January 15

Events
Up to 1900
69 - Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but rules for only three months before committing suicide.
1362 - A North Sea flood kills many thousands of people.
1541 - King Francis I of France gives Jean-Francois Roberval a commission to settle the Province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the Roman Catholic Faith.
1559 - Queen Elizabeth I of England is officially crowned Queen of England.
1582 - Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1759 - The British Museum is opened.
1777 - American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present-day Vermont) declares its independence.
1790 - The Bounty mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, arrive on Pitcairn Island.
1815 - War of 1812: American frigate USS President, commanded by Stephen Decatur, is captured by a squadron of four British frigates.
1822 - Greek War of Independence: Demetrios Ypsilantis is elected President of the Legislative Assembly.
1844 - The University of Notre Dame receives its charter from the state of Indiana.
1865 - American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to Union forces.
1870 - A political cartoon (by Thomas Nast) for the first time uses a donkey as a symbol of the Democratic Party in the United States.
1876 - The first newspaper in Afrikaans, De Afrikaans Patriot, is published.
1885 - American Wilson Bentley takes the first photographs of snowflakes.
1889 - The Coca-Cola Company, then-known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia, US.
1892 - James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.
1901 2000
1910 - Building work begins ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, United States, at 99 meters.
1919 - German socialist activists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht are tortured and executed by the Freikorps.
1919 - The Boston Molasses Disaster, killing 21 and injuring 150 others.
1933 - A 12-year-old girl is said to have experienced the first Marian Apparition of Our Lady of Banneux in Banneux, Belgium.
1934 - A magnitude 8.1 earthquake on the India-Nepal border kills around 10,700 people.
1936 - The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company is completed in Toledo, Ohio, United States.
1937 - Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republicans both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
1943 - The Pentagon is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
1943 - World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive in Voronezh begins.
1944 - A magnitude 7.8 earthquake in San Juan, Argentina, kills around 5,000 people.
1949 - Chinese Civil War: The Communist forces take over Tianjin from the National Government.
1962 - The Derveni papyrus, Europe's oldest-surviving manuscript dating back to 340 BC, is found in Northern Greece.
1966 - Nigeria's First Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in military coup d'etat.
1967 - The first-ever Super Bowl takes place in Los Angeles, as the Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.
1969 - The Soyuz 5 spacecraft is launched by the Soviet Union.
1970 - Nigerian Civil War: Biafra surrenders.
1970 - Muammar al-Gaddafi is proclaimed Premier of Libya.
1971 - The Aswan Dam in Egypt is officially opened.
1973 - Vietnam War: Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam, citing the progress of peace negotiations.
1975 - The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence.
1976 - Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life in prison for attempting to kill President Gerald Ford.
1981 - Pope John Paul II receives a delegation from the Polish Solidarity Trade Union, led by Lech Walesa.
1991 - The United Nations deadline for Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait expires.
1992 - The international community recognizes the independence of Slovenia and Croatia from Yugoslavia.
1993 - Mafia boss Salvatore Riina is arrested by police.
1996 - Lesotho's King, Moshoeshoe II dies in a car crash. He is succeeded by his son, Letsie III.
From 2001
2001 - Wikipedia goes online.
2004 - The South Korean Foreign Minister, Yoon Young-kwan resigns following his support for American policy towards North Korea.
2005 - The European Space Agency's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminium, silicon, iron and other elements on the Moon.
2006 - Michelle Bachelet is elected President of Chile. She becomes Chile's first female president when she takes office on March 11.
2009 - Chesley Sullenberger, pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, steers the plane to a safe emergency landing on the Hudson River after experiencing trouble shortly after take off from New York's LaGuardia Airport.
2015 - Two suspected Jihadists are killed in an anti-terror raid in Verviers, Belgium.
2018 - British newspaper The Guardian changes to a tabloid format.
2018 - Mihai Tudose announces his resignation as Prime Minister of Romania after losing support within his own party.
2018 - A bomb attack in Baghdad kills 38 people.
2019 - A terrorist attack on a hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya, results in 21 people being killed.
2019 - British Prime Minister Theresa May loses a parliamentary vote in the House of Commons by the biggest margin ever for a sitting Prime Minister, losing a vote on her proposed Brexit deal by 432 votes to 202.
Births
Up to 1850
5 BC - Emperor Guang Wu of Han in China (d. 57)
1292 - Joan II, Countess of Burgundy (d. 1330)
1342 - Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)
1432 - Afonso IV of Portugal (d. 1481)
1481 - Ashikaga Yoshizuni, Japanese shogun (d. 1511)
1538 - Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (d. 1599)
1622 - Moliere, French writer and philosopher (d. 1673)
1716 - Philip Livingston, American founding father (d. 1778)
1780 - Cornelius P. Comegus, American politician, Governor of Delaware (d. 1850)
1785 - William Prout, English chemist, physician and theologian (d. 1850)
1791 - Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (d. 1872)
1795 - Alexander Griboyedov, Russian playwright (d. 1829)
1803 - Marjorie Fleming, Scottish poet (d. 1811)
1807 - Hermann Burmeister, German naturalist (d. 1892)
1809 - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French anarchist (d. 1865)
1815 - William Bickerton, English-American religious leader (d. 1905)
1824 - Marie Duplessis, French courtesan (d. 1847)
1841 - Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Governor General of Canada (d. 1908)
1842 - Mary MacKillop, Australian saint (d. 1909)
1842 - Paul Lafargue, French journalist, literary critic and activist (d. 1911)
1842 - Josef Breuer, Austrian physician (d. 1925)
1844 - Cole Younger, American outlaw (d. 1916)
1850 - Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet (d. 1889)
1850 - Leonard Darwin, son of Charles Darwin (d. 1943)
1850 - Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1891)
1851 1900
1858 - Giovanni Segantini, Italian painter (d. 1899)
1859 - Archibald Peake, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (d. 1920)
1859 - Nathaniel Lord Britton, American geologist and botanist (d. 1934)
1862 - Loie Fuller, American dancer (d. 1928)
1863 - Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1946)
1866 - Nathan Soderblom, Swedish archbishop (d. 1931)
1867 - Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (d. 1900)
1869 - Ruby Laffoon, American politician, 43rd Governor of Kentucky (d. 1941)
1869 - Stanislaw Wyspianski, Polish dramatist (d. 1907)
1870 - Pierre S. du Pont, American industrialist (d. 1954)
1875 - Thomas Burke, American athlete (d. 1929)
1878 - Johanna Mueller-Hermann, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1941)
1882 - Princess Margaret of Connaught (d. 1920)
1885 - Huang Yuanyong, Chinese writer (d. 1915)
1891 - Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet (d. 1938)
1892 - Rex Ingram, Irish director (d. 1950)
1893 - Ivor Novello, Welsh entertainer and composer (d. 1951)
1893 - George, Crown Prince of Saxony (d. 1943)
1894 - Ecaterina Teodoriu, Romanian World War I heroine (d. 1917)
1895 - Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist (d. 1973)
1897 - Xu Zhimo, Chinese poet (d. 1931)
1898 - Erik Bylehn, Swedish runner (d. 1986)
1900 - William Heinesen, Faroese writer, poet and artist (d. 1991)
1900 - Stanley Lucas, British supercentenarian (d. 2010)
1901 1950
1902 - King Saud of Saudi Arabia (d. 1969)
1903 - Paul A. Dever, American politician, 58th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
1906 - Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975)
1908 - Edward Teller, Hungarian physicist (d. 2003)
1909 - Jean Bugatti, German-born automobile designer (d. 1939)
1909 - Gene Krupa, American automobile designer (d. 1973)
