On this day in History - Jan. 02

• 0366 - Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading Roman Empire.
• 0533 - Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
• 1492 - Reconquista: Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders. Muhammad XI, was the leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain, and surrendered to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.
• 1554 - Prince João of Portugal dies (b. 3 Jun 1537). Son of the King of Portugal D. João III.
• 1570 - Tsar Ivan the Terrible march to Novgorod begins .
• 1585 - Spain & Catholic France sign Saint League of Joinville.
• 1602 - Spanish force in Ireland surrender to the English at Kinsdale .
• 1642 - Mehmed IV sultan (Turkey) was born.
• 1699 - Osman III sultan (Turkey) was born.
• 1727 - James Wolfe was born (d. 1759). British general in French and Indian War.
• 1729 - Johann Daniel Titius was born [d. 1796]; Prussian astronomer, physicist, and biologist whose formula (1766) expressing the distances between the planets and the Sun was confirmed by J.E. Bode in 1772, when it was called Bode's Law.
• 1757 - The United Kingdom captures Calcutta, India.
• 1765 - Charles Hatchett was born [ d. 1847]; English chemist who discovered the element niobium, which he called columbium (1801).
• 1765 - Alvará que manda concretizar o plano que cria o Terreiro Público (área para abastecimento da população na Ribeira de Lisboa).
• 1777 - Christian Daniel Rauch was born (d. 1857). German sculptor.
• 1788 - Georgia becomes the 4th state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• 1793 - Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
• 1803 - Charles Thurber was born in E. Brookfield, Mass. [d. 1886]; American inventor of the chirographer, an early form of typewriter, patented in 1843.
• 1814 - La Asamblea Representativa de Venezuela otorgó a Simón Bolívar los poderes absolutos.
• 1815 - Lord Byron marries Anna Isabella Milbanke, Seaham, County Durham.
• 1816 - Benjamin Hobson was born at Welford, Northamptonshire (d. 1873). English medical missionary to China .
• 1816 - Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau dies [b. 1737]; French chemist who collaborated with Lavoisier and others to establish a systematic chemical nomenclature, helping to distinguish elements from compounds.
• 1818 - British Institution of Civil Engineers formed .
• 1822 - Rudolf Clausius, was born [d.1888] ; German mathematical physicist who was one of the founders of thermodynamics.
• 1825 - Brasil e Argentina iniciam a Guerra Cisplatina pela posse da Banda Oriental, atual Uruguai.
• 1830 - Henry Flagler was born (d. 1913). American financier.
• 1831 - Liberator, abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston .
• 1837 - Mili Alekseyevich Balakirev was born. Russian composer .
• 1839 -Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre took the first photograph of the Moon.
• 1842 - the first wire suspension bridge was opened to traffic in Fairmount, Pennsylvania.
• 1859- Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette.
• 1860 - William Corless Mills was born [d. 1928]; American museum curator who excavated Indian remains in Ohio, especially the Adena Mound (1901), a large earthen Indian burial ground near Chillicothe.
• 1863 - Battle of Murfreesboro (Stone's River) ends .
• 1865 - Tomada de Paissandu, marco da Guerra do Paraguai .
• 1868 - Marcos Paz dies (b. 1813). President of Argentina.
• 1870 - Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
• 1871 - Amadeus I becomes King of Spain.
• 1872 - Albert Coombs Barnes [d. 1951]; American chemist who invented the antiseptic Argyrol (1902).
• 1872 - Brigham Young is arrested for bigamy (25 wives).
• 1873 - Saint Theresa was born (d. 30 Aug 1867). French Carmelite nun.
• 1877 - Slava Raskaj was born (d. 1906). Croatian painter.
• 1882 - John D. Rockefeller unites his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust.
• 1889 - Roger Adams was born [d.1971]; American chemist and teacher who joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1916, which he converted into the leading centre of organic chemistry in the U.S. .
• 1889 - Carmine Mirabellli was born at Botucatu, São Paulo (d. 30 Apr 1951). Brazilian religious. Founder of the Centro Espírita São Luís.
• 1890 - Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer for the White House.
• 1890 - Joaquín V. González fundó la Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Capital de la Pcia de Buenos Aires, Argentina).
• 1890 - Julián Gayarre dies. Spanish opera singer (tenor).
• 1892 - Sir George Biddell Airy dies [b. 1801]; English astronomer who became the seventh Astronomer Royal (1836-92).
• 1893 - Introduction by Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America: Railroad chronometers.
• 1896 - Battle at Doornkop, South Africa (Boers beat Dr Jamesons troops) .
• 1900 - John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
• 1900 - Chicago Canal opens.
• 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur, China.
• 1905 - Elara, a satellite of Jupiter, was discovered by Perrine .
• 1912 - Renato Guttuso, was born, painter [d. 1987] .
• 1913 - Léon -Philippe Teisserenc de Bort dies [b. 1855]; French meteorologist who discovered the stratosphere (1902).
• 1917 - Sir Edward Burnett Tylor dies [b. 1832]; English anthropologist regarded as the founder of cultural anthropology.
• 1917 - The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
• 1918 - Um incêndio no palácio real da Granja, em Segóvia, queima numerosas obras de arte.
• 1919 - Lithuania gains independence .
• 1920 - Isaac Asimov was born [d. 1992]. American author and biochemist, who was a prolific writer of science fiction .
• 1920 - Federico Fellini was born. Italian film director.
• 1921 - Fundação do Cruzeiro Esporte Clube .
• 1921- The first religious radio broadcast (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) .
• 1921 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
• 1923 - U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall resigns due to the Teapot Dome scandal.
• 1923 - Maria Callas was born. American soprano.
• 1923 - The African-American town of Rosewood, Fla., was burned by Ku Klux Klan (8 killed) .
