On this day in History - Jan. 24

• 0041 - Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar, ( Caligula ) known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, was assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards.
• 0076 - Hadrian was born (d. 0138). Roman emperor
• 0661 - At Kufah in Iraq, Caliph Ali, son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed, was murdered in the mosque at Kufah in Iraq.
• 0772 - Pope Stephen IV dies (b. 0720).
• 1118 - Giovanni Caetani elected Pope Gelasius II
• 1125 - King David IV of Georgia dies (b. 1073)
• 1287 - Richard Aungerville was born (d. 1345). English bishop and writer.
• 1366 - King Alfonso IV of Aragon dies (b. 1299).
• 1376 - Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel dies. English military leader.
• 1438 - Pope Eugenius IV was suspended by the Council of Basel.
• 1444 - Galeazzo Maria Sforza was born (d. 1476). Duke of Milan.
• 1458 - Matthias I Corvinus becomes king of Hungary.
• 1473 - Conrad Paumann dies. German composer.
• 1540 - Edmund Campion was born (d. 1581). English Jesuit.
• 1556 - An earthquake in Shensi (Shaanxi) province, China, killed 830,000 people.
• 1595 - Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria dies (b. 1529).
• 1616 - La isla de los Estados en el Cabo de Hornos es descubierta por la expedición holandesa comandada por William Schouten y Jacob Le Maire.
• 1624 - Alfonso Mendez, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.
• 1638 - Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset was born (d. 1706). English poet and courtier.
• 1639 - Georg Jenatsch dies (b. 1596). Swiss politician.
• 1666 - Johann Andreas Herbst dies (b. 1588). German composer.
• 1670 - William Congreve was born. Dramatist .
• 1674 - Thomas Tanner was born (d. 1735). English bishop and antiquarian.
• 1679 - Christian Wolff was born (d. 1754). German philosopher.
• 1679 - King Charles II of England disbands Parliament.
• 1705 - Farinelli was born (d. 1782). Italian castrato.
• 1709 - George Rooke dies (b. 1650). English admiral.
• 1712 - Frederick II the Great was born (d. 1786). King of Prussia.
• 1724 - Frances Brooke was born (d. 1789). English writer.
• 1732 - Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was born (d. 1799). French playwright (The Marriage of Figaro; The Barber of Seville)
• 1742 - Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1752 - Muzio Clementi was born (d. 1832). Italian composer.
• 1776 - E.T.A. Hoffmann was born (d. 1822). Poet, composer, and painter.
• 1784 - José de Santa Rita Durão (Frei) dies in Lisbon (b. 1722 at CataPreta, now Santa Rita Durão, Minas Gerais). Theologian and poet.
• 1824 - João Manoel Menna Barreto was born in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul (d. 12 Aug 1869). Brazilian militar.
• 1828 - Ferdinand Cohn was born in Breslau, Prussia (d. 25 Jun 1898). German botanist. He is considered a founder of the science of bacteriology.
• 1839 - Juan Cruz Varela dies (b. 1794). Argentine writer and politician.
• 1839 - Charles Darwin elected member of Royal Society .
• 1842 - Leona Vicario (b. 1789). Mexican patriot who had important accion in the Wars of Independency
• 1848 - California gold rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento.
• 1848 - Gold was first discovered in California, in Sutter's mill. When President Polk announced the news in December, the gold rush began.
• 1856 - Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir dies (b. 1775). Polish Hasidic leader.
• 1859 - Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexander John Cuza under the name Romania .
• 1862 - Edith Wharton was born in New York City (d. 11. Aug. 1937). American Novelist. Pulitzer Prize winning author.
• 1862 - Edith Wharton was born (d. 1937). American writer.
• 1877 - Johann Christian Poggendorff dies (b. 1796). German physicist.
• 1878 - João Pessoa was born in Paraíba (d. 26 Jul 1930). Brazilian politician.
• 1882 - Levi Boone dies (b. 1808). Mayor of Chicago.
• 1883 - Friedrich von Flotow dies (b. 1812). German composer.
• 1888 - Jacob L. Wortman patents the typewriter ribbon.
