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

• 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, and the first Protestant ruler of England.
• 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 1 shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thus 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.
• 1917 – Municipally-owned streetcars take to the streets of San Francisco.
• 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.
• 1958 – The last episode of the British radio comedy programme The Goon Show is broadcast.
• 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.
• 1964 – An unarmed USAF 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.

  

  Disintegration of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

• 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 9 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 (d. 1610)
• 1578 – Cornelius Haga, Dutch diplomat (d. 1654)
• 1582 – John Barclay, Scottish poet (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 (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)
• 1755 – Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring, German physician (d. 1830)
• 1784 – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1860)
• 1818 – George S. Boutwell, American politician, 28th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1905)
• 1822 – Alexander Mackenzie, Canadian 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 (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 (d. 1944)
• 1863 – Ernest William Christmas, Australian painter (d. 1918)
• 1864 – Charles Williams Nash, American businessman, founded Nash Motors (d. 1948)
• 1864 – Herbert Akroyd Stuart, English inventor, 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 politician, 1st President of Finland (d. 1952)
• 1873 – Colette, French author (d. 1954)
• 1875 – Julián Carrillo, Mexican violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1965)
• 1880 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer (d. 1970)
• 1884 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist (d. 1962)
• 1885 – Vahan Terian, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1920)
• 1886 – Marthe Bibesco, Romanian-French author (d. 1973)
• 1886 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese engineer (d. 1976)
• 1887 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist (d. 1982)
• 1890 – Robert Stroud, American ornithologist (d. 1963)
• 1891 – Bill Doak, American baseball player (d. 1954)
• 1892 – Ernst Lubitsch, German-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1947)
• 1897 – Valentin Kataev, Russian author and playwright (d. 1986)
• 1899 – Elias Simojoki, Finnish clergyman (d. 1940)
• 1900 – Alice Neel, American painter (d. 1984)
• 1903 – Aleksander Kamiński, Polish author and educator (d. 1978)
• 1904 – Canuplin, Filipino magician (d. 1979)
• 1908 – Paul Misraki, French composer (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)
• 1913 – Maurice Gosfield, American actor (d. 1964)
• 1915 – Nien Cheng, Chinese-American author (d. 2009)
• 1918 – Harry Corbett, English puppeteer (d. 1989)
• 1918 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician (d. 2004)
• 1919 – Francis Gabreski, American pilot (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Vytautas Norkus, Lithuanian–American basketball player (d. 2014)
• 1922 – Anna Gordy Gaye, American songwriter and producer, co-founded Anna Records (d. 2014)
• 1922 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
• 1924 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter (d. 1976)
• 1924 – George Papassavas, Greek painter
• 1925 – Scotty Bloch, American actress
• 1925 – Raja Ramanna, Indian physicist (d. 2004)
• 1927 – Per Oscarsson, Swedish actor (d. 2010)
• 1927 – Ronnie Scott, English saxophonist (d. 1996)
