas, Greek archaeologist and judge (b. 1881)
- 1969 – Vernon Duke, Russian-American composer and songwriter (b. 1903)
- 1971 – Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b. 1890)
- 1972 – Teller Ammons, American soldier and politician, 28th Governor of Colorado (b. 1895)
- 1972 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor, created Alvin and the Chipmunks (b. 1919)
- 1973 – Edgar Sampson, American musician and composer (b. 1907)
- 1975 – Israel Abramofsky, Russian-American painter (b. 1888)
- 1978 – A. V. Kulasingham, Sri Lankan journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1890)
- 1981 – Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
- 1983 – Virginia Mauret, American musician and dancer
- 1986 – Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
- 1987 – Bertram Wainer, Australian physician and activist (b. 1928)
- 1988 – Andrija Artuković, Croatian politician, war criminal, and Porajmos perpetrator, 1st Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia (b. 1899)
- 1995 – Eric Mottram, English poet and critic (b. 1924)
- 1996 – Marcia Davenport, American author and critic (b. 1903)
- 1996 – Kaye Webb, English journalist and publisher (b. 1914)
- 1999 – Jim McClelland, Australian lawyer, jurist, and politician, 12th Minister for Industry and Science (b. 1915)
- 2000 – Robert R. Wilson, American physicist and academic (b. 1914)
- 2001 – Auberon Waugh, English author and journalist (b. 1939)
- 2002 – Robert Hanbury Brown, English astronomer and physicist (b. 1916)
- 2003 – Richard Wainwright, English politician (b. 1918)
- 2004 – Kalevi Sorsa, Finnish politician 34th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
- 2005 – Marjorie Williams, American journalist and author (b. 1958)
- 2006 – Stanley Biber, American soldier and physician (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Benny Parsons, American race car driver and sportscaster (b. 1941)
- 2009 – Joe Erskine, American boxer and runner (b. 1930)
- 2009 – John Mortimer, English lawyer and author (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Andrew Wyeth, American painter (b. 1917)
- 2010 – Glen Bell, American businessman, founded Taco Bell (b. 1923)
- 2010 – Jyoti Basu, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1914)
- 2010 – Takumi Shibano, Japanese author and translator (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Joe Bygraves, Jamaican-English boxer (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Jimmy Castor, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (b. 1940)
- 2012 – Sigursteinn Gíslason, Icelandic footballer and manager (b. 1968)
- 2012 – Lorna Kesterson, American journalist and politician (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Gustav Leonhardt, Dutch pianist, conductor, and musicologist (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Wayne D. Anderson, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
- 2013 – André Cassagnes, French technician and toy maker, created the Etch A Sketch (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Gussie Moran, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Glen P. Robinson, American businessman, founded Scientific Atlanta (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Gary Arlington, American author and illustrator (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Ruth Duccini, American actress (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Dave Madden, Canadian-American actor (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Hiroo Onoda, Japanese lieutenant (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Miriam Akavia, Polish-Israeli author and translator (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Yao Beina, Chinese singer (b. 1981)
- 2016 – Joannis Avramidis, Greek sculptor (b. 1922)
- 2016 – Ted Marchibroda, American football player and coach (b. 1931)
- 2017 – Eugene Cernan, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1934)
- 2018 – Ed Doolan, British radio presenter (b. 1941)
- 2018 – Oliver Ivanović, Kosovo Serb politician (b. 1953)
- 2019 – John C. Bogle, American businessman, investor, and philanthropist (b. 1929)
- 2019 – Lorna Doom, American musician (b. 1958)
- 2019 – Chris Wilson, Australian musician (b. 1956)
- 2020 – Christopher Tolkien, British academic and editor (died 2020)
Holidays and observances on January 16
- Christian feast day:
- Pope Benjamin (Coptic)
- Berard of Carbio
- Blaise (Armenian Apostolic)
- Fursey
- Joseph Vaz
- Honoratus of Arles
- Pope Marcellus I
- Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Coptic Church)
- Titian of Oderzo
- Eve of Saint Anthony observed with ritual bonfires in San Bartolomé de Pinares
- January 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- National Religious Freedom Day (United States)
- Teacher’s Day (Myanmar)
- Teachers’ Day (Thailand)
-
January 13 in History
- 532 – The Nika riots break out, during the racing season at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, as a result of discontent with the rule of the Emperor Justinian I.
- 1435 – Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands by the Spanish, is promulgated by Pope Eugene IV.
- 1547 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, is sentenced to death for treason, on the grounds of having quartered his arms to make them similar to those of the King, Henry VIII of England.
- 1793 – Nicolas Jean Hugon de Bassville, representative of Revolutionary France, lynched by a mob in Rome
- 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: A naval battle between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany ends with the French vessel running aground, resulting in over 900 deaths.
- 1815 – War of 1812: British troops capture Fort Peter in St. Marys, Georgia, the only battle of the war to take place in the state.
- 1822 – The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
- 1833 – United States President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina’s defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis.
- 1840 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives.
- 1842 – Dr. William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 4,500 men and 12,000 camp followers when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
- 1847 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican–American War in California.
- 1849 – Establishment of the Colony of Vancouver Island.
- 1849 – Second Anglo-Sikh War – Battle of Chillianwala: British forces retreat from the Sikhs.
- 1879 – In Mozart Gardens Brooklyn Ada Anderson completed a great feat of pedestrianism – 2700 quarter miles in 2700 quarter hours, earning her $8000.
- 1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
- 1893 – The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom holds its first meeting.
- 1893 – U.S. Marines land in Honolulu, Hawaii from the USS Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.
- 1895 – First Italo-Ethiopian War: the war’s opening battle, the Battle of Coatit, occurs; it is an Italian victory.
- 1898 – Émile Zola’s J’accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair.
- 1908 – The Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, Pennsylvania kills 171 people.
- 1910 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; a live performance of the operas Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci are sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
- 1915 – The 6.7 Mw Avezzano earthquake shakes the Province of L’Aquila in Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 29,978–32,610.
- 1920 – The Reichstag Bloodbath of January 13, 1920, the bloodiest demonstration in German history.
- 1935 – A plebiscite in Saarland shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to join Nazi Germany.
- 1939 – The Black Friday bushfires burn 20,000 square kilometers of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.
- 1942 – Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car.
- 1942 – World War II: First use of an aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.
- 1950 – British submarine HMS Truculent collides with an oil tanker in the Thames Estuary, killing 64 men.
- 1950 – Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
- 1951 – First Indochina War: The Battle of Vĩnh Yên begins.
- 1953 – An article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership.
- 1958 – The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.
- 1963 – Coup d’état in Togo results in the assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio.
- 1964 – Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, resulting in 100 deaths.
- 1964 – In Manchester, New Hampshire, fourteen-year-old Pamela Mason is murdered. Edward Coolidge is tried and convicted of the crime, but the conviction is set aside by the landmark Fourth Amendment case Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971).
- 1966 – Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
- 1968 – Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison.
- 1972 – Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana are ousted in a bloodless military coup by Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong.
- 1978 – United States Food and Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled “paid” or “volunteer” donors.
- 1982 – Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737 jet, crashes into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 including four motorists.
- 1985 – A passenger train plunges into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa.
- 1986 – A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
- 1988 – Lee Teng-hui becomes the first native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China.
- 1990 – Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office as Governor of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.
- 1991 – Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1000 others.
- 1993 – Space Shuttle program: Endeavour heads for space for the third time as STS-54 launches from the Kennedy Space Center.
- 1993 – The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is signed.
- 1998 – Alfredo Ormando sets himself on fire in St. Peter’s Square, protesting against homophobia.
- 2001 – An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing more than 800.
- 2012 – The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy due to the captain Francesco Schettino’s negligence and irresponsibility. There are 32 confirmed deaths.
- 2018 – A false emergency alert warning of an impending missile strike in Hawaii caused widespread panic in the state.
- 2020 – Taal Volcano in the Philippines spews lava fountains while erupting in the crater.
