January 28

January 28 in recent years

2024 (Sunday)

2023 (Saturday)

2022 (Friday)

2021 (Thursday)

2020 (Tuesday)

2019 (Monday)

2018 (Sunday)

2017 (Saturday)

2016 (Thursday)

2015 (Wednesday)

January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 337 days remain until the end of the year (338 in leap years).

Events

• 814 – Charlemagne dies of pleurisy in Aachen as the first Holy Roman Emperor. He is succeeded by his son Louis the Pious as king of the Frankish Empire.
• 1077 – Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor is lifted.
• 1393 – King Charles VI of France is nearly killed when several dancers' costumes catch fire during a masquerade ball.
• 1521 – The Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25.
• 1547 – Henry VIII dies. His nine-year-old son, Edward VI becomes King.
• 1573 – Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland.
• 1624 – Sir Thomas Warner founds the first British colony in the Caribbean, on the island of Saint Kitts.
• 1701 – The Chinese storm Dartsedo.
• 1724 – The Russian Academy of Sciences is founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented by Senate decree. It is called the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917.
• 1754 – Horace Walpole coins the word serendipity in a letter to Horace Mann.
• 1760 – Pownal, Vermont, is created by Benning Wentworth as one of the New Hampshire Grants.
• 1813 – Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom.
• 1820 – A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovers the Antarctic continent, approaching the Antarctic coast.
• 1821 – Alexander Island is first discovered by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen.
• 1846 – The Battle of Aliwal, India, is won by British troops commanded by Sir Harry Smith.
• 1851 – Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois.
• 1855 – A locomotive on the Panama Canal Railway, runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
• 1871 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Paris ends in French defeat and an armistice.
• 1878 – Yale Daily News becomes the first daily college newspaper in the United States.
• 1887 – In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.
• 1896 – Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h).
• 1902 – The Carnegie Institution of Washington is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.
• 1908 – Members of the Portuguese Republican Party fail in their attempted coup d'état against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco.
• 1909 – United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish–American War.
• 1915 – An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces.
• 1918 – Finnish Civil War: Rebels seize control of the capital, Helsinki, and members of the Senate of Finland go underground.
• 1922 – Knickerbocker Storm, Washington D.C.'s biggest snowfall, causes the city's greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapses.
• 1932 – Japanese forces attack Shanghai.
• 1933 – The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by the Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
• 1934 – The first ski tow in the United States begins operation in Vermont.
• 1935 – Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion.
• 1938 – The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W195 at a speed of 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph).
• 1941 – Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
• 1945 – World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
• 1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first US television appearance
• 1958 – The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.
• 1960 – The National Football League announced expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season and Minneapolis-St. Paul for 1961 NFL season.
• 1960 – The last episode of the British radio comedy programme The Goon Show is broadcast.
• 1964 – An unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.
• 1965 – The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament.
• 1977 – The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977 which dumps 10 feet (3.0 m) of snow in one day in Upstate New York, with Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and surrounding areas most affected.
• 1979 – CBS News Sunday Morning debuts with original host and cocreator Charles Kuralt.
• 1979 – Pope John Paul II starts his first pastoral visit to Mexico.
• 1980 – USCGC Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa, Florida and capsizes, killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
• 1981 – Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.
• 1982 – US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.
• 1984 – Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region.
• 1985 – Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.
• 1986 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger explodes after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.
• 1988 – In R v Morgentaler the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down all anti-abortion laws, effectively allowing abortions in Canada in all nine months of pregnancy.
• 2002 – TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia, killing 92.
• 2006 – The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair in Chorzów/Katowice, Poland, collapses due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others.
• 2010 – Five murderers of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh are hanged.