• 1927 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
• 1927 – Vera Williams, American author and illustrator
• 1927 – Eşref Kolçak, Turkish actor
• 1928 – Philip Levine, American poet
• 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
• 1930 – Jasraj, Indian singer
• 1930 – Kurt Biedenkopf, German politician
• 1930 – Roy Clarke, English screenwriter
• 1933 – Jack Hill, American director and screenwriter
• 1932 – Daisy Voog, Estonian-German mountain climber
• 1934 – Juan Manuel Bordeu, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1990)
• 1934 – Mitr Chaibancha, Thai actor (d. 1970)
• 1935 – David Lodge, English author and critic
• 1935 – Nicholas Pryor, American actor
• 1936 – Alan Alda, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1936 – Bill Jordan, Baron Jordan, English economist and politician
• 1936 – Ismail Kadare, Albanian author
• 1937 – Karel Čáslavský, Czech historian and television host (d. 2013)
• 1938 – Leonid Zhabotinsky, Ukrainian weightlifter
• 1939 – John M. Fabian, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
• 1940 – Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman, founded Grupo Carso
• 1940 – Trebor Jay Tichenor, American pianist and composer (d. 2014)
• 1941 – Joel Crothers, American actor (d. 1985)
• 1941 – Cash McCall, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1941 – King Tubby, Jamaican DJ, producer, and engineer (d. 1989)
• 1942 – Sjoukje Dijkstra, Dutch figure skater
• 1943 – John Beck, American actor
• 1943 – Paul Henderson, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1943 – Dick Taylor, English bass player, songwriter, and producer (The Rolling Stones, The Pretty Things, and The Mekons)
• 1944 – Bobby Ball, English comedian, actor, and singer
• 1944 – Tim Heald, English journalist and author
• 1944 – Susan Howard, American actress
• 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
• 1945 – Marthe Keller, Swiss actress
• 1945 – John Perkins, American author and activist
• 1945 – Nick Raynsford, English politician
• 1945 – Robert Wyatt, English singer-songwriter and drummer (Soft Machine, The Wilde Flowers, and Matching Mole)
• 1947 – Jeanne Shaheen, American politician, 78th Governor of New Hampshire
• 1948 – Bob Moses, American drummer (The Free Spirits and Compost)
• 1948 – Charles Taylor, Liberian politician, 22nd President of Liberia
• 1949 – Thomas Downey, American politician
• 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 – Bob Hay, American singer-songwriter (Supercluster)
• 1950 – David C. Hilmers, American colonel, physician, and astronaut
• 1950 – Naila Kabeer, Bangladeshi-born British social economist
• 1951 – Brian Bilbray, American politician
• 1951 – Leonid Kadeniuk, Ukrainian general, pilot, and astronaut
• 1953 – Colin Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1953 – Chris Carter, English DJ and producer (Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey)
• 1954 – Bruno Metsu, French footballer and manager (d. 2013)
• 1954 – Rick Warren, American pastor and author
• 1954 – Kaneto Shiozawa, Japanese voice actor (d.2000)
• 1955 – Vinod Khosla, Indian-American businessman, co-founded Sun Microsystems
• 1955 – Nicolas Sarkozy, French politician, 23rd President of France
• 1957 – Kent Kessler, American bassist
• 1957 – Mark Napier, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1957 – Nick Price, Zimbabwean golfer
• 1957 – Frank Skinner, English comedian, actor, and author
• 1959 – Frank Darabont, American director and producer
• 1959 – Megan McDonald, American author
• 1959 – Randi Rhodes, American radio host
• 1959 – Dave Sharp, English guitarist (The Alarm, The Hard Travelers, and AOR – Spirit of The Alarm)
• 1959 – Bill Ware, American vibraphone player
• 1960 – Loren Legarda, Filipino journalist, politician and environmentalist
• 1960 – Robert von Dassanowsky, Austrian-American historian and academic
