Events

• 588 BC – Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC.

• 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but rules for only three months before committing suicide.

• 1559 – Elizabeth I is crowned queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London.

• 1582 – Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to Poland.

• 1759 – The British Museum opens.

• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present day Vermont) declares its independence.

• 1782 – Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.

• 1822 – Greek War of Independence: Demetrius Ypsilanti is elected president of the legislative assembly.

• 1844 – University of Notre Dame receives its charter from the state of Indiana.

• 1865 – American Civil War – Fort Fisher North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.

• 1870 – A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the United States Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly).

• 1889 – The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is originally incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia.

• 1892 – James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.

• 1908 – The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African-American college women.

• 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps.

• 1919 – Boston Molasses Disaster: A large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, bursts and a wave of molasses rushes through the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.

• 1936 – The first building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio (the building is built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company).

• 1943 – World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.

• 1943 – The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.

• 1947 – The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short ("The Black Dahlia") is found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California.

• 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist Government.

• 1951 – Ilse Koch, "The Bitch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in West Germany.

• 1966 – The government of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in Nigeria is overthrown in a military coup d’état.

• 1967 – The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles, California. Green Bay Packers defeat Kansas City Chiefs 35-10

• 1969 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.

• 1970 – After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrenders.

• 1970 – Muammar al-Qaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.

• 1973 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.

• 1976 – Gerald Ford's would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.

• 1977 – The Kälvesta air disaster kills 22 people, the worst air crash in Sweden's history.

• 1986 – The Living Seas opens at EPCOT Center in Walt Disney World, Florida.

• 1990 – AT&T's long distance telephone network suffers a cascade switching failure.

• 1991 – The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.

• 1992 – The international community recognizes the independence of Slovenia and Croatia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

• 1993 – Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as 'The Beast', is arrested in Sicily after three decades as a fugitive

• 1999 – The Racak incident: 45 Albanians in the Kosovo village of Racak are killed by Yugoslav security forces.

• 2001 – Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.

• 2005 – An intense solar flare blasts X-rays across the solar system.

• 2005 – ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon.

• 2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.

• 2009 – US Airways Flight 1549 makes an emergency landing into the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. All passengers and crew members survive.

Births

• 1342 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)

• 1432 – King Afonso V of Portugal (d. 1481)

• 1481 – Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shogun (d. 1511)

• 1538 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (d. 1599)

• 1622 – Molière, French playwright (d. 1673)

• 1671 – Abraham de la Pryme, English antiquarian (d. 1704)

• 1674 – Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French writer (d. 1762)

• 1716 – Philip Livingston, American founding father (d. 1778)

• 1747 – John Aikin, English doctor and writer (d. 1822)

• 1754 – Richard Martin, Irish animal rights activist (d. 1834)

• 1791 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (d. 1872)

• 1795 – Alexandr Griboyedov, Russian playwright (d. 1829)

• 1803 – Marjory Fleming, Scottish writer and poet (d. 1811)

• 1809 – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French anarchist (d. 1865)

• 1812 – Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Norwegian writer (d. 1885)

• 1816 – Marie LaFarge, French murderer (d. 1852)

• 1824 – Marie Duplessis, French courtesan (d. 1847)

• 1834 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American politician (d. 1911)

• 1841 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Governor General of Canada (d. 1908)

• 1842 – Blessed Mary McKillop, Australian candidate for sainthood (d. 1909)

• 1842 – Josef Breuer, Austrian psychologist (d. 1925)

• 1850 – Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet (d. 1889)

• 1850 – Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1891)

• 1850 – Leonard Darwin, son of Charles Darwin (d. 1943)

• 1855 – Jacques Damala, Greek military officer and actor (d. 1889)

• 1859 – Archibald Peake, Premier of South Australia (d. 1920)

• 1863 – Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1946)

• 1866 – Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1931)

• 1869 – Stanisław Wyspiański, Polish dramatist (d. 1907)

• 1870 – Pierre S. du Pont, American businessman (d. 1954)

• 1872 – Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer (d. 1944)

• 1875 – Tom Burke, American runner (d. 1929)

• 1877 – Lewis Terman, American psychologist (d. 1956)

• 1878 – Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer and pedagogue (d. 1941)

• 1879 – Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author (d. 1961)

• 1882 – Princess Margaret of Sweden (d. 1920)

• 1885 – Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician (d. 1973)

• 1885 – Huang Yuanyong, Chinese writer (d. 1915)