Births on January 13
- 5 BC – Guangwu of Han, Chinese emperor (d. 57)
- 101 – Lucius Aelius, Roman adopted son of Hadrian (d. 138)
- 915 – Al-Hakam II, Umayyad caliph (d. 976)
- 1334 – Henry II, king of Castile and León (d. 1379)
- 1338 – Jeong Mong-ju, Korean civil minister, diplomat and scholar (d. 1392)
- 1400 – Infante John, Constable of Portugal (d. 1442)
- 1477 – Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1527)
- 1505 – Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1571)
- 1562 – Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet and soldier (d. 1601)
- 1596 – Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter and illustrator (d. 1656)
- 1610 – Maria Anna of Bavaria, archduchess of Austria (d. 1665)
- 1616 – Antoinette Bourignon, French-Flemish mystic and author (d. 1680)
- 1651 – Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English soldier and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1694)
- 1683 – Christoph Graupner, German harpsichord player and composer (d. 1760)
- 1720 – Richard Hurd, English bishop (d. 1808)
- 1749 – Maler Müller, German poet, painter, and playwright (d. 1825)
- 1787 – John Davis, American lawyer and politician, 14th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1854)
- 1804 – Paul Gavarni, French illustrator (d. 1866)
- 1805 – Thomas Dyer, American lawyer and politician, 18th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1862)
- 1808 – Salmon P. Chase, American jurist and politician, 6th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1873)
- 1810 – Ernestine Rose, American suffragist, abolitionist, and freethinker (d. 1892)
- 1812 – Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (d. 1883)
- 1832 – Horatio Alger, Jr., American novelist and journalist (d. 1899)
- 1845 – Félix Tisserand, French astronomer and academic (d. 1896)
- 1858 – Oskar Minkowski, Lithuanian-German biologist and academic (d. 1931)
- 1859 – Kostis Palamas, Greek poet and playwright (d. 1943)
- 1861 – Max Nonne, German neurologist and academic (d. 1959)
- 1864 – Wilhelm Wien, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
- 1865 – Princess Marie of Orléans (d. 1908)
- 1866 – Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian bassoon player and composer (d. 1901)
- 1866 – George Gurdjieff, Russian-French mystic and philosopher (d. 1949)
- 1869 – Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta (d. 1931)
- 1870 – Ross Granville Harrison, American biologist and anatomist (d. 1959)
- 1878 – Lionel Groulx, Canadian priest and historian (d. 1967)
- 1881 – Essington Lewis, Australian engineer and businessman (d. 1961)
- 1883 – Nathaniel Cartmell, American runner and coach (d. 1967)
- 1885 – Alfred Fuller, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Fuller Brush Company (d. 1973)
- 1886 – Art Ross, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1964)
- 1887 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer and actress (d. 1966)
- 1890 – Jüri Uluots, Estonian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1945)
- 1892 – Ermanno Aebi, Italian-Swiss footballer (d. 1976)
- 1893 – Charles Arnison, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 1974)
- 1893 – Roy Cazaly, Australian footballer and coach (d. 1963)
- 1893 – Clark Ashton Smith, American poet, sculptor, painter, and author (d. 1961)
- 1893 – Chaim Soutine, Belarusian-French painter (d. 1943)
- 1900 – Shimizugawa Motokichi, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1967)
- 1900 – Gertrude Mary Cox, American mathematician (d. 1978)
- 1901 – A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American novelist, screenwriter, historian (d. 1991)
- 1901 – Mieczysław Żywczyński, Polish priest and historian (d. 1978)
- 1902 – Karl Menger, Austrian-American mathematician from the Vienna Circle (d. 1985)
- 1904 – Richard Addinsell, English composer (d. 1977)
- 1904 – Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian-American violinist and composer (d. 1992)
- 1904 – Dick Rowley, Irish footballer, centre forward (d. 1984)
- 1905 – Kay Francis, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1905 – Jack London, English sprinter and pianist (d. 1966)
- 1906 – Zhou Youguang, Chinese linguist, sinologist, and academic (d. 2017)
- 1909 – Helm Glöckler, German race car driver (d. 1993)
- 1910 – Yannis Tsarouchis, Greek painter and illustrator (d. 1989)
- 1911 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian farmer and politician, 31st Premier of Queensland (d. 2005)
- 1914 – Osa Massen, Danish-American actress (d. 2006)
- 1914 – Ted Willis, Baron Willis, English author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
- 1919 – Robert Stack, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1921 – Necati Cumalı, Greek-Turkish author and poet (d. 2001)
- 1921 – Dachine Rainer, American-English author and poet (d. 2000)
- 1921 – Arthur Stevens, English footballer, outside right (d. 2007}
- 1922 – Albert Lamorisse, French director and producer (d. 1970)
- 1923 – Daniil Shafran, Russian cellist (d. 1997)
- 1923 – Willem Slijkhuis, Dutch runner (d. 2003)
- 1924 – Paul Feyerabend, Austrian-Swiss philosopher and academic (d. 1994)
- 1924 – Roland Petit, French dancer and choreographer (d. 2011)
- 1925 – Rosemary Murphy, American actress (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Vanita Smythe, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
- 1925 – Ron Tauranac, Australian engineer and businessman
- 1925 – Gwen Verdon, American actress and dancer (d. 2000)
- 1926 – Michael Bond, English soldier and author, created Paddington Bear (d. 2017)
- 1926 – Carolyn Gold Heilbrun, American author and academic (d. 2003)
- 1926 – Melba Liston, American trombonist and composer (d. 1999)
- 1927 – Brock Adams, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Transportation (d. 2004)
- 1927 – Liz Anderson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
- 1927 – Sydney Brenner, South African biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019)
- 1929 – Joe Pass, American guitarist and composer (d. 1994)
- 1930 – Frances Sternhagen, American actress
- 1931 – Ian Hendry, English actor (d. 1984)
- 1931 – Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor, comedian, director, game show panelist, and television personality (d. 2007)
- 1932 – Barry Bishop, American mountaineer, photographer, and scholar (d. 1994)
- 1933 – Tom Gola, American basketball player, coach, and politician (d. 2014)
- 1935 – Rip Taylor, American actor and comedian (d. 2019)
- 1936 – Renato Bruson, Italian opera singer
- 1937 – Guy Dodson, New Zealand-English biochemist and academic (d. 2012)
- 1938 – Cabu, French cartoonist (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Daevid Allen, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Richard Anthony, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Dave Edwards, American captain and politician (d. 2013)
- 1938 – Tord Grip, Swedish footballer and manager
- 1938 – Anna Home, English screenwriter and producer
- 1939 – Edgardo Cozarinsky, Argentinian author, screenwriter, and director
- 1939 – Jacek Gmoch, Polish footballer and coach
- 1939 – Cesare Maniago, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1940 – Edmund White, American novelist, memoirist, and essayist
- 1941 – Pasqual Maragall, Spanish academic and politician, 127th President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
- 1941 – Meinhard Nehmer, German bobsledder
- 1943 – William Duckworth, American composer and author (d. 2012)
- 1943 – Richard Moll, American actor
- 1945 – Gordon McVie, English oncologist and author
- 1945 – Peter Simpson, English footballer
- 1946 – Ordal Demokan, Turkish physicist and academic (d. 2004)
- 1946 – Eero Koivistoinen, Finnish saxophonist, composer, and conductor
- 1947 – John Lees, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1947 – Jacek Majchrowski, Polish historian, lawyer, and politician
- 1947 – Carles Rexach, Spanish footballer and coach
- 1948 – Gaj Singh, Indian lawyer and politician
- 1949 – Rakesh Sharma, Indian commander, pilot, and astronaut
- 1949 – Brandon Tartikoff, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
- 1950 – Clive Betts, English economist and politician
- 1950 – Bob Forsch, American baseball player (d. 2011)
- 1950 – Gholam Hossein Mazloumi, Iranian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
- 1952 – Stephen Glover, English journalist, co-founded The Independent
- 1953 – Silvana Gallardo, American actress and producer (d. 2012)
