0915 – Pope John X crowns Berengar I of Italy as Holy Roman Emperor.[1]
1775 – USS Alfred becomes the first vessel to fly the Grand Union Flag (the precursor to the Stars and Stripes); the flag is hoisted by John Paul Jones.[2]
1799 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Wiesloch: Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal Anton Sztáray defeats the French at Wiesloch.[3]
1800 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Hohenlinden: French General Moreau decisively defeats the Archduke John of Austria near Munich. Coupled with First ConsulNapoleon Bonaparte's earlier victory at Marengo, this will force the Austrians to sign an armistice and end the war.[4]
1800 – 1800 United States presidential election The Electoral College casts votes for President and Vice President that resulted in a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
1834 – The Zollverein (German Customs Union) begins the first regular census in Germany.
1854 – Battle of the Eureka Stockade: More than 20 gold miners at Ballarat, Victoria, are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences.
1898 – The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club defeated an all-star collection of early football players 16–0, in what is considered to be the very first all-star game for professional American football.
1901 – In a State of the Union message, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a 20,000-word speech to the House of Representatives asking Congress to curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits".
1904 – The Jovian moonHimalia is discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at California's Lick Observatory.
1910 – Modern neon lighting is first demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.
1912 – Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League) sign an armistice with the Ottoman Empire, temporarily halting the First Balkan War. (The armistice will expire on February 3, 1913, and hostilities will resume.)
1919 – After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, including two collapses causing 89 deaths, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.
1920 – Following more than a month of Turkish–Armenian War, the Turkish dictated Treaty of Alexandropol is concluded.
1927 – Putting Pants on Philip, the first Laurel and Hardy film, is released.
1929 – President Herbert Hoover delivers his first State of the Union message to Congress. It was presented in the form of a written message rather than a speech.[5]
1944 – Greek Civil War: Fighting breaks out in Athens between the ELAS and government forces supported by the British Army.
1959 – The current flag of Singapore is adopted, six months after Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire.
1967 – At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, a transplant team headed by Christiaan Barnard carries out the first heart transplant on a human (53-year-old Louis Washkansky).
1971 – Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: Pakistan launches a pre-emptive strike against India and a full-scale war begins.
1973 – Pioneer program: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.
1976 – An assassination attempt is made on Bob Marley in Kingston, Jamaica just two days before the "Smile Jamaica", a free concert.
1979 – In Cincinnati, 11 fans are suffocated in a crush for seats on the concourse outside Riverfront Coliseum before a Who concert.
1979 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini becomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran.
1982 – A soil sample is taken from Times Beach, Missouri, that will be found to contain 300 times the safe level of dioxin.
1984 – Bhopal disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills more than 3,800 people outright and injures 150,000–600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom would later die from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
1989 – Cold War: In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between NATO and the Soviet Union may be coming to an end.
1992 – The Greek oil tankerAegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching A Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo.
1992 – A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world's first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague.
1994 – The PlayStation developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment was released in Japan
1994 – Taiwan held the first full local elections; James Soong elected as the first and only direct elected Governor of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian became the first direct elected Mayor of Taipei, Wu Den-yih became the first directed Mayor of Kaohsiung.
1995 – Cameroon Airlines Flight 3701 crashes on approach to Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, killing 71 of the 76 people on board.[6]
1997 – In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign the Ottawa Treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however.
1999 – NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
2005 – XCOR Aerospace makes the first manned rocket aircraft delivery of U.S. Mail in Kern County, California.
2007 – Winter storms cause the Chehalis River to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington, and close a 20-mile portion of Interstate 5 for several days. At least eight deaths and billions of dollars in damages are blamed on the floods.
2009 – A suicide bombing at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, kills 25 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government.
2012 – At least 475 people are killed after Typhoon Bopha makes landfall in the Philippines.
2014 – The Japanese space agency, JAXA, launches the space explorer Hayabusa2 from the Tanegashima Space Center on a six-year round trip mission to an asteroid to collect rock samples.
Births[]
1368 – Charles VI of France (d. 1422)
1447 – Bayezid II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1512)
1483 – Nicolaus von Amsdorf, German theologian and Protestant reformer (d. 1565)
1560 – Jan Gruter, Dutch scholar and critic (d. 1627)
1590 – Daniel Seghers, Flemish Jesuit brother and painter (d. 1661)
1596 – Nicola Amati, Italian instrument maker (d. 1684)[7]
1616 – John Wallis, English mathematician and cryptographer (d. 1703)
1684 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian historian and writer (d. 1754)
1722 – Hryhorii Skovoroda, Ukrainian poet, composer, and philosopher (d. 1794)
1729 – Antonio Soler, Spanish composer and theorist (d. 1783)
1730 – Mahadaji Shinde, Maratha ruler of Gwalior (d. 1794)
1755 – Gilbert Stuart, American painter (d. 1828)
1793 – Clarkson Frederick Stanfield, English painter and academic (d. 1867)
1800 – France Prešeren, Slovenian poet and lawyer (d. 1849)
1810 – Louisa Susannah Cheves McCord, American author and political essayist (d. 1879)[8]
1826 – George B. McClellan, American general and politician, 24th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1885)
1833 – Carlos Finlay, Cuban epidemiologist and physician (d. 1915)
1838 – Cleveland Abbe, American meteorologist and academic (d. 1916)
1838 – Octavia Hill, English activist and author (d. 1912)
1838 – Princess Louise of Prussia (d. 1923)
1842 – Phoebe Hearst, American philanthropist and activist (d. 1919)
1842 – Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American businessman, founded the Pillsbury Company (d. 1899)
1842 – Ellen Swallow Richards, American chemist, ecologist, and educator (d. 1911)
1848 – William Shiels, Irish-Australian politician, 16th Premier of Victoria (d. 1904)
1850 – Richard Butler, English-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of South Australia (d. 1925)
1856 – George Leake, Australian politician, 3rd Premier of Western Australia (d. 1902)
1857 – Joseph Conrad, Polish-born British novelist (d. 1924)
1857 – Mathilde Kralik, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1944)
1863 – Gussie Davis, African-American songwriter (d. 1899)
1864 – Herman Heijermans, Dutch author and playwright (d. 1924)
1867 – William John Bowser, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of British Columbia (d. 1933)
1872 – Arthur Charles Hardy, Canadian lawyer and politician, Canadian Speaker of the Senate (d. 1962)
1872 – William Haselden, English cartoonist (d. 1953)
1875 – Max Meldrum, Scottish-Australian painter and educator (d. 1955)
1878 – Francis A. Nixon, American businessman (d. 1956)
1879 – Albert Asher, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1965)
1879 – Charles Hutchison, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1949)
1879 – Kafū Nagai, Japanese author and playwright (d. 1959)
1879 – Donald Matheson Sutherland, Canadian physician and politician, 5th Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 1970)
1880 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (d. 1945)
1883 – Anton Webern, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1945)
1884 – Rajendra Prasad, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st President of India (d. 1963)
1884 – Walther Stampfli, Swiss lawyer and politician, 50th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1965)
1886 – Manne Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
1887 – Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, Japanese general and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1990)