• 1885 – Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (d. 1968)

• 1890 – Tommy Fleming, American soccer player (d. 1965)

• 1891 – Ray Chapman, American baseball player (d. 1920)

• 1891 – Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet (d. 1938)

• 1892 – Rex Ingram, Irish director (d. 1950)

• 1893 – Ivor Novello, Welsh composer and actor (d. 1951)

• 1895 – Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1973)

• 1897 – Xu Zhimo, Chinese poet (d. 1931)

• 1899 – Goodman Ace, American actor (d. 1982)

• 1900 – William Heinesen, Faroese writer, poet and artist (d. 1991)

• 1902 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (d. 1969)

• 1902 – Nazım Hikmet, Turkish poet (d. 1963)

• 1903 – Paul A. Dever, 58^th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)

• 1905 – Torin Thatcher, English actor (d. 1981)

• 1905 – Kamatari Fujiwara, Japanese actor (d. 1985)

• 1906 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975)

• 1908 – Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (d. 2003)

• 1909 – Jean Bugatti, German-born automobile designer (d. 1939)

• 1909 – Gene Krupa, American drummer (d. 1973)

• 1912 – Michel Debré, French politician (d. 1996)

• 1912 – Harry Hay, American gay rights activist (d. 2002)

• 1913 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor (d. 1998)

• 1913 – Miriam Hyde, Australian composer (d. 2005)

• 1913 – Alexander Marinesko, captain of the S-13 submarine, which sank the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff (d. 1963)

• 1914 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian (d. 2003)

• 1918 – João Figueiredo, President of Brazil (d. 1999)

• 1918 – Édouard Gagnon, Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 2007)

• 1918 – Gamal Abdal Nasser, President of Egypt (d. 1970)

• 1919 – Maurice Herzog, French mountaineer, first to ascend an 8000m peak, Annapurna in 1950

• 1920 – John Cardinal O'Connor, American Catholic cardinal (d. 2000)

• 1920 – Steve Gromek, American baseball player (d. 2002)

• 1921 – Frank Thornton, English actor

• 1922 – Sir Eric Willis, Australian politician (d. 1999)

• 1923 – Ivor Cutler, Scottish poet (d. 2006)

• 1923 – Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese politician

• 1925 – Ruth Slenczynska, U.S. pianist

• 1926 – Florence Buchsbaum, French theater director (d. 1996)

• 1926 – Maria Schell, Austrian actress (d. 2005)

• 1927 – Phyllis Coates, American actress

• 1929 – Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1968)

• 1930 – Eddie Graham, American professional wrestler (d. 1985)

• 1933 – Ernest J. Gaines, American author

• 1935 – Malcolm Frager, American pianist

• 1937 – Margaret O'Brien, American actress

• 1938 – Chuni Goswami, Indian footballer and cricketer

• 1939 – Tony Bullimore, English sailor and adventurer

• 1941 – Captain Beefheart, American musician and visual artist

• 1943 – Ashraf Aman, first Pakistani to reach the summit of K2

• 1943 – Mike Marshall, American baseball player

• 1945 – Vince Foster, American lawyer (d. 1993)

• 1945 – William R. Higgins, USMC colonel (d. 1990)

• 1945 – Princess Michael of Kent, British royal

• 1947 – Andrea Martin, Canadian actress

• 1948 – Ronnie Van Zant, American singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)

• 1949 – Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican baseball player (d. 2001)

• 1949 – Panos Mihalopoulos, Greek actor

• 1950 – Marius Trésor, French footballer

• 1953 – Kent Hovind, American evangelist

• 1953 – Ta-Tanisha, American actress

• 1953 – Randy White, American football player

• 1954 – Nikos Sarganis, Greek footballer

• 1954 – Jose Dalisay, Jr., Filipino writer

• 1955 – Nigel Benson, English author

• 1956 – Mayawati, Indian politician

• 1956 – Marc Trestman, CFL head coach

• 1956 – Miki Fujimura, Japanese singer

• 1957 – Patrick Dixon, English entrepreneur

• 1957 – Marty Lyons, American football player

• 1957 – Mario Van Peebles, American actor

• 1958 – Boris Tadić, President of Serbia

• 1959 – Pete Trewavas, English musician

• 1959 – Sister Carol, Jamaican reggae singer

• 1959 – Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian climber (d. 2008)

• 1960 – Kelly Asbury, American director and actor

• 1960 – Aaron Jay Kernis, American composer

• 1961 – Yves P. Pelletier, Canadian comedian and film director

• 1962 – Creflo Dollar, American televangelist

• 1963 – Conrad Lant, English musician

• 1964 – Osmo Tapio Räihälä, Finnish composer

• 1965 – Maurizio Fondriest, Italian cyclist

• 1965 – Bernard Hopkins, American boxer

• 1965 – Adam Jones, American musician (Tool)

• 1965 – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor

• 1968 – Chad Lowe, American actor

• 1968 – Iñaki Urdangarín, Spanish royalty

• 1969 – Delino DeShields, American baseball player

• 1970 – Shane McMahon, American professional wrestler

• 1971 – Max Beesley, English musician and actor

• 1971 – Regina King, American actress

• 1972 – Christos Kostis, Greek footballer

• 1972 – Kobe Tai, American porn star

• 1972 – Claudia Winkleman, English television presenter

• 1973 – Essam El-Hadary, Egyptian footballer

• 1974 – Ray King, American baseball player

• 1975 – Edith Bowman, Scottish television and radio presenter

• 1975 – Mary Pierce, French tennis player

• 1976 – Corey Chavous, American football player

• 1976 – Scott Murray, Scotland rugby player

• 1978 – Eddie Cahill, American actor

• 1978 – Franco Pellizotti, Italian cyclist

• 1978 – Ryan Sidebottom, English Cricketer

• 1979 – Drew Brees, American football player

• 1979 – Ken Chu, Taiwanese singer-actor and taichi champ

• 1979 – Young Dro, American rapper

• 1979 – Michalis Morfis, Cypriot footballer

• 1979 – Martin Petrov, Bulgarian footballer

• 1980 – Matt Holliday, American baseball player

• 1981 – Howie Day, American singer

• 1981 – El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer

• 1981 – Sean Lamont, Scottish rugby union footballer

• 1982 – Benjamin Agosto, American skater

• 1982 – Armando Galarraga, Venezuelan baseball player

• 1982 – Brett Lebda, American hockey player

• 1982 – Neil Nitin Mukesh, Indian actor

• 1982 – Prince Philip and Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia

• 1983 – Jermaine Pennant, English footballer

• 1983 – Hugo Viana, Portuguese footballer

• 1984 – Megan Jendrick, American swimmer

• 1984 – Victor Rasuk, American actor

• 1985 – Kenneth Emil Petersen, Danish footballer

• 1985 – Rene Adler, German footballer

• 1986 – Fred Davis, American football player

• 1986 – Jessy Schram, American actress

• 1987 – Kelly Kelly, American WWE Diva

• 1987 – Greg Inglis, Australian rugby league player

• 1987 – Aria C Jalali, American musician

• 1987 – David Knight, English footballer

• 1987 – Michael Seater, Canadian actor

• 1988 – Sonny Moore, American musician From First to Last

• 1989 – Alexei Cherepanov, Russian hockey player (d. 2008)

• 1989 – Keiffer Hubbell, American ice dancer

• 1990 – Fernando Forestieri, Italian footballer

• 1990 – Chris Warren Jr., American actor

Deaths

• 69 – Galba, Roman Emperor (b. 3 BC)

• 570 – Saint Ita, Irish nun (b. 475)

• 936 – King Rudolph of France

• 1345 – Martin Zaccaria, Italo-Greek ruler

• 1595 – Murat III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1546)

• 1623 – Fra Paolo Sarpi, Italian patriot, scholar, scientist and church reformer (b. 1552)

• 1672 – John Cosin, English clergyman (b. 1594)

• 1683 – Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (b. 1609)

• 1775 – Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Italian composer

• 1781 – Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, queen regent of Portugal (b. 1718)

• 1790 – John Landen, English mathematician (b. 1719)

• 1804 – Dru Drury, English entomologist (b. 1725)

• 1815 – Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Lord Nelson (b. 1761)

• 1864 – Isaac Nathan, UK-Australian composer (b. 1792)

• 1876 – Eliza Johnson, U.S. First Lady (b. 1810)

• 1885 – Leopold Damrosch, German-American orchestral conductor (b. 1832)

• 1893 – Fanny Kemble, British actress and author (b. 1809)

• 1896 – Mathew Brady, U.S. photographer (b. 1822)

