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January 1

January 1 is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar; 364 days remain until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the year.

Pre-1600

 * 153 BC – For the first time, Roman consuls begin their year in office on January 1.
 * 45 BC – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year.
 * 42 BC – The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar.
 * 193 – The Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman emperor.
 * 404 – Saint Telemachus tries to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and is stoned to death by the crowd. This act impresses the Christian Emperor Honorius, who issues a historic ban on gladiatorial fights.
 * 417 – Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militum) (probable).
 * 947 – Emperor Tai Zong of the Khitan-led Liao Dynasty captures Daliang, ending the dynasty and empire of the Later Jin.
 * 1001 – Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II (probable).
 * 1068 – Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa and is crowned Byzantine Emperor.
 * 1259 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.
 * 1438 – Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.
 * 1502 – The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is first explored by the Portuguese.
 * 1515 – Twenty-year-old Francis, Duke of Brittany, succeeds to the French throne following the death of his father-in-law, Louis XII.
 * 1527 – Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria as King of Croatia in the 1527 election in Cetin.
 * 1600 – Scotland recognises January 1 as the start of the year, instead of March 25.

1601–1900

 * 1604 – The Masque of Indian and China Knights is performed by courtiers of James VI and I at Hampton Court.
 * 1651 – Charles II is crowned King of Scotland at Scone Palace.
 * 1700 – Russia begins using the Anno Domini era instead of the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.
 * 1707 – John V is proclaimed King of Portugal and the Algarves in Lisbon.
 * 1739 – Bouvet Island, the world's remotest island, is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
 * 1772 – The first traveler's cheques, which could be used in 90 European cities, are issued by the London Credit Exchange Company.
 * 1773 – The hymn that became known as "Amazing Grace", then titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17, Faith's Review and Expectation", is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
 * 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Norfolk, Virginia is burned by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.
 * 1776 – General George Washington hoists the first United States flag, the Grand Union Flag, at Prospect Hill.
 * 1781 – American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781.
 * 1788 – The first edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
 * 1801 – The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is proclaimed.
 * 1801  – Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
 * 1804 – French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black-majority republic and second independent country in North America after the United States.
 * 1806 – The French Republican Calendar is abolished.
 * 1808 – The United States bans the importation of slaves.
 * 1810 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales.
 * 1822 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
 * 1834 – Most of Germany forms the Zollverein customs union, the first such union between sovereign states.
 * 1845 – The Philippines began in sync with Asian dates by redrawing the International Date Line through skipping Tuesday, December 31, 1844. The change was ordered by Governor–General Narciso Claveria to reform the country's calendar and align with the rest of Asia. Its territory was one day behind for 323 years since the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in the Philippines on March 16, 1521.
 * 1847 – The world's first "Mercy" Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh, United States, by a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland; the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.
 * 1860 – The first Polish stamp is issued, replacing the Russian stamps previously in use.
 * 1861 – Liberal forces supporting Benito Juárez enter Mexico City.
 * 1863 – American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.
 * 1877 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.
 * 1885 – Twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming's proposal for standard time (and also, time zones).
 * 1890 – Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government.
 * 1892 – Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the United States.
 * 1898 – New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
 * 1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
 * 1900 – Nigeria becomes British protectorate with Frederick Lugard as high commissioner.

1901–present

 * 1901 – The Southern Nigeria Protectorate is established within the British Empire.
 * 1901  – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister.
 * 1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California.
 * 1910 – Captain David Beatty is promoted to Rear admiral, and becomes the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal family members) since Horatio Nelson.
 * 1912 – The Republic of China is established.
 * 1914 – The SPT Airboat Line becomes the world's first scheduled airline to use a winged aircraft.
 * 1923 – Britain's Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS.
 * 1927 – A new Mexican oil legislation goes into effect, leading to the formal outbreak of the Cristero War.
 * 1928 – Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin's secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc.
 * 1929 – The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver.
 * 1932 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.
 * 1934 – Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay becomes a United States federal prison.
 * 1934 – A "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" comes into effect in Nazi Germany.
 * 1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
 * 1945 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed, attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow.
 * 1947 – Cold War: The American and British occupation zones in Allied-occupied Germany, after World War II, merge to form the Bizone, which later (with the French zone) became part of West Germany.
 * 1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.
 * 1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways.
 * 1949 – United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.
 * 1956 – Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.
 * 1957 – George Town, Penang, is made a city by a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
 * 1957 – Lèse majesté in Thailand is strengthened to include "insult" and changed to a crime against national security, after the Thai criminal code of 1956 went into effect.
 * 1958 – The European Economic Community is established.
 * 1959 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces.
 * 1960 – Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom.
 * 1962 – Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa.
 * 1964 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.
 * 1965 – The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul, Afghanistan.
 * 1970 – The defined beginning of Unix time, at 00:00:00.
 * 1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
 * 1973 – Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom are admitted into the European Economic Community.
 * 1976 – A bomb explodes on board Middle East Airlines Flight 438 over Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 81 people on board.
 * 1978 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Bombay, India, due to instrument failure, spatial disorientation, and pilot error, killing all 213 people on board.
 * 1979 – the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and Taiwan Relations Act enter into force. Through the Communiqué, the United States establishes normal diplomatic relations with China. Through the Act, the United States guarantees military support for Taiwan.
 * 1981 – Greece is admitted into the European Community.
 * 1982 – Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations.
 * 1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using TCP/IP, the Internet Protocol, effectively creating the Internet.
 * 1984 – The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T.
 * 1984  – Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
 * 1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone.
 * 1987 – The Isleta Pueblo tribe elect Verna Williamson to be their first female governor.
 * 1988 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
 * 1989 – The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion.
 * 1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City's first black mayor.
 * 1993 – Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.
 * 1994 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
 * 1994  – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect.
 * 1995 – The World Trade Organization comes into being.
 * 1995 – The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.
 * 1995  – Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU.
 * 1998 – Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
 * 1998 – Argentinian physicist Juan Maldacena published a landmark paper initiating the study of AdS/CFT correspondence, which links string theory and quantum gravity.
 * 1999 – The Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden).
 * 2001 – Greece adopts the Euro, becoming the 12th Eurozone country.
 * 2004 – In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007.
 * 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania join the EU.
 * 2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes near the Makassar Strait, Indonesia, killing all 102 people on board.
 * 2009 – Sixty-six people die in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
 * 2010 – A suicide car bomber detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more.
 * 2011 – A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing 23 people.
 * 2011 – Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone country.
 * 2013 – At least 60 people are killed and 200 injured in a stampede after celebrations at Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
 * 2015 – The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
 * 2017 – An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year's celebrations, kills 39 people and injures 79 others.
 * 2023 – Croatia officially adopts the Euro, becoming the 20th Eurozone country, and becomes the 27th member of the Schengen Area.
 * 2024 – A 7.5 earthquake strikes the western coast of Japan, killing more than 230 people and injuring over 1,000 others.
 * 2024 – Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates join BRICS.
 * 2024 – Disney's copyright protection on Steamboat Willie and the original Mickey Mouse expires as they enter the public domain.
 * 2024 – Artsakh ceases to exist

Pre-1600

 * 766 – Ali al-Ridha, 8th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam (d. 818)
 * 1431 – Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)
 * 1449 – Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian politician (d. 1492)
 * 1467 – Sigismund I the Old, Polish king (d. 1548)
 * 1484 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss pastor and theologian (d. 1531)
 * 1511 – Henry, Duke of Cornwall, first-born child of Henry VIII of England (d. 1511)
 * 1557 – Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1606)
 * 1600 – Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1649)

1601–1900

 * 1628 – Christoph Bernhard, German composer and theorist (d. 1692)
 * 1655 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist and philosopher (d. 1728)
 * 1684 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch scholar and author (d. 1748)
 * 1704 – Soame Jenyns, English author, poet, and politician (d. 1787)
 * 1711 – Baron Franz von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (d. 1749)
 * 1714 – Giovanni Battista Mancini, Italian soprano and author (d. 1800)
 * 1714 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian pastor and poet (d. 1780)
 * 1735 – Paul Revere, American silversmith and engraver (d. 1818)
 * 1745 – Anthony Wayne, American general and politician (d. 1796)
 * 1752 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, sewed flags for the Pennsylvania Navy during the Revolutionary War (d. 1836)
 * 1768 – Maria Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish author (d. 1849)
 * 1769 – Marie-Louise Lachapelle, French obstetrician (d. 1821)
 * 1774 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist and academic (d. 1860)
 * 1779 – William Clowes, English publisher (d. 1847)
 * 1803 – Edward Dickinson, American politician and father of poet Emily Dickinson (d. 1874)
 * 1806 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (d. 1853)
 * 1809 – Achille Guenée, French lawyer and entomologist (d. 1880)
 * 1813 – George Bliss, American politician (d. 1868)
 * 1814 – Hong Xiuquan, Chinese rebellion leader and king (d. 1864)
 * 1818 – William Gamble, Irish-born American general (d. 1866)
 * 1819 – Arthur Hugh Clough, English-Italian poet and academic (d. 1861)
 * 1819 – George Foster Shepley, American general (d. 1878)
 * 1823 – Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and activist (d. 1849)
 * 1833 – Robert Lawson, Scottish-New Zealand architect, designed the Otago Boys' High School and Knox Church (d. 1902)
 * 1834 – Ludovic Halévy, French author and playwright (d. 1908)
 * 1839 – Ouida, English-Italian author and activist (d. 1908)
 * 1848 – John W. Goff, Irish-American lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
 * 1852 – Eugène-Anatole Demarçay, French chemist and academic (d. 1904)
 * 1854 – James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist and academic (d. 1941)
 * 1854 – Thomas Waddell, Irish-Australian politician, 15th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1940)
 * 1857 – Tim Keefe, American baseball player (d. 1933)
 * 1858 – Heinrich Rauchinger, Kraków-born painter (d. 1942)
 * 1859 – Michael Joseph Owens, American inventor (d. 1923)
 * 1859  – Thibaw Min, Burmese king (d. 1916)
 * 1860 – Michele Lega, Italian cardinal (d. 1935)
 * 1863 – Pierre de Coubertin, French historian and educator, founded the International Olympic Committee (d. 1937)
 * 1864 – Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer and curator (d. 1946)
 * 1864 – Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (d. 1957)
 * 1867 – Mary Acworth Evershed, English astronomer and scholar (d. 1949)
 * 1874 – Frank Knox, American publisher and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1944)
 * 1874 – Gustave Whitehead, German-American pilot and engineer (d. 1927)
 * 1877 – Alexander von Staël-Holstein, German sinologist and orientalist (d. 1937)
 * 1878 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician, statistician, and engineer (d. 1929)
 * 1879 – E. M. Forster, English author and playwright (d. 1970)
 * 1879 – William Fox, Hungarian-American screenwriter and producer, founded the Fox Film Corporation and Fox Theatres (d. 1952)
 * 1883 – William J. Donovan, American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1959)
 * 1883 – Noe Khomeriki, Georgian Social Democrat politician (d. 1924)
 * 1884 – Chikuhei Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant, engineer, and politician, founded Nakajima Aircraft Company (d. 1949)
 * 1887 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d. 1945)
 * 1888 – Chesley Bonestell, American painter, designer, and illustrator
 * 1888 – John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand rifle (d. 1974)
 * 1888 – Georgios Stanotas, Greek general (d. 1965)
 * 1889 – Charles Bickford, American actor (d. 1967)
 * 1889 – Seabury Quinn, American author (d. 1969)
 * 1890 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer and academic (d. 1966)
 * 1891 – Sampurnanand, Indian educator and politician, 3rd Governor of Rajasthan (d. 1969)
 * 1892 – Mahadev Desai, Indian author and activist (d. 1942)
 * 1892 – Artur Rodziński, Polish-American conductor (d. 1958)
 * 1892 – Manuel Roxas, Filipino lawyer and politician, 5th President of the Philippines (d. 1948)
 * 1893 – Mordechai Frizis, Greek colonel (d. 1940)
 * 1893 – Heinie Miller, American football player and coach (d. 1964)
 * 1894 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist and mathematician (d. 1974)
 * 1894 – Edward Joseph Hunkeler, American clergyman (d. 1970)
 * 1895 – J. Edgar Hoover, American law enforcement official; 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 1972)
 * 1899 – Randolfo Pacciardi, centre-left Italian politician (d. 1991)
 * 1900 – Chiune Sugihara, Japanese soldier and diplomat (d. 1986)
 * 1900 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1990)

1901–present

 * 1902 – Buster Nupen, Norwegian-South African cricketer and lawyer (d. 1977)
 * 1902 – Hans von Dohnányi, German jurist and political dissident (d. 1945)
 * 1904 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th President of Pakistan (d. 1982)
 * 1905 – Stanisław Mazur, Ukrainian-Polish mathematician and theorist (d. 1981)
 * 1905 – Lise Lindbæk, Norwegian journalist and war correspondent (d. 1961)
 * 1906 – Manuel Silos, Filipino filmmaker and actor (d. 1988)
 * 1907 – Kinue Hitomi, Japanese sprinter and long jumper (d. 1931)
 * 1909 – Dana Andrews, American actor (d. 1992)
 * 1909 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (d. 1959)
 * 1911 – Basil Dearden, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1971)
 * 1911 – Hank Greenberg, American baseball player (d. 1986)
 * 1911 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist and educator (d. 2012)
 * 1911 – Audrey Wurdemann, American poet and author (d. 1960)
 * 1912 – Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1995)
 * 1912 – Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988)
 * 1912 – Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet and academic (d. 1991)
 * 1914 – Noor Inayat Khan, British SOE agent (d. 1944)
 * 1917 – Shannon Bolin, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
 * 1918 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2000)
 * 1918 – Willy den Ouden, Dutch swimmer (d. 1997)
 * 1919 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer and actor (d. 1990)
 * 1919 – Carole Landis, American actress (d. 1948)
 * 1919 – Sheila Mercier, British actress, Emmerdale Farm (d. 2019)
 * 1919 – Bones McKinney, American basketball player (d. 1997)
 * 1919 – J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (d. 2010)
 * 1920 – Osvaldo Cavandoli, Italian cartoonist (d. 2007)
 * 1921 – Ismail al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American philosopher and academic (d. 1986)
 * 1921 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor and academic (d. 1998)
 * 1921 – Regina Bianchi, Italian actress (d. 2013)
 * 1921 – Johnny Logan, American basketball player (d. 1977)
 * 1922 – Ernest Hollings, American soldier and politician, 106th Governor of South Carolina (d. 2019)
 * 1923 – Barbara Baxley, American actress (d. 1990)
 * 1923 – Valentina Cortese, Italian actress (d. 2019)
 * 1923 – Milt Jackson, American jazz vibraphonist and composer (d. 1999)
 * 1924 – Francisco Macías Nguema, Equatorial Guinean politician, 1st President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (d. 1979)
 * 1925 – Matthew Beard, American child actor (d. 1981)
 * 1925 – Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and diplomat, 1st Tanzanian Minister of Finance (d. 2005)
 * 1926 – Kazys Petkevičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (d. 2008)
 * 1927 – Maurice Béjart, French-Swiss dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 2007)
 * 1927 – James Reeb, American clergyman and political activist (d. 1965)
 * 1927 – Vernon L. Smith, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1927 – Doak Walker, American football player and businessman (d. 1998)