- 1954 – Richard Blackford, English composer
- 1954 – Trevor Rabin, South African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1955 – Paul Kelly, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1955 – Jay McInerney, American novelist and critic
- 1955 – Anne Pringle, English diplomat, British Ambassador to Russia
- 1957 – Claudia Emerson, American poet and academic (d. 2014)
- 1957 – Mary Glindon, English lawyer and politician
- 1957 – Mark O’Meara, American golfer
- 1957 – Lorrie Moore, American short story writer
- 1958 – Francisco Buyo, Spanish footballer and manager
- 1958 – Juan Pedro de Miguel, Spanish handball player (d. 2016)
- 1959 – Winnie Byanyima, Ugandan engineer, politician, and diplomat
- 1960 – Eric Betzig, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1960 – Matthew Bourne, English choreographer and director
- 1961 – Wayne Coyne, American singer-songwriter and musician
- 1961 – Kelly Hrudey, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1961 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress, comedian, and producer
- 1962 – Trace Adkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1962 – Paul Higgins, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1964 – Penelope Ann Miller, American actress
- 1966 – Patrick Dempsey, American actor and race car driver
- 1966 – Leo Visser, Dutch speed skater and pilot
- 1968 – Mike Whitlow, English footballer and coach
- 1969 – Stefania Belmondo, Italian skier
- 1969 – Stephen Hendry, Scottish snooker player and journalist
- 1970 – Frank Kooiman, Dutch footballer
- 1970 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (d. 2004)
- 1970 – Shonda Rhimes, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1972 – Mark Bosnich, Australian footballer and sportscaster
- 1972 – Nicole Eggert, American actress
- 1972 – Vitaly Scherbo, Belarusian gymnast
- 1973 – Nikolai Khabibulin, Russian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Gigi Galli, Italian race driver
- 1974 – Sergei Brylin, Russian ice hockey player and coach
- 1975 – Rune Eriksen, Norwegian guitarist and composer
- 1975 – Mailis Reps, Estonian academic and politician, 31st Estonian Minister of Education and Research
- 1975 – Andrew Yang, American entrepreneur, founder of Venture for America, and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate
- 1976 – Mario Yepes, Colombian footballer
- 1977 – Orlando Bloom, English actor and producer
- 1977 – Mi-Hyun Kim, South Korean golfer
- 1977 – Elliot Mason, English trombonist and keyboard player
- 1977 – James Posey, American basketball player and coach
- 1978 – Nate Silver, American journalist and statistician, developed PECOTA
- 1979 – Katy Brand, English actress and screenwriter
- 1980 – Krzysztof Czerwiński, Polish organist and conductor
- 1980 – Nils-Eric Johansson, Swedish footballer
- 1980 – Akira Kaji, Japanese footballer
- 1980 – Wolfgang Loitzl, Austrian ski jumper
- 1980 – Mirko Soltau, German footballer
- 1981 – Reggie Brown, American football player
- 1981 – Darrell Rasner, American baseball player
- 1981 – Yujiro Takahashi, Japanese wrestler
- 1982 – Kamran Akmal, Pakistan cricketer
- 1982 – Guillermo Coria, Argentinian tennis player
- 1982 – Constantinos Makrides, Cypriot footballer
- 1982 – Ruth Wilson, English actress
- 1983 – Ender Arslan, Turkish basketball player
- 1983 – Sebastian Kneißl, German footballer
- 1983 – Mauricio Martín Romero, Argentinian footballer
- 1984 – Matteo Cavagna, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Kamghe Gaba, German sprinter
- 1984 – Nick Mangold, American football player
- 1985 – Luke Robinson, American wrestler
- 1986 – Joannie Rochette, Canadian figure skater
- 1987 – Stefano Del Sante, Italian footballer
- 1987 – Jack Johnson, American ice hockey player
- 1987 – Florica Leonida, Romanian gymnast
- 1987 – Steven Michaels, Australian rugby league player
- 1987 – Daniel Oss, Italian cyclist
- 1987 – Marc Staal, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Sven Wetzel, German rugby player
- 1988 – Josh Freeman, American football player
- 1989 – Morgan Burnett, American football player
- 1989 – Doug Martin, American football player
- 1990 – Vincenzo Fiorillo, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Liam Hemsworth, Australian actor
- 1991 – Rob Kiernan, English-Irish footballer
- 1992 – Adam Matthews, Welsh footballer
- 1992 – Dinah Pfizenmaier, German tennis player
- 1993 – Max Whitlock, English artistic gymnast
- 1997 – Micah Hart, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1997 – Connor McDavid, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1997 – Ivan Provorov, Russian ice hockey player
Deaths on January 13
- 86 BC – Gaius Marius, Roman general and politician (b. 157 BC)
- 533 – Remigius, French bishop and saint (b. 437)
- 614 – Mungo, English-Scottish bishop and saint
- 703 – Jitō, Japanese emperor (b. 645)
- 858 – Æthelwulf, king of Wessex
- 888 – Charles the Fat, Frankish king and emperor (b. 839)
- 927 – Berno of Cluny, Frankish monk and abbot
- 1001 – Fujiwara no Teishi, Japanese empress (b. 977)
- 1147 – Robert de Craon, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
- 1151 – Suger, French historian and politician (b. 1081)
- 1177 – Henry II, count palatine and duke of Austria (b. 1107)
- 1321 – Bonacossa Borri, Italian noblewoman (b. 1254)
- 1330 – Frederick I, duke and king of Germany
- 1363 – Meinhard III, German nobleman (b. 1344)
- 1400 – Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester, English politician (b. 1373)
- 1599 – Edmund Spenser, English poet, Chief Secretary for Ireland (b. 1552)
- 1612 – Jane Dormer, English lady-in-waiting (b. 1538)
- 1625 – Jan Brueghel the Elder, Flemish painter (b. 1568)
- 1684 – Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk, English nobleman (b. 1628)
- 1691 – George Fox, English religious leader, founded the Religious Society of Friends (b. 1624)
- 1717 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German entomologist and illustrator (b. 1647)
- 1775 – Johann Georg Walch, German theologian and author (b. 1693)
- 1790 – Luc Urbain de Bouëxic, French admiral (b. 1712)
- 1796 – John Anderson, Scottish philosopher and educator (b. 1726)
- 1832 – Thomas Lord, English cricketer, founded Lord’s Cricket Ground (b. 1755)
- 1838 – Ferdinand Ries, German pianist and composer (b. 1784)
- 1860 – William Mason, American surgeon and politician (b. 1786)
- 1864 – Stephen Foster, American composer and songwriter (b. 1826)
- 1872 – William Scamp, English architect and engineer (b. 1801)
- 1882 – Wilhelm Mauser, German engineer and businessman, co-founded the Mauser Company (b. 1834)
- 1885 – Schuyler Colfax, American journalist and politician, 17th Vice President of the United States (b. 1823)
- 1889 – Solomon Bundy, American lawyer and politician (b. 1823)
- 1905 – George Thorn, Australian farmer and politician, 6th Premier of Queensland (b. 1838)
- 1906 – Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1859)
- 1907 – Jakob Hurt, Estonian theologist and linguist (b. 1839)
- 1915 – Mary Slessor, Scottish-Nigerian missionary (b. 1848)
- 1916 – Victoriano Huerta, Mexican military officer and president, 1913–1914 (b. 1850)
- 1923 – Alexandre Ribot, French academic and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1842)
- 1924 – Georg Hermann Quincke, German physicist and academic (b. 1834)
- 1929 – Wyatt Earp, American police officer (b. 1848)
- 1929 – H. B. Higgins, Irish-Australian judge and politician, 3rd Attorney-General for Australia (b. 1851)
- 1934 – Paul Ulrich Villard, French physicist and chemist (b. 1860)
- 1941 – James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (b. 1882)
- 1943 – Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss painter and sculptor (b. 1889)
- 1956 – Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter and illustrator (b. 1871)
- 1957 – A. E. Coppard English poet and short story writer (b. 1878)
- 1958 – Jesse L. Lasky, American film producer, co-founded Paramount Pictures (b. 1880)
- 1962 – Ernie Kovacs, American actor and game show host (b. 1919)
- 1963 – Sylvanus Olympio, Togolese businessman and politician, President of Togo (b. 1902)
- 1967 – Anatole de Grunwald, Russian-English screenwriter and producer (b. 1910)
- 1971 – Robert Still, English composer and educator (b. 1910)
- 1973 – Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, Turkish screenwriter and producer (b. 1908)
- 1974 – Raoul Jobin, Canadian tenor and educator (b. 1906)
- 1974 – Salvador Novo, Mexican playwright and poet (b. 1904)
