January 2

Events
Up to 1900
366 - Many Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine, invading the Roman Empire.
533 - Mercurius became Pope John II. He was the first pope to use a papal name.
1492 - Reconquista: Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
1757 - The United Kingdom captures Calcutta, India.
1777 - American Revolutionary War: American forces under command of George Washington hold back a British attack at the Battle of Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
1788 - Georgia becomes the 4th state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1793 - Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
1815 - Lord Byron marries Anna Isabella Milbanke, Seaham, County Durham.
1818 - British Institution of Civil Engineers formed.
1859 - Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette.
1860 - The discovery of the planet Vulcan was announced at a meeting of the Academie des Sciences in Paris. People later realized that this planet does not exist.
1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River, which started on December 31, 1862, ends in a Union victory.
1870 - Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
1871 - Amadeus I becomes King of Spain.
1872 - Brigham Young is arrested for bigamy (25 wives).
1879 - Fred Spofforth claims the first hat-trick in test cricket. It happens on the Sydney Cricket Ground against England.
1882 - John D. Rockefeller unites his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust.
1890 - Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer for the White House.
1893 - Introduction by Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America: Railroad chronometers.
1900 - John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
1900 - The Chicago Canal opens.
1901 1950
1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur, China.
1907 - France officially separates church and state.
1911 - Two people are killed in a gunfight in East London.
1917 - The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
1920 - Under A. Mitchell Palmer, United States Attorney General, United States Department of Justice agents launch raids against people with leftist and anarchist views, in 30 cities across 23 US States.
1921 - The Spanish steamship Santa Isabel sinks off the coast of Galicia, killing 213 people. 56 people are rescued.
1921 - The first religious radio broadcast (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) .
1921 - The DeYoung Museum opens in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.
1923 - United States Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall resigns due to the Teapot Dome scandal.
1929 - Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.
1935 - Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
1941 - World War II: German bombing severely damaged the Llandaff Cathedral, built in 1290 on the bank of the River Taff in Cardiff, Wales.
1941 - The U.S. government announces its Liberty ship program. They plan to build 200 freighters. Over 2,700 ships were built by the end of the war.
1942 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
1942 - The United States Navy opens a blimp base at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
1944 - World War II: US and Australian forces land on Papua New Guinea in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat.
1945 - World War II: Nuremberg is severely bombed by the Allies.
1946 - King Zog is unable to resume his rule over Albania after World War II. He abdicates but still claims to be King of Albania.
1949 - Luis Munoz Marin became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
1951 2000
1955 - Panamanian president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated.
1955 - The lost Inca city of Paititi is re-discovered by Hans Ertl.
1957 - San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge.
1959 - The Soviet Union launches the Luna 1 spacecraft.
1959 - CBS Radio cancels four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
1963 - Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory in the Battle of Ap Bac.
1967 - Ronald Reagan becomes Governor of California.
1968 - Dr. Christiaan Barnard performs the second successful heart transplant.
1971 - 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland.
1974 - Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum US speed limit to 55 miles per hour in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
1976 - The Gale of January 1976 begins, causing flooding on southern North Sea coasts. 82 people are eventually killed.
1979 - Sid Vicious goes on trial for the murder of Nancy Spungen.
1981 - Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, is arrested.
1983 - The musical Annie is ends its first Broadway run after 2,377 shows at the Uris Theatre.
1991 - Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, D.C. becoming the first African American woman to lead a city of that size and importance.
1992 - Paraguay becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
1993 - Leaders of the three warring groups in Bosnia meet to discuss peace plans.
1996 - The Akademia Nauk stratovolcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula erupts.
1998 - Russia begins to circulate new rubles to slow inflation and promote confidence.
1999 - A major snowstorm hits the Midwestern United States, causing of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and at Chicago. In Chicago, temperatures drop to , and 68 deaths are reported.
From 2001
2002 - Levy Mwanawasa becomes the third President of Zambia.
2002 - Eduardo Duhalde becomes interim President of Argentina.
2003 - The spill from the oil tanker Prestige reaches France.
2004 - Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that it will return to Earth two years later.
2006 - The roof of an ice rink in Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria, collapses, killing 15 people.
2006 - 12 miners are killed in an explosion at a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia.
2016 - Saudi Arabia executes 47 prisoners in one day, including Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
2017 - A bomb attack in Baghdad kills at least 35 people.
2018 - A bus plunges off a cliff near Pasamayo, Peru (to the north of Lima), killing at least 48 people.
