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Today January 15th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
588 BC – Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah s reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC.
69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but rules for only three months before committing suicide.
1559 – Elizabeth I is crowned queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London.
1582 – Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to Poland.
1759 – The British Museum opens.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present day Vermont) declares its independence.
1782 – Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.
1822 – Greek War of Independence: Demetrius Ypsilanti is elected president of the legislative assembly.
1844 – University of Notre Dame receives its charter from the state of Indiana.
1865 – American Civil War – Fort Fisher North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.
1870 – A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the United States Democratic Party with a donkey (A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion by Thomas Nast for Harper s Weekly).
1889 – The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is originally incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia.
1892 – James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.
1908 – The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African-American college women.
1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps.
1919 – Boston Molasses Disaster: A large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, bursts and a wave of molasses rushes through the streets, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others.
1936 – The first building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio (the building was built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company).
1943 – World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.
1943 – The world s largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
1947 – The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short (The Black Dahlia) is found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist Government.
1951 – Ilse Koch, The Bitch of Buchenwald, wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in West Germany.
1966 – The government of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in Nigeria is overthrown in a military coup d’état.
1967 – The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles, California. Green Bay Packers defeat Kansas City Chiefs 35-10
1969 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.
1970 – After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrenders.
1970 – Muammar al-Qaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
1973 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
1976 – Gerald Ford s would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.
1977 – The Kälvesta air disaster kills 22 people, the worst air crash in Sweden s history.
1986 – The Living Seas opens at EPCOT Center in Walt Disney World, Florida.
1990 – AT&T s long distance telephone network suffers a cascade switching failure.
1991 – The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
1992 – The international community recognizes the independence of Slovenia and Croatia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1993 – Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as The Beast , is arrested in Sicily after three decades as a fugitive
1999 – The Racak incident: 45 Albanians in the Kosovo village of Racak are killed by Yugoslav security forces.
2001 – Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.
2005 – An intense solar flare blasts X-rays across the solar system.
2005 – ESA s SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon.
2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.
2009 – US Airways Flight 1549 makes an emergency landing into the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. All passengers and crew members survive.
Births
1342 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)
1432 – King Afonso V of Portugal (d. 1481)
1481 – Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shogun (b. 1511)
1538 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (d. 1599)
1622 – Molière, French playwright (d. 1673)
1671 – Abraham de la Pryme, English antiquarian (d. 1704)
1674 – Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French writer (d. 1762)
1716 – Philip Livingston, American founding father (d. 1778)
1747 – John Aikin, English doctor and writer (d. 1822)
1754 – Richard Martin, Irish animal rights activist (d. 1834)
1791 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (d. 1872)
1795 – Alexandr Griboyedov, Russian playwright (d. 1829)
1803 – Marjory Fleming, Scottish writer and poet (d. 1811)
1809 – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French anarchist (d. 1865)
1812 – Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Norwegian writer (d. 1885)
1816 – Marie LaFarge, French murderer (d. 1852)
1824 – Marie Duplessis, French courtesan (d. 1847)
1834 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American politician (d. 1911)