- 1976 – Margaret Leighton, English actress (b. 1922)
- 1977 – Henri Langlois, Turkish-French historian, co-founded the Cinémathèque Française (b. 1914)
- 1978 – Hubert Humphrey, American pharmacist, academic, and politician, 38th Vice President of the United States (b. 1911)
- 1978 – Joe McCarthy, American baseball player and manager (b. 1887)
- 1979 – Donny Hathaway, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1945)
- 1979 – Marjorie Lawrence, Australian-American soprano (b. 1907)
- 1980 – Andre Kostelanetz, Russian-American conductor (b. 1901)
- 1982 – Marcel Camus, French director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
- 1983 – René Bonnet, French race car driver and engineer (b. 1904)
- 1986 – Abdul Fattah Ismail, Yemeni educator and politician, 4th President of South Yemen (b. 1939)
- 1986 – Kevin Longbottom, Australian rugby league player (b. 1940)
- 1988 – Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese politician, President of the Republic of China (b. 1910)
- 1993 – Camargo Guarnieri, Brazilian composer and conductor (b. 1907)
- 1995 – Max Harris, Australian journalist, poet, and author (b. 1921)
- 2002 – Frank Shuster, Canadian actor, comedian, and screenwriter (b. 1916)
- 2003 – Norman Panama, American director and screenwriter (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Arne Næss, Jr., Norwegian businessman and mountaineer (b. 1937)
- 2005 – Earl Cameron, Canadian journalist (b. 1915)
- 2005 – Nell Rankin, American soprano and actress (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Frank Fixaris, American journalist and sportscaster (b. 1934)
- 2006 – Marc Potvin, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1967)
- 2007 – Michael Brecker, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1949)
- 2007 – Danny Oakes, American race car driver (b. 1911)
- 2008 – Johnny Podres, American baseball player and coach (b. 1932)
- 2009 – Dai Llewellyn, Welsh humanitarian activist and politician (b. 1946)
- 2009 – Patrick McGoohan, Irish-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1928)
- 2009 – Mansour Rahbani, Lebanese poet, composer, and producer (b. 1925)
- 2009 – W. D. Snodgrass, American poet (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Nancy Bird Walton, Australian pilot (b. 1915)
- 2010 – Teddy Pendergrass, American singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
- 2011 – Albert Heijn, Dutch businessman (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Rauf Denktaş, Turkish-Cypriot lawyer and politician, 1st President of Northern Cyprus (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Guido Dessauer, German physicist and engineer (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Miljan Miljanić, Serbian footballer and manager (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Diogenes Allen, American philosopher and theologian (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Rodney Mims Cook, Sr., American lieutenant and politician (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Chia-Chiao Lin, Chinese-American mathematician and academic (b. 1916)
- 2014 – Bobby Collins, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Randal Tye Thomas, American journalist and politician (b. 1978)
- 2014 – Waldemar von Gazen, German general and lawyer (b. 1917)
- 2015 – Mark Juddery, Australian journalist and author (b. 1971)
- 2015 – Robert White, American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Paraguay (b. 1926)
- 2016 – Brian Bedford, English-American actor and director (b. 1935)
- 2016 – Giorgio Gomelsky, Georgian-American director, producer, songwriter, and manager (b. 1934)
- 2016 – Lawrence Phillips, American football player (b. 1975)
- 2017 – Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, English photographer and sometime member of the British royal family (b. 1930)
- 2017 – Dick Gautier, American actor (b. 1931)
- 2017 – Magic Alex, Greek electronics engineer (b. 1942)
- 2019 – Phil Masinga, South African footballer (b. 1969)
Holidays and observances on January 13
- Christian feast day:
- Blessed Veronica of Milan
- Elian
- Hilary of Poitiers
- Mungo
- St. Knut’s Day or Tjugondag Knut, the last day of Christmas. (Sweden and Finland)
- January 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Day (Mongolia)
- Democracy Day (Cape Verde)
- Korean-American Day (Korean-American community, United States)
- Liberation Day (Togo)
- Old New Year’s Eve (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Republic of Srpska, North Macedonia), and its related observances:
- Malanka (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus)
- Sidereal winter solstice’s eve celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; the last day of the six-month Dakshinayana period (see January 14):
- Bhogi (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu)
- Lohri (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh)
- Uruka (Assam)
- Stephen Foster Memorial Day (United States)
- Yennayer (Berbers)
-
January 7 in History
- 1325 – Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.
- 1558 – French troops, led by Francis, Duke of Guise, take Calais, the last continental possession of England.
- 1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.
- 1610 – Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able to distinguish the last two until the following day.
- 1738 – A peace treaty is signed between Peshwa Bajirao and Jai Singh II following Maratha victory in the Battle of Bhopal.
- 1782 – The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens.
- 1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.
- 1835 – HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.
- 1894 – Thomas Edison makes a kinetoscopic film of someone sneezing. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, receives a patent for motion picture film.
- 1904 – The distress signal “CQD” is established only to be replaced two years later by “SOS”.
- 1919 – Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail.
- 1920 – The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.
- 1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64–57 vote.
- 1927 – The first transatlantic telephone service is established from New York City to London.
- 1928 – A disastrous flood of the River Thames kills 14 people and causes extensive damage to much of riverside London.
- 1931 – Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand’s west coast.
- 1935 – Benito Mussolini and French Foreign minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco-Italian Agreement.
- 1940 – Winter War: Battle of Raate Road – The Finnish 9th Division finally defeat the numerically superior Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road.
- 1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.
- 1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York at the head office of IBM.
- 1955 – Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera.
- 1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
- 1968 – Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral.
- 1973 – In his second shooting spree of the week, Mark Essex fatally shoots seven people and wounds five others at Howard Johnson’s Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, before being shot to death by police officers.
- 1979 – Third Indochina War: Cambodian–Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
- 1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
- 1984 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
- 1985 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan’s first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union.
- 1991 – Roger Lafontant, former leader of the Tonton Macoute in Haiti under François Duvalier, attempts a coup d’état, which ends in his arrest.
- 1993 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President.
- 1993 – Bosnian War: The Bosnian Army executes a surprise attack at the village of Kravica in Srebrenica.
- 1999 – The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins.
- 2012 – A hot air balloon crashes near Carterton, New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board.
- 2015 – Two gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting twelve people execution style, and wounding eleven others.
- 2015 – A car bomb explodes outside a police college in the Yemeni capital Sana’a with at least 38 people reported dead and more than 63 injured.
- 2020 – The 6.4Mw 2019–20 Puerto Rico earthquakes kill four and injure nine in southern Puerto Rico.