 * 1928 – Ernest Tidyman, American author and screenwriter (d. 1984)
 * 1928 – Gerhard Weinberg, German-American historian, author, and academic
 * 1929 – Larry L. King, American journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2012)
 * 1929 – Haruo Nakajima, Japanese actor and stuntman, portrayed Godzilla from 1954 to 1972 (d. 2017)
 * 1930 – Ty Hardin, American actor (d. 2017)
 * 1930 – Frederick Wiseman, American director and producer
 * 1932 – Giuseppe Patanè, Italian conductor (d. 1989)
 * 1933 – James Hormel, American philanthropist and diplomat (d. 2021)
 * 1933 – Joe Orton, English dramatist (d. 1967)
 * 1934 – Alan Berg, American lawyer and radio host (d. 1984)
 * 1934 – Lakhdar Brahimi, Algerian politician, Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs
 * 1935 – Om Prakash Chautala, Indian politician
 * 1936 – James Sinegal, American businessman, co-founded Costco
 * 1938 – Frank Langella, American actor
 * 1939 – Michèle Mercier, French actress
 * 1939 – Phil Read, English motorcycle racer and businessman (d. 2022)
 * 1939 – Senfronia Thompson, American politician
 * 1939 – Younoussi Touré, Malian politician, Prime Minister of Mali (d. 2022)
 * 1942 – Dennis Archer, American lawyer and politician, 67th Mayor of Detroit
 * 1942 – Anthony Hamilton-Smith, 3rd Baron Colwyn, English dentist and politician
 * 1942 – Country Joe McDonald, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1942 – Alassane Ouattara, Ivorian economist and politician, President of the Ivory Coast
 * 1942 – Gennadi Sarafanov, Russian pilot and cosmonaut (d. 2005)
 * 1943 – Tony Knowles, American soldier and politician, 7th Governor of Alaska
 * 1943 – Don Novello, American comedian, screenwriter and producer
 * 1943 – Vladimir Šeks, Croatian lawyer and politician, 16th Speaker of the Croatian Parliament
 * 1944 – Barry Beath, Australian rugby league player
 * 1944 – Jimmy Hart, American professional wrestling manager
 * 1944 – Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Pakistani field hockey player and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 2020)
 * 1944 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (d. 2013)
 * 1944 – Mati Unt, Estonian author, playwright, and director (d. 2005)
 * 1945 – Victor Ashe, American politician and former United States Ambassador to Poland
 * 1945 – Jacky Ickx, Belgian racing driver
 * 1945 – Jimmy Jones, American basketball player
 * 1946 – Rivellino, Brazilian footballer and manager
 * 1946 – Claude Steele, American social psychologist and academic
 * 1947 – Jon Corzine, American sergeant and politician, 54th Governor of New Jersey
 * 1948 – Devlet Bahçeli, Turkish economist, academic, and politician, 57th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
 * 1948 – Pavel Grachev, Russian general and politician, 1st Russian Minister of Defence (d. 2012)
 * 1948 – Dick Quax, New Zealand runner and politician (d. 2018)
 * 1949 – Borys Tarasyuk, Ukrainian politician and diplomat
 * 1950 – Wayne Bennett, Australian rugby league player and coach
 * 1950 – Tony Currie, English footballer
 * 1952 – Shaji N. Karun, Indian director and cinematographer
 * 1953 – Gary Johnson, American businessman and politician, 29th Governor of New Mexico
 * 1954 – Richard Edson, American actor
 * 1954 – Bob Menendez, American lawyer and politician
 * 1954 – Dennis O'Driscoll, Irish poet and critic (d. 2012)
 * 1954 – Yannis Papathanasiou, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Finance
 * 1955 – Mary Beard, English classicist, academic and presenter
 * 1955 – LaMarr Hoyt, American baseball player (d. 2021)
 * 1956 – Sergei Avdeyev, Russian engineer and astronaut
 * 1956 – Royce Ayliffe, Australian rugby league player
 * 1956 – Christine Lagarde, French lawyer and politician; Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
 * 1956 – Mike Mitchell, American basketball player (d. 2011)
 * 1956 – Martin Plaza, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1957 – Evangelos Venizelos, Greek lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece
 * 1958 – Grandmaster Flash, Barbadian rapper and DJ
 * 1958 – Dave Silk, American ice hockey player
 * 1959 – Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghan colonel, pilot, and astronaut
 * 1959 – Azali Assoumani, Comorian colonel and politician, President of the Comoros
 * 1959 – Panagiotis Giannakis, Greek basketball player and coach
 * 1959 – Adrian Hall, English director and former actor
 * 1961 – Sam Backo, Australian rugby league player
 * 1962 – Anton Muscatelli, Italian-Scottish economist and academic
 * 1963 – Jean-Marc Gounon, French racing driver
 * 1964 – Dedee Pfeiffer, American actress
 * 1966 – Anna Burke, Australian businesswoman and politician, 28th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
 * 1966 – Ivica Dačić, Serbian journalist and politician, 95th Prime Minister of Serbia
 * 1966 – Tihomir Orešković, Croatian–Canadian businessman, 11th Prime Minister of Croatia
 * 1967 – Tawera Nikau, New Zealand rugby league player
 * 1968 – Davor Šuker, Croatian footballer
 * 1969 – Morris Chestnut, American actor
 * 1969 – Verne Troyer, American actor (d. 2018)
 * 1970 – Sergei Kiriakov, Russian footballer and coach
 * 1971 – Sammie Henson, American wrestler and coach
 * 1971 – Bobby Holík, Czech-American ice hockey player and coach
 * 1971 – Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, Indian politician
 * 1972 – Lilian Thuram, French footballer
 * 1974 – Christian Paradis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Industry
 * 1975 – Chris Anstey, Australian basketball player and coach
 * 1975 – Joe Cannon, American soccer player and sportscaster
 * 1975 – Becky Kellar-Duke, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1975 – Fernando Tatís, Dominican baseball player
 * 1976 – Tank, American singer, songwriter, producer, and actor
 * 1979 – Vidya Balan, Indian actress
 * 1980 – Elin Nordegren, Swedish-American model
 * 1981 – Jonas Armstrong, Irish-English actor
 * 1981 – Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian racing driver
 * 1981 – Mladen Petrić, Croatian footballer
 * 1981 – Eden Riegel, American actress
 * 1982 – Egidio Arévalo, Uruguayan footballer
 * 1982 – David Nalbandian, Argentine tennis player
 * 1983 – Calum Davenport, English footballer
 * 1983 – Park Sung-hyun, South Korean archer
 * 1984 – Paolo Guerrero, Peruvian footballer
 * 1984 – Fernando San Emeterio, Spanish basketball player
 * 1984 – Michael Witt, Australian rugby league player
 * 1985 – Jeff Carter, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1985 – Steven Davis, Northern Irish footballer
 * 1985 – Kenoh, Japanese professional wrestler
 * 1985 – Tiago Splitter, Brazilian basketball player
 * 1986 – Pablo Cuevas, Uruguayan tennis player
 * 1986 – Glen Davis, American basketball player
 * 1986 – Colin Morgan, Northern Irish actor
 * 1987 – Gilbert Brulé, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1987 – Meryl Davis, American ice dancer
 * 1987 – Patric Hörnqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
 * 1988 – Marcel Gecov, Czech footballer
 * 1988 – Dallas Keuchel, American baseball player
 * 1989 – Jason Pierre-Paul, American football player
 * 1990 – Julia Glushko, Israeli tennis player
 * 1990 – Ali Maâloul, Tunisian football player
 * 1991 – Glen Rice Jr., American basketball player
 * 1991 – Darius Slay, American football player
 * 1991 – Xavier Su'a-Filo, American football player
 * 1992 – Nathaniel Peteru, New Zealand rugby league player
 * 1992 – Shane Duffy, Irish footballer
 * 1993 – Larry Nance Jr., American basketball player
 * 1993 – Abdoulaye Doucouré, Malian footballer
 * 1994 – Brendan Elliot, Australian rugby league player
 * 1994 – LaMonte Wade Jr., American baseball player
 * 1995 – Poppy, American singer and YouTube personality
 * 1996 – Andreas Pereira, Brazilian footballer
 * 1996 – Mahmoud Dahoud, German footballer
 * 1996 – Mathias Jensen, Danish footballer
 * 1997 – Keegan Hipgrave, Australian rugby league player
 * 1997 – Gonzalo Montiel, Argentinian footballer
 * 1998 – Cristina Bucșa, Moldovan-Spanish tennis player
 * 1998 – Enock Mwepu, Zambian footballer
 * 1998 – Frank Onyeka, Nigerian footballer
 * 1999 – Azmy Qowimuramadhoni, Indonesian-Azerbaijani badminton player
 * 2000 – Ice Spice, American rapper
 * 2001 – Angourie Rice, Australian actress
 * 2002 – Simon Adingra, Ivorian footballer
 * 2003 – Daria Trubnikova, Russian rhythmic gymnast

