1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, with all 7 crew members killed, including Christa McAuliffe who was to be the first teacher in space
1077 – German King Henry IV is absolved by Holy Roman Emperor Pope Gregory VII and invited back to the Church after his penitent Walk to Canossa
1099 – 1st Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria
1495 – Pope Alexander VI (Roderic Llançol i de Borgia) gives his son Cesare as hostage to Charles VIII of France
1521 – The Diet of Worms began, at which Protestant reformer Luther was declared an outlaw by the Roman Catholic church.
1547 – England’s King Henry VIII died. He was succeeded by his 9 year-old son, Edward VI.
1573 – Articles of Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland.
1624 – Sir Thomas Warner founds the first English colony in the Caribbean, on Saint Kitts.
1671 – Welsh pirate Henry Morgan captures Panama City from its Spanish defenders
1787 – Philadelphia’s Free Africa Society organizes
1788 – Lord Gordon found guilty of libel of Queen of France
1788 – The first British penal settlement was founded at Botany Bay.
1807 – London’s Pall Mall became the first street lit by gaslight.
1813 – Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, is published
1871 – France surrendered in the Franco-Prussian War.
1878 – The first telephone switchboard was installed in New Haven, CT.
1887 – In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world’s largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick
1902 – The Carnegie Institution was established in Washington, DC. It began with a gift of $10 million from Andrew Carnegie.
1909 – The United States ended direct control over Cuba.
1915 – The Coast Guard was created by an act of the U.S. Congress to fight contraband trade and aid distressed vessels at sea.
1915 – US President Woodrow Wilson refuses to prohibit immigration of illiterates
1916 – Louis D. Brandeis was appointed by President Wilson to the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming its first Jewish member.
1932 – 1st US state unemployment insurance act enacted (Wisconsin)
1935 – Iceland became the first country to introduce legalized abortion.
1944 – 683 British bombers attack Berlin
1945 – During World War II, Allied supplies began reaching China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
1950 – Preston Tucker, auto maker, found not guilty of mail fraud
1953 – 19-year old Derek Bentley is hanged in Wandsworth Prison, London, controversially convicted of the murder of a police officer. He was pardoned on 30th July 1998.
1958 – Construction began on first private thorium-uranium nuclear reactor.
1958 – The Lego brick is patented
1968 – Radiation alert following B-52 crash in Arctic air base of Thule in Greenland
1972 – The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association place “special emphasis on the necessity for a peaceful incident-free day” at the next march on 30 January in an effort to avoid violence
1978 – Ted Nugent autographs a fan’s arm with his knife
1980 – Six Americans who had fled the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, left Iran using false Canadian diplomatic passports. The Americans had been hidden at the Canadian embassy in Tehran.
1981 – Olympic Glory tanker at Galveston Bay, Texas, spills 1 million gallons of oil in a ship collision
1982 – Italian anti-terrorism forces rescued U.S. Brigadier General James L. Dozier. 42 days before he had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades.
1985 – USA for Africa record “We Are the World”
1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, with all 7 crew members killed, including Christa McAuliffe who was to be the first teacher in space https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/challenger-explodes
1988 – Canada’s Supreme court declares anti-abortion law unconstitutional
1991 – Dictator Siad Barre flees Somalia ending 22 year rule
1994 – In Los Angeles, Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg declared a mistrial in the case of Lyle Menendez in the murder of his parents. Lyle, and his brother Erik, were both retried later and were found guilty. They were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
1998 – In Manilla, Philippines, gunmen held at least 400 children and teachers for several hours at an elementary school.
2010 – Five murderers of Bangladeshi President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hanged: Lieutenant Colonel Syed Faruq Rahman, Lieutenant Colonel Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Major AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major Bazlul Huda and Lieutenant Colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed
2011 – Hundreds of thousands of protesters fill the Egyptian’s streets against the Hosni Mubarak’s regime in demonstrations referred to as the “Friday of Anger”
2012 – Death toll from coordinated bombing attacks in Kano, Nigeria, reaches 185
2014 – DNA analysis confirms that the 6th century Plague of Justinian was caused by a variant of Yersinia pestis (the same bacteria for the Black Death)
2017 – US President Donald Trump and Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull have a contentious phone call over deal for US to take 1,250 refugees
2019 – Draft framework for peace agreement to end 17-year conflict in Afghanistan agreed by US and Afghan negotiators
2021 – Share trading app Robinhood, favored by Reddit, suspends trading of Gamestop amid huge surge in share price of the previously short listed stock by Wall Street
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