Births on January 7
- 889 – Li Bian, emperor of Southern Tang (d. 943)
- 1355 – Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, English politician, Lord High Constable of England (d. 1397)
- 1502 – Pope Gregory XIII (d. 1585)
- 1634 – Adam Krieger, German organist and composer (d. 1666)
- 1647 – William Louis, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1677)
- 1685 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish agronomist and businessman (d. 1761)
- 1706 – Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (d. 1751)
- 1713 – Giovanni Battista Locatelli, Italian director and manager (d. 1785)
- 1718 – Israel Putnam, American general (d. 1790)
- 1746 – George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith, Scottish admiral and politician (d. 1823)
- 1768 – Joseph Bonaparte, Italian king (d. 1844)
- 1797 – Mariano Paredes, Mexican general and 16th president (1845-1846) (d. 1849)
- 1800 – Millard Fillmore, American politician, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)
- 1814 – Robert Nicoll, Scottish poet (d.1837)
- 1815 – Elizabeth Louisa Foster Mather, American writer (d.1882)
- 1827 – Sandford Fleming, Scottish-Canadian engineer, created Universal Standard Time (d. 1915)
- 1830 – Albert Bierstadt, American painter (d. 1902)
- 1831 – Heinrich von Stephan, German postman, founded the Universal Postal Union (d. 1897)
- 1832 – James Munro, Scottish-Australian publisher and politician, 15th Premier of Victoria (d. 1908)
- 1834 – Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and academic, invented the Reis telephone (d. 1874)
- 1837 – Thomas Henry Ismay, English businessman, founded the White Star Line Shipping Company (d. 1899)
- 1844 – Bernadette Soubirous, French nun and saint (d. 1879)
- 1858 – Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Belarusian lexicographer and journalist (d. 1922)
- 1863 – Anna Murray Vail, American botanist and first librarian of the New York Botanical Garden (d. 1955)
- 1871 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and politician (d. 1956)
- 1873 – Charles Péguy, French poet and journalist (d. 1914)
- 1873 – Adolph Zukor, Hungarian-American film producer, co-founded Paramount Pictures (d. 1976)
- 1875 – Gustav Flatow, German gymnast (d. 1945)
- 1876 – William Hurlstone, English pianist and composer (d. 1906)
- 1877 – William Clarence Matthews, American baseball player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1928)
- 1889 – Vera de Bosset, Russian-American ballerina (d. 1982)
- 1891 – Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (d. 1960)
- 1895 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (d. 1974)
- 1899 – Al Bowlly, Mozambican-English singer-songwriter (disputed; d. 1941)
- 1899 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (d. 1963)
- 1900 – John Brownlee, Australian actor and singer (d. 1969)
- 1906 – Red Allen, American trumpet player (d. 1967)
- 1910 – Orval Faubus, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994)
- 1912 – Charles Addams, American cartoonist, created The Addams Family (d. 1988)
- 1913 – Johnny Mize, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1993)
- 1916 – W. L. Jeyasingham, Sri Lankan geographer and academic (d. 1989)
- 1916 – Babe Pratt, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1988)
- 1920 – Vincent Gardenia, Italian-American actor (d. 1992)
- 1921 – Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid, Colombian politician (d. 1997)
- 1921 – Chester Kallman, American poet and translator (d. 1975)
- 1922 – Alvin Dark, American baseball player and manager (d. 2014)
- 1922 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (d. 2000)
- 1923 – Hugh Kenner, Canadian scholar and critic (d. 2003)
- 1925 – Gerald Durrell, Indian-English zookeeper, conservationist and author, founded Durrell Wildlife Park (d. 1995)
- 1926 – Kim Jong-pil, South Korean lieutenant and politician, 11th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2018)
- 1928 – William Peter Blatty, American author and screenwriter (d. 2017)
- 1929 – Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (d. 2012)
- 1929 – Terry Moore, American actress
- 1931 – Mirja Hietamies, Finnish skier (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Elliott Kastner, American-English film producer (d. 2010)
- 1934 – Jean Corbeil, Canadian lawyer and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Labour (d. 2002)
- 1934 – Tassos Papadopoulos, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 5th President of Cyprus (d. 2008)
- 1935 – Li Shengjiao, Chinese diplomat and international jurist (d. 2017)
- 1935 – Kenny Davern, American clarinet player and saxophonist (d. 2006)
- 1935 – Valeri Kubasov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2014)
- 1941 – Iona Brown, English violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
- 1941 – John E. Walker, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1942 – Vasily Alekseyev, Russian-German weightlifter and coach (d. 2011)
- 1943 – Sadako Sasaki, Japanese survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, known for one thousand origami cranes (d. 1955)
- 1944 – Mike McGear, British performing artist and rock photographer
- 1944 – Kotaro Suzumura, Japanese economist and academic (d. 2020)
- 1945 – Raila Odinga, Kenyan engineer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Kenya
- 1946 – Jann Wenner, American publisher, co-founded Rolling Stone
- 1947 – Tony Elliott, English publisher, founded Time Out
- 1948 – Kenny Loggins, American singer-songwriter
- 1948 – Ichirou Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
- 1952 – Sammo Hung, Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and martial artist
- 1953 – Robert Longo, American painter and sculptor
- 1954 – Alan Butcher, English cricketer and coach
- 1955 – Mamata Shankar, Indian-Bengali actress
- 1956 – David Caruso, American actor
- 1957 – Katie Couric, American television journalist, anchor, and author
- 1959 – Angela Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon, English accountant and politician
- 1959 – Kathy Valentine, American bass player and songwriter
- 1960 – Loretta Sanchez, American politician
- 1961 – John Thune, American lawyer and politician
- 1962 – Aleksandr Dugin, Russian political analyst and strategist known for his fascist views
- 1962 – Ron Rivera, American football player and coach
- 1964 – Nicolas Cage, American actor
- 1965 – Alessandro Lambruschini, Italian runner
- 1967 – Nick Clegg, English academic and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1969 – Marco Simone, Italian footballer and manager
- 1970 – Andy Burnham, English politician
- 1971 – Jeremy Renner, American actor
- 1972 – Donald Brashear, American-Canadian ice hockey player and mixed martial artist
- 1974 – Alenka Bikar, Slovenian sprinter and politician
- 1976 – Vic Darchinyan, Armenian-Australian boxer
- 1976 – Alfonso Soriano, Dominican baseball player
- 1977 – Sofi Oksanen, Finnish author and playwright
- 1979 – Aloe Blacc, American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, businessman and philanthropist.
- 1982 – Francisco Rodríguez, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1982 – Hannah Stockbauer, German swimmer
- 1983 – Edwin Encarnación, Dominican baseball player
- 1985 – Lewis Hamilton, English racing driver
- 1986 – Wayne Routledge, English footballer winger
- 1987 – Stefan Babović, Serbian footballer
- 1987 – Lyndsy Fonseca, American actress
- 1987 – Davide Astori, Italian footballer (d. 2018)
- 1990 – Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper
- 1991 – Eden Hazard, Belgian footballer
- 1991 – Caster Semenya, South African sprinter
Deaths on January 7
- 312 – Lucian of Antioch, Christian martyr, saint, and theologian (b. 240)
- 838 – Babak Khorramdin, Iranian leader of the Khurramite uprising against the Abbasid Caliphate
- 856 – Aldric, bishop of Le Mans
- 1131 – Canute Lavard, Danish prince and saint (b. 1096)
- 1285 – Charles I of Naples (b. 1226)
- 1325 – Denis of Portugal (b. 1261)
- 1355 – Inês de Castro, Castilian noblewoman (b. 1325)
- 1400 – John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English Earl (b. 1350)
- 1451 – Amadeus VIII of Savoy a.k.a. Antipope Felix V (b. 1383)
- 1529 – Peter Vischer the Elder, German sculptor (b. 1455)
- 1536 – Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485)
- 1566 – Louis de Blois, Flemish monk and author (b. 1506)
- 1619 – Nicholas Hilliard, English painter and goldsmith (b. 1547)
- 1625 – Ruggiero Giovannelli, Italian composer and author (b. 1560)
- 1655 – Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)
- 1658 – Theophilus Eaton, American farmer and politician, 1st Governor of the New Haven Colony (b. 1590)
- 1694 – Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire (b. 1618)
- 1700 – Raffaello Fabretti, Italian scholar and author (b. 1618)
- 1715 – François Fénelon, French archbishop, theologian, and poet (b. 1651)
- 1758 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1686)
- 1767 – Thomas Clap, American minister and academic (b. 1703)
- 1770 – Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician and diplomat (b. 1695)
- 1812 – Joseph Dennie, American journalist and author (b. 1768)
- 1830 – John Thomas Campbell, Irish-Australian public servant and politician (b. 1770)
- 1830 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter and educator (b. 1769)
- 1858 – Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1800)