• 1929 - Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.
• 1930 - Chiang-Kai-Chek assume a chefia do poder civil na China.
• 1933 - US troops leave Nicaragua .
• 1935 - The Bruno R. Hauptmann trial began for the kidnap and murder of the Lindbergh baby.
• 1936 - the first electron tube to enable night vision was described, in St Louis, Mo.
• 1936 - Roger Miller was born in Ft Worth Tx. American country singer (King of the Road, Dang Me).
• 1936 - José Leonardo Coimbra dies (b. 30 Dec 1883). Portuguese philosopher and professor.
• 1941 - Donald B. Keck was born; American research physicist, who with his colleagues at Corning Glass, Dr. Robert Maurer and Dr. Peter Schultz, invented fused silica optical waveguide - optical fiber .
• 1942 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
• 1942 - The United States Navy opens a blimp base at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
• 1942 - Dennis Hastert was born. American congressman.
• 1947 - Aleksandr Tikhonova was born. USSR biathalon relay (Olympics-gold-1968, 72, 76, 80)
• 1948 - Vicente Huidobro dies (b. 10 Jan 1893). Chilean poet.
• 1949 - Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
• 1950 - Débora Susan Duken [Débora Duarte] was born in São Paulo. Brazilian actress.
• 1955 - Panamanian president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated.
• 1955 - José Norton de Matos dies (b. 23 Mar 1867). Portuguese general and politician.
• 1957 - San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge.
• 1959 - CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
• 1959 - The first spacecraft to fly by the Moon and also to orbit the Sun, Mechta (Luna 1) was launched by the USSR.
• 1963 - Dick Powell dies (b. 1904). American actor.
• 1964 - Kwame (Francis Nwia Kofie) Nkrumah, Ghana's first president, survives a fifth assassination attempt.
• 1965 - Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan .
• 1965 - Diane Lane was born. American actress .
• 1967 - Tia Carrere was born. American actress .
• 1968 - Cuba Gooding Jr. was born. American actor (Boyz N the Hood, Glaadiator, Few Good Men).
• 1968 - Dr Christiaan Neethling Barnard performs his second successful heart transplant.
• 1969 - Christy Turlington, was born in California. American fashion model ( Calvin Klein Eternity) .
• 1969 - Domingos was born. Portuguese football player (FC Porto).
• 1971 - 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland. See Ibrox disater.
• 1972 - Lillian Evelyn (Moller) Gilbreth dies [b. 1878] American efficiency expert, who as wife of Frank Bunker Gilbreth, contracting engineer, together developed the method of time-and-motion study .
• 1974 - Tex Ritter dies (b. 1905). American actor, singer.
• 1974 - Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum US speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
• 1975 - Hernâni Cidade dies in Évora (b. 1887, Redondo). Portuguese essayst and professor
• 1976 - Paz Vega was born. Spanish actress.
• 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 performed for the last time after 2,377 shows at the Uris Theatre on Broadway.
• 1984 - Cinco barcos iranianos são atacados e destruídos pela Armada do Iraque no Golfo Pérsico.
• 1987 - Ulysses Guimarães, presidente do PMBD, é eleito presidente da Constituinte (Brasil).
• 1991 - Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC 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 factions in Bosnia meet to discuss peace plans.
• 1994 - Dr Christiaan Neethling Barnard performs his second successful heart transplant.
• 1994 - Dixy Lee Ray dies [b. 1914]. Margaret Ray, American marine biologist whose interests extended to the environment. A year after appointment to the Atomic Energy Commission, she became its first female chair (1973-75) and championed nuclear power plant construction. On 2 Nov 1976, Ray won election as the first woman to be governor of Washington state.
• 1994- Mais de 70 pessoas morrem e 670 são feridas durante dois dias de luta entre facções na capital afegã de Cabul.
• 1995 - the most distant galaxy yet discovered was found by scientists using the Keck telescope in Hawaii. It is estimated to be 15 billion light years away and was named 8C 1435+63.
• 1995 - Manuel Rivera dies in Madrid (b. 1928, Granada). Spanish Painter, co-founder of El Paso .
• 1995 - Siad Barre dies. President of Somalia.
• 1995 - Pinheiro Rosa dies. Portuguese historian investigator.
• 1996 - Karl Targownik dies (b. 1915). Jewish psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor.
• 1996 - O presidente egípcio Hosni Mubarak escolhe Kamal Ganzouri como seu novo primeiro-ministro após a renuncia de Atef Sedki.
• 1996 -Thornton Page dies at 82. Astrophysicist.
• 1997 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Columbus OH on WBZX 99.7 FM .
• 1998 - Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
• 1999 - A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern USA, causing 14 inches (359mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487mm) at Chicago, Illinois.Temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.
• 2000 - Patrick O'Brian dies (b. 1914). Novelist.
• 2002 - Levy Mwanawasa took office as the third President of Zambia.
• 2003 - A crise argentina continua. O Congresso argentino conduz Eduardo Duhalde, derrotado nas eleições, ao poder. Jorge Lenicov assume a pasta da Economia e anuncia que vai desvalorizar a moeda após uma década de paridade cambial com o dólar.
• 2004 - Lynn Cartwright dies (b. 1927). American actress.
• 2005 - Cyril Fletcher dies (b. 1913). British comedian.
• 2005 - Frank Kelly Freas dies (b. 1922). American artist.
• 2005 - Ronald 'Bo' Ginn dies (b. 1934). U.S. Congressman from Georgia.
• 2005 - Maclyn McCarty dies (b. 1911). American geneticist.
• 2005 - Edo Murtić dies (b. 1921). Croatian painter.
• Catholicism and Anglicanism — Feast day of St. Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen.