On this day in History - Jan. 16

• 27 BC - Octavian Caesar given the title Augustus by the Roman Senate.
• 0309 - Pope Marcel I dies. 30th pope.
• 0550 - Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
• 0929 - Emir Abd-ar-rahman III of Cordoba declares himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.
• 1245 - Edmund Crouchback was born (d. 1296). Son of Henry III of England.
• 1362 - A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
• 1400 - John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter dies executed. English politician.
• 1409 - King René I of Naples was born (d. 1480)
• 1412 - The Medici family are made official bankers of the Papacy.
• 1456 - Painter Filippo Lippi elopes with Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of Saint Margherita.
• 1477 - Johannes Schöner was born (d. 1547). German astronomer and cartographer
• 1492 - The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
• 1501 - Anthony Denny was born (d. 1559). Confidant of King Henry VIII of England
• 1545 - George Spalatin dies (b. 1484). German reformer.
• 1547 - Ivan the Terrible was crowned the first czar of Russia.
• 1547 - Johannes Schöner dies (b. 1477). German astonomer and cartographer.
• 1554 - Christiern Pedersen dies. Danish humanist
• 1556 - Philip II becomes King of Spain.
• 1572 - The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
• 1581 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
• 1585 - Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln dies (b. 1512). English admiral.
• 1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.
• 1616 - François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort was born (d. 1669). French soldier.
• 1626 - Lucas Achtschellinck was born (d. 1699). Flemish painter.
• 1634 - Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter was born (d. 1716). Norwegian poet.
• 1659 - Charles Annibal Fabrot dies (b. 1580). French lawyer.
• 1675 - Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon was born (d. 1755). French writer.
• 1707 - The Scottish Parliament, finally ratified the Act of Union, paving way for the creation of the Great Britain.
• 1710 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan dies (b. 1675)
• 1711 - Blessed Joseph Vaz dies (b. 1651). Apostle of Ceylon.
• 1728 - Niccola Piccinni was born (d. 1800). Italian composer.
• 1730 - Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard Bochart de Saron was born (d. 20 Apr 1794). French lawyer and natural scientist who became especially known for his advances in astronomy.
• 1747 - Barthold Heinrich Brockes dies (b. 1680). German poet.
• 1748 - Arnold Drakenborch dies (b. 1684). Dutch classical scholar.
• 1750 - Ivan Trubetskoy dies (b. 1667). Russian field marshall.
• 1752 - Francis Blomefield dies (b. 1705). English topographer.
• 1761 - British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.
• 1767 - Anders Gustav Ekeberg, was born (d. 11 Feb 1813). Swedish chemist who in 1802 discovered the element tantalum.
• 1776 - João Soares de Albergaria de Sousa was born (d. 1875). Portuguese politician.
• 1777 - Vermont declares its independence from New York.
• 1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
• 1794 - Edward Gibbon dies (b. 1737). English historian.
• 1795 - French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.
• 1806 - Nicolas Leblanc dies. French surgeon and chemist who in 1790 developed the process for making soda ash (sodium carbonate) from common salt (sodium chloride).
• 1806 - William Pitt the Younger dies (b. 1759). Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1807 - Charles Henry Davis was born (d. 18 Feb 1877). U.S. naval officer and scientist. One of the founders of the National Academy of Sciences in 1863 .
• 1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña / O exército britânico, comandado pelo general Moore, venceu o exército francês, comandado pelo marechal Soult, na batalha de Corunha. A vitória permitiu que a força britânica embarcasse com toda a segurança nos navios que a esperavam, para levarem as tropas de regresso à Grã-Bretanha.
• 1809 - John Moore dies killed in battle (b. 1761). British general.
• 1815 - Emma, Lady Hamilton dies (b. 1765). English mistress of Horatio Nelson
• 1817 - Alexander J. Dallas dies (b. 1759). American statesman and financier.
• 1821 - John C. Breckenridge was born (d. 1875). U.S. Senator from Kentucky and Confederate general.
• 1834 - Robert R. Hitt was born (d. 1906). American politician.
• 1834 - Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette dies (b. 1769). French mathematician.