Births
Up to 1900
869 - Emperor Yozei of Japan (d. 949)
1462 - Piero di Cosimo, Italian painter (d. 1521)
1642 - Mehmed IV, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1693)
1647 - Nathaniel Bacon, English-born American colonist (d. 1676)
1699 - Osman III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1757)
1713 - Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
1727 - James Wolfe, British general in French and Indian War (d. 1759)
1752 - Philip Freneau, American poet (d. 1832)
1777 - Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)
1822 - Rudolf Clausius, German physicist, contributions to thermodynamics (d. 1888)
1827 - Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Russian geographer and statistician (d. 1914)
1833 - Frederick A. Johnson, American politician (d. 1893)
1834 - Karl Louis Friedrich Dobermann, German dog breeder (d. 1894)
1836 - Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian writer (d. 1917)
1836 - Queen Emma of Hawaii (d. 1885)
1837 - Mily Balakirev, Russian composer (d. 1910)
1857 - Martha Carey Thomas, American educator and women's rights activist (d. 1935)
1859 - Anna Sacher, Austrian hotel owner, Hotel Sacher (d. 1930)
1862 - Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, Polish-Russian engineer, electrician and inventor (d. 1919)
1866 - Gilbert Murray, British philologist (d. 1957)
1870 - Ernst Barlach, German sculptor, graphic artist, and poet (d. 1938)
1871 - Nik Welter, Luxembourg professor, writer and statesman (d. 1951)
1872 - Albert C. Barnes, American physician, author, collector and philanthropist (d. 1951)
1873 - Therese of Liseaux, French nun and saint (d. 1897)
1873 - Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer (d. 1960)
1877 - Slava Raskaj, Croatian painter (d. 1906)
1879 - Rudolf Bauer, Hungarian athlete (d. 1932)
1884 - Oscar Michaux, American writer and movie director (d. 1951)
1886 - Apsley Cherry-Garrard, British explorer of Antarctica (d. 1959)
1886 - Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (d. 1938)
1889 - Bertram Stevens, Premier of New South Wales (d. 1973)
1889 - Tito Schipa, Italian tenor and composer (d. 1965)
1891 - Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect (d. 1990)
1892 - Edoardo Agnelli, Italian industrialist (d. 1935)
1895 - Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (d. 1948)
1896 - Dziga Vertov, Russian movie maker (d. 1954)
1901 1950
1904 - Walter Heitler, German physicist (d. 1981)
1904 - Sally Rand, American fan dancer (d. 1979)
1905 - Michael Tippett, English composer (d. 1998)
1905 - Luigi Zampa, Italian movie director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
1908 - Lawrence Wetherby, American politician, Governor of Kentucky (d. 1994)
1909 - Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer (d. 2009)
1909 - Barry Goldwater, American politician (d. 1998)
1912 - Renato Guttuso, Italian painter (d. 1987)
1913 - Anna Lee, English actress (d. 2004)
1917 - Vera Zorina, dancer, actress (d. 2003)
1918 - Willi Graf, German activist (d. 1943)
1918 - Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse, German type designer
1919 - William Needles, Canadian theatre actor (d. 2016)
1920 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born American science fiction writer (d. 1992)
1920 - Bob Feerick, American basketball player (d. 1976)
1920 - George Herbig, American astronomer (d. 2013)
1920 - Anna Langfus, Polish-French writer (d. 1966)
1922 - Maurice Faure, French diplomat and politician (d. 2014)
1925 - Irina Arkhipova, Russian opera singer (d. 2010)
1925 - Giacomo Furia, Italian actor (d. 2015)
1925 - Larry Harmon, American entertainer and television producer (d. 2008)
1927 - Gino Marchetti, American football player
1928 - Daisaku Ikeda, Japanese writer
1928 - Alberto Zedda, Italian conductor and musicologist (d. 2017)
1930 - Julius La Rosa, American singer (d. 2016)
1931 - Toshiki Kaifu, former Prime Minister of Japan
1931 - James D. Murray, English mathematician
1933 - Richard Riley, 111th Governor of North Carolina
1935 - Lolo Soetoro, Indonesian geographer, stepfather of Barack Obama (d. 1987)
1936 - Roger Miller, American country music singer (d. 1992)
1936 - Kjell Opseth, Norwegian politician (d. 2017)
1937 - Martin Lauer, German athlete and Schlager singer
1938 - Goh Kun, 31st Prime Minister of South Korea
1938 - Ian Brady, British serial killer (d. 2017)
1938 - Hans Herbjornsrud, Norwegian writer
1939 - Jim Bakker, American televangelist
1939 - Konstanze Vernon, dancer
1940 - Saud bin Faisal, Saudi royal and politician (d. 2015)
1942 - Dennis Hastert, American politician, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
1942 - Hugh Shelton, American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
1943 - Baris Manco, Turkish musician (d. 1999)
1944 - Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician
1944 - Peter Eotvos, Hungarian composer and conductor
1945 - Slobodan Praljak, Croatian-Bosnian general and politician (d. 2017)
1946 - Sonny Ruberto, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1947 - Alexander Yakushev, Russian ice hockey player
1947 - Calvin Hill, American football player
1947 - Jack Hanna, American zoologist
1947 - David Shapiro, American poet
1947 - Calvin Hill, American football player
1947 - Alexander Yakushev, Russian ice hockey player
1948 - Deborah Watling, British actress (d. 2017)
1948 - Tony Judt, British historian (d. 2010)
1948 - Judith Miller, American journalist
1949 - Christopher Durang, American playwright
1951 1975
1951 - Waldir Peres, Brazilian footballer (d. 2017)
1952 - Indulis Emsis, biologist and politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia
1952 - Christine Lavin, American singer-songwriter
1954 - Milovan Rajevac, Serbian footballer and coach
1954 - Henry Bonilla, American politician
1954 - Dawn Silva, singer (The Brides of Funkenstein, P-Funk)
1955 - Tex Brashear, American voice actor
1955 - Vivien Savage, French singer-songwriter
1959 - Kirti Azad, Indian cricketer
1960 - Naoki Urasawa, Japanese manga artist
1961 - Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
1961 - Neil Dudgeon, British actor
1961 - Todd Haynes, American movie director
1963 - David Cone, American baseball pitcher
1964 - Luis Moro, Cuban-American actor, producer and screenwriter
1964 - Pernell Whitaker, American boxer
1967 - Tia Carrere, American actress
1967 - Jon Gnarr, Icelandic actor, comedian and politician, Mayor of Reykjavik
1967 - Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
1968 - Goichi Suda, Japanese video game designer
1968 - Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor
1968 - Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage competitor
1969 - William Fox-Pitt, English equestrian
1969 - Christy Turlington, American fashion model
1969 - Tommy Morrison, American boxer (d. 2013)
1969 - Karl-Heinz Grasser, Austrian politician
1969 - Robby Gordon, American racing driver
1971 - Renee Elise Goldsberry, American actress and singer
1972 - Taye Diggs, American actor
1972 - Rodney MacDonald, 26th Premier of Nova Scotia
1973 - Lucy Davis, English actress
1974 - Tricia Helfer, Canadian actress and model
1975 - Doug Robb, American singer (Hoobastank)
1975 - Dax Shepard, American actor, comedian, writer and director
From 1976
1976 - Paz Vega, Spanish actress
1976 - Phil Radford, Greenpeace Executive Director
1978 - Kjartan Sveinsson, Icelandic musician
1978 - Karina Smirnoff, Ukrainian-American dancer and actress
1979 - Jonathan Greening, English footballer
1980 - Paulo da Silva, Paraguayan footballer
1981 - Hanno Balitsch, German footballer
1981 - Maxi Rodriguez, Argentine footballer
1981 - Kirk Hinrich, American basketball player
1982 - Athanasia Tsoumeleka, Greek race walker
1983 - Kate Bosworth, American actress
1985 - Heather O'Reilly, American soccer player
1985 - Ivan Dodig, Croatian tennis player
1986 - Asa Akira, Japanese-American pornographic actress
1986 - Trombone Shorty, American jazz musician
1987 - Loic Remy, French footballer
1987 - Shelley Hennig, American model and actress
1988 - Jonny Evans, Northern Irish footballer
1989 - Bianca Knight, American sprinter
1991 - Davide Santon, Italian footballer
1991 - Luis Pedro Cavanda, Belgian footballer
1991 - Steele Sidebottom, Australian rules footballer
1993 - Bryson Tiller, American singer-songwriter
1995 - Renata Notni, Mexican actress and model
Deaths
Up to 1900
1512 - Svante, Regent of Sweden (b. 1460)
1514 - William Smyth, English bishop and statesman (b. 1460)
1557 - Pontormo, Italian painter (b. 1494)
1665 - Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (b. 1601)
1726 - Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (b. 1688)
1850 - Manuel de la Pena y Pena, President of Mexico (b. 1789)
1861 - Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795)
1879 - Caleb Cushing, United States Attorney General (b. 1800)
1892 - George Biddell Airy, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1801)
1901 2000
1904 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (b. 1821)
1913 - Leon-Philippe Teisserenc, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
1915 - Carl Goldmark, Hungarian composer (b. 1830)
1917 - Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
1922 - Pope Benedict XV (b. 1854)
1936 - Francis Newdegate, Governor of Tasmania (b. 1862)
1939 - Roman Tmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
1941 - Mischa Levitzki, Russian-born pianist (b. 1898)
1945 - Bertram Ramsay, British naval commander (b. 1883)
1948 - Vicente Huidobro, Chilean poet (b. 1893)
1950 - James Dooley, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1877)
1950 - Theophrastos Sakellaridis, Greek composer and conductor (b. 1883)
1951 - William Campion, Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870)
1955 - Jose Antonio Remon, President of Panama (b. 1908)
1960 - Fausto Coppi, Italian composer (b. 1919)
1960 - Paul Sauve, 17th Premier of Quebec (b. 1907)
1960 - Friedrich Adler, Austrian politician and assassin (b. 1897)
1961 - Daniel Chanis Pinzon, President of Panama (b. 1892)
1963 - Jack Carson, American actor (b. 1910)
1968 - Cuno Hoffmeister, German astronomer and geophysicist (b. 1892)
1974 - Tex Ritter, American actor (b. 1905)
1986 - Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
1987 - Harekrushna Mahatab, Indian journalist and politician (b. 1899)
1989 - Safdar Hashmi, Indian playwright, writer and director (b. 1954)
1990 - Alan Hale Jr., American actor (b. 1921)
1994 - Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (b. 1915)
1994 - Dixy Lee Ray, American politician and Governor of Washington (b. 1917)
1995 - Siad Barre, President of Somalia (b. 1919)
1997 - Randy California, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1951)
1999 - Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and writer (b. 1907)
2000 - Nat Adderley, American jazz musician and composer (b. 1931)
From 2001
2001 - William P. Rogers, United States Secretary of State (b. 1913)
2002 - Armi Aavikko, Finnish singer (b. 1958)
2006 - Lidia Wysocka, Polish actress (b. 1916)
2007 - Teddy Kollek, Austrian-born Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911)
2008 - Galyani Vadhana, Thai princess, sister of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (b. 1923)
2008 - George MacDonald Fraser, British writer (b. 1925)
2008 - Lee S. Dreyfus, 40th Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1926)
2009 - Ryuzo Hiraki, Japanese footballer (b. 1931)
2009 - Maria de Jesus, Portuguese supercentenarian (b. 1893)
2011 - Anne Francis, American actress (b. 1930)
2011 - Pete Postlethwaite, British actor (b. 1946)
2011 - Richard Winters, American paratrooper (b. 1918)
2012 - William P. Carey, American investment banker and philanthropist (b. 1930)
2013 - Teresa Toranska, Polish journalist and writer (b. 1944)
2013 - Ladislao Mazurkiewicz, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1945)
2013 - Mamie Rearden, American supercentenarian (b. 1898)
2013 - Ned Wertimer, American actor (b. 1923)
2014 - Elizabeth Jane Howard, English novelist (b. 1923)
2014 - Dirk Sager, German journalist (b. 1940)
2014 - Thomas Kurzhals, German keyboardist and songwriter (b. 1953)
2014 - Bernard Glasser, American director and producer (b. 1924)
2015 - Lam Po-chuen, Hong Kong dubbing artist (b. 1951)
2015 - Arthur A. Neu, American politician (b. 1933)
2015 - Little Jimmy Dickens, American country music singer (b. 1920)
2015 - Noel Cobb, British philosopher, psychologist and author (b. 1938)
2015 - Tihomir Novakov, American physicist (b. 1929)
2015 - Abu Anas al-Libi, Libyan Al-Qaeda member (b. 1964)
2015 - Basil Hansen, Australian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
2015 - Danny Dunton, English speedway rider and promoter (b. 1924)
2015 - Roger Kitter, English actor (b. 1949)
2016 - Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi cleric (b. 1959)
2016 - Michel Delpech, French singer (b. 1946)
2016 - Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, Indian politician (b. 1924)
2016 - Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1935)
2016 - Gisela Mota Ocampo, Mexican politician (b. 1982)
2016 - Marcel Barbeau, Canadian artist (b. 1925)
2016 - Shigeji Kaneko, Japanese boxer (b. 1931)
2016 - Matt Hobden, English cricketer (b. 1993)
2017 - John Berger, English art critic, writer and painter (b. 1926)
2017 - Viktor Tsaryov, Russian footballer (b. 1931)
2017 - Albert Brewer, American politician, 47th Governor of Alabama (b. 1928)
2017 - Jean Vuarnet, French skier (b. 1933)
2017 - Francois Chereque, French trade unionist (b. 1956)
2017 - Richard Machowicz, American navy SEAL (b. 1965)
2017 - Rene Ballet, French journalist and author (b. 1928)
2017 - Tom Harpur, Canadian classicist, journalist, theologian an priest (b. 1929)
2018 - Frank Buxton, American actor (b. 1930)
2018 - Rick Hall, American songwriter and recording producer (b. 1932)
2018 - Ferdinando Imposimato, Italian judge and politician (b. 1936)
2018 - Lawal Kaita, Nigerian politician (b. 1932)
2018 - Ali Akbar Moinfar, Iranian politician (b. 1928)
2018 - Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1927)
2019 - Daryl Dragon, American songwriter (Captain & Tennille) (b. 1942)
2019 - Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian (b. 1942)
2022 - Richard Leakey, Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician (b. 1944)
Observances
New Year's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland)
Ancestry Day (Haiti)
Berchtold's Day (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Alsace)
January 02