January 30

Events
Up to 1900
1018 - The Peace of Bautzen is signed between Poland and Germany.
1607 - Massive flooding hits the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England, killing around 2,000 people.
1648 - The Treaty of Munster is signed, ending the Eighty Years' War between the Netherlands and Spain.
1649 - King Charles I of England is beheaded.
1661 - Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is formally executed - after having been dead for two years.
1667 - The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kiev, Smolensk and western Ukraine to the Tsardom of Russia.
1790 - The first boat specialized as a lifeboat is tested on the River Tyne.
1806 - The original Lower Trenton Bridge, spanning the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey, is opened.
1820 - Edward Bransfield lands on the Antarctic mainland.
1826 - The Menai Suspension Bridge, connecting the island of Anglesey and mainland Wales, is opened.
1835 - A mentally ill man named Richard Lawrence attempts to assassinate President Andrew Jackson in the United States Capitol--the first assassination attempt against a President. Both of Lawrence's pistols misfire, and Jackson proceeds to beat his would-be assassin with his cane.
1841 - A fire destroys two-thirds of the city of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
1847 - Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco.
1862 - The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
1869 - The University of Idaho is started.
1889 - Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in Mayerling. How they died remains a mystery.
1900 - United Kingdom forces fighting Boers in South Africa ask for reinforcements.
1901 2000
1902 - The United Kingdom and Japan sign the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
1911 - The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of James McCurdy 10 miles from Havana, Cuba.
1911 - The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.
1913 - House of Lords rejects Irish Home Rule Bill.
1925 - Government of Turkey throws Patriarch Constantine VI out of Istanbul.
1933 - Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
1933 - The first of 2,956 episodes of The Lone Ranger radio series airs on station WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan.
1942 - World War II: Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in what is now Indonesia.
1944 - World War II: United States troops invade Majuro, Marshall Islands.
1945 - The Wilhelm Gustloff sinks in the Baltic Sea in the deadliest maritime disaster in known history, killing roughly 9,000.
1948 - Indian pacifist and leader Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated in Delhi by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist.
1948 - 1948 Winter Olympics open in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Because of World War II a few years previously, German and Japanese athletes are not allowed to take part.
1956 - Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1959 - The ship MS Hans Hedtoft strikes an iceberg on her first voyage and sinks, killing 95 people on board.
1962 - Two of the high-wire Flying Wallendas are killed when their famous seven-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit, Michigan.
1964 - Ranger 6 is launched by NASA. Its mission is to carry television cameras and to crash-land on the moon.
1964 - Nguyen Khanh takes power in South Vietnam, removing Duong Van Minh's military junta from power.
1965 - The funeral of Winston Churchill takes place in London. Over a million people line the streets to say farewell.
1968 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive begins when NLF forces launch series of a surprise attacks in South Vietnam.
1969 - The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
1972 - Bloody Sunday: United Kingdom British Paratroopers murder fourteen Roman Catholic civil rights /anti internment marchers in Northern Ireland- Bloody Sunday (1972)
1972 - Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
1975 - First faroese stamp issued
1983 - Super Bowl XVII: The Washington Redskins defeat the Miami Dolphins, 27-17, thus winning their first NFL championship since 1942.
1989 - The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan closes.
1994 - Peter Leko becomes the youngest grand master in chess.
1994 - The Dallas Cowboys win their fourth Super Bowl title, 30-13 over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVIII.
1995 - Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
1996 - Suspected leader of the Irish National Liberation Army Gino Gallagher is killed while in line for his unemployment benefit.
2000 - Off the coast of Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.
2000 - In Super Bowl XXXIV, the St. Louis Rams defeat the Tennessee Titans, 23-16.
From 2001
2002 - Slobodan Milosevic accuses the United Nations war crimes tribunal of an "evil and hostile attack" against him.
2003 - Belgium legally recognizes same-sex marriage.
2005 - Amid violence and threats to boycott the results, Iraq holds an election for its National Assembly, the country's first free election since 1953.
2007 - Microsoft Windows Vista is released.