Births

• 1312 – Joan II of Navarre (d. 1349)
• 1457 – Henry VII of England (d. 1509)
• 1540 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German-Dutch mathematician and academic (d. 1610)
• 1578 – Cornelius Haga, Dutch diplomat (d. 1654)
• 1582 – John Barclay, French-Scottish poet and author (d. 1621)
• 1600 – Pope Clement IX (d. 1669)
• 1608 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (d. 1679)
• 1611 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (d. 1687)
• 1622 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer and instrument maker (d. 1691)
• 1693 – Gregor Werner, Austrian composer (d. 1766)
• 1701 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (d. 1774)
• 1706 – John Baskerville, English printer and typographer (d. 1775)
• 1712 – Tokugawa Ieshige, Japanese shogun (d. 1761)
• 1717 – Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1774)
• 1719 – Johann Elias Schlegel, German poet and critic (d. 1749)
• 1719 – Christian Felix Weiße, German writer and pedagogue (d. 1802)
• 1755 – Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring, Polish-German physician, anthropologist, and paleontologist (d. 1830)
• 1784 – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Scottish politician; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1860)
• 1797 – Charles Gray Round, English barrister and politician (d. 1867)
• 1818 – George S. Boutwell, American lawyer and politician, 28th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1905)
• 1822 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian soldier, journalist, and politician; 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1892)
• 1833 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (d. 1885)
• 1841 – Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh-American explorer and journalist (d. 1904)
• 1843 – Mihkel Veske, Estonian poet and linguist (d. 1890)
• 1853 – José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, and theorist (d. 1895)
• 1853 – Vladimir Solovyov, Russian philosopher, poet, and critic (d. 1900)
• 1857 – William Seward Burroughs I, American businessman, founded the Burroughs Corporation (d. 1898)
• 1858 – Tannatt William Edgeworth David, Welsh-Australian geologist and explorer (d. 1934)
• 1861 – Julián Felipe, Filipino composer and educator (d. 1944)
• 1863 – Ernest William Christmas, Australian-American painter (d. 1918)
• 1864 – Charles Williams Nash, American businessman, founded Nash Motors (d. 1948)
• 1864 – Herbert Akroyd Stuart, English engineer; invented the hot-bulb engine and Hornsby-Akroyd oil engine (d. 1927)
• 1865 – Lala Lajpat Rai, Indian author and politician (d. 1928)
• 1865 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, Finnish lawyer, judge, and politician, 1st President of Finland (d. 1952)
• 1873 – Colette, French novelist and journalist (d. 1954)
• 1875 – Julián Carrillo, Mexican violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1965)
• 1878 – Walter Kollo, German composer (d. 1940)
• 1884 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (d. 1962)
• 1885 – Vahan Terian, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1920)
• 1886 – Marthe Bibesco, Romanian-French author and poet (d. 1973)
• 1886 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese engineer and academic (d. 1976)
• 1887 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist (d. 1982)
• 1890 – Robert Stroud, American ornithologist, convicted murderer (d. 1963)
• 1897 – Valentin Kataev, Russian author and playwright (d. 1986)
• 1899 – Elias Simojoki, Finnish priest and activist (d. 1940)
• 1900 – Alice Neel, American painter (d. 1984)
• 1903 – Aleksander Kamiński, Polish author and educator (d. 1978)
• 1904 – Canuplin, Filipino magician and actor (d. 1979)
• 1906 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (d. 1992)
• 1908 – Paul Misraki, Turkish-French composer and historian (d. 1998)
• 1909 – John Thomson, Scottish footballer (d. 1931)
• 1910 – John Banner, Austrian actor (d. 1973)
• 1910 – Arnold Moss, American actor (d. 1989)
• 1911 – Johan van Hulst, Dutch academic and politician
• 1912 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956)
• 1915 – Nien Cheng, Chinese-American author (d. 2009)
• 1918 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician (d. 2004)
• 1919 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (d. 2002)
• 1922 – Anna Gordy Gaye, American businesswoman, composer and songwriter (d. 2014)
• 1922 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
• 1924 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (d. 1976)
• 1925 – Raja Ramanna, Indian physicist and politician (d. 2004)
• 1927 – Eşref Kolçak, Turkish actor
• 1927 – Per Oscarsson, Swedish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
• 1927 – Ronnie Scott, English saxophonist (The Jazz Couriers) (d. 1996)
• 1927 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
• 1929 – Acker Bilk, English singer and clarinet player (d. 2014)
• 1929 – Nikolai Parshin, Russian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
• 1929 – Claes Oldenburg, Swedish-American sculptor and illustrator
• 1930 – Jasraj, Indian singer
• 1930 – Kurt Biedenkopf, German academic and politician, 54th President of the German Bundesrat
• 1930 – Roy Clarke, English soldier and screenwriter
• 1930 – Ruth Cohen, American actress (d. 2008)
• 1934 – Juan Manuel Bordeu, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1990)
• 1934 – Mitr Chaibancha, Thai actor and producer (d. 1970)
• 1935 – David Lodge, English author and critic
• 1935 – Nicholas Pryor, American actor
• 1936 – Alan Alda, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1936 – Ismail Kadare, Albanian author and poet
• 1937 – Karel Čáslavský, Czech historian and television host (d. 2013)
• 1938 – Tomas Lindahl, Swedish-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1938 – Leonid Zhabotinsky, Ukrainian weightlifter (d. 2016)
• 1939 – John M. Fabian, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
• 1940 – Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman, founded Grupo Carso
• 1941 – Joel Crothers, American actor (d. 1985)
• 1941 – King Tubby, Jamaican DJ, producer, and engineer (d. 1989)
• 1942 – Sjoukje Dijkstra, Dutch figure skater
• 1942 – Erkki Pohjanheimo, Finnish TV-producer and director
• 1943 – John Beck, American actor
• 1943 – Paul Henderson, Canadian ice hockey player and minister
• 1944 – Bobby Ball, English comedian, actor, and singer
• 1944 – Tim Heald, English journalist and author
• 1944 – Susan Howard, American actress and screenwriter
• 1944 – Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (d. 2013)
• 1944 – John Tavener, English composer (d. 2013)
• 1945 – Maxwell Fuller, Australian chess player (d. 2013)
• 1945 – Karen Lynn Gorney, American actress and singer
• 1945 – Marthe Keller, Swiss actress and director
• 1945 – John Perkins, American author and activist
• 1945 – Robert Wyatt, English singer-songwriter and drummer
• 1947 – Jeanne Shaheen, American educator and politician; 78th Governor of New Hampshire
• 1948 – Bob Moses, American drummer
• 1948 – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian dancer, choreographer, and actor
• 1948 – Charles Taylor, Liberian politician, 22nd President of Liberia
• 1949 – Mike Moore, New Zealand politician, 34th Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1949 – Gregg Popovich, American basketball player and coach
• 1950 – Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahraini king
• 1950 – Barbi Benton, American model, actress, and singer
• 1950 – David C. Hilmers, American colonel, physician, and astronaut
• 1950 – Naila Kabeer, Bangladeshi-English economist and academic
• 1951 – Brian Bilbray, American politician
• 1951 – Leonid Kadeniuk, Ukrainian general, pilot, and astronaut
• 1952 – Richard Glatzer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
• 1952 – Tomokazu Miura, Japanese actor (RC Succession)
• 1953 – Colin Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1954 – Peter Lampe, German theologian and historian
• 1954 – Bruno Metsu, French footballer and manager (d. 2013)
• 1954 – Kaneto Shiozawa, Japanese voice actor (d. 2000)
• 1954 – Rick Warren, American pastor and author
• 1955 – Vinod Khosla, Indian-American businessman; co-founded Sun Microsystems
• 1955 – Nicolas Sarkozy, French lawyer and politician, 23rd President of France