• 1909 – Arnold Janssen missionary (b. 1837)

• 1916 – Modest Tchaikovsky, Russian writer (b. 1850)

• 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg, German politician (b. 1870)

• 1919 – Karl Liebknecht, German politician (b. 1871)

• 1926 – Enrico Toselli, Italian composer (b. 1883)

• 1936 – Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1866)

• 1944 – Robert J. Kirby, Warden of New York's Sing Sing Prison (b. 1890)

• 1945 – Wilhelm Wirtinger, Austrian mathematician (b. 1865)

• 1947 – Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia (b. 1924)

• 1950 – Gen Henry "Hap" Arnold, U.S. General of the Air Force (b. 1886)

• 1952 – Ned Hanlon, Premier of Queensland (b. 1887)

• 1955 – Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)

• 1964 – Jack Teagarden, American musician (b. 1905)

• 1967 – David Burliuk, Ukrainian artist (b. 1882)

• 1968 – Bill Masterton, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938)

• 1970 – William T. Piper, American aircraft designer (b. 1881)

• 1972 – Daisy Ashford, English child writer (The Young Visiters) (b. 1881)

• 1973 – Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1901)

• 1973 – Coleman Francis, American film director (b. 1919)

• 1983 – Meyer Lansky, Russian-born gangster (b. 1902)

• 1983 – Shepperd Strudwick, American actor (b. 1907)

• 1987 – Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1904)

• 1988 – Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904)

• 1990 – Dame Peggy van Praagh, British ballet dancer, choreographer, director (b. 1910)

• 1992 – Dee Murray, English bassist (b. 1946)

• 1993 – Sammy Cahn, American songwriter (b. 1913)

• 1994 – Georges Cziffra, Hungarian-French pianist (b. 1921)

• 1994 – Harry Nilsson, American musician (b. 1941)

• 1994 – Harilal Upadhyay, Gujarati-Indian Author, Poet, Astrologist (b. 1916)

• 1995 – Vera Maxwell, American fashion designer (b. 1901)

• 1996 – Minnesota Fats, American billiards player (b. 1913)

• 1996 – Les Baxter, American musician and composer (b. 1922)

• 1996 – Paramount Chief Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (b. 1938)

• 1998 – Junior Wells, American musician (b. 1934)

• 1999 – Betty Box, British film producer (b. 1915)

• 2000 – Georges-Henri Lévesque, Canadian Dominican priest and sociologist (b. 1903)

• 2000 – Fran Ryan, American actress (b. 1916)

• 2000 – Željko Ražnatović, aka Arkan, Serbian paramilitary leader (b. 1952)

• 2001 – Ted Mann, American screenwriter (b. 1916)

• 2001 – Leo Marks, English cryptographer, screenwriter and playwright (b. 1920)

• 2002 – Steve Gromek, American baseball player (b. 1920)

• 2003 – Doris Fisher, American singer and songwriter (b. 1915)

• 2005 – Elizabeth Janeway, American author (b. 1913)

• 2005 – Ruth Warrick, American actress (b. 1915)

• 2005 – Walter Ernsting, German author (b. 1920)

• 2005 – Victoria de los Angeles, Catalan soprano (b. 1923)

• 2005 – Deem Bristow, American video game voice actor (b. 1947)

• 2005 – Dan Lee, Canadian animator (b. 1969)

• 2006 – Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1926)

• 2007 – Bo Yibo, Chinese politician (b. 1908)

• 2007 – James Hillier, Canadian inventor of electron microscope (b. 1915)

• 2007 – Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Iraqi Revolutionary Court (b. 1945) (executed)

• 2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein (b. 1951) (executed)

• 2007 – David Vanole, American soccer player (b. 1963)

• 2007 – Pura Santillan-Castrence, Filipino writer and diplomat (b. 1905)

• 2008 – Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Game Designer (b. 1964)

• 2008 – Brad Renfro, American actor (b. 1982)

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire – Second day of the Carmentalia in honor of Carmenta.

• Malawi – John Chilembwe Day.

• North Korea – Korean Alphabet Day.

• United States – Traditionally, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

• Kerala in India – Makaravilakku or Makara Sankranthy at Sabarimala.

• Jallikattu in South India.

• St. Abeluzius in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

• Roman Catholic Church – Saint Ita, virgin, died January 15, 570.

• St. Macarius of Egypt

• St. Paul the Hermit

• January 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Feast Day of Saint Maurus.