• 1888 - Ernst Heinrich Heinkel was born (d. 30 Jan 1958). German aircraft engineer who built the first rocket-powered aircraft.
• 1888 - Vicki Baum was born (d. 1960). Austrian writer.
• 1888 - Ernst Heinkel was born (d. 1958). German aircraft designer.
• 1890 - Jeanne Humbert was born. French pacifist, anarchist militant & companion of Eugene Humbert & author of a biography of their lives. Sent to prison & fined, along with Eugene for spreading neo-Malthusian propaganda.
• 1895 - Eugen Roth was born (d. 1976). German writer.
• 1902 - Oskar Morgenstern was born (d. 26 Jul 1977). Economist-mathematician who created "game theory" which analyzes behaviour of man or animals in terms of win-loss strategies. With John von Neumann he wrote Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944).
• 1902 - E. A. Speiser was born (d. 1965). American Bible scholar.
• 1904 - Colonel Arthur Lynch's death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.
• 1908 - Robert Baden-Powell begins the Boy Scout movement in England.
• 1909 - Martin Lings was born (d. 2005). English Islamic scholar.
• 1913 - Norman Dello Joio was born. American composer.
• 1914 - Georges Cravenne was born. Publicist, creator of César
• 1915 - Robert Motherwell was born (d. 1991). American artist .
• 1916 - In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad, the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax void.
• 1916 - Jack Brickhouse was born (d. 1998). American sports broadcaster.
• 1916 - Rafael Caldera was born. Former President of Venezuela.
• 1916 - Tomás Seixas was born. Brazilian poet.
• 1917 - Ernest Borgnine was born. Academy Award-winning actor, (Marty - 1955, Ice Station Zebra, McHale).
• 1918 - A decree of the Council of People's Commissars, introducing the Gregorian calendar in Russia since February 1, issued.
• 1918 - Oral Roberts dies. American evangelist.
• 1920 - Amedeo Modigliani dies (b. 1884). Italian painter.
• 1922 - Christian K. Nelson patents the Eskimo Pie.
• 1924 - St. Petersburg, Russia is renamed Leningrad.
• 1924 - Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg dies (b. 1894)
• 1925 - Maria Tallchief was born. American ballerina.
• 1926 - Georges Lautner was born in Nice. French film director.
• 1927 - Young director Alfred Hitchcock released his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in England.
• 1928 - Desmond Morris was born. British anthropologist and writer.
• 1931 - Lars V. Hörmander, was born. Swedish mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1962 for his work on partial differential equations. Spending five years in writing, he produced a text "The analysis of linear partial differential operators", in four volumes (1983-85).
• 1932 - Sir Alfred Yarrow dies (b. 1842). English shipbuilder.
• 1934 - Stanisław Grochowiak was born (d. 1976). Polish poet and dramatist.
• 1935 - Jaime Batalha Reis dies (b. 1847). Portuguese jornalist, writer, economist and diplomat
• 1936 - Albert Sarraut becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1936 - Doug Kershaw was born. American musician.
• 1939 - Ray Stevens was born. American musician
• 1939 - 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion, Chile.
• 1939 - Maximilian Bircher-Benner dies (b. 1867). Swiss physician and nutritionist.
• 1941 - Neil Diamond was born in Brooklyn NY. Singer, songwriter.
• 1941 - Aaron Neville was born. Singer .
• 1942 - US submarine S-26 sinks after colliding with another Navy ship off the coast of Panama. 32 die.
• 1943 - Sharon Tate was born in Dallas, Texas (d. 1969). American actress (Valley of the Dolls) .
• 1943 - World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
• 1943 - John Burns dies (b. 1858). English politician.
• 1944 - Klaus Nomi was born (d. 1983). German singer.
• 1945 - Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz, the concentration camp in Poland.
• 1946 - The Atomic Energy Commission was established by a United Nations general assembly resolution on this day. The resolution was initiated originally by the United States, Canada and Britain.
• 1946 - Michael Ontkean was born. Canadian actor.
• 1947 - Warren Zevon was born (d. 2003). American musician and songwriter.
