January 15th archived daily history

Today January 15th in history click read more below to view detail events, deaths, births, Holidays and observances, and video clips in hisotry. Please comments, last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009

Events
588 BC – Nebuchadrezzar 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 was 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 (b. 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)
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 – Stanislaw Wyspianski, 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)
1902 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (d. 1969)
1903 – Paul A. Dever, 58th 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, Swiss 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
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
1957 – Patrick Dixon, English entrepreneur
1957 – Marty Lyons, American football player
1957 – Mario Van Peebles, American actor
1958 – Boris Tadic, 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
1962 – 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 – 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 – Dorian Missick, American actor
1978 – Eddie Cahill, American actor
1978 – Franco Pellizotti, Italian cyclist
1979 – Drew Brees, American football player
1979 – Young Dro, American rapper
1979 – Ken Chu, Taiwanese singer-actor and taichi champ
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
1986 – Fred Davis, American football player
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)
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 – Marianne Victoria of Borbón, 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)
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 Ražnatovic, aka Arkan, Serbian paramilitary leader (b. 1952)
2001 – Ted Mann, American screenwriter (b. 1916)
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).

YouTube responded with an error: The request cannot be completed because you have exceeded your <a href="/youtube/v3/getting-started#quota">quota</a>.