1912 - Michel Debre, Prime Minister of France (d. 1996)
1913 - Lloyd Bridges, American actor (d. 1998)
1913 - Alexander Marinesko, German submarine captain (d. 1963)
1914 - Hugh Trevor-Roper, British historian (d. 2003)
1916 - Maurice Bavaud, Swiss activist (d. 1941)
1918 - Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt (d. 1970)
1918 - Joao Figueiredo, President of Brazil (d. 1999)
1918 - David George Kendall, English statistician and mathematician (d. 2007)
1918 - Vicente de la Mata, Argentine footballer (d. 1980)
1919 - George Cadle Price, 1st Prime Minister of Belize (d. 2011)
1919 - Maurice Herzog, French mountaineer (d. 2012)
1920 - Bob Davies, American basketball player (d. 1990)
1920 - Pamela Cundell, English actress (d. 2015)
1920 - John Joseph O'Connor, American cardinal and Archbishop of New York City (d. 2000)
1921 - Babasaheb Bhasale, Indian politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2007)
1923 - Lee Twng-hui, 4th President of the Republic of China
1924 - George Lowe, New Zealand mountaineer (d. 2013)
1924 - Georg Ratzinger, brother of Pope Benedict XVI
1924 - Jean-Bertrand Pontalis, French philosopher, writer, editor and psychoanalyst (d. 2013)
1925 - Ernst Benda, German politician (d. 2009)
1926 - Maria Schell, Austrian actress (d. 2005)
1926 - Karl-Alfred Jacobsson, Swedish footballer (d. 2015)
1927 - Phyllis Coates, American actress
1928 - M. V. Devan, Indian artist and writer (d. 2014)
1928 - W. R. Mitchell, English writer (d. 2015)
1929 - Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights activist (d. 1968)
1929 - Earl Hooker, American blues guitarist (d. 1970)
1934 - V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (d. 2013)
1939 - Per Ahlmark, Swedish journalist and politician
1940 - Arlie Russell Hochschild, American sociologist and academic
1941 - Captain Beefheart, American singer (d. 2010)
1943 - Ashraf Aman, Pakistani mountaineer
1943 - Margaret Beckett, British politician
1944 - Jenny Nimmo, British author
1945 - Princess Michael of Kent
1945 - David Pleat, English footballer
1945 - Maria Antonia Iglesias, Spanish writer (d. 2014)
1945 - Ko Chun-hsiung, Taiwanese actor, director and politician (d. 2015)
1947 - Martin Chalfie, American biologist and Nobel Prize winner
1947 - Pete Waterman, English songwriter and producer
1948 - Ronnie Van Zant, American musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)
1950 - Bebeto de Freitas, Brazilian volleyball coach and football manager (d. 2018)
1951 1975
1951 - Catherine Trautmann, French politician
1954 - Nikos Sarganis, Greek footballer
1955 - JoAnne Good, British radio presenter, television presenter, broadcast journalist and actress
1955 - Khalid Islambouli, Egyptian assassin (d. 1982)
1956 - Mayawati, Indian politician, 23rd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
1957 - Mario Van Peebles, American actor
1957 - David Ige, American politician, 8th Governor of Hawaii
1958 - Ken Judge, Australian rules footballer (d. 2016)
1958 - Boris Tadic, former President of Serbia
1959 - Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian climber (d. 2008)
1962 - Margherita Buy, Italian actress
1962 - Ken Macintosh, Scottish politician
1964 - Jackie Baillie, Scottish politician
1965 - Bernard Hopkins, American boxer
1965 - James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
1968 - Chad Lorre, American director, actor and producer
1968 - Inaki Urdangarin, Spanish former handball player and royal
1970 - Shane McMahon, American professional wrestler, son of WWE President Vince McMahon
1972 - Claudia Winkleman, English television presenter
1973 - Essam El-Hadary, Egyptian footballer
1974 - Edith Bowman, Scottish television and radio presenter
1975 - Mary Pierce, French tennis player
From 1976
1977 - Giorgia Meloni, Italian politician
1978 - Eddie Cahill, American actor
1978 - Ryan Sidebottom, English cricketer
1979 - Martin Petrov, Bulgarian footballer
1979 - Ken Chu, Taiwanese singer, actor and Tai-chi champion
1980 - Matt Holliday, American baseball player
1981 - El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
1981 - Sean Lamont, Scottish rugby player
1981 - Pitbull, American rapper
1982 - Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia
1982 - Prince Philip of Yugoslavia
1983 - Matic Kralj, Slovenian ice hockey player
1983 - Hugo Viana, Portuguese footballer
1983 - Jermaine Pennant, English footballer
1985 - Rene Adler, German footballer and goalkeeper
1985 - Clara Lee, Swiss-born British-South Korean actress
1985 - Enrico Patrizio, Italian rugby player
1986 - Jessie Schram, American actress
1987 - Tsegaye Kebede, Ethiopian runner
1987 - Kelly Kelly, American professional wrestler
1987 - Michael Seater, Canadian actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1988 - Jun. K, South Korean singer
1988 - Skrillex, American musician and producer
1989 - Ryan Corr, Australian actor
1990 - Paul Blake, English Paralympic athlete
1996 - Dove Cameron, American actress and singer
Deaths
Up to 1900
41 - Caligula, Roman Emperor (b. 12)
69 - Galba, Roman Emperor (b. 3 BC)
570 - Saint Ides, Irish nun (b. ca. 475)
936 - King Rudolph of France
1519 - Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Spanish explorer (b. 1475)
1595 - Murat III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1546)
1623 - Fra Paolo Sarpi, Italian patriot, scholar, scientist and church reformer (b. 1552)
1683 - Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (b. 1609)
1775 - Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Italian organist and composer (b. 1700)
1781 - Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, Queen Regent of Portugal (b. 1718)
1815 - Emma, Lady Hamilton, mistress of Horatio Nelson (b. 1765)
1876 - Eliza Johnson, First Lady of the United States (b. 1810)
1893 - Fanny Kemble, British actress and author (b. 1809)
1896 - Mathew Brady, American photographer (b. 1822)
1899 - Serafino Dubois, Italian chess player (b. 1817)
1901 2000
1915 - Mary Slessor, Scottish Christian missionary to West Africa (b. 1848)
1916 - Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian playwright (b. 1850)
1919 - Rosa Luxemburg, German politician and activist (b. 1870)
1919 - Karl Liebknecht, German politician and activist (b. 1871)
1926 - Enrico Toselli, Italian composer (b. 1883)
1927 - David R. Francis, American politician, Governor of Missouri (b. 1850)
1936 - Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1866)
1947 - Elizabeth Short, AKA The Black Dahlia, murder victim (b. 1924)
1948 - Josephus Daniels, American publisher and diplomat (b. 1862)
1952 - Ned Hanlon, Australian politician, Premier of Queensland (b. 1866)
1955 - Yves Tanguy, French Surrealist painter (b. 1900)
1964 - Jack Teagarden, musician (b. 1905)
1968 - William Masterton, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938)
1983 - Meyer Lansky, mobster (b. 1902)
1987 - Ray Bolger, actor, singer, dancer (b. 1904)
1988 - Sean MacBride, Irish politician (b. 1904)
1990 - Gordon Jackson, Scottish movie and TV actor; best known as the butler "Hudson" on Upstairs Downstairs (b. 1923)
1993 - Sammy Cahn, songwriter (b. 1913)
1994 - Harry Nilsson, American musician (b. 1941)
1994 - Georges Cziffra, Hungarian-French pianist (b. 1921)
1996 - King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (b. 1938)
1998 - Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician (b. 1898)
2000 - Zeljko Raznatovic, Serbian leader (b. 1952)
2001 2015
2003 - Doris Fisher, singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
2005 - Victoria de los Angeles, Catalan soprano (b. 1923)
2005 - Walter Ernsting, German science fiction writer (Perry Rhodan) (b. 1920)
2005 - Elizabeth Janeway, United States feminist writer (b. 1913)
2005 - Dan Lee, animator for movie Finding Nemo (b. 1969)
2005 - Ruth Warrick, United States actress best known for Citizen Kane and All My Children (b. 1915)
2006 - Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1926)
2007 - James Hiller, Canadian inventor (b. 1915)
2008 - Brad Renfro, American actor (b. 1982)
2009 - Said Seyam, Palestinian military commander (b. 1959)
2010 - Marshall Warren Nirenberg, American biochemist, won the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927)
2011 - Nat Lofthouse, English footballer (b. 1925)
2011 - Susannah York, English actress (b. 1939)
2012 - Manuel Fraga Iribarne, former Prime Minister of Spanish Galicia (b. 1922)
2012 - Ed Derwinski, American politician (b. 1926)
2013 - Nagisa Oshima, Japanese movie director and screenwriter (b. 1932)
2013 - Jean-Bertrand Pontalis, French philosopher, writer, editor and psychoanalyst (b. 1924)
2014 - Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor (b. 1944)
2014 - John Dobson, American astronomer (b. 1915)
2015 - Ervin Drake, American songwriter (b. 1919)
2015 - Kim Fowley, American record producer (b. 1939)
2015 - Val Holten, Australian cricketer (b. 1927)
2015 - Ethel Lang, British supercentenarian (b. 1900)
2015 - Jean-Claude Baker, French-American restaurateur (b. 1943)
2015 - Joseph Mukasa Zuza, Malawian bishop (b. 1955)
2015 - Rameshwar Thakur, Indian politician (b. 1927)
From 2016
2016 - Ken Judge, Australian rules footballer (b. 1958)
2016 - Dan Haggerty, American actor (b. 1941)
2016 - Oleksandr Shevchenko, Ukrainian scientist, jurist and politician (b. 1937)
2016 - P. J. Mara, Irish public affairs consultant and senator (b. 1942)
2016 - Noreen Corcoran, American actress (b. 1943)
2016 - Aristide von Bienefeldt, Dutch writer (b. 1959)
2017 - Ciel Bergman, American painter (b. 1938)
2017 - Babette Cole, English children's author (b. 1949)
2017 - Richard Divall, Australian conductor and musicologist (b. 1945)
2017 - Aleksandr Ezhevsky, Russian engineer and statesman (b. 1915)
2017 - Dermot Gallagher, Irish civil servant and diplomat (b. 1944)
2017 - Han Peixin, Chinese politician (b. 1921)
2017 - Kozo Kinomoto, Japanese footballer (b. 1949)
2017 - Vicki Lansky, American author and publisher (b. 1942)
2017 - Eddie Long, American pastor (b. 1953)
2017 - David Poythress, American military officer and politician (b. 1943)
2017 - Jimmy Snuka, Fijian-American professional wrestler (b. 1943)
2017 - Greg Trooper, American singer-songwriter (b. 1956)
2018 - Viktor Anpilov, Russian political activist and trade unionist (b. 1945)
2018 - Joe Frank, American radio personality (b. 1938)
2018 - Dolores O'Riordan, Irish singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1971)
2018 - John Spellman, American politician, former Governor of Washington (b. 1926)
2018 - Edwin Hawkins, American musician (b. 1943)
2018 - Peter Wyngarde, British actor (b. 1927)
2018 - Carl Emil Christiansen, Danish footballer (b. 1937)
2018 - Romana Acosta Banuelos, American public servant (b. 1925)
2018 - Dick King, American politician (b. 1934)
2018 - Mathilde Krim, Italian-American HIV researcher (b. 1926)
2018 - Karl-Heinz Kunde, German racing cyclist (b. 1938)
2018 - Roderick Rijnders, Dutch rower (b. 1941)
2019 - Carol Channing, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
Observances
Earliest day that Martin Luther King, Jr. Day can fall, while January 21 is the latest, on the third Monday in January (United States)
Armed Forces Day (Nigeria)
Army Day (India)
Tree Planting Day (Egypt)
Days of the year