2015 - 55 people are killed in a bomb attack in Shikarpur, Southern Pakistan.
2016 - 39 people drown as a boat carrying refugees sinks in the Mediterranean Sea.
2016 - Tennis: Angelique Kerber becomes the first German woman since Steffi Graf to win a Grand Slam singles title, defeating Serena Williams in three sets to win the Australian Open.
Births
Up to 1900
58 BC - Livia Drusilla, wife of Roman Emperor Augustus (d. 29)
133 - Marcus Severus Didius Julianus, Roman Emperor (d. 193)
1563 - Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian (d. 1641)
1628 - George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English diplomat (d. 1687)
1661 - Charles Rollin, French historian (d. 1741)
1697 - Johann Joachim Quantz, German flautist (d. 1773)
1720 - Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist and entomologist (d. 1778)
1736 - James Watt, Scottish engineer (d. 1819)
1754 - John Lansing, Jr., American statesman (d. 1829)
1775 - Walter Savage Landor, English writer and poet (d. 1864)
1781 - Adelbert von Chamisso, German writer (d. 1838)
1816 - Nathaniel Prentice Banks, American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894)
1822 - Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist (d. 1899)
1841 - Felix Faure, French politician (d. 1899)
1841 - Sam Lloyd, American game inventor and puzzle specialist (d. 1911)
1845 - Jose Domingo de Obaldia, 2nd President of Panama (d. 1910)
1846 - F. H. Bradley, British philosopher (d. 1924)
1852 - Ion Luca Caragiale, Romanian playwright and poet (d. 1912)
1862 - Walter Damrosch, German conductor and composer (d. 1950)
1875 - Walter Middelberg, Dutch rower (d. 1944)
1878 - Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian writer (d. 1940)
1882 - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)
1884 - Pedro Pablo Ramirez, President of Argentina (d. 1962)
1888 - Beatrice Brigden, Canadian activist (d. 1977)
1889 - Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet and dramatist (d. 1937)
1890 - Bruno Kastner, German actor (d. 1932)
1894 - Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria (d. 1943)
1895 - Wilhelm Gustloff, German leader of the Swiss Nazi Party (d. 1936)
1899 - Max Theiler, South African virologist (d. 1972)
1900 - Isaac Dunayevsky, Soviet composer (d. 1955)
1901 1950
1901 - Rudolf Caracciola, German racing driver (d. 1959)
1910 - Chidambaram Subramaniam, Indian politician (d. 2000)
1911 - Roy Eldridge, American jazz musician (d. 1989)
1912 - Werner Hartmann, German physicist (d. 1988)
1913 - Percy Thrower, English gardener and television host (d. 1988)
1913 - Amrita Sher-Gil, Indian painter (d. 1941)
1915 - John Profumo, British politician (d. 2006)
1917 - Paul Frere, Belgian racing driver, journalist and author (d. 2008)
1920 - Michael Anderson, British director
1920 - Delbert Mann, American director (d. 2007)
1924 - Lloyd Alexander, American writer (d. 2007)
1925 - Douglas Engelbart, American inventor (d. 2013)
1927 - Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986)
1928 - Hal Prince, American stage producer and director
1929 - Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian physician, surgeon and aid worker (d. 1996)
1929 - Isamu Akasaki, Japanese scientist, joint-winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics
1930 - Gene Hackman, American actor
1930 - Janis Krumins, Latvian basketball player (d. 1994)
1930 - Egon Klepsch, German politician (d. 2010)
1931 - Shirley Hazzard, Australian-American writer (d. 2016)
1932 - Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician
1934 - Tammy Grimes, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
1934 - Giovanni Battista Re, Italian cardinal
1935 - Richard Brautigan, American writer (d. 1984)
1935 - Jean Tiberi, former Mayor of Paris
1936 - Horst Jankowski, German pianist (d. 1998)
1937 - Vanessa Redgrave, British actress
1937 - Boris Spassky, Russian chess player
1937 - Ed Hansen, American movie director and editor (d. 2005)
1938 - Islam Karimov, President of Uzbekistan (d. 2016)
1940 - Mitch Murray, English songwriter and producer
1941 - Gregory Benford, American science fiction writer
1941 - Dick Cheney, 46th Vice President of the United States
1945 - Meir Dagan, Israeli general (d. 2016)
1945 - Michael Dorris, American author (d. 1997)
1946 - John Bird, Baron Bird, English social entrepreneur
1947 - Steve Marriott, English musician (d. 1991)
1947 - Malgorzata Braunek, Polish actress (d. 2014)
1948 - Sergio Cofferati, Italian politician
1949 - Peter Agre, American biologist
1949 - Jaak Salumets, Estonian basketball player and coach
1951 1975
1951 - Phil Collins, British singer and musician
1951 - Philip Whitchurch, British actor
1955 - John Baldacci, American politician, 73rd Governor of Maine
1955 - Curtis Strange, American golfer
1956 - Keiichi Tsuchiya, Japanese racing driver
1956 - Darko Rundek, Croatian musician, actor and theatre director
1956 - Jeremy Gittins, English actor
1957 - Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
1959 - Irina Pudova, Yakut ballerina
1960 - Eddie Jones, Australian rugby union player and coach
1961 - Liu Gang, Chinese physicist and computer scientist
1961 - Dexter Scott King, son of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King
1962 - King Abdullah II of Jordan
1963 - Tina Malone, English actress
1964 - Otis Smith, American basketball player
1965 - Julie McCullough, American model and actress
1967 - Jay Gordon, American musician
1967 - Sergey Tchepikov, Russian biathlete
1968 - King Felipe VI of Spain
1968 - Trevor Dunn, American musician
1969 - Alexey Dreev, Russian chess player
1971 - Darren Boyd, British actor
1972 - Jennifer Hale, Canadian-American actress and comedienne
1974 - Christian Bale, British actor
1974 - Olivia Colman, British actress
1974 - Jemima Khan, British socialite
1975 - Yumi Yoshimura, Japanese singer
1975 - Juninho Pernambucano, Brazilian footballer
From 1976
1976 - Cristian Brocchi, Italian footballer
1978 - Romesh Ranganathan, English comedian
1979 - Davide Simoncelli, Italian cross-country skier
1979 - Trevor Gillies, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 - Wilmer Valderrama, American actor and producer
1981 - Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer
1981 - Peter Crouch, English footballer
1981 - Mathias Lauda, Austrian racing driver
1982 - DeSagana Diop, Senegalese basketball player
1983 - Ben Maher, English equestrian
1984 - Kid Cudi, American Hip hop performer
1987 - Arda Turan, Turkish footballer
1987 - Phil Lester, English YouTuber, vlogger and radio personality
1987 - Rebecca Quin, Irish professional wrestler better known as Becky Lynch
1990 - Jake Thomas, American actor
1990 - Yoon Bo-ra, South Korean singer
1993 - Katy Marchant, English track cyclist
1995 - Misaki Iwasa, Japanese singer (AKB48)
1995 - Viktoria Komova, Russian gymnast
1995 - Danielle Campbell, American actress
1995 - Jack Laugher, English diver
2000 - Benee, New Zealand singer
2005 - Prince Hashem bin Al Abdullah II of Jordan
Deaths
Up to 1900
680 - Bathild, Frankish Queen (b. 626)
1030 - William V, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
1181 - Emperor Takakura of Japan (b. 1161)
1314 - Nicholas III of Saint Omer
1384 - Louis II of Flanders (b. 1330)
1649 - King Charles I of England, Ireland and Scotland (b. 1600)
1730 - Tsar Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
1836 - Betsy Ross, American seamstress (b. 1752)
1867 - Emperor Komei of Japan (b. 1831)
1869 - William Carleton, Irish novelist (b. 1794)
1889 - Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (b. 1858)
1889 - Baroness Marie Vetsera, mistress of Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf (b. 1871)
1901 2000
1913 - James Henderson Berry, Governor of Arkansas (b. 1841)
1926 - Barbara La Marr, American actress (b. 1896)
1927 - Simeon Eben Baldwin, American politician, 65th Governor of Connecticut (b. 1840)
1928 - Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger, Danish doctor, won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1867)
1929 - La Goulue, French dancer (b. 1866)
1934 - Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (b. 1862)
1948 - Mahatma Gandhi, Indian spiritual leader and advocate of non-violence (assassinated) (b. 1869)
1948 - Orville Wright, American aviation pioneer (b. 1871)
1951 - Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian automobile engineer (b. 1875)
1958 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (b. 1878)
1958 - Ernst Heinkel, German engineer (b. 1888)
1963 - Francis Poulenc, French composer (b. 1899)
1969 - Dominique Pire, Belgian monk (b. 1910)
1980 - Professor Longhair, American musician (b. 1918)
1982 - Stanley Holloway, British actor (b. 1890)
1982 - Lightnin' Hopkins, American musician (b. 1912)
1984 - Luke Kelly, Irish singer (The Dubliners) (b. 1940)
1986 - Ivan Papanin, Russian explorer (b. 1894)
1989 - Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cadiz, Spanish royal and claimant to the French throne (b. 1936)
1991 - John Bardeen, American physicist (b. 1908)
1995 - Gerald Durrell, British naturalist (b. 1925)
1999 - Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)
From 2001
2006 - Coretta Scott King, American civil rights activist (b. 1927)
2007 - Sidney Sheldon, American writer and screenwriter (b. 1917)
2008 - Jeremy Beadle, British television presenter (b. 1948)
2009 - Ingemar Johansson, Swedish boxer (b. 1932)
2009 - Sune Jonsson, Swedish writer, movie maker and photographer (b. 1930)
2009 - H. Guy Hunt, 49th Governor of Alabama (b. 1933)
2011 - John Barry, British movie score composer (b. 1933)
2013 - Patty Andrews, American singer (b. 1918)
2014 - Jack Stoddard, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
2014 - The Mighty Hannibal, American singer, songwriter and record producer (b. 1939)
2014 - Arthur Rankin, Jr., American animator, director, producer and writer (b. 1924)
2015 - Gerrit Voorting, Dutch road bicycle racer (b. 1923)
2015 - Zhelyu Zhelev, 2nd President of Bulgaria (b. 1935)
2015 - Geraldine McEwan, English actress (b. 1932)
2015 - Carl Djerassi, Austrian-American chemist, novelist and playwright (b. 1923)
2016 - Frank Finlay, British actor (b. 1926)
2016 - T. N. Gopakumar, Indian journalist (b. 1957)
2016 - Georgia Davis Powers, American civil rights activist and politician (b. 1923)
2016 - Francisco Flores Perez, President of El Salvador (b. 1959)
2016 - Mohammad Salimi, Iranian general (b. 1937)
2017 - Marta Becket, American dancer, painter and choreographer (b. 1924)
2017 - David Burhani, Tanzanian footballer (b. 1990)
2017 - Carmen Contreras-Bozak, American World War II veteran (b. 1919)
2017 - Mario R. Ramil, Filipino-born American justice (b. 1946)
2018 - Rolf Schafstall, German footballer (b. 1937)
2018 - Mark Salling, American actor and singer (b. 1982)
2018 - Clyde Scott, American football player and hurdler (b. 1924)
2018 - Kevin Towers, American baseball executive (b. 1961)
2018 - Terry Van Ginderen, Belgian television and music producer (b. 1931)
2018 - Azeglio Vicini, Italian footballer (b. 1933)
2018 - Louis Zorich, American actor (b. 1924)
2019 - Stewart Adams, British chemist, inventor of ibuprofen (b. 1923)
2019 - Per Jorsett, Norwegian sports reporter (b. 1920)
2019 - Dick Miller, American actor (b. 1928)
Observances
Observances related to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
Martyrs' Day (India)
School Day of non-violence and Peace (Spain)
Days of the year