- 1864 – Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist and politician, 6th U.S. Secretary of the Interior (b. 1808)
- 1892 – Tewfik Pasha, Egyptian ruler (b. 1852)
- 1893 – Josef Stefan, Slovenian physicist and mathematician (b. 1835)
- 1919 – Henry Ware Eliot, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Washington University in St. Louis (b. 1843)
- 1920 – Edmund Barton, Australian judge and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
- 1927 – Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos, Greek politician, 99th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1851)
- 1931 – Edward Channing, American historian and author (b. 1856)
- 1932 – André Maginot, French sergeant and politician (b. 1877)
- 1936 – Guy d’Hardelot, French pianist and composer (b. 1858)
- 1941 – Charles Finger, English journalist and author (b. 1869)
- 1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist and engineer (b. 1856)
- 1951 – René Guénon, French-Egyptian philosopher and author (b. 1886)
- 1960 – Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers, English tennis player and coach (b. 1878)
- 1963 – Arthur Edward Moore, New Zealand-Australian farmer and politician, 23rd Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)
- 1964 – Reg Parnell, English racing driver and manager (b. 1911)
- 1967 – David Goodis, American author and screenwriter (b. 1917)
- 1967 – Carl Schuricht, German-Swiss conductor (b. 1880)
- 1968 – J. L. B. Smith, South African chemist and academic (b. 1897)
- 1972 – John Berryman, American poet and scholar (b. 1914)
- 1981 – Alvar Lidell, English journalist and radio announcer(b. 1908)
- 1981 – Eric Robinson, Australian businessman and politician, 2nd Australian Minister for Finance (b. 1926)
- 1984 – Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1986 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican author, screenwriter, and photographer (b. 1917)
- 1988 – Zara Cisco Brough, American Nipmuc Indian chief and fashion designer (b.1919)
- 1988 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
- 1989 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (b. 1901)
- 1990 – Bronko Nagurski, Canadian-American football player and wrestler (b. 1908)
- 1992 – Richard Hunt, American puppeteer and voice actor (b. 1951)
- 1995 – Murray Rothbard, American economist, historian, and theorist (b. 1926)
- 1996 – Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician, 51st Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1930)
- 1998 – Owen Bradley, American record producer (b. 1915)
- 1998 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
- 2000 – Gary Albright, American wrestler (b. 1963)
- 2001 – James Carr, American singer (b. 1942)
- 2002 – Avery Schreiber, American comedian and actor (b. 1935)
- 2004 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (b. 1926)
- 2005 – Pierre Daninos, French author (b. 1913)
- 2006 – Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer, geographer, and author (b. 1912)
- 2007 – Bobby Hamilton, American race car driver and businessman (b. 1957)
- 2007 – Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic journalist, author, and academic (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Alwyn Schlebusch, South African academic and politician, Vice State President of South Africa (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Tony Blankley, British-born American child actor, journalist and pundit (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Run Run Shaw, Chinese-Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist, founded Shaw Brothers Studio and TVB (b. 1907)
- 2015 – Mompati Merafhe, Botswana general and politician, Vice-President of Botswana (b. 1936)
- 2015 – Rod Taylor, Australian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Georges Wolinski, Tunisian-French cartoonist (b. 1934)
- 2016 – Bill Foster, American basketball player and coach (b. 1929)
- 2016 – John Johnson, American basketball player (b. 1947)
- 2016 – Kitty Kallen, American singer (b. 1921)
- 2016 – Judith Kaye, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1938)
- 2016 – Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Home Affairs (b. 1936)
- 2017 – Mário Soares, Portuguese politician; 16th President of Portugal (b. 1924)
- 2018 – Jim Anderton, Former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister (b. 1938)
- 2018 – France Gall, French singer (b. 1947)
Holidays and observances on January 7
- Christian Feast Day:
- André Bessette (Canada)
- Canute Lavard
- Charles of Sezze
- Felix and Januarius
- Lucian of Antioch
- Raymond of Penyafort
- Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist (Julian Calendar)
- January 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Christmas (Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian Calendar, Rastafari)
- Christmas in Russia
- Christmas in Ukraine
- Remembrance Day of the Dead (Armenia)
- Distaff Day (medieval Europe)
- Earliest day on which Plough Monday can fall, while January 13 is the latest; celebrated on Monday after Epiphany (Europe).
- Nanakusa no sekku (Japan)
- Pioneer’s Day (Liberia)
- Tricolour day or Festa del Tricolore (Italy)
- Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia)
-
January 3 in History
- 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (except Jews) to make sacrifices to the Roman gods.
- 1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
- 1653 – By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage.
- 1749 – Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.
- 1749 – The first issue of Berlingske, Denmark’s oldest continually operating newspaper, is published.
- 1777 – American General George Washington defeats British General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
- 1815 – Austria, the United Kingdom, and France form a secret defensive alliance against Prussia and Russia.
- 1833 – The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
- 1848 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of Liberia.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States.
- 1868 – Meiji Restoration in Japan: The Tokugawa shogunate is abolished; agents of Satsuma and Chōshū seize power.
- 1870 – Construction work begins on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, United States.
- 1871 – In the Battle of Bapaume, an engagement in the Franco-Prussian War, General Louis Faidherbe’s forces bring about a Prussian retreat.
- 1885 – Sino-French War: Beginning of the Battle of Núi Bop
- 1911 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroys the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan.
- 1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill.
- 1913 – An Atlantic coast storm sets the lowest confirmed barometric pressure reading for a non-tropical system in the continental United States.
- 1925 – Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
- 1933 – Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.
- 1938 – The March of Dimes is established as a foundation to combat infant polio by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- 1944 – World War II: Top Ace Major Greg “Pappy” Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
- 1945 – World War II: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz is placed in command of all U.S. Naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima and Okinawa in Japan.
- 1946 – Popular Canadian American jockey George Woolf dies in a freak accident during a race; the annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award is created to honor him.
- 1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
- 1949 – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established.
- 1953 – Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
- 1956 – A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
- 1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
- 1958 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
- 1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
- 1961 – Cold War: The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba over the latter’s nationalization of American assets.
- 1961 – The SL-1 nuclear reactor is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.
- 1961 – A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.
- 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
- 1976 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, comes into force.
- 1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated.
- 1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.
- 1993 – In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
- 1994 – More than seven million people from the former apartheid Homelands receive South African citizenship.
- 1994 – Baikal Airlines Flight 130 crashes near Irkutsk, Russia, resulting in 125 deaths.
- 1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.
- 2000 – Final daily edition of the Peanuts comic strip.
- 2002 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.
- 2004 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history.
- 2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, was established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.
- 2015 – Boko Haram militants raze the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people.
- 2016 – Following the fallout caused by the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
- 2019 – Chang’e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover.
- 2020 – Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport.
Births on January 3
- 106 BC – Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (d. 43 BC)
- 169 – Lü Bu, Chinese general and warlord (d. 199)
- 1196 – Emperor Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1231)
- 1509 – Gian Girolamo Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1591)
- 1611 – James Harrington, English political theorist (d. 1677)
- 1698 – Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet and songwriter (d. 1782)
- 1710 – Richard Gridley, American soldier and engineer (d. 1796)
- 1722 – Fredrik Hasselqvist, Swedish biologist and explorer (d. 1752)
- 1731 – Angelo Emo, Venetian admiral and statesman (d. 1792)
- 1760 – Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Indian ruler (d. 1799)
- 1775 – Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont (d. 1863)
- 1778 – Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish archbishop (d. 1861)
- 1793 – Lucretia Mott, American activist (d. 1880)
- 1802 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (d. 1898)
- 1803 – Douglas William Jerrold, English journalist and playwright (d. 1857)
- 1806 – Henriette Sontag, German soprano and actress (d. 1854)
- 1810 – Antoine Thomson d’Abbadie, French geographer, ethnologist, linguist, and astronomer (d. 1897)
- 1816 – Samuel C. Pomeroy, American businessman and politician (d. 1891)
- 1819 – Charles Piazzi Smyth, Italian-Scottish astronomer and academic (d. 1900)
- 1821 – Karel Dežman, Slovenian archaeologist, botanist, and politician, Mayor of Ljubljana (d. 1889)
- 1831 – Savitribai Phule, Indian poet, educator, and activist (d. 1897)
- 1836 – Sakamoto Ryōma, Japanese samurai and rebel leader (d. 1867)
- 1840 – Father Damien, Flemish priest and missionary (d. 1889)
- 1847 – Ettore Marchiafava, Italian physician (d. 1935)
- 1853 – Sophie Elkan, Swedish writer (d. 1921)
- 1855 – Hubert Bland, English businessman (d. 1914)
- 1861 – Ernest Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1899)
- 1861 – William Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1904)
- 1862 – Matthew Nathan, English soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Queensland (d. 1939)
- 1865 – Henry Lytton, English actor (d. 1936)
- 1870 – Henry Handel Richardson, Australian-English author (d. 1946)
- 1873 – Ichizō Kobayashi, Japanese businessman and art collector, founded the Hankyu Hanshin Holdings (d. 1957)
- 1875 – Alexandros Diomidis, Greek banker and politician, 145th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1950)
- 1876 – Wilhelm Pieck, German carpenter and politician, 1st President of the German Democratic Republic (d. 1960)
- 1877 – Josephine Hull, American actress (d. 1957)
- 1880 – Francis Browne, Irish Jesuit priest and photographer (d. 1960)
- 1883 – Clement Attlee, English soldier, lawyer, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1967)
- 1883 – Duncan Gillis, Canadian discus thrower and hammer thrower (d. 1963)
- 1884 – Raoul Koczalski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1948)
- 1885 – Harry Elkins Widener, American businessman (d. 1912)
- 1886 – John Gould Fletcher, American poet and author (d. 1950)
- 1886 – Arthur Mailey, Australian cricketer (d. 1967)
- 1887 – August Macke, German-French painter (d. 1914)
- 1892 – J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, and philologist (d. 1973)
- 1894 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963)
- 1897 – Marion Davies, American actress and comedian (d. 1961)
- 1898 – Carolyn Haywood, American author and illustrator (d. 1990)
- 1898 – Carlos Keller, Chilean historian, academic, and politician (d. 1974)
- 1900 – Donald J. Russell, American businessman (d. 1985)
- 1901 – Ngô Đình Diệm, Vietnamese lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam (d. 1963)
- 1905 – Dante Giacosa, Italian engineer (d. 1996)
- 1905 – Anna May Wong, American actress (d. 1961)
- 1907 – Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director (d. 1986)
- 1909 – Victor Borge, Danish-American pianist and conductor (d. 2000)
- 1910 – Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player and manager (d. 2000)
- 1911 – John Sturges, American director and producer (d. 1992)
- 1912 – Federico Borrell García, Spanish soldier (d. 1936)
- 1912 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2002)
- 1912 – Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2005)
- 1915 – Jack Levine, American painter and soldier (d. 2010)
- 1916 – Betty Furness, American actress and television journalist (d. 1994)
- 1916 – Fred Haas, American golfer (d. 2004)
- 1917 – Albert Mol, Dutch author and actor (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Vernon A. Walters, American general and diplomat, 17th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2002)
- 1917 – Roger Williams Straus, Jr., American journalist and publisher, co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux (d. 2004)
- 1919 – Herbie Nichols, American pianist and composer (d. 1963)
- 1920 – Siegfried Buback, German lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Germany (d. 1977)
- 1920 – Renato Carosone, Italian singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2001)
- 1921 – Chetan Anand, Indian director and screenwriter (d. 1997)
- 1921 – Isabella Bashmakova, Russian historian of mathematics (d. 2005)
- 1922 – Bill Travers, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
- 1923 – Hank Stram, American football coach and sportscaster (d. 2005)
- 1924 – Otto Beisheim, German businessman and philanthropist, founded Metro AG (d. 2013)
- 1924 – André Franquin, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1997)
- 1924 – Nell Rankin, American soprano and educator (d. 2005)
- 1925 – Jill Balcon, English actress (d. 2009)
- 1926 – W. Michael Blumenthal, American economist and politician, 64th United States Secretary of the Treasury
- 1926 – George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer (d. 2016)
- 1928 – Abdul Rahman Ya’kub, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
- 1929 – Ernst Mahle, German-Brazilian composer and conductor
- 1929 – Gordon Moore, American businessman, co-founder of Intel Corporation
- 1930 – Robert Loggia, American actor and director (d. 2015)
- 1932 – Dabney Coleman, American actor
- 1932 – Eeles Landström, Finnish pole vaulter and politician
- 1933 – Geoffrey Bindman, English lawyer
- 1933 – Anne Stevenson, American-English poet and author
- 1934 – Marpessa Dawn, American-French actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2008)
- 1934 – Carla Anderson Hills, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- 1935 – Raymond Garneau, Canadian businessman and politician
- 1937 – Glen A. Larson, American director, producer, and screenwriter, created Battlestar Galactica (d. 2014)
- 1938 – Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, English academic and politician
- 1938 – K. Ganeshalingam, Sri Lankan accountant and politician, Mayor of Colombo (d. 2006)
- 1939 – Arik Einstein, Israeli singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1940 – Leo de Berardinis, Italian actor and director (d. 2008)
- 1940 – Bernard Blaut, Polish footballer and coach (d. 2007)
- 1941 – Malcolm Dick, New Zealand rugby player
- 1942 – John Marsden, Australian lawyer and activist (d. 2006)
- 1942 – John Thaw, English actor and producer, played Inspector Morse (d. 2002)
- 1943 – Van Dyke Parks, American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, author, and actor
- 1944 – Blanche d’Alpuget, Australian author
- 1945 – Stephen Stills, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1946 – John Paul Jones, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
- 1946 – Michalis Kritikopoulos, Greek footballer (d. 2002)
- 1947 – Fran Cotton, English rugby player
- 1947 – Zulema, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1948 – Ian Nankervis, Australian footballer
- 1950 – Victoria Principal, American actress and businesswoman
- 1950 – Linda Steiner, American journalist and academic
- 1950 – Vesna Vulović, Serbian plane crash survivor and Guinness World Record holder
- 1951 – Linda Dobbs, English lawyer and judge
- 1951 – Gary Nairn, Australian surveyor and politician, 14th Special Minister of State
- 1952 – Esperanza Aguirre, Spanish civil servant and politician, 3rd President of the Community of Madrid
- 1952 – Gianfranco Fini, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1952 – Jim Ross, American professional wrestling commentator
- 1953 – Justin Fleming, Australian playwright and author
- 1953 – Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Maldivian educator and politician, 5th President of the Maldives
- 1953 – Peter Taylor, English football winger and manager
- 1956 – Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1958 – Shim Hyung-rae, South Korean actor, director, and producer
- 1960 – Russell Spence, English racing driver
- 1962 – Darren Daulton, American baseball player (d. 2017)
- 1962 – Gavin Hastings, Scottish rugby player
- 1963 – Stewart Hosie, Scottish businessman and politician
- 1963 – Aamer Malik, Pakistani cricketer
- 1963 – Alex Wheatle, English author and playwright
- 1964 – Bruce LaBruce, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1964 – Cheryl Miller, American basketball player and coach
- 1966 – Chetan Sharma, Indian cricketer
- 1969 – Michael Caines, English chef
- 1969 – Lorenzo Fertitta, American entrepreneur, casino executive and sports promoter
- 1969 – Jarmo Lehtinen, Finnish racing driver
- 1969 – Michael Schumacher, German racing driver
- 1969 – Gerda Weissensteiner, Italian luger and bobsledder
- 1971 – Cory Cross, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1971 – Lee Il-hwa, South Korean actress
- 1973 – Dan Harmon, American screenwriter and producer
- 1974 – Robert-Jan Derksen, Dutch golfer
- 1974 – Alessandro Petacchi, Italian cyclist
- 1975 – Jason Marsden, American actor
- 1975 – Thomas Bangalter, French DJ, musician (Daft Punk), and producer
- 1975 – Danica McKellar, American actress, writer, and mathematician
- 1976 – Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer
- 1976 – Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor and producer
- 1977 – Lee Bowyer, English footballer and coach
- 1977 – A. J. Burnett, American baseball player
- 1977 – Mayumi Iizuka, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1978 – Dimitra Kalentzou, Greek basketball player
- 1978 – Dominic Wood, English comedian and former magician
- 1980 – Bryan Clay, American decathlete
- 1980 – Angela Ruggiero, American ice hockey player
- 1980 – David Tyree, American football player
- 1980 – Kurt Vile, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1980 – Mary Wineberg, American sprinter
- 1981 – Eli Manning, American football playe
- 1982 – Peter Clarke, English footballer
- 1982 – Lasse Nilsson, Swedish footballer
- 1982 – Park Ji-yoon, South Korean singer and actress
- 1984 – Billy Mehmet, English-Irish footballer
- 1985 – Linas Kleiza, Lithuanian basketball player
- 1985 – Evan Moore, American football player
- 1986 – Dana Hussain, Iraqi sprinter
- 1986 – Greg Nwokolo, Indonesian footballer
- 1986 – Dmitry Starodubtsev, Russian pole vaulter
- 1987 – Reto Berra, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender
- 1987 – Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and singer
- 1988 – Ikechi Anya, Scottish-Nigerian footballer
- 1988 – Matt Frattin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1988 – J. R. Hildebrand, American racing driver
- 1989 – Ben Matulino, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1989 – Kōhei Uchimura, Japanese artistic gymnast
- 1990 – Yoichiro Kakitani, Japanese footballer
- 1991 – Jerson Cabral, Dutch footballer
- 1991 – Özgür Çek, Turkish footballer
- 1991 – Sébastien Faure, French footballer
- 1991 – Dane Gagai, Australian rugby league player
- 1994 – Isaquias Queiroz, Brazilian sprint canoeist
- 1997 – Kyron McMaster, British Virgin Islands hurdler
- 2003 – Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist
Deaths on January 3
- 236 – Anterus, the pope of the Catholic Church
- 323 – Yuan of Yin, Chinese emperor (b. 276)
- 1027 – Fujiwara no Yukinari, Japanese calligrapher (b. 972)
- 1028 – Fujiwara no Michinaga, Japanese nobleman (b. 966)
- 1098 – Walkelin, Norman bishop of Winchester
- 1322 – Philip V, king of France (b. 1292)
- 1437 – Catherine of Valois, queen consort of Henry V (b. 1401)
- 1501 – Ali-Shir Nava’i, Turkic poet, linguist, and mystic (b. 1441)
- 1543 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer and navigator (b. 1499)
- 1571 – Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1505)
- 1641 – Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer and mathematician (b. 1618)
- 1656 – Mathieu Molé, French politician (b. 1584)
- 1670 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1608)
- 1701 – Louis I, prince of Monaco (b. 1642)
- 1705 – Luca Giordano, Italian painter and illustrator (b. 1634)
- 1743 – Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian painter and architect (b. 1657)
- 1777 – William Leslie, Scottish captain (b. 1751)
- 1779 – Claude Bourgelat, French surgeon and lawyer (b. 1712)
- 1785 – Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
- 1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company (b. 1730)
- 1826 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French general (b. 1770)
- 1871 – Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Indian priest and saint (b. 1805)
- 1875 – Pierre Larousse, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1817)
- 1882 – William Harrison Ainsworth, English author (b. 1805)
- 1895 – James Merritt Ives, American lithographer and businessman, co-founded Currier and Ives (b. 1824)
- 1903 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (b. 1837)
- 1911 – Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author and poet (b. 1851)
- 1915 – James Elroy Flecker, English poet, author, and playwright (b. 1884)
- 1916 – Grenville M. Dodge, American general and politician (b. 1831)
- 1922 – Wilhelm Voigt, German criminal (b. 1849)
- 1923 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech journalist and author (b. 1883)
- 1927 – Carl David Tolmé Runge, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1856)
- 1931 – Joseph Joffre, French general (b. 1852)
- 1933 – Wilhelm Cuno, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
- 1933 – Jack Pickford, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1896)
- 1943 – Walter James, Australian lawyer and politician, 5th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1863)
- 1944 – Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet, critic, and translator (b. 1873)
- 1945 – Edgar Cayce, American psychic and author (b. 1877)
- 1945 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish journalist and explorer (b. 1879)
- 1946 – William Joyce, American-British pro-Axis propaganda broadcaster (b. 1906)
- 1956 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1864)
- 1956 – Dimitrios Vergos, Greek wrestler, weightlifter, and shot putter (b. 1886)
- 1956 – Joseph Wirth, German educator and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
- 1958 – Cafer Tayyar Eğilmez, Turkish general (b. 1877)
- 1959 – Edwin Muir, Scottish poet, author, and translator (b. 1887)
- 1960 – Eric P. Kelly, American journalist, author, and academic (b. 1884)
- 1962 – Hermann Lux, German footballer and manager (b. 1893)
- 1965 – Milton Avery, American painter (b. 1885)
- 1966 – Sammy Younge Jr., American civil rights activist (b. 1944)
- 1967 – Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress (b. 1874)
- 1967 – Reginald Punnett, British scientist (b. 1875)
- 1967 – Jack Ruby, American businessman and murderer (b. 1911)
- 1969 – Jean Focas, Greek-French astronomer (b. 1909)
- 1969 – Tzavalas Karousos, Greek-French actor (b. 1904)
- 1970 – Gladys Aylward, English missionary and humanitarian (b. 1902)
- 1972 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (b. 1925)
- 1975 – Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1880)
- 1975 – James McCormack, American general (b. 1910)
- 1977 – William Gropper, American lithographer, cartoonist, and painter (b. 1897)
- 1979 – Conrad Hilton, American businessman, founded the Hilton Hotels & Resorts (b. 1887)
- 1980 – Joy Adamson, Austrian-Kenyan author (b. 1910)
- 1980 – George Sutherland Fraser, Scottish poet and academic (b. 1915)
- 1981 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (b. 1883)
- 1988 – Rose Ausländer, Ukrainian-German poet and author (b. 1901)
- 1989 – Sergei Sobolev, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1909)
- 1992 – Judith Anderson, British actress (b. 1897)
- 2002 – Satish Dhawan, Indian engineer (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Jimmy Stewart, Scottish racing driver (b. 1931)
- 2005 – Koo Chen-fu, Taiwanese businessman and diplomat (b. 1917)
- 2005 – Egidio Galea, Maltese Roman Catholic priest, missionary, and educator (b. 1918)
- 2005 – Jyotindra Nath Dixit, Indian diplomat, 2nd Indian National Security Adviser (b. 1936)
- 2006 – Steve Rogers, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1954)
- 2006 – Bill Skate, Papua New Guinean politician, 5th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1954)
- 2007 – János Fürst, Hungarian violinist and conductor (b. 1935)
- 2007 – William Verity, Jr., American businessman and politician, 27th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1917)
- 2008 – Choi Yo-sam, South Korean boxer (b. 1972)
- 2009 – Betty Freeman, American philanthropist and photographer (b. 1921)
- 2009 – Pat Hingle, American actor (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Hisayasu Nagata, Japanese politician (b. 1969)
- 2010 – Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Chilean-German composer and academic (b. 1925)
- 2010 – Mary Daly, American theologian and scholar (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Vicar, Chilean cartoonist (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Robert L. Carter, American lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Winifred Milius Lubell, American author and illustrator (b. 1914)
- 2012 – Josef Škvorecký, Czech-Canadian author and publisher (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Bob Weston, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1947)
- 2013 – Alfie Fripp, English soldier and pilot (b. 1913)
- 2013 – Ivan Mackerle, Czech cryptozoologist, explorer, and author (b. 1942)
- 2013 – William Maxson, American general (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Phil Everly, American singer and guitarist (b. 1939)
- 2014 – George Goodman, American economist and author (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Saul Zaentz, American film producer (b. 1921)
- 2015 – Martin Anderson, American economist and academic (b. 1936)
- 2015 – Edward Brooke, American captain and politician, 47th Massachusetts Attorney General (b. 1919)
- 2016 – Paul Bley, Canadian-American pianist and composer (b. 1932)
- 2016 – Peter Naur, Danish computer scientist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Bill Plager, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1945)
- 2016 – Igor Sergun, Russian general and diplomat (b. 1957)
- 2017 – H. S. Mahadeva Prasad, Indian politician (b. 1958)
- 2018 – Colin Brumby, Australian composer (b. 1933)
- 2019 – Herb Kelleher, American businessman, co-founder of Southwest Airlines (b. 1931)
- 2020 – Qasem Soleimani, Iranian major general, commander of the Iranian Quds Force (b. 1957)
Holidays and observances on January 3
- Anniversary of the 1966 Coup d’état (Burkina Faso)
- Christian feast day:
- Daniel of Padua
- Genevieve
- Holy Name of Jesus
- Kuriakose Elias Chavara (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)
- Pope Anterus
- William Passavant (Episcopal Church)
- January 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Ministry of Religious Affairs Day (Indonesia)
- Tamaseseri Festival (Hakozaki Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan)
- The first day of Nakhatsenendyan toner, celebrated until January 5 (Armenia).
- The tenth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)