27 January

1343     Pope Clement VI issues the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the power of the pope and the use of indulgences. Nearly 200 years later, Martin Luther would protest this.

1596     Francis Drake (died), English captain and explorer (born 1540)

1606     Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31.

1629     Hieronymus Praetorius (died), German composer and organist (born 1560)

1662     Richard Bentley (born), English scholar and theologian (died 1742)

1687     Johann Balthasar Neumann (born), German engineer and architect, designed Würzburg Residence and Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (died 1753)

1731     Bartolomeo Cristofori (died), Italian instrument maker, invented the Piano (born 1655)

1756     Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (born), Austrian composer (died 1791)

1775     Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (born), German philosopher (died 1854)

1776     American Revolutionary War: Henry Knox’s “noble train of artillery” arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1785     The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.

1795     Eli Whitney Blake (born), American inventor, invented the Mortise lock (died 1886)

1825     The U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Cherokee Indians on the “Trail of Tears”.

1832     Lewis Carroll (born), English author (died 1898)

1850     Samuel Gompers (born), English-American labor leader (died 1924)

1850     Edward J. Smith (born), English captain (died 1912)

1851     John James Audubon (died), French-American ornithologist and painter (born 1789)

1859     Wilhelm II (born), German Emperor (died 1941)

1869     Will Marion Cook (born), American composer and violinist (died 1944)

1880     Edward Middleton Barry (died), English architect, co-designed the Halifax Town Hall and the Royal Opera House (born 1830)

1885     Jerome Kern (born), American composer (died 1945)

1888     The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C..

1900     Hyman Rickover (born), American admiral (died 1986)

1901     Giuseppe Verdi (died), Italian composer (born 1813)

1908     William Randolph Hearst, Jr (born), American journalist and publisher (died 1993)

1910     Thomas Crapper (died), English plumber and businessman (born 1836)

1912     Francis Rogallo (born), American engineer, invented the Rogallo wing (died 2009)

1915     Jules Archer (born), American author and historian (died 2008)

1918     Skitch Henderson (born), American pianist, composer, and conductor (died 2005)

1919     Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (born), American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor (Alvin and the Chipmunks) (died 1972)

1921     Donna Reed (born), American actress (died 1986)

1922     Nellie Bly (died), American journalist (born 1864)

1930     Bobby Bland (born), American singer-songwriter (died 2013)

1934     George Follmer (born), American race car driver

1936     Troy Donahue (born), American actor (died 2001)

1937     John Ogdon (born), English pianist and composer (died 1989)

1939     First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

1940     James Cromwell (born), American actor

1943     World War II: The VIII Bomber Command dispatched ninety-one B-17s and B-24s to attack the U-Boat construction yards at Wilhemshafen, Germany. This was the first American bombing attack on Germany of the war.

1944     World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted.

1944     Nick Mason (born), English drummer, songwriter, and producer (Pink Floyd)

1948     Mikhail Baryshnikov (born), Russian dancer, choreographer, and actor

1951     Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat.

1954     Ed Schultz (born), American talk show host

1956     Erich Kleiber (died), Austrian conductor (born 1890)

1959     Keith Olbermann (born), American journalist and author

1964     Bridget Fonda (born), American actress

1967     Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

1967     The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign the Outer Space Treaty in Washington, D.C., banning deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and limiting use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes.

1967     Roger B. Chaffee (died), American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (born 1935)

1967     Gus Grissom (died), American pilot and astronaut (born 1926)

1972     Mahalia Jackson (died), American singer (born 1911)

1973     The Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict’s last recorded American combat casualty.

1980     Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper.

1983     The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world’s longest underwater tunnel (53.85 km, 33.46 mi) between the Japanese islands of Honshū andHokkaidō, breaks through.

1984     Pop singer Michael Jackson suffers second degree burns to his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in the Shrine Auditorium.

1989     Thomas Sopwith (died), English ice hockey player and pilot (born 1888)

1993     American-born sumo wrestler Akebono Tarō becomes the first foreigner to be promoted to the sport’s highest rank of yokozuna.

1993     André the Giant (died), French wrestler and actor (born 1946)

1994     Claude Akins (died), American actor (born 1918)

1996     In a military coup Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane.

1996     Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

2002     An explosion at a military storage facility in Lagos, Nigeria, kills at least 1,100 people and displaces over 20,000 others.

2003     The first selections for the National Recording Registry are announced by the Library of Congress.

2004     Jack Paar (died), American talk show host and author (born 1918)

2006     Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.

2006     Gene McFadden (died), American singer-songwriter and producer (McFadden & Whitehead) (born 1948)

2009     John Updike (died), American author (born 1932)

2010     J. D. Salinger (died), American author (born 1919)

2011     Arab Spring: The 2011 Yemeni revolution begins as over 16,000 protestors demonstrate in Sana’a.

2012     Jeannette Hamby (died), American politician(born 1933)

2013     241 people die in a nightclub fire in the city of Santa Maria, Brazil.

2013     Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner (died), American singer, guitarist, and producer (Ohio Players) (born 1943)

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EO Smith

Interests include biological anthropology, evolution, social behavior, and human behavior. Conducted field research in the Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya and on Angaur, Palau, Micronesia, as well as research with captive nonhuman primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Institute for Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya.
EO Smith
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