• 1837 - Ellen Russell Emerson was born (d. 12 Jun 1907). American ethnologist, noted for her extensive examinations of Native American cultures, especially in comparison with other world cultures.
• 1838 - Franz Brentano was born (d. 1917). German philosopher and psychologist.
• 1847 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
• 1852 - Carlos Cândido dos Reis was born (d. 1910). Portuguese almirant.
• 1853 - Andre Michelin was born (d. 1931). French industrialist / Nascimento do industrial francês e Andrè Michelin (1853-1931), em Paris. Criou a Companhia de Pneus Michelin em 1888, promovendo a utilização de pneumáticos nas rodas dos automóveis.
• 1856 - Thaddeus William Harris dies (b. 1795). American naturalist.
• 1862 - Publicado o livro A Vida de Jesus, de Ernesto Renan.
• 1862 - Passos Manuel (Manuel da Silva Passos) dies in Santarém (b. 5 Jan 1801). Portuguese politician, proeminent personality of the liberal fights.
• 1865 - Edmond François Valentin About dies (b. 1828). French writer.
• 1868 - A patent for a refrigerator car, "ice box on wheels," was granted to William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit, Mich. (who also designed the first railroad refrigerated car).
• 1874 - Max (Johann Sigismund) Schultze dies (b. 25 Mar 1825). German zoologist and cytologist, known especially for his researches in microscopic anatomy.
• 1874 - Robert W. Service was born (d. 1958). Canadian poet.
• 1878 - Captain Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from the Ottoman rule.
• 1879 - Octave Crémazie dies (b. 1827). French Canadian poet.
• 1882 - António dos Santos Graça was born in Póvoa de Varzim (d. 07 Sep 1956). Portuguese writer, journalist and archeologist.
• 1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil service, is passed.
• 1885 - Zhou Zuoren was born (d. 1967). Chinese writer.
• 1886 - John Hamilton was born (d. 1958). American actor.
• 1888 - Osip Brik was born (d. 1945). Russian writer.
• 1891 - João de Lemos dies (b. 1819). Portuguese poet, dramatist and journalist.
• 1891 - Leo Delibes dies in Paris (b. 1836). French composer.
• 1894 - Mariano Pinho was born (d. 1963). Portuguese jesuit and writer.
• 1896 - Defeat of Cymru Fydd at South Wales Liberal Federation AGM, Newport, Monmouthshire.
• 1897 - Carlos Pellicer was born (d. 1977). Mexican poet.
• 1898 - Margaret Booth was born (d. 2002). Film editor.
• 1898 - Charles Pelham Villiers dies (b. 1802). Longest-serving MP in the British House of Commons
• 1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands.
• 1901 - Frank Zamboni was born (d. 1988). American inventor.
• 1901 - Fulgencio Batista was born (d. 1973). President of Cuba.
• 1902 - Eric Liddell was born (d. 1945). Scottish runner.
• 1904 - Manuel Lora Tamayo was born. President of Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (Spain).
• 1906 - Marruecos: comienza la Conferencia de Algeciras con la finalidad de decidir el destino de este país africano. Participan: España, Francia, Alemania y Reino Unido.
• 1906 - Diana Wynyard was born (d. 1964). British actress.
• 1907 - Paul Nitze was born (d. 2004). American government official.
• 1908 - Ethel Merman was born (d. 1984). American actress, singer.
• 1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
• 1910 - Dizzy Dean was born (d. 1974). Baseball player.
• 1911 - Eduardo Frei Montalva was born. President of Chile.
• 1911 - Roger Lapébie was born (d. 1996). French cyclist.
• 1914 - El poeta ruso Máximo Gorki, es autorizado a regresar a su país tras ocho años de exilio.
• 1915 - Revolución mexicana: el general Álvaro Obregón, al frente de sus fuerzas, entra en la capital.
• 1917 - German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sends the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the United States.
• 1917 - George Dewey dies (b. 1837). U.S. admiral.
• 1918 - Nel Benschop was born (d. 2005). Dutch poetess.