• 1961 – Arnaldur Indriðason, Icelandic author
• 1961 – Normand Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1962 – Keith Hamilton Cobb, American actor
• 1962 – Creflo Dollar, American pastor
• 1962 – Sam Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1963 – Dan Spitz, American guitarist (Anthrax and Overkill)
• 1964 – Jürgen Teller, German artist, fine-art and fashion photographer
• 1965 – Lynda Boyd, Canadian actress
• 1966 – Seiji Mizushima, Japanese anime director
• 1967 – Jan Lamb, Chinese singer and actor (Softhard)
• 1967 – Marvin Sapp, American singer-songwriter (Commissioned)
• 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, actor, and journalist
• 1969 – Linda Sánchez, American politician
• 1971 – Anthony Hamilton, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1972 – Léon van Bon, Dutch cyclist
• 1972 – Indrek Sammul, Estonian actor
• 1972 – Nicky Southall, English footballer and manager
• 1973 – Jason Aaron, American author
• 1974 – Tony Delk, American basketball player
• 1974 – Jermaine Dye, American baseball player
• 1974 – Ramsey Nasr, Dutch author and poet
• 1974 – Magglio Ordóñez, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1975 – Shark Boy, American wrestler
• 1975 – Hiroshi Kamiya, Japanese voice actor
• 1975 – Tanya Chua, Singaporean singer-songwriter
• 1975 – Terri Colombino, American actress
• 1975 – Lee Latchford-Evans, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor (Steps and Upper Street)
• 1975 – Anne Montminy, Canadian diver
• 1975 – Federico Casati, Italian runner, poet and business man
• 1975 – Pedro Pinto, Portuguese journalist
• 1975 – Junior Spivey, American baseball 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 (Triple C's)
• 1976 – Miltiadis Sapanis, Greek footballer
• 1977 – Sandis Buškevics, Latvian basketball player
• 1977 – Daunte Culpepper, American football player
• 1977 – Matt DeVries, American guitarist (Chimaira, Ringworm, Six Feet Under, and Fear Factory)
• 1977 – Joey Fatone, American singer, dancer, and actor (*NSYNC)
• 1977 – Lyle Overbay, American baseball player
• 1977 – Takuma Sato, Japanese race car driver
• 1978 – Sheamus, Irish wrestler and actor
• 1978 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer
• 1978 – Jamie Carragher, English footballer
• 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 – Brian Fallon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Gaslight Anthem and The Horrible Crowes)
• 1980 – Michael Hastings, American journalist (d. 2013)
• 1980 – Jesse James Hollywood, American drug dealer
• 1981 – Shuji Kondo, Japanese wrestler
• 1981 – Elijah Wood, American actor
• 1982 – Ryan Sheridan, Irish singer-songwriter
• 1982 – Annie Social, American wrestler
• 1984 – Stephen Gostkowski, American football player
• 1984 – Andre Iguodala, American basketball player
• 1984 – Anne Panter, English field hockey player
• 1985 – Daniel Carcillo, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1985 – J. Cole, American rapper and producer
• 1985 – Arnold Mvuemba, French footballer
• 1985 – Basharmal Sultani, Afghan Boxer
• 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 – Asad Shafiq, Pakistani cricketer
• 1988 – Paul Henry, English footballer
• 1988 – Seiya Sanada, Japanese wrestler
• 1989 – Siem de Jong, Dutch footballer
• 1989 – Ronny Philp, German footballer
• 1990 – Kalifa Faifai Loa, New Zealand rugby player
• 1990 – Zhang Kailin, Chinese tennis player
• 1991 – CJ Harris, American singer
• 1991 – Carl Klingberg, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1991 – Calum Worthy, Canadian actor
• 1992 – Sergio Araujo, Argentinian footballer
• 1992 – Andrei Savchenko, Russian footballer
• 1993 – Richmond Boakye, Ghanaian footballer
• 1993 – Will Poulter, English actor
• 1996 – Emily Piriz, American singer
• 1998 – Ariel Winter, American actress

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 (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 (b. 1611)
• 1697 – Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet, English politician (b. 1645)
• 1754 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian-Danish historian and philosopher (b. 1684)
• 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 composer (b. 1847)
• 1912 – Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist (b. 1819)
• 1915 – Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist (b. 1846)
• 1918 – John McCrae, Canadian poet (b. 1872)
• 1921 – Mustafa Suphi, Turkish communist leader (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, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
• 1942 – Edward Siegler, American gymnast (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 (b. 1883)
• 1953 – Derek Bentley, English murderer (b. 1933)
• 1953 – James Scullin, Australian politician, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1876)
• 1953 – Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish poet, satirist, and neyzen (a "ney performer" in Turkish) (b. 1879)
• 1959 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (b. 1899)
• 1960 – Zora Neale Hurston, American author (b. 1891)
• 1962 – Hermann Wlach, Austrian 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 (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 (b. 1924)
• 1978 – Ward Moore, American author (b. 1903)
• 1979 – Eileen Shanahan, Irish poet (b. 1901)
• 1983 – Frank Forde, Australian 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 (b. 1911)
• 1989 – Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama, Tibetan religious leader (b. 1938)
• 1990 – Puma Jones, American singer (Black Uhuru) (b. 1953)
• 1994 – Hal Smith, American actor (b. 1916)
• 1996 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet, 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 – Markey Robinson, Irish painter (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Torgny Torgnysson Segerstedt, Swedish sociologist and philosopher (b. 1908)
• 1999 – Valery Gavrilin, Russian composer (b. 1939)
• 2001 – Curt Blefary, American baseball player (b. 1943)
• 2002 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)
• 2002 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author (b. 1907)
• 2002 – Ayşe Nur Zarakolu, Turkish author and activist (b. 1946)
• 2003 – Mieke Pullen, Dutch runner (b. 1957)
• 2004 – Lloyd M. Bucher, American navy officer (b. 1927)
• 2004 – Don Cholito, Puerto Rican radio host (b. 1923)
• 2004 – Elroy Hirsch, American football player (b. 1923)
• 2004 – Mel Pritchard, English drummer (Barclay James Harvest) (b. 1948)
• 2004 – Joe Viterelli, American actor (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Jim Capaldi, English singer-songwriter and drummer (Traffic) (b. 1944)
• 2005 – Karen Lancaume, French actress (b. 1973)
• 2005 – Ronnie Paris, American child abuse victim (b. 2001)
• 2005 – Jacques Villeret, French actor (b. 1951)
• 2006 – Emory Hail, American wrestler (b. 1969)
• 2006 – Yitzhak Kaduri, Iraqi-Israeli rabbi
• 2006 – Henry McGee, English actor (b. 1929)
• 2007 – Carlo Clerici, Swiss cyclist (b. 1929)
• 2007 – Robert Drinan, American priest and politician (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Beatrice Hsu, Taiwanese actress (b. 1978)
• 2007 – Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (b. 1963)
• 2007 – Karel Svoboda, Czech composer (b. 1938)
• 2007 – Teala Loring, American actress (b. 1922)
• 2008 – Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens (b. 1939)
• 2008 – Ginty Vrede, Dutch kick-boxer (b. 1985)
• 2009 – Billy Powell, American keyboard player and songwriter (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (b. 1952)
• 2012 – Diana Bliss, Australian director and producer (b. 1954)
• 2012 – Joseph Curran, American basketball player and coach (b. 1922)
• 2012 – Don Fullmer, American boxer (b. 1939)
• 2012 – Keriman Halis Ece, Turkish pianist and model, Miss Universe 1932 (b. 1913)
• 2012 – Roman Juszkiewicz, Polish astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1952)
• 2012 – Don Starkell, Canadian adventurer and author (b. 1932)
• 2013 – Eddy Choong, Malaysian badminton player (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Florentino Fernández, Cuban boxer (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Hattie N. Harrison, American politician (b. 1928)
• 2013 – Lonnie Goldstein, American baseball player (b. 1918)
• 2013 – Reg Jenkins, English footballer (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Oldřich Kulhánek, Czech painter (b. 1940)
• 2013 – Xu Liangying, Chinese physicist, historian, and philosopher (b. 1920)
• 2013 – Herbert Loebl, German-English businessman and philanthropist (b. 1923)
• 2013 – Dan Massey, American activist and author (b. 1942)
• 2013 – Mark Palmer, American diplomat (b. 1941)
• 2013 – Ladislav Pavlovič, Slovak footballer (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Ceija Stojka, Austrian-Romanian holocaust survivor, author, and painter (b. 1933)
• 2013 – Earl Williams, American baseball player (b. 1948)
• 2013 – Benedict Zilliacus, Finnish journalist, author, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
• 2013 – Paul Hansard, German actor (b. 1922)
• 2014 – John Cacavas, American composer and conductor (b. 1930)
• 2014 – Harry Gamble, American football player, coach, and manager (b. 1930)
• 2014 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (b. 1930)
• 2014 – Nigel Jenkins, Welsh poet, journalist, psychogeographer (b. 1949)
• 2014 – Fernand Leduc, Canadian painter (b. 1916)
• 2014 – Gudo Wafu Nishijima, Japanese priest and educator (b. 1919)
• 2014 – Jorge Obeid, Argentinian engineer and politician, Governor of Santa Fe (b. 1947)

Holidays and observances

• Army Day (Armenia)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • January 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Julian of Cuenca
  • Second Feast of St. Agnes
  • Thomas Aquinas
• Data Privacy Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada