1585 The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza.
1589 Gisbertus Voetius (born), Dutch theologian (died 1676)
1606 Edmund Waller (born), English poet and politician (died 1687)
1631 Esaias Boursse (born), Dutch painter (died 1672)
1703 Robert Hooke (died), English architect and philosopher (born 1635)
1706 Johann Pachelbel (died), German organist and composer (born 1653)
1756 William Godwin (born), English journalist and author (died 1836)
1765 William Stukeley (died), English archaeologist (born 1687)
1776 American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau.
1779 American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia.
1816 William James Blacklock (born), English painter (died 1858)
1819 Gustave de Molinari (born), Belgian economist (died 1912)
1820 The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise.
1831 George Pullman (born), American engineer and businessman, founded the Pullman Company (died 1897)
1836 Texans celebrate the first Texas Independence Day with the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence, officially broke Texas from Mexico, and creating the Republic of Texas.
1839 Jamsetji Tata (born), Indian businessman, founded Tata Group (died 1904)
1841 John Murray (born), Scottish oceanographer (died 1914)
1845 Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.
1845 Georg Cantor (born), German mathematician (died 1918)
1847 Alexander Graham Bell (born), Scottish-American engineer, invented the Telephone (died 1922)
1857 Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
1860 John Montgomery Ward (born), American baseball player (died 1925)
1861 Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs.
1865 Opening of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group.
1869 Henry Wood (born), English conductor (died 1944)
1873 Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” books through the mail.
1875 Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen receives its première at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
1875 The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Canada as recorded in The Montreal Gazette.
1882 Charles Ponzi (born), Italian businessman (died 1949)
1883 Cyril Burt (born), English psychologist (died 1971)
1885 The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York.
1893 Beatrice Wood (born), American illustrator and potter (died 1998)
1894 Ethel Grandin (born), American actress (died 1988)
1895 Ragnar Frisch (born), Norwegian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973)
1901 George Gilman (died), American businessman, founded The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (born 1826)
1904 Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison’sphonograph cylinder.
1905 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly, the Duma.
1910 Rockefeller Foundation: J.D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time tophilanthropy.
1911 Jean Harlow (born), American actress (died 1937)
1913 Thousands of women march in a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C.
1915 NACA, the predecessor of NASA, is founded.
1918 Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia’s involvement in World War I, and leading to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
1920 Julius Boros (born), American golfer (died 1994)
1923 TIME magazine is published for the first time.
1927 J. G. Parry-Thomas (died), Welsh engineer, motor racing driver who held the land speed record (born 1884)
1929 Katharine Wright (died), American educator (born 1874)
1931 The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.
1933 Lee Radziwill (born), American actress and author
1938 Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
1938 The Mallard the fastest steam driven train on the planet, was built by LNER Doncaster Works England
1939In Mumbai, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest at the autocratic rule in India.
1940 Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Norrskensflamman in Luleå, Sweden.
1940 Perry Ellis (born), American fashion designer (died 1986)
1942 World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid the town of Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people.
1943 World War II: In London, England, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.
1945 World War II: American and Filipino troops recapture Manila in the Philippines.
1945 World War II: The RAF accidentally bombs the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people.
1949 Jüri Allik (born), Estonian psychologist
1951 Jackie Brenston, with Ike Turner and his band, records “Rocket 88”, often cited as “the first rock and roll record”, at Sam Phillips’ recording studios in Memphis, Tennessee.
1958 Nuri as-Said becomes the prime minister of Iraq for the 8th time.
1959 Lou Costello (died), American actor and comedian (born 1906)
1961 Paul Wittgenstein (died), Austrian pianist (born 1887)
1962 Herschel Walker (born), American football player
1962 Jackie Joyner-Kersee (born), American long jumper
1966 Joseph Fields (died), American playwright, director, and producer (born 1895)
1966 William Frawley (died), American actor (born 1887)
1968 Brian Cox (born), English physicist
1969 Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.
1980 The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.
1982 Jessica Biel (born), American actress and singer
1985 A magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless.
1985 Arthur Scargill declares that the National Union of Mineworkers national executive voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Great Britain without any peace deal over pit closures.
1987 Danny Kaye (died), American actor, singer, and dancer (born 1913)
1988 Sewall Wright (died), American biologist (born 1889)
1991 An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
1991 Arthur Murray (died), American dancer (born 1895)
1991 In concurrent referenda, 74% of the population of Latvia votes for independence from the Soviet Union, and 83% in Estonia.
1991 United Airlines Flight 585 crashes on approach into Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing 25.
1991 William Penney (died), Baron Penney, Gibraltarian-English mathematician (born 1909)
1993 Albert Sabin (died), Polish-American medical researcher (born 1906)
1993 Carlos Montoya (died), Spanish guitarist (born 1903)
1995 Howard W. Hunter (died), American religious leader, 14th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1907)
1997 The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, opens after two-and-a-half years of construction.
1998 Fred W. Friendl (died), American broadcaster (born 1915)
1999 Gerhard Herzberg (died), German-Canadian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904)
2002 Citizens of Switzerland narrowly vote in favor of their country becoming a member of the United Nations.
2003 Peter Smithson (died), English architect (born 1923)
2004 Belgian brewer Interbrew and Brazilian rival AmBev agree to merge in a $11.2 billion deal that forms InBev, the world’s largest brewer.
2005 Max Fisher (died), American businessman and philanthropist (born 1928)
2005 Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling.
2009 The Historical Archive of the City of Cologne collapses.
2013 Bobby Rogers (died), American singer-songwriter (The Miracles) (born 1940)
2013 Gerald D. Klee (died), American psychiatrist and educator (born 1927)
2013 Manfred Kremser (died), Austrian ethnologist (born 1950)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017