• 1918 - Stirling Silliphant was born (d. 1996). American writer and producer.
• 1918 - Jules Lachelier dies (b. 1832). French philosopher.
• 1919 - Temperance movement: The United States of America ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification.
• 1919 - A Assembléia Constituinte da Polônia confirma Ignacy Jan Paderewsky como Chefe do Governo.
• 1919 - Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves dies (b. 1848). President of Brazil.
• 1920 - Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. was established on the campus of Howard University.
• 1920 - A year after it was ratified, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages, went into effect.
• 1921 - Francesco Scavullo was born (d. 2004). Photographer.
• 1922 - Ernesto Bonino was born. Italian singer.
• 1923 - Anthony Hecht was born (d. 2004). American poet.
• 1924 - Katy Jurado was born (d. 2002). Mexican actress.
• 1924 - Winifred Cochrane, Countess of Dundonald dies (b. 1859). Philanthropist.
• 1927 - Luisa Dacosta was born. Portuguese writer.
• 1928 - William Kennedy was born. American author
• 1929 - Vilma Caccuri was born. Brazilian artist.
• 1930 - Clarence Ray Allen was born (d. 2006). American murderer.
• 1931 - Johannes Rau was born. President of Germany.
• 1932 - Dian Fossey was born (d. 26 Dec 1985). American zoologist who for years made a daily study of the mountain forest gorillas of Rwanda, central Africa .
• 1933 - Susan Sontag was born. American writer and critic.
• 1933 - Artur Ivens Ferraz dies (b. 1870). Portuguese militar and politician.
• 1934 - Marilyn Horne was born. Mezzo-soprano.
• 1935 - A.J. Foyt was born. American race car driver.
• 1935 - Udo Lattek was born. Football (soccer) coach .
• 1936 - Oskar Barnack dies (b. 1 Nov 1879); German engineer who designed the first miniature camera (1913), the Leica I.
• 1936 - Albert Fish dies executed (b. 1870). American serial killer.
• 1938 - Benny Goodman plays Carnegie Hall.
• 1938 - Jô Soares was born. Brazilian TV host, writer and humorist.
• 1941 - Chile y Bolivia firman un pacto de no agresión.
• 1942 - René Angélil was born. Canadian singer (Baronets), husband and manager of Céline Dion
• 1942 - Barbara Lynn was born. American singer and guitarist
• 1942 - Actress Carole Lombard (b. 1908), the wife of actor Clark Gable, died in a plane crash.
• 1943 - Brian Ferneyhough was born. British composer
• 1943 - Ronnie Milsap was born. American singer/songwriter
• 1944 - Jim Stafford was born. Singer, songwriter and guitarist
• 1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
• 1946 - Kabir Bedi was born. Indian actor
• 1946 - Katia Ricciarelli was born. Italian soprano
• 1947 - Laura Schlessinger was born. American psychiatrist and radio talk show host
• 1947 - Vincent Auriol é eleito presidente da França, o quinto presidente da Quarta República.
• 1948 - John Carpenter was born. American film director.
• 1948 - Dalvanius was born (d. 2002). New Zealand entertainer.
• 1948 - Cliff Thorburn was born. Canadian snooker player
• 1948 - Ruth Reichl was born. Editor-in-chief of Gourmet
• 1950 - Gustav Krupp dies. German industrialist and financier.
• 1950 - Debbie Allen was born. American actress, dancer, and choreographer
• 1951 - Glenn Ordway was born. American radio talk show host
• 1952 - King Fuad II of Egypt was born.
• 1953 - Robert Jay Mathews was born (d. 1984). White Nationalist.
• 1953 - Artur Albarran was born. Portuguese journalist and TV presenter
• 1953 - a sample amounting to about 200 atoms of fermium (Fm, atomic number 100) was first by ion-exchange chromatography and identified at the University of California, Berkeley,
• 1956 - Islam is now the official Egyptian state religion, by order of Egyptian government.
• 1956 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
• 1956 - Martin Jol was born. Dutch football manager
• 1957 - Arturo Toscanini dies (b. 1867). Italian conductor.
• 1957 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool / Inaugurada a casa noturna The Cavern Club, em Liverpool, na Inglaterra. Foi no local que os Beatles iniciaram sua carreira artística.
• 1958 - Anatoli Boukreev was born (d. 1997). Russian climber.
• 1959 - Sade was born. Nigerian-born singer.
• 1961 - Mickey Mantle becomes the highest paid baseball player by signing a $75,000 contract.
• 1962 - Un golpe de Estado en la República Dominicana depone al presidente, Joaquín Balaguer, e instaura una Junta de Gobierno por 48 horas.
• 1962 - Paul Webb was born. British musician (Talk Talk)
• 1962 - Ivan Meštrović dies (b. 1883). Croatian sculptor.
• 1963 - James May was born. Top Gear presenter
• 1963 - Gilardo Gilardi dies. Argentine composer.
• 1964 - The first musical version of Hello, Dolly! opens at New York City's St. James Theatre.
• 1966 - The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City.
• 1966 - Nigerian Army chief, General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, briefly takes power in a military coup. Over 50 government officials are killed, including the existing prime minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. Although it is was claimed to be an attempt to rid the government of corruption, most of those killed were Hausa Moslems from the north of Nigeria, whereas the new "government" is mostly Ibo from Eastern Nigeria.
• 1966 - Maxine Jones was born. American singer (En Vogue)
• 1967 - Robert J. Van de Graaff dies (b. 20 Dec 1901). American physicist and inventor of the Van de Graaff generator, a type of high-voltage electrostatic generator that can be used as a particle accelerator in atomic research.
• 1968 - Youth International Party (Yippies) is founded.
• 1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
• 1969 - two manned Soviet "Soyuz" spaceships (Soviet Soyuz 4 & Soyuz 5) became the first vehicles to dock in space and transfer personnel.
• 1969 - The Metroliner train begins service between New York City and Washington, DC with one round trip per day.
• 1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
• 1969 - Roy Jones Jr. was born. American boxer.
• 1969 - Jan Palach dies (b. 1948). Czech Freedom Fighter.
• 1969 - Vernon Duke dies (b. 1903). American composer and songwriter.
• 1970 - Garth Ennis was born. Irish comic book author.
• 1970 - Ron Villone was born. Major League Baseball Player
• 1970 - Private Muammar Kadhaffi, promoted to Colonel, becomes premier of Libya.
• 1970 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
• 1970 - Curt Flood files suit, stating that major league baseball had violated the American anti-trust laws.
• 1971 - Sergi Brugera was born. Spanish tennis player.
• 1971 - Philippe Thys dies (b. 1890). Belgian cyclist.
• 1972 - Ross Bagdasarian dies (b. 1919). American actor and songwriter.
• 1973 - USSR's Lunakhod 2 begins radio-controlled exploration of the Moon.
• 1973 - Josie Davis was born. American actress
• 1974 - Marlon Anderson was born. Baseball player
• 1974 - Kate Moss was born in London. Supermodel (See wallpapers here)
• 1975 - Greg Strause was born. American director in special effects
• 1976 - Viktor Maslov was born. Russian racing driver
• 1977 - The Marx Brothers were inducted into the Motion Picture Hall of Fame.
• 1977 - Jeff Foster was born. American basketball player
• 1978 - NASA named 35 candidates to fly on the space shuttle, including Sally K. Ride, who became America's first woman in space, and Guion S. Bluford Jr., who became America's first black astronaut in space.
• 1979 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt. O Xá do Irão abandonou o país no meio de manifestações contra o seu governo e a revolta de fundamentalistas islâmicos dirigidos pelo Ayatollah Khomeini. O Xá governava desde 1941 e tinha tentado ocidentalizar o país sem sucesso.
• 1979 - Aaliyah was born (d. 2001). Singer.
• 1979 - Brenden Morrow was born. Canadian hockey player
• 1979 - Jason Ward was born. National Hockey League player
• 1979 - Um terremoto medindo 7,0 graus na escala Richter, atinge o Irã, resultando em centenas de mortos.
• 1979 - Ted Cassidy dies (b. 1932). American actor.
• 1979 - August Heissmeyer dies (b. 1897). German SS officer.
• 1980 - scientists in Boston produce interferon, a natural virus-fighting substance through genetic engineering.
• 1980 - O governo da Grã-Bretanha anuncia o estabelecimento de relações diplomáticas com o Chile, rompido em 1976.
• 1980 - Albert Pujols was born. Baseball player
• 1980 - Michelle Wild was born. Hungarian model
• 1981 - Nick Valensi was born. American guitarist (The Strokes)
• 1981 - Bernard Lee dies (b. 1908). English actor.
• 1982 - Samuel Preston was born. British singer (The Ordinary Boys)
• 1982 - Red Smith dies (b. 1905). American sports columnist.
• 1983 - Emanuel Pogatetz was born. Austrian footballer
• 1984 - Por seu disco Thriller, o cantor Michael Jackson recebe sete prêmios na American Music Awards.
• 1986 - First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
• 1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong dies (b.1892). American evangelist, author, and publisher he founded the Worldwide Church of God (the Church of God in Philadelphia Era).
• 1988 - Nicklas Bendtner was born. Danish footballer
• 1988 - Ballard Berkeley dies (b. 1904). English actor.
• 1988 - Andrija Artuković dies (b. 1899). Croatian war criminal.
• 1988 - Sports commentator Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder is fired by CBS a day after publicly stating that African Americans had been bred to produce stronger offspring during slavery.
• 1989 - O Conselho de Segurança da ONU aprova por unanimidade o plano para a independência da Namíbia, pedindo ao Governo da África do Sul que reduza sua presença militar nesse território.
• 1991 - Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins.
• 1991 - US serial killer Aileen Wuornos confesses to the murders of six men.
• 1991 - astronomers report the discovery of two extremely large and hot stars by the Hubble Space Telescope.
• 1991 - Operation Desert Storm was announced by the White House.
• 1991 - Julie Dubela was born. American singer
• 1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City that ends a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
• 1993 - Jón Páll Sigmarsson dies (b. 1960). Icelandic strength athlete.
• 1995 - UPN begins broadcasting.
• 1995 - Eric Mottram dies (b. 1924). English poet, teacher, critic, and editor.
• 1995 -
• 1995 - Terramoto na cidade de Kobe, no Japão
• 1997 - Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor Bill Cosby, is killed by a gunman while changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, California.
• 1998 - NASA announces that John Glenn will return to space when Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off in October 1998.
• 1999 - Oscar Cullmann dies (b. 1902). French theologist.
• 2000 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building killing the driver.
• 2000 - Ricardo Lagos becomes President of Chile.
• 2000 - John Rankin dies (b. 1959). Musical entertainer.
• 2001 - Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila (b. 1939) is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
• 2002 - A student shoots 6 people at the Appalachian School of Law. Three of those shot die.
• 2002 - John Ashcroft announces that so-called "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh would be tried in the United States.
• 2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
• 2002 - Michael Bilandic dies (b. 1923). Mayor of Chicago.
• 2002 - Eddie Meduza dies (b. 1948). Swedish composer.
• 2002 - Bobo Olson dies (b. 1928). American boxer.
• 2002 - Ron Taylor dies (b. 1952). American actor.
• 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which will be its final one. The craft broke up on its descent on Feb. 1, killing all on board.
• 2004 - Goatse.cx is shut down by the Christmas Island Registry.
• 2004 - Kalevi Sorsa dies (b. 1930). Prime Minister of Finland.
• 2005 - Marjorie Williams dies (b. 1958). American journalist.
• 2005 - Singapore won its 2nd Tiger Cup at the National Stadium, Singapore by beating Indonesia 2-1 on aggregate.
• 2005 - Adriana Iliescu gives birth at age 66 and becomes the oldest woman in the world to do so.
• 2006 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.
• 2006 - Liu Xinjuan is committed by the Chinese government to a psychiatric hospital, allegedly for political activism.
• Teacher's Day in Thailand
  National Religious Freedom Day in the United States, to commemorate the adoption of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786