• 1956 – Richard Danielpour, American composer
• 1957 – Kent Kessler, American bassist
• 1957 – Mark Napier, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
• 1957 – Nick Price, South African-Zimbabwean golfer
• 1957 – Frank Skinner, English comedian, actor, and author
• 1959 – Frank Darabont, American director and producer
• 1960 – Loren Legarda, Filipino journalist and politician
• 1961 – Arnaldur Indriðason, Icelandic author
• 1962 – Keith Hamilton Cobb, American actor
• 1962 – Sam Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1963 – Dan Spitz, American guitarist
• 1964 – Juergen Teller, German-English photographer
• 1965 – Lynda Boyd, Canadian actress, singer, and dancer
• 1966 – Seiji Mizushima, Japanese director and producer
• 1967 – Billy Brownless, Australian footballer and sportscaster
• 1967 – Jan Lamb, Chinese singer and actor
• 1968 – Rakim, American rapper (Eric B. & Rakim)
• 1968 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
• 1968 – DJ Muggs, American DJ and producer (Cypress Hill and The 7A3)
• 1969 – Kathryn Morris, American actress
• 1969 – Mo Rocca, American comedian and television journalist
• 1969 – Linda Sánchez, American lawyer and politician
• 1971 – Anthony Hamilton, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1972 – Léon van Bon, Dutch cyclist
• 1974 – Tony Delk, American basketball player and coach
• 1974 – Ramsey Nasr, Dutch author and poet
• 1974 – Magglio Ordóñez, Venezuelan baseball player and politician
• 1974 – Jermaine Dye, American baseball player
• 1975 – Shark Boy, American wrestler
• 1975 – Tanya Chua, Singaporean singer-songwriter and producer
• 1975 – Terri Conn, American actress
• 1975 – Hiroshi Kamiya, Japanese voice actor and singer
• 1975 – Pedro Pinto, Portuguese-American journalist
• 1975 – Junior Spivey, American baseball player and coach
• 1976 – Sireli Bobo, Fijian rugby player
• 1976 – Lee Ingleby, English actor
• 1976 – Emiko Kado, Japanese wrestler (d. 1999)
• 1976 – Mark Madsen, American basketball player
• 1976 – Rick Ross, American rapper and producer
• 1976 – Miltiadis Sapanis, Greek footballer
• 1977 – Matt DeVries, American guitarist
• 1977 – Joey Fatone, American singer, dancer, and actor (*NSYNC)
• 1977 – Takuma Sato, Japanese race car driver
• 1978 – Sheamus, Irish wrestler and actor
• 1978 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer
• 1978 – Jamie Carragher, English footballer and sportscaster
• 1978 – Papa Bouba Diop, Senegalese footballer
• 1979 – Ali Boulala, Swedish skateboarder
• 1980 – Nick Carter, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actor (Backstreet Boys)
• 1980 – Yasuhito Endō, Japanese footballer
• 1980 – Michael Hastings, American journalist and author (d. 2013)
• 1980 – Jesse James Hollywood, American murderer
• 1981 – Gen Hoshino, Japanese singer-songwriter, lyricist, actor, and voice actor
• 1981 – Elijah Wood, American actor and producer
• 1984 – Andre Iguodala, American basketball player
• 1985 – Daniel Carcillo, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1985 – J. Cole, German-American rapper and producer
• 1985 – Lauris Dārziņš, Latvian ice hockey player
• 1985 – Arnold Mvuemba, French footballer
• 1985 – Libby Trickett, Australian swimmer
• 1986 – Jessica Ennis-Hill, English heptathlete and hurdler
• 1986 – Shruti Haasan, Indian actress and singer
• 1986 – Nathan Outteridge, Australian sailor
• 1986 – Antonis Petropoulos, Greek footballer
• 1986 – Blake Riley, American porn actor
• 1986 – Asad Shafiq, Pakistani cricketer
• 1988 – AKA, South African hip hop musician and record producer
• 1988 – Paul Henry, English footballer
• 1988 – Seiya Sanada, Japanese wrestler
• 1989 – Siem de Jong, Dutch footballer
• 1989 – Ronny Philp, Romanian-German footballer
• 1990 – Kalifa Faifai Loa, New Zealand rugby player
• 1990 – Zhang Kailin, Chinese tennis player
• 1991 – Carl Klingberg, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1991 – Calum Worthy, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1992 – Sergio Araujo, Argentinian footballer
• 1992 – Andrei Savchenko, Russian footballer
• 1993 – Richmond Boakye, Ghanaian footballer
• 1993 – Will Poulter, English actor
• 1998 – Ariel Winter, American actress and singer

Deaths

• 592 – Guntram, French king (b. 532)
• 814 – Charlemagne, Roman emperor (b. 742)
• 1061 – Spytihněv II, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1031)
• 1271 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of France (b. 1247)
• 1443 – Robert le Maçon, French diplomat (b. 1365)
• 1547 – Henry VIII of England (b. 1491)
• 1613 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founded the Bodleian Library (b. 1545)
• 1621 – Pope Paul V (b. 1550)
• 1672 – Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (b. 1588)
• 1681 – Richard Allestree, English priest and academic (b. 1619)
• 1687 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (b. 1611)
• 1697 – Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet, English general and politician (b. 1645)
• 1754 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian-Danish historian and philosopher (b. 1684)
• 1802 – Joseph Wall, Irish born British Army officer and Lieutenant Governor of Gorée (b. 1737)
• 1832 – Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (b. 1769)
• 1859 – F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, English politician; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1782)
• 1864 – Émile Clapeyron, French physicist and engineer (b. 1799)
• 1903 – Augusta Holmès, French pianist and composer (b. 1847)
• 1912 – Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist and theorist (b. 1819)
• 1918 – John McCrae, Canadian soldier, physician, and author (b. 1872)
• 1921 – Mustafa Suphi, Turkish journalist and politician (b. 1883)
• 1930 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (b. 1878)
• 1935 – Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer and conductor (b. 1859)
• 1937 – Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect and target shooter (b. 1862)
• 1938 – Bernd Rosemeyer, German race car driver (b. 1909)
• 1939 – W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and playwright; Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
• 1942 – Edward Siegler, American gymnast and triathlete (b. 1881)
• 1945 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant (b. 1924)
• 1947 – Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan-French composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1875)
• 1948 – Hans Aumeier, German SS officer (b. 1906)
• 1948 – Therese Brandl, German concentration camp guard (b. 1902)
• 1948 – Arthur Liebehenschel, German SS officer (b. 1901)
• 1949 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (b. 1908)
• 1950 – Nikolai Luzin, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1883)
• 1953 – James Scullin, Australian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1876)
• 1953 – Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish philosopher and poet (b. 1879)
• 1959 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (b. 1899)
• 1960 – Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, anthropologist, and short story writer (b. 1891)
• 1962 – Hermann Wlach, Austrian-Swiss actor (b. 1884)
• 1963 – Gustave Garrigou, French cyclist (b. 1884)
• 1965 – Tich Freeman, English cricketer (b. 1888)
• 1965 – Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general (b. 1867)
• 1967 – Ruut Tarmo, Estonian actor and director (b. 1896)
• 1968 – Aleksander Maaker, Estonian bagpipe player (b. 1890)
• 1971 – Donald Winnicott, English paediatrician and psychoanalyst (b. 1896)
• 1973 – John Banner, Austrian actor (b. 1910)
• 1975 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (b. 1887)
• 1976 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (b. 1924)
• 1978 – Ward Moore, American author (b. 1903)
• 1979 – Eileen Shanahan, Irish poet (b. 1901)
• 1983 – Frank Forde, Australian educator and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1890)
• 1983 – Billy Fury, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1940)
• 1986 – crew of Space Shuttle Challenger
  • – Gregory Jarvis, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1944)
  • – Christa McAuliffe, American educator and astronaut (b. 1948)
  • – Ronald McNair, American physicist and astronaut (b. 1950)
  • – Ellison Onizuka, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1946)
  • – Judith Resnik, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1949)
  • – Dick Scobee, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1939)
  • – Michael J. Smith, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1945)
• 1988 – Klaus Fuchs, German physicist and politician (b. 1911)
• 1989 – Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama (b. 1938)
• 1993 – Helen Sawyer Hogg, Canadian astronomer (b. 1905)
• 1994 – Hal Smith, American actor and singer (b. 1916)
• 1996 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and academic; Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1940)
• 1996 – Burne Hogarth, American cartoonist and author (b. 1911)
• 1996 – Jerry Siegel, American author and illustrator; co-created Superman (b. 1914)
• 1998 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese author and illustrator (b. 1938)
• 1999 – Valery Gavrilin, Russian composer (b. 1939)
• 2001 – Ranko Marinković, Croatian novelist and playwright (b. 1913)
• 2002 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian cyclist and soldier (b. 1913)
• 2002 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author and screenwriter (b. 1907)
• 2002 – Ayşe Nur Zarakolu, Turkish author and activist (b. 1946)
• 2004 – Joe Viterelli, American actor (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Jim Capaldi, English singer-songwriter and drummer (b. 1944)
• 2005 – Karen Lancaume, French porn actress (b. 1973)
• 2005 – Jacques Villeret, French actor (b. 1951)
• 2006 – Yitzhak Kaduri, Iraqi-Israeli rabbi
• 2006 – Henry McGee, English actor and singer (b. 1929)
• 2007 – Carlo Clerici, Swiss cyclist (b. 1929)
• 2007 – Robert Drinan, American priest, lawyer, and politician (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Beatrice Hsu, Taiwanese actress and singer (b. 1978)
• 2007 – Teala Loring, American actress (b. 1922)
• 2007 – Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (b. 1963)
• 2007 – Karel Svoboda, Czech composer (b. 1938)
• 2008 – Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens (b. 1939)
• 2009 – Billy Powell, American keyboard player and songwriter (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (b. 1952)
• 2012 – Keriman Halis Ece, Turkish pianist and model; Miss Universe 1932 (b. 1913)
• 2012 – Roman Juszkiewicz, Polish astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1952)
• 2014 – Gudō Wafu Nishijima, Japanese priest and educator (b. 1919)
• 2014 – Jorge Obeid, Argentinian engineer and politician; Governor of Santa Fe (b. 1947)
• 2015 – Suraj Abdurrahman, Nigerian general, architect, and engineer (b. 1954)
• 2015 – Yves Chauvin, French chemist and academic; Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
• 2016 – Paul Kantner, American guitarist (Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship) (b. 1941)
• 2016 – Signe Toly Anderson, American singer ([Jefferson Airplane]], (b. 1941)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Julian of Cuenca
  • Thomas Aquinas
  • January 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Army Day (Armenia)
• Data Privacy Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Today in Canadian History