January 3

Events

• 250 - Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire to make sacrifices to the Roman gods.
• 1521 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.
• 1653 - By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage.
• 1749 - Benning Wentworth issues the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.
• 1749 - The first issue of Berlingske, Denmark's oldest continually operating newspaper, is published.
• 1777 - American General George Washington defeats British General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
• 1815 - Austria, the United Kingdom, and France form a secret defensive alliance against Prussia and Russia.
• 1833 - The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
• 1848 - Joseph Jenkins Roberts is sworn in as the first president of Liberia.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States.
• 1868 - Meiji Restoration in Japan: The Tokugawa shogunate is abolished; agents of Satsuma and Chōshū seize power.
• 1870 - Construction work begins on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, United States.
• 1871 - In the Battle of Bapaume, an engagement in the Franco-Prussian War, General Louis Faidherbe's forces bring about a Prussian retreat.
• 1885 - Sino-French War: Beginning of the Battle of Núi Bop
• 1911 - A magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroys the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan.
• 1911 - A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill.
• 1913 - An Atlantic coast storm sets the lowest confirmed barometric pressure reading for a non-tropical system in the continental United States.
• 1925 - Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
• 1933 - Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.
• 1938 - The March of Dimes is established as a foundation to combat infant polio by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1944 - World War II: Top Ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
• 1945 - World War II: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz is placed in command of all U.S. Naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima and Okinawa in Japan.
• 1946 - Popular Canadian American jockey George Woolf dies in a freak accident during a race; the annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award is created to honor him.
• 1947 - Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
• 1949 - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established.
• 1953 - Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
• 1956 - A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
• 1957 - The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
• 1958 - The West Indies Federation is formed.
• 1959 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
• 1961 - Cold War: The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba over the latter's nationalization of American assets.
• 1961 - The SL-1 nuclear reactor is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.
• 1961 - A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.
• 1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
• 1976 - The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, comes into force.
• 1977 - Apple Computer is incorporated.
• 1990 - United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.
• 1993 - In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
• 1994 - More than seven million people from the former apartheid Homelands receive South African citizenship.
• 1994 - Baikal Airlines Flight 130 crashes near Irkutsk, Russia, resulting in 125 deaths.
• 1999 - The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA.
• 2000 - Final daily edition of the Peanuts comic strip.
• 2002 - Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.
• 2004 - Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history.
• 2009 - The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, was established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.
• 2015 - Boko Haram militants raze the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people.
• 2016 - Following the fallout caused by the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
• 2018 – For the first time in history all five major storm surge gates in the Netherlands are closed simultaneously in the wake of a storm.
• 2019 - Chang'e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover.
• 2020 - Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport.

  Births

• 106 BC - Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician
• 1196 - Emperor Tsuchimikado of Japan
• 1509 - Gian Girolamo Albani, Italian cardinal
• 1611 - James Harrington, English political theorist
• 1698 - Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet and songwriter
• 1710 - Richard Gridley, American soldier and engineer
• 1722 - Fredrik Hasselqvist, Swedish biologist and explorer
• 1731 - Angelo Emo, Venetian admiral and statesman
• 1760 - Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Indian ruler
• 1775 - Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont
• 1778 - Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish archbishop
• 1793 - Lucretia Mott, American activist
• 1802 - Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician
• 1803 - Douglas William Jerrold, English journalist and playwright
• 1806 - Henriette Sontag, German soprano and actress
• 1810 - Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, French geographer, ethnologist, linguist, and astronomer
• 1816 - Samuel C. Pomeroy, American businessman and politician
• 1819 - Charles Piazzi Smyth, Italian-Scottish astronomer and academic
• 1821 - Karel Dežman, Slovenian archaeologist, botanist, and politician, Mayor of Ljubljana
• 1831 - Savitribai Phule, Indian poet, educator, and activist
• 1836 - Sakamoto Ryōma, Japanese samurai and rebel leader
• 1840 - Father Damien, Flemish priest and missionary
• 1847 - Ettore Marchiafava, Italian physician
• 1853 - Sophie Elkan, Swedish writer
• 1855 - Hubert Bland, English businessman
• 1861 - Ernest Renshaw, English tennis player
• 1861 - William Renshaw, English tennis player
• 1862 - Matthew Nathan, English soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Queensland
• 1865 - Henry Lytton, English actor
• 1870 - Henry Handel Richardson, Australian-English author
• 1873 - Ichizō Kobayashi, Japanese businessman and art collector, founded the Hankyu Hanshin Holdings
• 1875 - Alexandros Diomidis, Greek banker and politician, 145th Prime Minister of Greece
• 1876 - Wilhelm Pieck, German carpenter and politician, 1st President of the German Democratic Republic
• 1877 - Josephine Hull, American actress
• 1880 - Francis Browne, Irish Jesuit priest and photographer
• 1883 - Clement Attlee, English soldier, lawyer, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1883 - Duncan Gillis, Canadian discus thrower and hammer thrower
• 1884 - Raoul Koczalski, Polish pianist and composer
• 1885 - Harry Elkins Widener, American businessman
• 1886 - John Gould Fletcher, American poet and author
• 1886 - Arthur Mailey, Australian cricketer
• 1887 - August Macke, German-French painter
• 1892 - J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, and philologist
• 1894 - ZaSu Pitts, American actress
• 1897 - Marion Davies, American actress and comedian
• 1898 - Carolyn Haywood, American author and illustrator
• 1898 - Carlos Keller, Chilean historian, academic, and politician
• 1900 - Donald J. Russell, American businessman
• 1901 - Ngô Đình Diệm, Vietnamese lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam
• 1905 - Dante Giacosa, Italian engineer
• 1905 - Anna May Wong, American actress
• 1907 - Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director
• 1909 - Victor Borge, Danish-American pianist and conductor
• 1910 - Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player and manager
• 1911 - John Sturges, American director and producer
• 1912 - Federico Borrell García, Spanish soldier
• 1912 - Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician
• 1912 - Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1915 - Jack Levine, American painter and soldier
• 1916 - Betty Furness, American actress and television journalist
• 1916 - Fred Haas, American golfer
• 1917 - Albert Mol, Dutch author and actor
• 1917 - Vernon A. Walters, American general and diplomat, 17th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
• 1917 - Roger Williams Straus, Jr., American journalist and publisher, co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• 1919 - Herbie Nichols, American pianist and composer
• 1920 - Siegfried Buback, German lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Germany
• 1920 - Renato Carosone, Italian singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1921 - Chetan Anand, Indian director and screenwriter
• 1921 - Isabella Bashmakova, Russian historian of mathematics
• 1922 - Bill Travers, English actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1923 - Hank Stram, American football coach and sportscaster
• 1924 - Otto Beisheim, German businessman and philanthropist, founded Metro AG
• 1924 - André Franquin, Belgian author and illustrator
• 1924 - Nell Rankin, American soprano and educator
• 1925 - Jill Balcon, English actress
• 1926 - W. Michael Blumenthal, American economist and politician, 64th United States Secretary of the Treasury
• 1926 - George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer
• 1928 - Abdul Rahman Ya'kub, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak
• 1929 - Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1929 - Ernst Mahle, German-Brazilian composer and conductor
• 1929 - Gordon Moore, American businessman, co-founder of Intel Corporation
• 1930 - Robert Loggia, American actor and director
• 1932 - Dabney Coleman, American actor
• 1932 - Eeles Landström, Finnish pole vaulter and politician
• 1933 - Geoffrey Bindman, English lawyer
• 1933 - Anne Stevenson, American-English poet and author
• 1934 - Marpessa Dawn, American-French actress, singer, and dancer
• 1934 - Carla Anderson Hills, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• 1935 - Raymond Garneau, Canadian businessman and politician
• 1937 - Glen A. Larson, American director, producer, and screenwriter, created Battlestar Galactica
• 1938 - Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, English academic and politician
• 1938 - K. Ganeshalingam, Sri Lankan accountant and politician, Mayor of Colombo
• 1939 - Arik Einstein, Israeli singer-songwriter and actor
• 1939 - Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1940 - Leo de Berardinis, Italian actor and director
• 1940 - Bernard Blaut, Polish footballer and coach
• 1941 - Malcolm Dick, New Zealand rugby player
• 1942 - John Marsden, Australian lawyer and activist
• 1942 - John Thaw, English actor and producer, played Inspector Morse
• 1943 - Van Dyke Parks, American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, author, and actor
• 1944 - Blanche d'Alpuget, Australian author
• 1945 - Stephen Stills, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1946 - John Paul Jones, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
• 1946 - Michalis Kritikopoulos, Greek footballer
• 1947 - Fran Cotton, English rugby player
• 1947 - Zulema, American singer-songwriter
• 1948 - Ian Nankervis, Australian footballer
• 1950 - Victoria Principal, American actress and businesswoman
• 1950 - Linda Steiner, American journalist and academic
• 1950 - Vesna Vulović, Serbian plane crash survivor and Guinness World Record holder
• 1951 - Linda Dobbs, English lawyer and judge
• 1951 - Gary Nairn, Australian surveyor and politician, 14th Special Minister of State
• 1952 - Esperanza Aguirre, Spanish civil servant and politician, 3rd President of the Community of Madrid
• 1952 - Gianfranco Fini, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 1952 - Jim Ross, American professional wrestling commentator
• 1953 - Justin Fleming, Australian playwright and author
• 1953 - Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Maldivian educator and politician, 5th President of the Maldives
• 1953 - Peter Taylor, English football winger and manager
• 1956 - Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1958 - Shim Hyung-rae, South Korean actor, director, and producer
• 1960 - Russell Spence, English racing driver
• 1962 - Darren Daulton, American baseball player
• 1962 - Gavin Hastings, Scottish rugby player
• 1963 - Stewart Hosie, Scottish businessman and politician
• 1963 - Aamer Malik, Pakistani cricketer
• 1963 - Alex Wheatle, English author and playwright
• 1964 - Bruce LaBruce, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1964 - Cheryl Miller, American basketball player and coach
• 1966 - Chetan Sharma, Indian cricketer
• 1969 - Lorenzo Fertitta, American entrepreneur, casino executive and sports promoter
• 1969 - Jarmo Lehtinen, Finnish racing driver
• 1969 - Michael Schumacher, German racing driver
• 1969 - Gerda Weissensteiner, Italian luger and bobsledder
• 1971 - Cory Cross, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1971 - Lee Il-hwa, South Korean actress
• 1973 - Dan Harmon, American screenwriter and producer
• 1974 - Robert-Jan Derksen, Dutch golfer
• 1974 - Alessandro Petacchi, Italian cyclist
• 1975 - Jason Marsden, American actor