• 1949 - John Belushi was born (d. 1982). American actor.
• 1951 - Yakov Smirnoff was born. Russian comedian.
• 1952 - Vincent Massey sworn in as first Canada-born Governor-General of Canada.
• 1955 - Ira Hayes dies. She was a Native American hero of World War II's Battle of Iwo Jima.
• 1956 - Hanne Krogh was born. Norwegian singer and Eurovision Song Contest winner (Bobbysocks)
• 1958 - Jools Holland was born. British musician.
• 1959 - Vic Reeves was born. English comedian.
• 1959 - Michel Preud'Homme was bor. Belgian footballer (goal-keeper)
• 1960 - É iniciada uma insurreição na Argélia contra a colonização francesa do país.
• 1960(*) - Nastassja Kinski was born. German-born actress (Tess, Cat People). She played her first character role under director Roman Polanski. In 1980 she received the César for Tess (1979) and then the Golden Globe Award in 1981. (*Some fonts say 1959 and others 1961).


• 1960 - Edwin Fischer dies (b. 1886). Swiss pianist and conductor.
• 1961 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert dies (b. 1884). American swimmer and inventor.
• 1961 - Elsa, the lioness made famous by Joy Adamson's book Born Free, dies in Kenya.
• 1961 - A US B-52 bomber with two 24-megaton nuclear bombs crashed near Goldsboro, North Carolina.
• 1961 - End of the road for Monroe and Miller : Hollywood screen star Marilyn Monroe divorces her husband of five years, playwright Arthur Miller.
• 1962 - Jackie Robinson is 1st Black elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
• 1962 - Brian Epstein signs to manage The Beatles.
• 1962 - André Lhote dies (b. 5 Jul 1885). French Cubist painter and sculptor.
• 1963 - Arnold Vanderlyde was born. Dutch boxer.
• 1963 - John Myung was born. American bassist (Dream Theater)
• 1963 - Martyn Grimley was born. British hockey player.
• 1964 - British troops are flown in to Uganda to an army mutiny over low pay.
• 1965 - Winston Churchill dies in London (b. 30 Nov 1874). Statesman and historian, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1966 - Indira Gandhi, filha de Nehru, assume como primeira-ministra da Índia após a morte de Sri Shastri.
• 1966 - An Air India Boeing 707 jet crashes on Mont Blanc, on the border between France and Italy, killing 117 .
• 1966 - Jimeoin was born. Northern Irish-Australian comedian and actor.
• 1966 - Karine Viard was born. French actress.
• 1966 - Homi J. Bhabha dies (b. 1909). Indian physicist.
• 1967 - Promulgada a quinta Constituição da República, pelo Congresso Nacional, elaborada por Carlos Medeiros Silva, ministro da Justiça do governo Castello Branco (Brasil).
• 1967 - Oliverio Girondo dies. Argentine poet.
• 1968 - Mary Lou Retton was born. Gymnast, Olympic Hall of Fame medalist [1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze: Los Angeles: 1984]; first American woman to win an individual medal in gymnastics.
• 1969 - António Sérgio dies ( b. 1883). Portuguese pedagogue, essayst and thinker / António Sérgio, pedagogo e ensaista, morreu neste dia, um dos pensadores marcantes do Portugal contemporâneo.
• 1969 - O ditador Francisco Franco declara lei marcial na Espanha, após manifestações públicas, nas quais 300 pessoas foram presas.
• 1970 - Matthew Lillard was born. American actor.
• 1971 - Bill W., dies (b. 1895). American co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
• 1972 - Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi was discovered in Guam, having spent 28 years hiding in the jungle thinking World War II was still going on.
• 1973 - J. Carrol Naish dies (b. 1897). American actor.
• 1975 - Larry Fine dies (b. 1902). American actor and comedian.
• 1979 - Tatyana Ali was born. American actress.
• 1979 - Johannes De Klerk dies. South-African politician.
• 1980 - Nicole Marie Lenz was born. American actress.
• 1982 - Super Bowl XVI: San Francisco 49ers defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, 26-21 in the first Super Bowl played north of the Mason-Dixon line
• 1983 - George Cukor dies (b. 1899). American film director.
• 1984 - The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.
• 1986 - Voyager 2 passes within 50,679 miles of Uranus.
• 1986 - Vincente Minnelli dies (b. 1903). Italian film director.
• 1986 - Voyager 2 space probe passes within 51,000 miles of Uranus.
• 1986 - Mischa Barton was born. English-born actress
• 1986 - Ricky Ullman was born. American actor.
• 1986 - L. Ron Hubbard dies (b. 1911). American writer and founder of Scientology.
• 1986 - Flo Hyman dies (b. 1954). American volleyball player.
• 1986 - Gordon MacRae dies (b. 1921). American actor and singer.
• 1986 - Vincente Minnelli dies (b. 1903). American film director.
• 1987 - In Lebanon, gunmen kidnap Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, Robert Polhill and Mitheleshwar Singh.
• 1988 - Charles Glen King dies (b. 22 Oct 1896); Biochemist who discovered vitamin C, an aid in the prevention of scurvy and malnutrition.
• 1989 - Serial killer Ted Bundy (b. 1946) is executed in Florida's electric chair.
• 1990 - Madge Bellamy dies (b. 1899). American actress.
• 1991 - John M. Kelly dies (b. 1931). Irish politician and academic.
• 1991 - Falece Amador Aguiar, banqueiro paulista e fundador do maior banco privado da América Latina: o Bradesco. Sob a sua administração, o Bradesco foi o primeiro banco brasileiro a empregar computadores, e desde então, continua investindo pesado em informática.
• 1992 - Primeiras eleições presidenciais livres na Mauritânia, onde o vencedor ao cargo de presidente foi Muauiya Uld Taya.
• 1992 - Ignácio Bernal dies (b. 13 Feb 1910). French-born Mexican anthropologist.
• 1993 - Polish ferry boat John Heweliusz sinks, 52 killed.
• 1993 - Thurgood Marshall dies (b. 1908). U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
• 1994 - Um navio petroleiro explode e se parte em dois, com 23 mil toneladas de petróleo bruto, a 530 quilómetros de Hong Kong.
• 1995 - The prosecution delivers its opening statement in the O. J. Simpson murder trial.
• 1996 - Polish Premier Jozef Oleksy resigns amid charge he spied for Moscow.
• 1998 - Walter D. Edmonds dies (b. 1903). American author.
• 1998 - China: A gas explosion in a NE China coal mine kills 77.
• 2001 - The last two of the Texas 7 are taken into custody in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
• 2001 - Mandelson resigns - again: Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson resigns from the Cabinet over a passports-for-cash scandal.
• 2002 - Enron Congressional hearings begin.
• 2002 - Terrorist suspect John Walker Lindh's hearing begins.
• 2002 - The United States Department of Justice indicts Robert Nicholas Angleton for conspiring to murder his wife, Doris Angleton, along with his brother Roger.
• 2002 - António Cunha commits suicide at 61 jumping to the lions area in Lisbon zoo. Three months before the son had commited suicide with a shot.
• 2003 - The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
• 2003 -The Department of Homeland Security, under Tom Ridge, became a cabinet department .
• 2003 - Gianni Agnelli dies (b. 1921). Fiat president.
• 2003 - Morreu baleado o rapper Sabotage, de 29 anos, em São Paulo. Sabotage, levava a sua esposa ao trabalho quando foi baleado ao volante.
• 2004 - Olga Ladyzhenskaya dies. Russian matemathicien.
• 2004 - Opportunity's Mars landing : Launched in mid-2003, the six-wheeled robotic rover Opportunity landed on Mars and—like its twin rover, Spirit, which had landed on January 3—analyzed rocks and soils and relayed pictures back to Earth.
• 2004 - Leônidas da Silva dies (b. 1913). Brazilian footballer.
• 2005 - June Bronhill dies (b. 1929). Australian singer.
• 2005 - Vladimir Savchenko dies (b. 1933). Ukrainian writer.
• Día de San Francisco de Sales