Pre-1600

 * 138 – Lucius Aelius, adopted son and intended successor of Hadrian (b. 101)
 * 404 – Telemachus, Christian monk and martyr
 * 898 – Odo I, Frankish king (b. 860)
 * 951 – Ramiro II, king of León and Galicia
 * 1031 – William of Volpiano, Italian abbot (b. 962)
 * 1189 – Henry of Marcy, Cistercian abbot (b. c. 1136)
 * 1204 – Haakon III, king of Norway (b. 1182)
 * 1387 – Charles II, king of Navarre (b. 1332)
 * 1496 – Charles d'Orléans, count of Angoulême (b. 1459)
 * 1515 – Louis XII, king of France (b. 1462)
 * 1559 – Christian III, king of Denmark (b. 1503)
 * 1560 – Joachim du Bellay, French poet and critic (b. 1522)

1601–1900

 * 1617 – Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1558)
 * 1697 – Filippo Baldinucci, Florentine historian and author (b. 1625)
 * 1716 – William Wycherley, English playwright and poet (b. 1641)
 * 1748 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and academic (b. 1667)
 * 1766 – James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite pretender (b. 1688)
 * 1780 – Johann Ludwig Krebs, German organist and composer (b. 1713)
 * 1782 – Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
 * 1789 – Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English lawyer and politician, British Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1716)
 * 1793 – Francesco Guardi, Italian painter and educator (b. 1712)
 * 1817 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist and academic (b. 1743)
 * 1846 – John Torrington, English sailor and explorer (b. 1825)
 * 1853 – Gregory Blaxland, Australian farmer and explorer (b. 1778)
 * 1862 – Mikhail Ostrogradsky, Ukrainian mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)
 * 1881 – Louis Auguste Blanqui, French activist (b. 1805)
 * 1892 – Roswell B. Mason, American lawyer and politician, 25th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
 * 1894 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist and academic (b. 1857)
 * 1896 – Alfred Ely Beach, American publisher and lawyer, created the Beach Pneumatic Transit (b. 1826)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Ignatius L. Donnelly, American politician, writer, and fringe scientist (b. 1831)
 * 1906 – Hugh Nelson, Scottish-Australian farmer and politician, 11th Premier of Queensland (b. 1833)
 * 1918 – William Wilfred Campbell, Canadian poet and author (b. 1858)
 * 1921 – Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, German lawyer and politician, 5th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1856)
 * 1923 – Willie Keeler, American baseball player (b. 1872)
 * 1928 – Loie Fuller, American dancer (b. 1862)
 * 1929 – Mustafa Necati, Turkish civil servant and politician, Turkish Minister of Environment and Urban Planning (b. 1894)
 * 1931 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (b. 1851)
 * 1937 – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (b. 1874)
 * 1940 – Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao, Indian author and educator (b. 1865)
 * 1943 – Jenő Rejtő, Hungarian journalist (b. 1905)
 * 1944 – Edwin Lutyens, English architect, designed the Castle Drogo and Thiepval Memorial (b. 1869)
 * 1944 – Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862)
 * 1953 – Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
 * 1955 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian colloid chemist, academic, and scientific administrator (b. 1894)
 * 1954 – Duff Cooper, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1890)
 * 1954 – Leonard Bacon, American poet and critic (b. 1887)
 * 1955 – Arthur C. Parker, American archaeologist and historian (b. 1881)
 * 1958 – Edward Weston, American photographer (b. 1886)
 * 1960 – Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b. 1909)
 * 1961 – Alastair Denniston, Scottish cryptologist (b. 1881)
 * 1966 – Vincent Auriol, French journalist and politician, 16th President of the French Republic (b. 1884)
 * 1969 – Barton MacLane, American actor, playwright and screenwriter (b. 1902)
 * 1971 – Amphilochius of Pochayiv, Ukrainian saint (b. 1894)
 * 1972 – Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
 * 1977 – Roland Hayes, American lyric tenor and composer (b. 1887)
 * 1978 – Carle Hessay, German-Canadian painter (b. 1911)
 * 1980 – Pietro Nenni, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1891)
 * 1981 – Hephzibah Menuhin, American-Australian pianist (b. 1920)
 * 1982 – Victor Buono, American actor (b. 1938)
 * 1984 – Alexis Korner, French-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
 * 1988 – Clementine Hunter, American folk artist (b. 1886 or 1887)
 * 1992 – Grace Hopper, American computer scientist and admiral, co-developed COBOL (b. 1906)
 * 1994 – Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt, New Zealand physician and politician, 11th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1900)
 * 1994 – Cesar Romero, American actor (b. 1907)
 * 1994 – Edward Arthur Thompson, Irish historian and academic (b. 1914)
 * 1995 – Eugene Wigner, Hungarian-American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
 * 1996 – Arleigh Burke, American admiral (b. 1901)
 * 1996 – Arthur Rudolph, German-American engineer (b. 1906)
 * 1997 – Townes Van Zandt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1944)
 * 1998 – Helen Wills, American tennis player and coach (b. 1905)
 * 2001 – Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
 * 2002 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (b. 1944)
 * 2003 – Joe Foss, American soldier, pilot, and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1915)
 * 2005 – Shirley Chisholm, American educator and politician (b. 1924)
 * 2006 – Harry Magdoff, American economist and journalist (b. 1913)
 * 2007 – Roland Levinsky, South African-English biochemist and academic (b. 1943)
 * 2007 – Tillie Olsen, American short story writer (b. 1912)
 * 2007 – Darrent Williams, American football player (b. 1982)
 * 2008 – Pratap Chandra Chunder, Indian educator and politician (b. 1919)
 * 2009 – Claiborne Pell, American politician (b. 1918)
 * 2009 – Helen Suzman, South African anti-apartheid activist and politician (b. 1917)
 * 2010 – Lhasa de Sela, American-Mexican singer-songwriter (b. 1972)
 * 2012 – Bob Anderson, English fencer (b. 1922)
 * 2012 – Kiro Gligorov, Macedonian lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1917)
 * 2012 – Nay Win Maung, Burmese physician, businessman, and activist (b. 1962)
 * 2012 – Tommy Mont, American football player and coach (b. 1922)
 * 2013 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, English journalist (b. 1945)
 * 2013 – Patti Page, American singer and actress (b. 1927)
 * 2014 – Higashifushimi Kunihide, Japanese monk and educator (b. 1910)
 * 2014 – William Mgimwa, Tanzanian banker and politician, 13th Tanzanian Minister of Finance (b. 1950)
 * 2014 – Juanita Moore, American actress (b. 1914)
 * 2015 – Ulrich Beck, German sociologist (b. 1944)
 * 2015 – Mario Cuomo, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New York (b. 1932)
 * 2015 – Donna Douglas, American actress (b. 1932)
 * 2015 – Omar Karami, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 58th Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1934)
 * 2015 – Boris Morukov, Russian physician and astronaut (b. 1950)
 * 2015 – William Lloyd Standish, United States District Judge (b. 1930)
 * 2016 – Fazu Aliyeva, Russian poet and journalist (b. 1932)
 * 2016 – Dale Bumpers, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 38th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1925)
 * 2016 – Vilmos Zsigmond, Hungarian-American cinematographer and producer (b. 1930)
 * 2017 – Tony Atkinson, British economist (b. 1944)
 * 2017 – Yvon Dupuis, Canadian politician (b. 1926)
 * 2018 – Robert Mann, American violinist (b. 1920)
 * 2018 – Jon Paul Steuer, American actor (b. 1984)
 * 2019 – Paul Neville, Australian politician (b. 1940)
 * 2019 – Pegi Young, American singer, songwriter, environmentalist, educator and philanthropist (b. 1952)
 * 2019 – George, last known Achatinella apexfulva (b. c. 2004)
 * 2020 – Lexi Alijai, American rapper (b. 1998)
 * 2020 – Alexander Frater, British travel writer and journalist (b. 1937)
 * 2020 – Don Larsen, American baseball player (b. 1929)
 * 2020 – Barry McDonald, Australian rugby union player (b. 1940)
 * 2020 – David Stern, American lawyer and businessman (b. 1942)
 * 2021 – Carlos do Carmo, Portuguese fado singer (b. 1939)
 * 2021 – Mark Eden, English actor (b. 1928)
 * 2021 – Elmira Minita Gordon, Belizean educator and psychologist (b. 1930)
 * 2021 – Floyd Little, American football player (b. 1942)
 * 2022 – Gary Burgess, British broadcaster and journalist (b. 1975)
 * 2022 – Dan Reeves, American football player and coach (b. 1944)
 * 2023 – Fred White, American musician and songwriter (b. 1955)
 * 2024 – Lynja, American celebrity chef and YouTuber (b. 1956)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Adalard of Corbie
 * Basil the Great (Eastern Orthodox Church)
 * Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
 * Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church)
 * Feast of Fools (Medieval Europe)
 * Fulgentius of Ruspe
 * Giuseppe Maria Tomasi
 * Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the Octave Day of Christmas, considered a holy day of obligation in some countries (Catholic Church); and its related observances:
 * World Day of Peace
 * Telemachus
 * Zygmunt Gorazdowski
 * January 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Earliest day on which Handsel Monday can fall, while January 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of the year (Scotland)
 * Second day of Hogmanay (Scotland) December 31-January 1, in some cases until January 2.
 * The last day of Kwanzaa (African-Americans)
 * The eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
 * Constitution Day (Italy)
 * Dissolution of Czechoslovakia-related observances:
 * Day of the Establishment of the Slovak Republic (Slovakia)
 * Restoration Day of the Independent Czech State (Czech Republic)
 * Emancipation Day (United States)
 * Euro Day (European Union)
 * Flag Day (Lithuania) commemorates raising of the Lithuanian flag on Gediminas' Tower in 1919
 * Founding Day (Taiwan) commemorates the establishment of the Provisional Government in Nanjing
 * Global Family Day
 * Independence Day (Brunei, Cameroon, Haiti, Sudan)
 * International Nepali Dhoti and Nepali Topi Day
 * Jump-up Day (Montserrat)
 * Kalpataru Day (Ramakrishna Movement)
 * Kamakura Ebisu, January 1–3 (Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan)
 * National Bloody Mary Day (United States)
 * National Tree Planting Day (Tanzania)
 * New Year's Day (Gregorian calendar)
 * Japanese New Year
 * Novy God Day (Russia)
 * Sjoogwachi (Okinawa Islands)
 * Polar Bear Swim Day (Canada and United States)
 * Public Domain Day (multiple countries)
 * Triumph of the Revolution (Cuba)

title: January 1


text:
January 2

Pre-1600

 * 69 – The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuse to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebel and proclaim Vitellius as emperor.
 * 366 – The Alemanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.
 * 533 – Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
 * 1492 – Reconquista: The Emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.

1601–1900

 * 1680 – Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram and his bodyguards execute the rebel leader Trunajaya.
 * 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
 * 1788 – Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
 * 1791 – Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, North America, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
 * 1818 – The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded by a group of six engineers; Thomas Telford would later become its first president.
 * 1865 – Uruguayan War: The Siege of Paysandú ends as the Brazilians and Coloradans capture Paysandú, Uruguay.
 * 1900 – American statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
 * 1900 – Chicago Canal opens.

1901–present

 * 1920 – The second Palmer Raid, ordered by the US Department of Justice, results in 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists being arrested and held without trial.
 * 1921 – World premiere of the science fiction play R.U.R. by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in a theater in Hradec Králové.
 * 1941 – World War II: The Cardiff Blitz severely damages the cathedral in Cardiff, Wales.
 * 1942 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) obtains the conviction of 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history; Also known as the Duquesne Spy Ring.
 * 1942 – World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces, enabling them to control the Philippines.
 * 1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín is inaugurated as the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
 * 1954 – India establishes its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.
 * 1955 – Following the assassination of the Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera, his deputy, José Ramón Guizado, takes power, but is quickly deposed after his involvement in Cantera's death is discovered.
 * 1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
 * 1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory, at the Battle of Ap Bac.
 * 1967 – Ronald Reagan, past movie actor and future President of the United States, is sworn in as Governor of California.
 * 1971 – The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football (soccer) match.
 * 1974 – United States President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 mph in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
 * 1975 – At the opening of a new railway line, a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.
 * 1975 – The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.
 * 1976 – The Gale of January 1976 begins, resulting in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, affecting countries from Ireland to Yugoslavia and causing at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage.
 * 1978 – On the orders of the President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, paramilitary forces opened fire on peaceful protesting workers in Multan, Pakistan; it is known as 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills.
 * 1981 – One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
 * 1988 – Condor Flugdienst Flight 3782 crashes near Seferihisar, Turkey, killing 16 people.
 * 1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon becomes the first African American woman mayor of a major city and first woman Mayor of the District of Columbia.
 * 1993 – Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy kill 35–100 civilians on the Jaffna Lagoon.
 * 2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
 * 2019 – Adventist Health System and its subsidiaries rebranded to AdventHealth.
 * 2022 – Massive nationwide protests and unrest break out in Kazakhstan over the sudden increase of liquefied petroleum gas prices, leaving over 200 people dead and thousands injured.
 * 2024 – Two aircraft collide on a runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, killing 5 and injuring 15.

Pre-1600

 * 869 – Yōzei, Japanese emperor (d. 949)
 * 1462 – Piero di Cosimo, Italian painter (d. 1522)
 * 1509 – Henry of Stolberg, German nobleman (d. 1572)

1601–1900

 * 1642 – Mehmed IV, Ottoman sultan (d. 1693)
 * 1647 – Nathaniel Bacon, English-American rebel leader (d. 1676)
 * 1699 – Osman III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1757)
 * 1713 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
 * 1727 – James Wolfe, English general (d. 1759)
 * 1732 – František Brixi, Czech organist and composer (d. 1771)
 * 1777 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor and educator (d. 1857)
 * 1803 – Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1869)
 * 1822 – Rudolf Clausius, Polish-German physicist and mathematician (d. 1888)
 * 1827 – Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Russian geographer and statistician (d. 1914)
 * 1833 – Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician (d. 1893)
 * 1836 – Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian author (d. 1917)
 * 1836 – Queen Emma of Hawaii (d. 1885)
 * 1837 – Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1910)
 * 1857 – M. Carey Thomas, American educator and activist (d. 1935)
 * 1860 – Dugald Campbell Patterson, Canadian engineer (d. 1931)
 * 1860 – William Corless Mills, American historian and curator (d. 1928)
 * 1866 – Gilbert Murray, Australian-English playwright and scholar (d. 1957)
 * 1870 – Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and playwright (d. 1938)
 * 1870 – Tex Rickard, American boxing promoter and businessman (d. 1929)
 * 1873 – Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer and theorist (d. 1960)
 * 1873 – Thérèse of Lisieux, French nun and saint (d. 1897)
 * 1878 – Jaakko Mäki, Finnish politician (d. 1938)
 * 1878 – Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai, Indian activist, founded the Nair Service Society (d. 1970)
 * 1884 – Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli historian and politician, 4th Israeli Minister of Education (d. 1973)
 * 1885 – Gordon Flowerdew, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
 * 1886 – Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English explorer and author (d. 1959)
 * 1889 – Bertram Stevens, Australian accountant and politician, 25th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1973)
 * 1891 – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect and urban planner, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station (d. 1990)
 * 1892 – Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player (d. 1962)
 * 1895 – Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (d. 1948)
 * 1896 – Dziga Vertov, Polish-Russian director and screenwriter (d. 1954)
 * 1896 – Lawrence Wackett, Australian commander and engineer (d. 1982)
 * 1897 – Theodore Plucknett, English legal historian (d. 1965)
 * 1900 – Una Ledingham, British physician, known for research on diabetes in pregnancy (d. 1965)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Bob Marshall, American activist, co-founded The Wilderness Society (d. 1939)
 * 1902 – Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer (d. 2007)
 * 1903 – Kane Tanaka, Japanese Supercentenarian, Oldest Japanese person ever, Second oldest verified person in world history (d. 2022)
 * 1904 – Walter Heitler, German physicist and chemist (d. 1981)
 * 1905 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (d. 1998)
 * 1905 – Luigi Zampa, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
 * 1909 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author (d. 2009)
 * 1909 – Barry Goldwater, American politician, businessman, and author (d. 1998)
 * 1913 – Juanita Jackson Mitchell, American lawyer and activist (d. 1992)
 * 1913 – Anna Lee, English-American actress (d. 2004)
 * 1917 – Vera Zorina, German-Norwegian actress and dancer (d. 2003)
 * 1918 – Willi Graf, German physician and activist (d. 1943)
 * 1919 – Ernest Bender, American Indologist (d. 1996)
 * 1919 – Beatrice Hicks, American engineer (d. 1979)
 * 1920 (probable) – Isaac Asimov, American writer and professor of biochemistry (d. 1992)
 * 1920 – Bob Feerick, American basketball player and coach (d. 1976)
 * 1921 – Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
 * 1926 – Gino Marchetti, American football player (d. 2019)
 * 1928 – Dan Rostenkowski, American politician (d. 2010)
 * 1929 – Charles Beaumont, screenwriter and American author of speculative fiction (d. 1967)
 * 1929 – Tellervo Koivisto, Finnish politician, former First Lady of Finland
 * 1931 – Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese lawyer and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022)
 * 1934 – John Hollowbread, English footballer, goalkeeper (d. 2007)
 * 1936 – Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (d. 1992)
 * 1938 – David Bailey, English photographer and painter
 * 1938 – Lynn Conway, American computer scientist and electrical engineer (d. 2024)
 * 1938 – Robert Smithson, American sculptor and photographer (d. 1973)
 * 1940 – Jim Bakker, American televangelist
 * 1940 – Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian economist and politician, Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
 * 1942 – Thomas Hammarberg, Swedish lawyer and diplomat
 * 1942 – Dennis Hastert, American educator and politician, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
 * 1943 – Janet Akyüz Mattei, Turkish-American astronomer (d. 2004)
 * 1944 – Charlie Davis, Trinidadian cricketer
 * 1944 – Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor (d. 2024)
 * 1944 – Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian field marshal and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (d. 2021)
 * 1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist and author
 * 1947 – Calvin Hill, American football player
 * 1947 – David Shapiro, American poet, historian, and critic (d. 2024)
 * 1948 – Judith Miller, American journalist
 * 1948 – Deborah Watling, English actress (d. 2017)
 * 1949 – Christopher Durang, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2024)
 * 1949 – Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and academic (d. 2006)
 * 1952 – Indulis Emsis, Latvian biologist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Latvia
 * 1952 – Wendy Phillips, American actress
 * 1954 – Henry Bonilla, American broadcaster and politician
 * 1954 – Évelyne Trouillot, Haitian playwright and author
 * 1961 – Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
 * 1961 – Paula Hamilton, English model
 * 1961 – Todd Haynes, American film director, screenwriter, and producer
 * 1961 – Craig James, American football player and sportscaster
 * 1961 – Robert Wexler, American lawyer and politician
 * 1963 – David Cone, American baseball player and sportscaster
 * 1963 – Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
 * 1964 – Chris Welp, German-American basketball player (d. 2015)
 * 1964 – Pernell Whitaker, American boxer (d. 2019)
 * 1965 – Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
 * 1967 – Tia Carrere, American actress
 * 1967 – Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and politician; 20th Mayor of Reykjavík
 * 1968 – Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor and producer
 * 1968 – Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion
 * 1969 – István Bagyula, Hungarian pole vaulter
 * 1969 – William Fox-Pitt, English horse rider and journalist
 * 1969 – Róbert Švehla, Slovak ice hockey player
 * 1969 – Christy Turlington, American model
 * 1970 – Eric Whitacre, American composer and conductor
 * 1971 – Taye Diggs, American actor and singer
 * 1971 – Renée Elise Goldsberry, American actress
 * 1972 – Rodney MacDonald, Canadian educator and politician, 26th Premier of Nova Scotia
 * 1972 – Shiraz Minwalla, Indian theoretical physicist and string theorist
 * 1972 – Mattias Norström, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
 * 1974 – Ludmila Formanová, Czech runner
 * 1974 – Juha Lind, Finnish ice hockey player
 * 1974 – Tomáš Řepka, Czech footballer
 * 1975 – Dax Shepard, American actor
 * 1975 – Jeff Suppan, American baseball player
 * 1975 – Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1976 – Paz Vega, Spanish actress
 * 1977 – Brian Boucher, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
 * 1977 – Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player
 * 1979 – Jonathan Greening, English footballer
 * 1980 – David Gyasi, British actor
 * 1981 – Kirk Hinrich, American basketball player
 * 1981 – Maxi Rodríguez, Argentine footballer
 * 1983 – Kate Bosworth, American actress
 * 1983 – Anthony Carrigan, American actor
 * 1987 – Shelley Hennig, American actress and model
 * 1987 – Robert Milsom, English footballer
 * 1988 – Luke Harangody, American basketball player
 * 1988 – Damien Tussac, French-German rugby player
 * 1991 – Ben Hardy, English actor
 * 1992 – Paulo Gazzaniga, Argentine footballer
 * 1992 – Alexey Marchenko, Russian ice hockey player
 * 1992 – Teemu Pulkkinen, Finnish ice hockey player
 * 1992 – Korbin Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
 * 1993 – Bryson Tiller, American singer and rapper
 * 1994 – Ronald Darby, American football player
 * 1996 – Jonah Bolden, Australian-American basketball player
 * 1998 – Tfue, American online streamer
 * 1998 – Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer
 * 1999 – Georgios Kalaitzakis, Greek basketball player
 * 1999 – Fernando Tatís Jr., American baseball player

Pre-1600

 * 951 – Liu Chengyou, Emperor Yin of the Later Han (b. 931)
 * 951 – Su Fengji, Chinese official and chancellor
 * 1096 – William de St-Calais, Bishop of Durham and chief counsellor of William II of England
 * 1169 – Bertrand de Blanchefort, sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1109)
 * 1184 – Theodora Komnene, Duchess of Austria, daughter of Andronikos Komnenos
 * 1298 – Lodomer, Hungarian prelate, Archbishop of Esztergom
 * 1470 – Heinrich Reuß von Plauen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
 * 1512 – Svante Nilsson, Sweden politician (b. 1460)
 * 1514 – William Smyth, English bishop and academic (b. 1460)
 * 1543 – Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer (b. 1497)
 * 1557 – Pontormo, Italian painter and educator (b. 1494)

1601–1900

 * 1613 – Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire (b. 1539)
 * 1614 – Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza, Spanish mystical poet and Catholic martyr (b. 1566)
 * 1726 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian organist and composer (b. 1688)
 * 1763 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (b. 1690)
 * 1850 – Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Mexican lawyer and 20th President (1847) (b. 1789)
 * 1861 – Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795)
 * 1892 – George Biddell Airy, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1801)