• 1975 - Thomas Bangalter, French DJ, musician, and producer
• 1975 - Danica McKellar, American actress, writer, and mathematician
• 1976 - Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer
• 1976 - Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor and producer
• 1977 - Lee Bowyer, English footballer and coach
• 1977 - A. J. Burnett, American baseball player
• 1977 - Mayumi Iizuka, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1978 - Dimitra Kalentzou, Greek basketball player
• 1978 - Dominic Wood, English comedian and former magician
• 1980 - Bryan Clay, American decathlete
• 1980 - Angela Ruggiero, American ice hockey player
• 1980 - David Tyree, American football player
• 1980 - Kurt Vile, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1980 - Mary Wineberg, American sprinter
• 1981 - Eli Manning, American football player
• 1982 - Peter Clarke, English footballer
• 1982 - Lasse Nilsson, Swedish footballer
• 1982 - Park Ji-yoon, South Korean singer and actress
• 1984 - Billy Mehmet, English-Irish footballer
• 1985 - Linas Kleiza, Lithuanian basketball player
• 1985 - Evan Moore, American football player
• 1986 - Dana Hussain, Iraqi sprinter
• 1986 - Greg Nwokolo, Indonesian footballer
• 1986 - Dmitry Starodubtsev, Russian pole vaulter
• 1987 - Reto Berra, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender
• 1987 - Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and singer
• 1988 - Ikechi Anya, Scottish-Nigerian footballer
• 1988 - Matt Frattin, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1988 - J. R. Hildebrand, American racing driver
• 1989 - Ben Matulino, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1989 - Kōhei Uchimura, Japanese artistic gymnast
• 1990 - Yoichiro Kakitani, Japanese footballer
• 1991 - Jerson Cabral, Dutch footballer
• 1991 - Özgür Çek, Turkish footballer
• 1991 - Sébastien Faure, French footballer
• 1991 - Dane Gagai, Australian rugby league player
• 1994 - Isaquias Queiroz, Brazilian sprint canoeist
• 1997 - Kyron McMaster, British Virgin Islands hurdler
• 2003 - Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist

  Deaths

• 236 - Anterus, pope of the Catholic Church
• 323 - Yuan of Yin, Chinese emperor
• 1027 - Fujiwara no Yukinari, Japanese calligrapher
• 1028 - Fujiwara no Michinaga, Japanese nobleman
• 1098 - Walkelin, Norman bishop of Winchester
• 1322 - Philip V, king of France
• 1437 - Catherine of Valois, queen consort of Henry V
• 1501 - Ali-Shir Nava'i, Turkic poet, linguist, and mystic
• 1543 - Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer and navigator
• 1571 - Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg
• 1641 - Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer and mathematician
• 1656 - Mathieu Molé, French politician
• 1670 - George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
• 1701 - Louis I, prince of Monaco
• 1705 - Luca Giordano, Italian painter and illustrator
• 1743 - Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian painter and architect
• 1777 - William Leslie, Scottish captain
• 1779 - Claude Bourgelat, French surgeon and lawyer
• 1785 - Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer
• 1795 - Josiah Wedgwood, English potter, founded the Wedgwood Company
• 1826 - Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French general
• 1871 - Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Indian priest and saint
• 1875 - Pierre Larousse, French lexicographer and publisher
• 1882 - William Harrison Ainsworth, English author
• 1895 - James Merritt Ives, American lithographer and businessman, co-founded Currier and Ives
• 1903 - Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant
• 1911 - Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author and poet
• 1915 - James Elroy Flecker, English poet, author, and playwright
• 1916 - Grenville M. Dodge, American general and politician
• 1922 - Wilhelm Voigt, German criminal
• 1923 - Jaroslav Hašek, Czech journalist and author
• 1927 - Carl David Tolmé Runge, German physicist and mathematician
• 1931 - Joseph Joffre, French general
• 1933 - Wilhelm Cuno, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of Germany
• 1933 - Jack Pickford, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer
• 1943 - Walter James, Australian lawyer and politician, 5th Premier of Western Australia
• 1944 - Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet, critic, and translator
• 1945 - Edgar Cayce, American psychic and author
• 1945 - Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish journalist and explorer
• 1946 - William Joyce, American-British pro-Axis propaganda broadcaster
• 1956 - Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian-American pianist and composer
• 1956 - Dimitrios Vergos, Greek wrestler, weightlifter, and shot putter
• 1956 - Joseph Wirth, German educator and politician, Chancellor of Germany
• 1958 - Cafer Tayyar Eğilmez, Turkish general
• 1959 - Edwin Muir, Scottish poet, author, and translator
• 1960 - Eric P. Kelly, American journalist, author, and academic
• 1962 - Hermann Lux, German footballer and manager
• 1965 - Milton Avery, American painter
• 1966 - Sammy Younge Jr., American civil rights activist
• 1967 - Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress
• 1967 - Reginald Punnett, British scientist
• 1967 - Jack Ruby, American businessman and murderer
• 1969 - Jean Focas, Greek-French astronomer
• 1969 - Tzavalas Karousos, Greek-French actor
• 1970 - Gladys Aylward, English missionary and humanitarian
• 1972 - Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright
• 1975 - Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle
• 1975 - James McCormack, American general
• 1977 - William Gropper, American lithographer, cartoonist, and painter
• 1979 - Conrad Hilton, American businessman, founded the Hilton Hotels & Resorts
• 1980 - Joy Adamson, Austrian-Kenyan author
• 1980 - George Sutherland Fraser, Scottish poet and academic
• 1981 - Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone
• 1988 - Rose Ausländer, Ukrainian-German poet and author
• 1989 - Sergei Sobolev, Russian mathematician and academic
• 1992 - Judith Anderson, British actress
• 2002 - Satish Dhawan, Indian engineer
• 2003 - Jimmy Stewart, Scottish racing driver
• 2005 - Koo Chen-fu, Taiwanese businessman and diplomat
• 2005 - Egidio Galea, Maltese Roman Catholic priest, missionary, and educator
• 2005 - Jyotindra Nath Dixit, Indian diplomat, 2nd Indian National Security Adviser
• 2006 - Steve Rogers, Australian rugby player and coach
• 2006 - Bill Skate, Papua New Guinean politician, 5th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
• 2007 - János Fürst, Hungarian violinist and conductor
• 2007 - William Verity, Jr., American businessman and politician, 27th United States Secretary of Commerce
• 2008 - Choi Yo-sam, South Korean boxer
• 2009 - Betty Freeman, American philanthropist and photographer
• 2009 - Pat Hingle, American actor
• 2009 - Hisayasu Nagata, Japanese politician
• 2010 - Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Chilean-German composer and academic
• 2010 - Mary Daly, American theologian and scholar
• 2012 - Vicar, Chilean cartoonist
• 2012 - Robert L. Carter, American lawyer and judge
• 2012 - Winifred Milius Lubell, American author and illustrator
• 2012 - Josef Škvorecký, Czech-Canadian author and publisher
• 2012 - Bob Weston, English guitarist and songwriter
• 2013 - Alfie Fripp, English soldier and pilot
• 2013 - Ivan Mackerle, Czech cryptozoologist, explorer, and author
• 2013 - William Maxson, American general
• 2013 - Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian actor, director, and screenwriter
• 2014 - Phil Everly, American singer and guitarist
• 2014 - George Goodman, American economist and author
• 2014 - Saul Zaentz, American film producer
• 2015 - Martin Anderson, American economist and academic
• 2015 - Edward Brooke, American captain and politician, 47th Massachusetts Attorney General
• 2016 - Paul Bley, Canadian-American pianist and composer
• 2016 - Peter Naur, Danish computer scientist, astronomer, and academic
• 2016 - Bill Plager, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 2016 - Igor Sergun, Russian general and diplomat
• 2017 - H. S. Mahadeva Prasad, Indian politician
• 2018 - Colin Brumby, Australian composer
• 2019 - Herb Kelleher, American businessman, co-founder of Southwest Airlines
• 2020 - Qasem Soleimani, Iranian major general, commander of the Iranian Quds Force

  Holidays and observances

• Anniversary of the 1966 Coup d'état
• Christian feast day:
• *Daniel of Padua
• *Genevieve
• *Holy Name of Jesus
• *Kuriakose Elias Chavara
• *Pope Anterus
• *William Passavant
• *January 3
• Ministry of Religious Affairs Day
• Tamaseseri Festival
• The first day of Nakhatsenendyan toner, celebrated until January 5.
• The tenth of the Twelve Days of Christmas