On this day in History - Jan. 31

• 0743 - Muhammad al-Baqir dies (b. 0676). Shia Imam.
• 1338 - King Charles V of France (d. 1380).
• 1398 - Emperor Suko of Japan dies (b. 1334)
• 1435 - Xuande dies (b. 1398). Emperor of China
• 1504 - France cedes Naples to Aragon.
• 1512 - King Henry of Portugal was born (d. 1580)/ Nascimento do Cardeal-rei Henrique I de Portugal.
• 1542 - Descoberta das Cataratas do Iguaçu, por Dom Alvar Nuñes Cabeza de Vaca.
• 1550 - Henry I, Duke of Guise was born (d. 1588). French Catholic leader.
• 1558 - Descubrimiento de la Isla Grande de Chiloé en Chile, por una expedición española integrada por Alonso de Ercilla .
• 1561 - Menno Simons dies (b. 1496). Dutch Mennonite leader.
• 1580 - King Henry of Portugal dies on the day of his 68th birthday (b. 1512)/ Cardeal-rei Henrique I de Portugal faleceu no dia do 68º. aniversário.
• 1597 - John Regis was born (d. 1640). French saint.
• 1606 - Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes (b. 1570), Ambrose Rokewood and Thomas Wintour (b. 1571) are executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
• 1615 - Claudio Aquaviva dies (b. 1543). Italian Jesuit.
• 1624 - Arnold Geulincx was born (d. 1669). Flemish philosopher.
• 1632 - Joost Bürgi dies (b. 1552). Swiss clockmaker and mathematician.
• 1665 - Johannes Clauberg dies (b. 1622). German theologian and philsopher.
• 1676 - Se funda en Guatemala de la Real Universidad de San Carlos.
• 1686 - Hans Egede was born (d. 1758). Norwegian Lutheran missionary.
• 1686 - Jean Mairet dies (b. 1604). French dramatist.
• 1720 - Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford dies. English privy councilor.
• 1729 - Jakob Roggeveen dies (b. 1659). Dutch explorer.
• 1736 - Bruno Mauricio de Zabala dies. Founder of Montevideo (Uruguay).
• 1736 - Filippo Juvara dies (b. 1678). Italian architect.
• 1747 - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Dock Hospital.
• 1752 - Gouverneur Morris was born (d. 1816). Lawmaker and diplomat.
• 1759 - François Devienne was born (d. 1803). French composer.
• 1788 - Charles Edward Stuart dies (b. 1720). Pretender to the British throne.
• 1790 - Thomas Lewis dies (b. 1718). Irish-born Virginia settler.
• 1794 - Marriott Arbuthnot dies (b. 1711). British admiral.
• 1797 - Franz Schubert was born (d. 1828). Austrian Composer. One of the most gifted musicians of the 19th cent.
• 1814 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
• 1815 - José Félix Ribas dies (b. 1775). Venezuelan independentist leader.
• 1841 - Se constituye la República de El Salvador, al disolverse la Federación de las Provincias Unidas de Centroamérica.
• 1841 - Sam Loyd was born (d. 10 Apr 1911). Samuel Loyd was an American puzzlemaker who was best known for composing chess problems and games, including Parcheesi, in addition to other mathematically based games and puzzles.
• 1849 - Corn Laws abolished in the United Kingdom.
• 1851 - David Spangler Kaufman dies (b. 1813). American politician.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
• 1865 - The House of Representatives approved the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States.
• 1866 - Lev Shestov was born (d. 1938). Russian philosopher.
• 1867 - Maronite nationalist leader Karam leaves Lebanon on board of a French ship for Algeria
• 1868 - Theodore William Richards was born (d. 1928). American chemist, Nobel Prize for Chemics laureate in 1914.
• 1872 - Zane Grey was born born in Zanesville, Ohio. Prolific American writer and pioneer of Western as a new literary genre .
• 1876 - The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
• 1881 - Irving Langmuir was born (d. 1957). American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1881 - Joseph Augustine Cushman was born (d. 16 April 1949). U.S. paleontologist and geologist known for his work on paleoecology as shown by Foraminifera (marine protozoans). He was the most well-known foraminiferologist of his time.
• 1882 - Anna Pavlova was born in St. Petersburg [Feb. 12, New Style] (d. 23 Jan. 23). Russian ballerine. The most celebrated dancer of her time.
• 1884 - Theodor Heuss was born (d. 1963). German politician and publicist.
• 1888 - John Bosco dies (b. 1815). Italian priest, youth worker, educator, founder of the Salesian Society / Dom João Bosco, faleceu em Turim (n. 16 Ago 1815). Religioso, educador e escritor italiano. Criou a ordem dos Salesianos em Turim no ano de 1859, com 22 outros religiosos. Foi canonizado em 1 de Abril de 1934.
• 1889 - Frank Foster was born (d. 1958). English cricketer.
• 1891 - Luís de Montalvor (Luís Felipe de Saldanha da Gama da Silva Ramos) was born in S. Vincent, Cape Vert (d. 2 Mar 1947, in Lisbon). Portuguese poet and editor.
• 1890 - Revolta republicana no Porto, primeira tentativa de derrube da monarquia.
• 1892 - Eddie Cantor was born (d. 1964). American actor and singer.
• 1892 - Charles Spurgeon dies (b. 1834). English preacher and evangelist.
• 1894 - Isham Jones was born (d. 1956). American jazz musician.
• 1901 - Marie Luise Kaschnitz was born in Karlsruhe (d. 10 Oct 1974 in Rome). German writer.
• 1902 - Alva Myrdal was born (d. 1986). Swedish politician , diplomat, and writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1902 - Julian H. Steward was born (d. 6 Feb 1972). American anthropologist best known as one of the leading neoevolutionists of the mid-20th century and as the founder of the theory of cultural ecology
• 1902 - Tallulah Bankhead was born (d. 1968). American actress.
• 1905 - John O'Hara was born (d. 1970). American novelist and short-story writer.
• 1907 - Timothy Eaton dies (b. 1834). Canadian department store founder.
• 1908 - Roberto Chavero ("Atahualpa Yupanqui") was born. Argentine singer and guitarist.
• 1910 - F. Castro Soromenho was born in Vila de Chinde. Mozambican journalist and writer.
• 1914 - Sri Daya Mata was born. Hindu religious figure.
• 1914 - Jersey Joe Walcott was born (d. 1994). American boxer.
• 1915 - Alan Lomax was born (d. 2002). American singer and musicologist.
• 1915 - Thomas Merton was born (d. 1968). American monk and author.
• 1915 - Garry Moore was born (d. 1993). American comedian and game show host.
• 1915 - World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russians.
• 1917 - World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 1917 - Los científicos alemanes Otto Hahn y Lise Meitner descubren el protactinio, elemento radiactivo
• 1918 - A Alemanha realiza um ataque aéreo a Paris, soltando 14 mil bombas sobre a cidade.
• 1918 - A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
• 1919 - Jackie Robinson was born (d. 1972). Baseball player.
• 1921 - John Agar was born (d. 2002). American actor.
• 1921 - Carol Channing was born. American actress.
• 1921 - E. Fay Jones was born. American architect.
• 1921 - Mario Lanza, (Alfredo Cocozza Lanza) was born (d. 1959). Operatic singer, actor .
• 1922 - Joanne Dru was born (d. 1996). American actress.
• 1923 - Norman Mailer was born. American writer and journalist
• 1923 - Carol Channing was born in Seattle, Washington. American comedienne and singer.
• 1925 - Ajmed Zogu is elected President of Albania.
• 1925 - Benjamin Hooks was born. American head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
• 1929 - Jean Simmons was born. British actress.
• 1929 - Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer was born. German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate in 1961, with Robert Hofstadter of the United States, for his researches concerning the resonance absorption of gamma-rays and his discovery in this connection of the Mössbauer effect.
• 1929 - The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
• 1930 - 3M Markets Scotch Tape.
• 1931 - Ernie Banks was born. Baseball player.
• 1933 - John Galsworthy dies (b. 1867). English writer Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.
• 1935 - Kenzaburo Oe was born. Japanese writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1936 - The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
• 1937 - Philip Glass was born. American composer
• 1937 - Suzanne Pleshette was born. American actress.
• 1938 - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was born.
• 1938 - James G. Watt was born. American politician.
• 1938 - Constitui-se oficialmente em Burgos o primeiro governo espanhol presidido pelo general Franco, que substitui a Junta Técnica do Estado.
• 1940 - Jessica Walter was born. American actress.
• 1941 - Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt was born. American politician.
• 1941 - Charles V. Chapin dies (b. 17 Jan 1856). American physician and epidemiologist who, with Gardner T. Swarts, established the first municipal bacteriological laboratory in the U.S. (1888) in Providence, Rhode Island.
• 1942 - Daniela Bianchi was born. Italian actress.
• 1942 - Derek Jarman was born (d. 1994). American director and writer.
• 1943 - As forças militares alemãs cercadas em Stalinegrado rendem-se ao exército soviético. Durante a Batalha de Stalingrado 160.000 alemães morreram e 90.000 foram feitos prisioneiros, incluindo o marechal de campo von Paulus, o primeiro marechal alemão a render-se.
• 1944 - World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
• 1944 - Jean Giraudoux dies (b. 1882). French writer.
• 1944 - Charlie Musselwhite was born. American musician.
• 1945 - Joseph Kosuth was born. American conceptual artist.
• 1945 - Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
• 1946 - Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
• 1946 - Terry Kath was born (d. 1978). American musician.
• 1947 - Jonathan Banks was born. American actor.
• 1947 - Nolan Ryan was born. Baseball player.
• 1948 - Muneo Suzuki was born. Japanese politician.
• 1949 - Ken Wilber was born. American philosopher.
• 1950 - President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
• 1951 - Dave Benton was born. Aruban-born singer
  1952 - Nadya Rusheva was born (d. 1969). Russian painter.
• 1952 - Pedro Prado, faleceu, escritor chileno, Premio Nacional de Literatura de Chile em 1949.
• 1953 - A flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands.