1901–present

 * 1904 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat (b. 1821)
 * 1913 – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
 * 1915 – Karl Goldmark, Hungarian violinist and composer (b. 1830)
 * 1917 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (b. 1877)
 * 1920 – Paul Adam, French author (b. 1862)
 * 1924 – Sabine Baring-Gould, English author and scholar (b. 1834)
 * 1939 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1864)
 * 1941 – Mischa Levitzki, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1898)
 * 1946 – Joe Darling, Australian cricketer and politician (b. 1870)
 * 1950 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1877)
 * 1951 – William Campion, English colonel and politician, 21st Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870)
 * 1951 – Edith New, English militant suffragette (b. 1877)
 * 1953 – Guccio Gucci, Italian businessman and fashion designer, founder of Gucci (b. 1881)
 * 1960 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (b. 1907)
 * 1963 – Dick Powell, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1904)
 * 1963 – Jack Carson, Canadian-American actor (b. 1910)
 * 1974 – Tex Ritter, American actor (b. 1905)
 * 1975 – Siraj Sikder, Bangladesh revolutionary leader (b. 1944)
 * 1977 – Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer (b. 1921)
 * 1986 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
 * 1987 – Harekrushna Mahatab, Indian journalist and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Odisha (b. 1899)
 * 1989 – Safdar Hashmi, Indian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1954)
 * 1990 – Alan Hale Jr., American film and television actor (b. 1921)
 * 1990 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister for National Defence (b. 1910)
 * 1994 – Dixy Lee Ray, American biologist and politician; 17th Governor of Washington (b. 1914)
 * 1994 – Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, French lawyer and businessman (b. 1915)
 * 1995 – Nancy Kelly, American actress (b. 1921)
 * 1995 – Siad Barre, Somalian general and politician; 3rd President of Somalia (b. 1919)
 * 1999 – Rolf Liebermann, Swiss-French composer and manager (b. 1910)
 * 1999 – Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author (b. 1907)
 * 2000 – Elmo Zumwalt, American admiral (b. 1920)
 * 2000 – Patrick O'Brian, English author and translator (b. 1914)
 * 2001 – William P. Rogers, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State (b. 1913)
 * 2005 – Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist and physician (b. 1911)
 * 2006 – Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1913)
 * 2006 – Osa Massen, Danish-American actress (b. 1914)
 * 2007 – A. Richard Newton, Australian-American engineer and academic (b. 1951)
 * 2007 – Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, American historian and author (b. 1941)
 * 2007 – Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911)
 * 2008 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish journalist and author (b. 1925)
 * 2008 – Lee S. Dreyfus, American politician, Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1926)
 * 2009 – Inger Christensen, Danish poet and author (b. 1935)
 * 2010 – David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author (b. 1958)
 * 2011 – Anne Francis, American actress (b. 1930)
 * 2011 – Bali Ram Bhagat, Indian politician; 16th Governor of Rajasthan (b. 1922)
 * 2011 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (b. 1946)
 * 2012 – Gordon Hirabayashi, American-Canadian sociologist and academic (b. 1918)
 * 2012 – Silvana Gallardo, American actress and producer (b. 1953)
 * 2012 – William P. Carey, American businessman and philanthropist, founded W. P. Carey (b. 1930)
 * 2013 – Gerda Lerner, Austrian-American historian, author, and academic (b. 1920)
 * 2013 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (b. 1944)
 * 2014 – Bernard Glasser, American director and producer (b. 1924)
 * 2014 – Elizabeth Jane Howard, English author and screenwriter (b. 1923)
 * 2015 – Tihomir Novakov, Serbian-American physicist and academic (b. 1929)
 * 2016 – Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
 * 2016 – Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1935)
 * 2016 – Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabian religious leader (b. 1959)
 * 2016 – Gisela Mota Ocampo, mayor of Temixco, Morelos, Mexico, assassinated (b. 1982)
 * 2017 – Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer (b. 1933)
 * 2017 – John Berger, English art critic, novelist and painter (b. 1926)
 * 2018 – Guida Maria, Portuguese actress (b. 1950)
 * 2018 – Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader, 16th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1927)
 * 2019 – Daryl Dragon, American musician (b. 1942)
 * 2019 – Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian (b. 1942)
 * 2019 – Gene Okerlund, American wrestling announcer (b. 1942)
 * 2022 – Richard Leakey, Kenyan paleontologist and politician (b. 1944)
 * 2023 – Ken Block, American rally driver (b. 1967)
 * 2024 – Rizal Ramli, Indonesian politician (b. 1954)

Holidays and observances

 * Ancestry Day (Haiti)
 * Berchtold's Day (Switzerland)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Basil the Great (Catholic Church and Church of England)
 * Gregory of Nazianzus (Catholic Church)
 * Macarius of Alexandria
 * Seraphim of Sarov (Eastern Orthodox Church)
 * Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (Episcopal Church)
 * January 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Kaapse Klopse (Cape Town, South Africa)
 * The first day of Blacks and Whites' Carnival, celebrated until January 7 (Colombia)
 * The ninth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: January 2


text:
January 3

Pre-1600

 * 69 – The Roman legions on the Rhine refuse to declare their allegiance to Galba, instead proclaiming their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor.
 * 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (except Jews) to make sacrifices to the Roman gods.
 * 1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

1601–1900

 * 1653 – By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage.
 * 1749 – Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.
 * 1749 – The first issue of Berlingske, Denmark's oldest continually operating newspaper, is published.
 * 1777 – American General George Washington defeats British General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
 * 1815 – Austria, the United Kingdom, and France form a secret defensive alliance against Prussia and Russia.
 * 1833 – Captain James Onslow, in the Clio, reasserts British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
 * 1848 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of Liberia.
 * 1861 – American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States.
 * 1868 – Meiji Restoration in Japan: The Tokugawa shogunate is abolished; agents of Satsuma and Chōshū seize power.
 * 1870 – Construction work begins on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, United States.
 * 1871 – In the Battle of Bapaume, an engagement in the Franco-Prussian War, General Louis Faidherbe's forces bring about a Prussian retreat.
 * 1885 – Sino-French War: Beginning of the Battle of Núi Bop.

1901–present

 * 1911 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroys the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan.
 * 1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London leaves two dead. It sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill.
 * 1913 – An Atlantic coast storm sets the lowest confirmed barometric pressure reading (955.0 mb (28.20 inHg)) for a non-tropical system in the continental United States.
 * 1913 – First Balkan War: Greece completes its capture of the eastern Aegean island of Chios, as the last Ottoman forces on the island surrender.
 * 1920 – Over 640 are killed after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes the Mexican states Puebla and Veracruz.
 * 1933 – Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.
 * 1944 – World War II: US flying ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
 * 1946 – Popular Canadian American jockey George Woolf suffers a concussion during a freak racing accident; he dies from the injury the following day. The annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award is created to honor him.
 * 1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
 * 1949 – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established.
 * 1953 – Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
 * 1956 – A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
 * 1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
 * 1958 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
 * 1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
 * 1961 – Cold War: After a series of economic retaliations against one another, the United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
 * 1961 – The SL-1 nuclear reactor, near Idaho Falls, Idaho, is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.
 * 1961 – A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.
 * 1961 – Aero Flight 311 crashes into the forest in Kvevlax, Finland, killing 25 people.
 * 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
 * 1976 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, comes into force.
 * 1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated.
 * 1987 – Varig Flight 797 crashes near Akouré in the Ivory Coast, resulting in 50 deaths.
 * 1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.
 * 1992 – CommutAir Flight 4821 crashes on approach to Adirondack Regional Airport, in Saranac Lake, New York, killing two people.
 * 1993 – In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
 * 1994 – Baikal Airlines Flight 130 crashes near Mamoney, Irkutsk, Russia, resulting in 125 deaths.
 * 1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.
 * 2002 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.
 * 2004 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history.
 * 2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, is established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.
 * 2015 – Boko Haram militants destroy the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people.
 * 2016 – In response to the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
 * 2018 – For the first time in history, all five major storm surge gates in the Netherlands are closed simultaneously in the wake of a storm.
 * 2019 – Chang'e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover.
 * 2020 – Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, igniting global concerns of a potential armed conflict.
 * 2023 – Singapore's Jurong Bird Park permanently closes.
 * 2024 – At least 91 people are killed in bombings in Kerman, Iran, during a ceremony commemorating the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani 4 years ago.

Pre-1600

 * 106 BC – Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (d. 43 BC)
 * 1509 – Gian Girolamo Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1591)

