History on this day

• 1348 Earthquake destroys Villach, killing 5,000
• 1494 Alfonso II succeeds his father as king of Naples
• 1554 Sir Thomas Wyatt gathers an army in Kent, rebels against Queen Mary
• 1554 Founding of the city of São Paulo in Brazil
• 1565 Battle at Talikota India: Deccan sultanate destroy Vijayanagar's army and the last Hindu kingdom of Southern India
• 1573 Battle of Mikatagahara, in Japan; Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.
• 1579 Treaty of Utrecht signed, marks beginning of Dutch Republic
• 1755 Moscow University established on Tatiana Day.
• 1775 Americans drag cannon up hill to fight British (Gun Hill Road, Bronx)
• 1787 Shays' Rebellion suffers a setback when debt-ridden farmers, led by Capt Daniel Shays, fail to capture an arsenal at Springfield, Mass
• 1792 The London Corresponding Society is founded.
• 1799 1st US patent for a seeding machine, Eliakim Spooner, Vermont
• • 1817 Rossini's opera "La Cenerentola" premieres in Rome
  • 1825 1st US engineering college opens, Rensselaer Polytechnic, Troy, NY
  • 1835 Vincenzo Bellini's opera "I Puritani" premieres in Paris
  • 1840 American naval expedition under Charles Wilkes is first to identify Antarctica as a new continent
  • 1844 Recontre between Reps Weller & Shriver, US House of Representative
  • 1854 Aleksandr Ostrovsky's "Bednost ne Porok" premieres in Moscow
  • 1856 Battle of Seattle; skirmish between settlers & Indians
  • 1863 General Joseph Hooker replaces Burnside as head of Army of Potomac
  • 1865 CSS Shenandoah arrives in Melbourne, Australia
  • 1870 Soda fountain patented by Gustavus Dows
  • 1875 Anti-slavery society forms (NY)
  • 1882 Bilu, a Russian Zionist organization, forms
  • 1885 Vincent d'Indy's "Saugefleurie" premieres
  • 1890 National Afro-American League forms in Chicago
  • 1890 Nellie Bly beats Phileas Fogg's time around world by 8 days (72 days)
  • 1890 United Mine Workers of America forms
  • 1894 James J Corbett KOs Charley Mitchell in 3 for heavyweight boxing title
  • 1902 Aleksandr Skriabin's 2nd Symphony in C premieres in St Petersburg
  • 1904 179 die in coal mine explosion at Cheswick, Pennsylvania
  • 1904 J M Synge's "Ruders to the Sea" premieres in Dublin
  • 1906 Del Valle Inclans "El Marqués de Bradomin" premieres in Madrid
  • 1907 Julia Ward Howe is first woman elected to National Institute of Arts & Letters (USA)
  • 1908 John Blockx's opera "Baldie" premieres in Antwerp
  • 1909 Richard Strauss' premier of "Elektra" in Dresden
  • 1910 1st stumping by a 12th man in Tests (N C Tufnell, SAf v Eng)
  • 1910 Children initiate idea of planting trees in Jerusalem
  • 1915 Alexander Graham Bell in NY calls Thomas Watson in SF
  • 1915 Giordano, Sardou & Moreau's opera "Madame Sans Gêne" premieres in NYC
  • 1915 Transcontinental telephone service inaugurated (NY to SF)
  • 1916 Montenegro surrenders to Austria-Hungary
  • 1918 Russia declared a republic of Soviets
  • 1919 Founding of League of Nations, 1st meeting 1 year later
  • 1921 Karel Capék's "RUR" premieres in Prague
  • 1923 NVV donates 100,000 guilders to mine workers of Ruhrgebied
  • 1924 1st Winter Olympic games open in Chamonix, France
  • 1930 23rd Women's Australian Championships: Daphne Akhurst Cozens beats Sylvia Lance Harper (10-8, 2-6, 7-5)
  • 1930 23rd Men's Australian Championships: Edgar Moon beats Harry Hopman (6-3, 6-1, 6-3)
  • 1932 1st commencement exercises at Hebrew U in Jerusalem
  • 1932 Bradman scores 167 NSW v Victoria, 224 mins, 22 fours
  • 1937 1st broadcast of "Guiding Light" on NBC radio
  • 1937 Miami-to-Tampa bus overturned in a canal, kills 13
  • 1938 Ian Hay's "Bachelor Born" premieres in NYC
  • 1939 Earthquake hits Chillan Chile, 10,000 killed
  • 1945 Dan Topping, Del Webb & Larry MacPhail purchase NY Yanks for $2.8 mil
  • 1945 Grand Rapids, Michigan, becomes 1st US city to fluoridate its water
  • 1945 Japanese occupiers of Batavia arrest Indo-European youths
  • 1945 NY Yankees sold by Ruppert estate to construction magnate Del Webb and partners Dan Topping and Larry MacPhail for $2.8 million
  • 1945 West Africa 82nd division occupies Myohaung, Burma
  • 1946 Richard Strauss' "Metamorphosis" premieres in Zurich
  • 1946 United Mine Workers union rejoins American Federation of Labor
  • 1949 1st Emmy Awards: Shirley Dinsdale & Pantomime Quiz (KTLA) win
  • 1949 1st Israeli election won by David Ben-Gurion's Mapai party
  • 1950 73°F (23°C) highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in January
  • 1953 WABI TV channel 5 in Bangor, ME (CBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1953 Yuri Sergejev skates world record 500m in 40.9 sec
  • 1955 Jill Kinmont hits a tree & breaks her back in Snow Cup Ski Race
  • 1955 Russia ends state of war with Germany
  • 1955 US & Panama sign canal treaty
  • 1955 Columbia University scientists develope an atomic clock accurate to within one second in 300 years
  • 1956 96.5 cm (38.0") of rainfall, Kilauea Plantation, HI (state record)
  • 1957 FBI arrests Jack & Myra Sobel, charged with spying for USSR
  • 1959 1st transcontinental commercial jet flight (American) (LA to NY for $301)
  • 1964 Beatles 1st US #1, "I Want to Hold your Hand" (Cashbox)
  • 1964 Echo 2, US communications satellite launched
  • 1966 WCMC (now WMGM) TV channel 40 in Wildwood, NJ (NBC) 1st broadcast
  • 1968 Risse St in Bronx named
  • 1968 Robert Anderson's "I Never Sang for My Father" premieres in NYC
  • 1969 US-North Vietnamese peace talks begin in Paris
  • 1970 Robert Altman's film M*A*S*H premieres
  • 1971 WHMB TV channel 40 in Indianapolis, IN (IND) begins broadcasting
  • 1971 The 170 delegates of the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) call for the resignation of Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark
  • 1972 25th NHL All-Star Game: East beats West 3-2 at Minnesota
  • 1972 7' Ohio State center Luke Witte is stomped in face during a brawl in a game with Minnesota
  • 1974 Christian Barnard transplants 1st human heart without removal of old
  • 1976 Surinder Amarnath scores 124 on Test debut Ind v NZ Auckland
  • 1978 Muriel Humphrey (D-Mn) appointed to fill late husband's Senate seat
  • 1978 Padres trade pitcher Dave Tomlin & $125,000 to Rangers for Gaylord Perry (He wins 1978 Cy Young Award)
  • 1979 22.2-km Oshimizu railroad tunnel holed through, central Honshu, Japan
  • 1979 1st documented case of a robot killing a human in US
  • 1980 Bani Sadr elected president of Iran
  • 1980 Dutch government demands boycott of Olympics
  • 1980 Highest speed attained by a warship, 167 kph, USN hovercraft
  • 1983 China's supreme court commutes Chiang Ch'ing's death sentence to life
  • 1983 Infrared telescope satellite launched into polar orbit
  • 1983 Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie arrested in Bolivia
  • 1985 "Black & Blue" premieres in Paris
  • 1985 Test debut of Wasim Akram, v New Zealand at Auckland (2-105)
  • 1986 General Tito Okello's government flees Kampala Uganda
  • 1987 Super Bowl XXI: NY Giants beat Denver Broncos, 39-20 in Pasadena Super Bowl MVP: Phil Simms, NY Giants, QB
  • 1991 Manuel Noriega is given access to assets frozen by US government
  • 1991 Mark Waugh scores ton in 1st Test Cricket innings, v England Adelaide
  • 1991 Soap opera "Generation's" last episode after a 2½ year run
  • 1992 Dan Jansen skates world record 500m in 36.41"
  • 1992 Hubble space telescope optics finds NGC3862/3C264
  • 1993 Puerto Rico adds English as its 2nd official language
  • 1993 Sears announces it is closing its catalog sales dept after 97 years
  • 1993 Five people were shot outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia resulting in two murders.
