1417 Pope Paul II (born) (died 1471)
1455 Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.
1603 Andrea Cesalpino (died), Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (born 1519)
1633 Samuel Pepys (born), English administrator and politician (died 1703)
1664 Georg Dietrich Leyding (born), German composer and organist (died 1710)
1685 George Frideric Handel (born), German-English composer (died 1759)
1739 Richard Palmer is identified at York Castle, by his former schoolteacher, as the outlaw Dick Turpin.
1778 American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
1781 George Taylor (died), Irish-American politician, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (born 1716)
1820 Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
1821 John Keats (died), English poet (born 1795)
1836 The Battle of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
1842 Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann (born), German philosopher (died 1906)
1847 Mexican–American War: Battle of Buena Vista In Mexico, American troops under General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1848 John Quincy Adams (died), American politician, 6th President of the United States (born 1767)
1850 César Ritz (born), Swiss businessman, founded The Ritz London Hotel and Hôtel Ritz Paris (died 1918)
1855 Carl Friedrich Gauss (died), German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (born 1777)
1861 President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.
1868 W. E. B. Du Bois (born), American sociologist, historian, and activist (died 1963)
1870 In the United States, post-Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
1883 Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
1886 Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of man-made aluminum, after several years of intensive work. He was assisted in this project by his older sister Julia Brainerd Hall.
1896 The Tootsie Roll is invented.
1898 Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing “J’accuse”, a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
1900 In South Africa, Boers and British troops fight in the Battle of Hart’s Hill.
1903 Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity”.
1905 Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world’s first service club.
1909 The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
1917 First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.
1918 Richard Girnt Butler (born), American engineer, founded the Aryan Nations (died 2004)
1924 Claude Sautet (born), French director and author (died 2000)
1927 German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.
1927 President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.
1934 Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.
1940 Peter Fonda (born), American actor
1941 Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
1942 World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the California coastline near Santa Barbara.
1943 Fred Biletnikoff (born), American football player and coach
1944 Johnny Winter (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1944 The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.
1945 World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a commonly forgotten U.S. Navy Corpsman, reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.
1945 World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free the captives of the Los Baños internment camp.
1945 World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces.
1947 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
1952 Brad Whitford (born), American guitarist (Aerosmith and The Joe Perry Project)
1954 The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
1954 Viktor Yushchenko (born), Ukrainian politician, 3rd President of Ukraine
1955 Tom Bodett (born), American voice actor, radio host, and author
1958 Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world F1 champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
1965 Michael Dell (born), American businessman, founded Dell
1966 Mark Abrahamian (born), American guitarist (Starship) (died 2012)
1968 Justin Bell (born), English race car driver
1974 The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
1979 S. E. Cup (born), American author and talk show host
1980 Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran’s parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
1981 In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d’état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
1983 Aziz Ansari (born), American comedian and actor
1983 The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community ofTimes Beach, Missouri.
1987 Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
1991 Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.
1994 Dakota Fanning (born), American actress
1995 Melvin Franklin (died), American singer (The Temptations) (born 1942)
1997 A small fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.
1999 Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
2003 Howie Epstein (died), American bass player, songwriter, and producer (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) (born 1955)
2003 Robert K. Merton (died), American sociologist (born 1910)
2005 The controversial French law on colonialism is passed, requiring teachers to teach the “positive values of colonialism”. After public outcry, it is repealed at the beginning of 2006.
2008 A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit crashes on Guam. It is the first operational loss of a B-2.
2010 Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in Northern Italy, causing an environmental disaster.
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017