1601–1900

 * 1611 – James Harrington, English political theorist (d. 1677)
 * 1698 – Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet and songwriter (d. 1782)
 * 1710 – Richard Gridley, American soldier and engineer (d. 1796)
 * 1722 – Fredrik Hasselqvist, Swedish biologist and explorer (d. 1752)
 * 1731 – Angelo Emo, Venetian admiral and statesman (d. 1792)
 * 1760 – Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Indian ruler (d. 1799)
 * 1775 – Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont (d. 1863)
 * 1778 – Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish archbishop (d. 1861)
 * 1793 – Lucretia Mott, American activist (d. 1880)
 * 1802 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (d. 1898)
 * 1803 – Douglas William Jerrold, English journalist and playwright (d. 1857)
 * 1806 – Henriette Sontag, German soprano and actress (d. 1854)
 * 1810 – Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, French geographer, ethnologist, linguist, and astronomer (d. 1897)
 * 1816 – Samuel C. Pomeroy, American businessman and politician (d. 1891)
 * 1819 – Charles Piazzi Smyth, Italian-Scottish astronomer and academic (d. 1900)
 * 1831 – Savitribai Phule, Indian poet, educator, and activist (d. 1897)
 * 1836 – Sakamoto Ryōma, Japanese samurai and rebel leader (d. 1867)
 * 1840 – Father Damien, Flemish priest and missionary (d. 1889)
 * 1847 – Ettore Marchiafava, Italian physician (d. 1935)
 * 1853 – Sophie Elkan, Swedish writer (d. 1921)
 * 1855 – Hubert Bland, English businessman (d. 1914)
 * 1861 – Ernest Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1899)
 * 1861 – William Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1904)
 * 1862 – Matthew Nathan, English soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Queensland (d. 1939)
 * 1865 – Henry Lytton, English actor (d. 1936)
 * 1870 – Henry Handel Richardson, Australian-English author (d. 1946)
 * 1873 – Ichizō Kobayashi, Japanese businessman and art collector, founded the Hankyu Hanshin Holdings (d. 1957)
 * 1875 – Alexandros Diomidis, Greek banker and politician, 145th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1950)
 * 1876 – Wilhelm Pieck, German carpenter and politician, 1st President of the German Democratic Republic (d. 1960)
 * 1877 – Josephine Hull, American actress (d. 1957)
 * 1880 – Francis Browne, Irish Jesuit priest and photographer (d. 1960)
 * 1883 – Clement Attlee, English soldier, lawyer, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1967)
 * 1883 – Duncan Gillis, Canadian discus thrower and hammer thrower (d. 1963)
 * 1884 – Raoul Koczalski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1948)
 * 1885 – Harry Elkins Widener, American businessman (d. 1912)
 * 1886 – John Gould Fletcher, American poet and author (d. 1950)
 * 1886 – Arthur Mailey, Australian cricketer (d. 1967)
 * 1887 – August Macke, German-French painter (d. 1914)
 * 1892 – J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, and philologist (d. 1973)
 * 1894 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963)
 * 1897 – Eithne Coyle, Irish republican activist, (d. 1985)
 * 1897 – Marion Davies, American actress and comedian (d. 1961)
 * 1898 – Carolyn Haywood, American author and illustrator (d. 1990)
 * 1900 – Donald J. Russell, American businessman (d. 1985)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Ngô Đình Diệm, Vietnamese lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam (d. 1963)
 * 1905 – Dante Giacosa, Italian engineer (d. 1996)
 * 1905 – Anna May Wong, American actress (d. 1961)
 * 1907 – Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director (d. 1986)
 * 1909 – Victor Borge, Danish-American pianist and conductor (d. 2000)
 * 1910 – Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player and manager (d. 2000)
 * 1910 – John Sturges, American director and producer (d. 1992)
 * 1912 – Federico Borrell García, Spanish soldier (d. 1936)
 * 1912 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2002)
 * 1912 – Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2005)
 * 1915 – Jack Levine, American painter and soldier (d. 2010)
 * 1916 – Betty Furness, American actress and television journalist (d. 1994)
 * 1916 – Fred Haas, American golfer (d. 2004)
 * 1917 – Albert Mol, Dutch author and actor (d. 2002)
 * 1917 – Roger Williams Straus, Jr., American journalist and publisher, co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux (d. 2004)
 * 1919 – Herbie Nichols, American pianist and composer (d. 1963)
 * 1920 – Siegfried Buback, German lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Germany (d. 1977)
 * 1921 – Isabella Bashmakova, Russian historian of mathematics (d. 2005)
 * 1922 – Bill Travers, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
 * 1923 – Hank Stram, American football coach and sportscaster (d. 2005)
 * 1924 – Otto Beisheim, German businessman and philanthropist, founded Metro AG (d. 2013)
 * 1924 – Enzo Cozzolini, Italian football player (d. 1962)
 * 1924 – André Franquin, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1997)
 * 1924 – Nell Rankin, American soprano and educator (d. 2005)
 * 1925 – Jill Balcon, English actress (d. 2009)
 * 1926 – W. Michael Blumenthal, American economist and politician, 64th United States Secretary of the Treasury
 * 1926 – George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer (d. 2016)
 * 1928 – Abdul Rahman Ya'kub, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak (d. 2015)
 * 1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
 * 1929 – Ernst Mahle, German-Brazilian composer and conductor
 * 1929 – Gordon Moore, American businessman, co-founder of Intel Corporation (d. 2023)
 * 1930 – Stephen Fabian, American illustrator.
 * 1930 – Robert Loggia, American actor and director (d. 2015)
 * 1932 – Dabney Coleman, American actor (d. 2024)
 * 1932 – Eeles Landström, Finnish pole vaulter and politician (d. 2022)
 * 1933 – Geoffrey Bindman, English lawyer
 * 1933 – Anne Stevenson, American-English poet and author (d. 2020)
 * 1934 – Marpessa Dawn, American-French actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2008)
 * 1934 – Carla Anderson Hills, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
 * 1935 – Raymond Garneau, Canadian businessman and politician
 * 1937 – Glen A. Larson, American director, producer, and screenwriter, created Battlestar Galactica (d. 2014)
 * 1938 – Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, English academic and politician
 * 1938 – K. Ganeshalingam, Sri Lankan accountant and politician, Mayor of Colombo (d. 2006)
 * 1939 – Arik Einstein, Israeli singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2013)
 * 1939 – Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2023)
 * 1940 – Bernard Blaut, Polish footballer and coach (d. 2007)
 * 1940 – Leo de Berardinis, Italian actor and director (d. 2008)
 * 1941 – Malcolm Dick, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1942 – John Marsden, Australian lawyer and activist (d. 2006)
 * 1942 – John Thaw, English actor and producer, played Inspector Morse (d. 2002)
 * 1943 – Van Dyke Parks, American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, author, and actor
 * 1944 – Blanche d'Alpuget, Australian author
 * 1944 – Doreen Massey, English geographer and political activist (d. 2016)
 * 1945 – Stephen Stills, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1946 – John Paul Jones, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
 * 1946 – Michalis Kritikopoulos, Greek footballer (d. 2002)
 * 1947 – Fran Cotton, English rugby player
 * 1947 – Zulema, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
 * 1948 – Ian Nankervis, Australian footballer
 * 1950 – Victoria Principal, American actress and businesswoman
 * 1950 – Linda Steiner, American journalist and academic
 * 1950 – Vesna Vulović, Serbian plane crash survivor and Guinness World Record holder (d. 2016)
 * 1951 – Linda Dobbs, English lawyer and judge
 * 1951 – Gary Nairn, Australian surveyor and politician, 14th Special Minister of State (d. 2024)
 * 1952 – Esperanza Aguirre, Spanish civil servant and politician, 3rd President of the Community of Madrid
 * 1952 – Gianfranco Fini, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
 * 1952 – Jim Ross, American professional wrestling commentator
 * 1953 – Justin Fleming, Australian playwright and author
 * 1953 – Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Maldivian educator and politician, 5th President of the Maldives
 * 1953 – Peter Taylor, English footballer and manager
 * 1955 – Denis Walter, Australian radio host and singer
 * 1956 – Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1957 – Dave Dobbyn, New Zealand singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1960 – Russell Spence, English racing driver
 * 1962 – Darren Daulton, American baseball player (d. 2017)
 * 1962 – Gavin Hastings, Scottish rugby player
 * 1963 – Stewart Hosie, Scottish businessman and politician
 * 1963 – Aamer Malik, Pakistani cricketer
 * 1963 – Alex Wheatle, English author and playwright
 * 1963 – New Jack, American wrestler (d. 2021)
 * 1964 – Bruce LaBruce, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1964 – Cheryl Miller, American basketball player and coach
 * 1966 – Chetan Sharma, Indian cricketer
 * 1969 – James Carter, American musician
 * 1969 – Jarmo Lehtinen, Finnish racing driver
 * 1969 – Michael Schumacher, German racing driver
 * 1969 – Gerda Weissensteiner, Italian luger and bobsledder
 * 1971 – Sarah Alexander, English actress
 * 1971 – Cory Cross, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1971 – Lee Il-hwa, South Korean actress
 * 1974 – Robert-Jan Derksen, Dutch golfer
 * 1974 – Alessandro Petacchi, Italian cyclist
 * 1974 – Todd Warriner, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1975 – Thomas Bangalter, French DJ, musician, and producer
 * 1975 – Jason Marsden, American actor
 * 1975 – Danica McKellar, American actress and mathematician
 * 1976 – Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer
 * 1976 – Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor and producer
 * 1977 – Lee Bowyer, English footballer and coach
 * 1977 – A. J. Burnett, American baseball player
 * 1978 – Dimitra Kalentzou, Greek basketball player
 * 1978 – Kimberley Locke, American singer, songwriter, and television personality
 * 1978 – Mike York, American ice hockey player
 * 1979 – Kate Levering, American actress, singer, and dancer
 * 1980 – Bryan Clay, American decathlete
 * 1980 – Eli Crane, U.S. representative for Arizona's 2nd congressional district
 * 1980 – Telly Leung, American actor, director, singer and songwriter
 * 1980 – Angela Ruggiero, American ice hockey player
 * 1980 – David Tyree, American football player
 * 1980 – Kurt Vile, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1980 – Mary Wineberg, American sprinter
 * 1981 – Eli Manning, American football player
 * 1982 – Peter Clarke, English footballer
 * 1982 – Park Ji-yoon, South Korean singer and actress
 * 1982 – Lasse Nilsson, Swedish footballer
 * 1983 – Katie McGrath, Irish actress
 * 1984 – Billy Mehmet, English-Irish footballer
 * 1985 – Nicole Beharie, American actress
 * 1985 – Linas Kleiza, Lithuanian basketball player
 * 1985 – Evan Moore, American football player
 * 1985 – Noelle Quinn, American basketball player and coach
 * 1986 – Dana Hussain, Iraqi sprinter
 * 1986 – Lloyd, American singer-songwriter
 * 1986 – Greg Nwokolo, Indonesian footballer
 * 1986 – Nikola Peković, Montenegrin basketball player and executive
 * 1986 – Cedric Simmons, American-Bulgarian basketball player
 * 1986 – Dmitry Starodubtsev, Russian pole vaulter
 * 1987 – Adrián, Spanish footballer
 * 1987 – Reto Berra, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender
 * 1987 – Kim Ok-vin, South Korean actress and singer
 * 1988 – Ikechi Anya, Scottish-Nigerian footballer
 * 1988 – Matt Frattin, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1989 – Kōhei Uchimura, Japanese artistic gymnast
 * 1990 – Yoichiro Kakitani, Japanese footballer
 * 1991 – Jerson Cabral, Dutch footballer
 * 1991 – Özgür Çek, Turkish footballer
 * 1991 – Ryan Ellis, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1991 – Sébastien Faure, French footballer
 * 1991 – Dane Gagai, Australian rugby league player
 * 1991 – Goo Hara, South Korean singer and actress (d. 2019)
 * 1991 – Darius Morris, American basketball player (d. 2024)
 * 1991 – Joonas Nättinen, Finnish ice hockey player
 * 1992 – Doug McDermott, American basketball player
 * 1992 – Sio Siua Taukeiaho, New Zealand-Tongan rugby league player
 * 1994 – Isaquias Queiroz, Brazilian sprint canoeist
 * 1995 – Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, American-Jordanian basketball player
 * 1995 – Jisoo, South Korean singer and actress
 * 1995 – Kim Seol-hyun, South Korean singer and actress
 * 1996 – Florence Pugh, English actress
 * 1997 – Kyron McMaster, British Virgin Islands hurdler
 * 2001 – Deni Avdija, Israeli-Serbian basketball player
 * 2003 – Kyle Rittenhouse, American conservative personality
 * 2003 – Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist

Pre-1600

 * 236 – Anterus, pope of the Catholic Church
 * 323 – Yuan of Yin, Chinese emperor (b. 276)
 * 1027 – Fujiwara no Yukinari, Japanese calligrapher (b. 972)
 * 1028 – Fujiwara no Michinaga, Japanese nobleman (b. 966)
 * 1098 – Walkelin, Norman bishop of Winchester
 * 1322 – Philip V, king of France (b. 1292)
 * 1437 – Catherine of Valois, queen consort of Henry V (b. 1401)
 * 1501 – Ali-Shir Nava'i, Turkic poet, linguist, and mystic (b. 1441)
 * 1543 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer and navigator (b. 1499)
 * 1571 – Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1505)

1601–1900

 * 1641 – Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer and mathematician (b. 1618)
 * 1656 – Mathieu Molé, French politician (b. 1584)
 * 1670 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1608)
 * 1701 – Louis I, prince of Monaco (b. 1642)
 * 1705 – Luca Giordano, Italian painter and illustrator (b. 1634)
 * 1743 – Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian painter and architect (b. 1657)
 * 1777 – William Leslie, Scottish captain (b. 1751)
 * 1779 – Claude Bourgelat, French surgeon and lawyer (b. 1712)
 * 1785 – Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
 * 1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company (b. 1730)
 * 1826 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French general (b. 1770)
 * 1871 – Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Indian priest and saint (b. 1805)
 * 1875 – Pierre Larousse, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1817)
 * 1882 – William Harrison Ainsworth, English author (b. 1805)
 * 1895 – James Merritt Ives, American lithographer and businessman, co-founded Currier and Ives (b. 1824)

1901–present

 * 1903 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (b. 1837)
 * 1911 – Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author and poet (b. 1851)
 * 1915 – James Elroy Flecker, English poet, author, and playwright (b. 1884)
 * 1916 – Grenville M. Dodge, American general and politician (b. 1831)
 * 1922 – Wilhelm Voigt, German criminal (b. 1849)
 * 1923 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech journalist and author (b. 1883)
 * 1927 – Carl David Tolmé Runge, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1856)
 * 1931 – Joseph Joffre, French general (b. 1852)
 * 1933 – Wilhelm Cuno, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
 * 1933 – Jack Pickford, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1896)
 * 1943 – Walter James, Australian lawyer and politician, 5th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1863)
 * 1944 – Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet, critic, and translator (b. 1873)
 * 1945 – Edgar Cayce, American psychic and author (b. 1877)
 * 1945 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish journalist and explorer (b. 1879)
 * 1946 – William Joyce, American-British pro-Axis propaganda broadcaster (b. 1906)
 * 1956 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1864)
 * 1956 – Dimitrios Vergos, Greek wrestler, weightlifter, and shot putter (b. 1886)
 * 1956 – Joseph Wirth, German educator and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
 * 1958 – Cafer Tayyar Eğilmez, Turkish general (b. 1877)
 * 1959 – Edwin Muir, Scottish poet, author, and translator (b. 1887)
 * 1960 – Eric P. Kelly, American journalist, author, and academic (b. 1884)
 * 1962 – Hermann Lux, German footballer and manager (b. 1893)
 * 1965 – Milton Avery, American painter (b. 1885)
 * 1966 – Sammy Younge Jr., American civil rights activist (b. 1944)
 * 1967 – Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress (b. 1874)
 * 1967 – Reginald Punnett, British scientist (b. 1875)
 * 1967 – Jack Ruby, American businessman and murderer (b. 1911)
 * 1969 – Jean Focas, Greek-French astronomer (b. 1909)
 * 1969 – Tzavalas Karousos, Greek-French actor (b. 1904)
 * 1970 – Gladys Aylward, English missionary and humanitarian (b. 1902)
 * 1972 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (b. 1925)
 * 1975 – Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1880)
 * 1975 – James McCormack, American general (b. 1910)
 * 1977 – William Gropper, American lithographer, cartoonist, and painter (b. 1897)
 * 1979 – Conrad Hilton, American businessman, founded the Hilton Hotels & Resorts (b. 1887)
 * 1980 – Joy Adamson, Austrian-Kenyan painter and conservationist (b. 1910)
 * 1980 – George Sutherland Fraser, Scottish poet and academic (b. 1915)
 * 1981 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (b. 1883)
 * 1988 – Rose Ausländer, Ukrainian-German poet and author (b. 1901)
 * 1989 – Sergei Sobolev, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1909)
 * 1992 – Judith Anderson, Australian actress (b. 1897)
 * 2002 – Satish Dhawan, Indian engineer (b. 1920)
 * 2003 – Sid Gillman, American football player and coach (b. 1911)
 * 2005 – Koo Chen-fu, Taiwanese businessman and diplomat (b. 1917)
 * 2005 – Egidio Galea, Maltese Roman Catholic priest, missionary, and educator (b. 1918)
 * 2005 – Jyotindra Nath Dixit, Indian diplomat, 2nd Indian National Security Adviser (b. 1936)
 * 2006 – Bill Skate, Papua New Guinean politician, 5th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1954)
 * 2007 – William Verity, Jr., American businessman and politician, 27th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1917)
 * 2008 – Jimmy Stewart, Scottish racing driver (b. 1931)
 * 2008 – Choi Yo-sam, South Korean boxer (b. 1972)
 * 2009 – Betty Freeman, American philanthropist and photographer (b. 1921)
 * 2009 – Pat Hingle, American actor (b. 1923)
 * 2009 – Hisayasu Nagata, Japanese politician (b. 1969)
 * 2010 – Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Chilean-German composer and academic (b. 1925)
 * 2010 – Mary Daly, American theologian and scholar (b. 1928)
 * 2012 – Vicar, Chilean cartoonist (b. 1934)
 * 2012 – Robert L. Carter, American lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
 * 2012 – Winifred Milius Lubell, American author and illustrator (b. 1914)
 * 2012 – Josef Škvorecký, Czech-Canadian author and publisher (b. 1924)
 * 2013 – Alfie Fripp, English soldier and pilot (b. 1913)
 * 2013 – Ivan Mackerle, Czech cryptozoologist, explorer, and author (b. 1942)
 * 2013 – William Maxson, American general (b. 1930)
 * 2013 – Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
 * 2014 – Phil Everly, American singer and guitarist (b. 1939)
 * 2014 – George Goodman, American economist and author (b. 1930)
 * 2014 – Saul Zaentz, American film producer (b. 1921)
 * 2015 – Martin Anderson, American economist and academic (b. 1936)
 * 2015 – Edward Brooke, American captain and politician, 47th Massachusetts Attorney General (b. 1919)
 * 2016 – Paul Bley, Canadian-American pianist and composer (b. 1932)
 * 2016 – Peter Naur, Danish computer scientist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1928)
 * 2016 – Bill Plager, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1945)
 * 2016 – Igor Sergun, Russian general and diplomat (b. 1957)
 * 2017 – H. S. Mahadeva Prasad, Indian politician (b. 1958)
 * 2018 – Colin Brumby, Australian composer (b. 1933)
 * 2019 – Herb Kelleher, American businessman, co-founder of Southwest Airlines (b. 1931)
 * 2020 – Qasem Soleimani, Iranian major general, commander of the Iranian Quds Force (b. 1957)
 * 2021 – Eric Jerome Dickey, American author (b. 1961)
 * 2023 – Elena Huelva, Spanish cancer activist and influencer (b. 2002)

Holidays and observances

 * Anniversary of the 1966 Coup d'état (Burkina Faso)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Daniel of Padua
 * Genevieve
 * Holy Name of Jesus
 * Kuriakose Elias Chavara (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church)
 * Pope Anterus
 * William Passavant (Episcopal Church)
 * January 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Ministry of Religious Affairs Day (Indonesia)
 * Tamaseseri Festival (Hakozaki Shrine, Fukuoka, Japan)
 * The tenth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)

title: January 3