  • 1994 Australia beat South Africa 2-1 to win cricket's World Series Cup
  • 1994 Mine fire at Asansol, India, kills 55
  • 1994 US space probe Clementine launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
  • 1994 Accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy, Michael Jackson settles a civil lawsuit out of court
  • 1995 Jacques Santer succeeds Jacques Delors as chairman of Euro Committee
  • 1998 Musical "Grease" closes at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC after 1,503 performance
  • 1998 "Patti LaBelle On Broadway" closes at St James Theater NYC
  • 1998 Super Bowl XXXII: Denver Broncos beat Green Bay Packers 31-24
  • 1998 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide attack on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth, killing 8 people injuring 25 others.
  • 1998 Pope John Paul II visits Cuba and demands the release of political prisoners; he also condemns US moves to isolate the country
  • 1998 14th Sundance Film Festival: "Slam" wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
  • 1999 Earthquake hits Colombia, South America, killing around 300 and injuring 1000
  • 1999 After an inquiry into a corruption scandal, 6 International Olympic Committee members are expelled
  • 2001 A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24
  • 2002 Wikipedia switches to the new version of its software ("Phase II") aka Magnus Manske Day.
  • 2004 Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.
  • 2004 20th Sundance Film Festival: "Primer", directed by Shane Carruth, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
  • 2005 A stampede at the Mandher Devi temple in Mandhradevi in India kills at least 258.
  • 2006 Three independent observing campaigns announce the discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb through gravitational microlensing, the first cool rocky/icy extrasolar planet around a main-sequence star.
  • 2009 57th NHL All-Star Game: East beats West 12-11 at Montreal, Quebec
  • 2009 25th Sundance Film Festival: "Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire" wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
  • 2010 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, killing all 90 people on-board.
  • 2011 Egyptian Revolution of 2011 begins with a series of street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, labor strikes and violent clashes in Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities
  • 2011 UK authorities annouce UK has suffered shock contraction of 0.5% in the 2010 fourth quarter, due to severe winter weather and budget cuts implemented by the coalition government, increasing fears UK headed for a double-dip recession
  • 2013 8 people are killed by 2 car bombs in Golan Heights, Syria
  • 2013 Islamist forces are driven out of Hombori by the Malian army
  • 2013 6 civilians and 1 police officer are shot dead and 456 people are injured during a nationwide protest against Egypt’s 2011 revolution
  • 2013 50 people are killed and 90 are injured in a prison riot in Barquisimeto, Venezuela
  • 2013 Tropical cyclone Oswald makes landfall in Queensland, Australia, causing mass flooding
  • 2013 Initial GDP figures for the fourth quarter of 2012 show the UK economy shrank by 0.3% raising fears of a triple dip recession
  • 2014 102nd Women's Australian Open: Li Na beats Dominika Cibulková (7-6, 6-0)
  • 2015 Miss Colombia Paulina Vega is crowned Miss Universe 2014
  • 2015 60th NHL All-Star Game: Team Toews beats Team Foligno 17-12 at Columbus, Ohio
  • 2015 NFL Pro Bowl: Team Irvin beats Team Carter 32-28
  • 2016 British rowing team becomes first female crew and first crew of four to cross the Pacific, San Francisco to Cairns in 257 days