• 1955 - John Mott dies (b. 1865). American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1956 - A. A. Milne dies (b. 1882). English author.
• 1956 - Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1956 - Johnny Rotten was born. British singer (Sex Pistols)
• 1958 - The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched into orbit.
• 1958 - James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
• 1959 - Anthony LaPaglia was born. Australian actor.
• 1959 - Kelly Lynch was born. American actress
• 1960 - Grant Morrison was born. British comic book author and chaos magician
• 1961 - Lloyd Cole was born. British singer and songwriter
• 1961 - Ham the Chimp travels into outer space. The U.S. launched a 4-year-old male chimpanzee named Ham on a Mercury-Redstone 2 rocket into suborbital flight to test the capabilities of the Mercury capsule.
• 1961 - Jânio Quadros, tendo como vice João Goulart, foi empossado presidente do Brasil ao ser eleito com 48% dos votos da população.
• 1962 - Cuba es expulsada de la Organización de Estados Americanos.
• 1964 - Jeff Hanneman was born. American guitarist (Slayer)
• 1964 - Billey Shamrock was born. Swedish singer and songwriter.
• 1966 - Dirk Brouwer dies (b. 1 Sep 1902). Dutch-born U.S. astronomer and geophysicist known for his achievements in celestial mechanics, especially for his pioneering application of high-speed digital computers for astronomical computations
• 1967 - Eddie Tolan dies (b. 1908). American athlete.
• 1968 - Mauritius breaks from Britain after days of rioting (Independence is officially achieved on 12 March 1968.)
• 1968 - Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon.
• 1968 - Nauru declares independence from Australia.
• 1970 - Minnie Driver was born. British actress.
• 1970 - Slim Harpo dies (b. 1924). American singer.
• 1971 - Patrick Kielty was born. Northern Irish comedian and television presenter.
• 1971 - Minnie Driver was born. Actress.
• 1971 - Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to the moon.
• 1971 - The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begin in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1973 - Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch dies (b. 1895). Norwegian economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner.
• 1974 - Samuel Goldwyn dies (b. 1882). American film studio executive.
• 1976 - Ernesto Miranda dies (b. 1941). American litigant.
• 1976 - Buddy Rice was born. American race car driver.
• 1980 - Tiffany Limos was born. American actress.
• 1981 - Justin Timberlake was born. American singer.
• 1982 - Bruno Nogueira was born. Portuguese presenter and comedian.
• 1982 - Helena Paparizou was born. Greek singer.
• 1982 - Inocêncio Romeiro Enes dies (b. 1892). Portuguese (Azorian) religious
• 1988 - Super Bowl XXII: The Washington Redskins win their second championship of the 1980s, 42-10.
• 1988 - In Aveiro (Portugal), Diogo Freitas do Amaral is elected President of CDS (Center Democratic and Social) during the VIII Congress of the party.
• 1989 - Fernando Namora dies (b. 15 Apr 1919). Portuguese writer /Fernando Namora morre em Lisboa (n. 15 Abr 1919 em Condeixa-a-Nova). Médico e escritor português era até então o autor português mais traduzido em todo o mundo. Em Condeixa foi criada a Casa Museu Fernando Namora. Casa da Malta (1945), Minas de S. Francisco (1946), Retalhos da Vida de um Médico (1949-1963, em dois volumes), Domingo à Tarde (1961), Rio Triste (1982) e Sentados na Relva (1986).
• 1990 - The first McDonald's opens in Moscow, Russia.
• 1990 - Rashad Khalifa dies stabbed (b. 1935). Egyptian-born imam.
• 1990 - Salvador Barata Feyo dies (b. 5 Dec 1899 in Moçamedes, Mozambique). Portuguese sculptor, essayst and pedagogue.
• 1991 - Márcio Mello dies (b. 1906). Brazilian politician.
• 1992 - Willie Dixon dies (b. 1915). American musician.
• 1993 - Super Bowl XXVII: The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Buffalo Bills, 52-17.
• 1994 - Um incêndio destrói o Grande Teatro de Liceo, de Barcelona, construído em 1847.
• 1995 - President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
• 1995 - George Abbott, director and producer on Broadway, dies at 107 (b. 1887) .
• 1995 - Dragon Ball Z ends its run in Japan.
• 1995 - George Robert Stibitz dies (b. 30 April 1904). U.S. mathematician who was regarded by many as the "father of the modern digital computer."
• 1996 - An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1.400.
• 1999 - Super Bowl XXXIII: The Denver Broncos defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-19.
• 1999 - Norm Zauchin dies (b. 1929). Baseball player.
• 2000 - Gil Kane dies (b. 1926). Latvian-born comic book writer.
• 2000 - An Alaska Airlines MD-83 crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Malibu, California killing 131.
• 2001 - In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crash into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
• 2001 - Gordon R. Dickson dies (b. 1923). Canadian writer.
• 2004 - Mystery Science Theater 3000 ends its run on the Sci-Fi Channel.
• 2004 - Eleanor Holm dies (b. 1913). American swimmer.
• Catholicism - Feast day of St. John Bosco.