1841 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Governor General of Canada (d. 1908)
1842 – Blessed Mary McKillop, Australian candidate for sainthood (d. 1909)
1842 – Josef Breuer, Austrian psychologist (d. 1925)
1850 – Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet (d. 1889)
1850 – Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1891)
1855 – Jacques Damala, Greek military officer and actor (d. 1889)
1859 – Archibald Peake, Premier of South Australia (d. 1920)
1863 – Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1946)
1866 – Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1931)
1869 – Stanislaw Wyspianski, Polish dramatist (d. 1907)
1870 – Pierre S. du Pont, American businessman (d. 1954)
1872 – Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer (d. 1944)
1875 – Tom Burke, American runner (d. 1929)
1877 – Lewis Terman, American psychologist (d. 1956)
1878 – Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer and pedagogue (d. 1941)
1879 – Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author (d. 1961)
1882 – Princess Margaret of Sweden (d. 1920)
1885 – Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician (d. 1973)
1885 – Huang Yuanyong, Chinese writer (d. 1915)
1885 – Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (d. 1968)
1890 – Tommy Fleming, American soccer player (d. 1965)
1891 – Ray Chapman, American baseball player (d. 1920)
1891 – Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet (d. 1938)
1892 – Rex Ingram, Irish director (d. 1950)
1893 – Ivor Novello, Welsh composer and actor (d. 1951)
1895 – Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1973)
1897 – Xu Zhimo, Chinese poet (d. 1931)
1899 – Goodman Ace, American actor (d. 1982)
1902 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (d. 1969)
1903 – Paul A. Dever, 58th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
1905 – Torin Thatcher, English actor (d. 1981)
1905 – Kamatari Fujiwara, Japanese actor (d. 1985)
1906 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975)
1908 – Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (d. 2003)
1909 – Jean Bugatti, German-born automobile designer (d. 1939)
1909 – Gene Krupa, American drummer (d. 1973)
1912 – Michel Debré, French politician (d. 1996)
1912 – Harry Hay, American gay rights activist (d. 2002)
1913 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor (d. 1998)
1913 – Miriam Hyde, Australian composer (d. 2005)
1913 – Alexander Marinesko, captain of the S-13 submarine, which sank the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff (d. 1963)
1914 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian (d. 2003)
1918 – João Figueiredo, President of Brazil (d. 1999)
1918 – Édouard Gagnon, Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 2007)
1918 – Gamal Abdal Nasser, President of Egypt (d. 1970)
1919 – Maurice Herzog, French mountaineer, first to ascend an 8000m peak, Annapurna in 1950
1920 – John Cardinal O Connor, American Catholic cardinal (d. 2000)
1920 – Steve Gromek, American baseball player (d. 2002)
1921 – Frank Thornton, English actor
1922 – Sir Eric Willis, Australian politician (d. 1999)
1923 – Ivor Cutler, Scottish poet (d. 2006)
1923 – Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese politician
1925 – Ruth Slenczynska, U.S. pianist
1926 – Florence Buchsbaum, French theater director (d. 1996)
1926 – Maria Schell, Swiss actress (d. 2005)
1927 – Phyllis Coates, American actress
1929 – Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1968)
1930 – Eddie Graham, American professional wrestler (d. 1985)
1933 – Ernest J. Gaines, American author
1937 – Margaret O Brien, American actress
1938 – Chuni Goswami, Indian footballer and cricketer
1939 – Tony Bullimore, English sailor and adventurer
1941 – Captain Beefheart, American musician and visual artist
1943 – Ashraf Aman, first Pakistani to reach the summit of K2
1943 – Mike Marshall, American baseball player
1945 – Vince Foster, American lawyer (d. 1993)
1945 – William R. Higgins, USMC colonel (d. 1990)
1945 – Princess Michael of Kent, British royal
1947 – Andrea Martin, Canadian actress
1948 – Ronnie Van Zant, American singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)
1949 – Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican baseball player (d. 2001)
1949 – Panos Mihalopoulos, Greek actor
1950 – Marius Trésor, French footballer
1953 – Kent Hovind, American evangelist
1953 – Ta-Tanisha, American actress
1953 – Randy White, American football player
1954 – Nikos Sarganis, Greek footballer
1954 – Jose Dalisay, Jr., Filipino writer
1955 – Nigel Benson, English author
1956 – Mayawati, Indian politician
1957 – Patrick Dixon, English entrepreneur
1957 – Marty Lyons, American football player
1957 – Mario Van Peebles, American actor
1958 – Boris Tadic, President of Serbia
1959 – Pete Trewavas, English musician
1959 – Sister Carol, Jamaican reggae singer
1959 – Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian climber (d. 2008)
1960 – Kelly Asbury, American director and actor
1960 – Aaron Jay Kernis, American composer
1961 – Yves P. Pelletier, Canadian comedian and film director
1962 – Creflo Dollar, American televangelist
1962 – Conrad Lant, English musician
1964 – Osmo Tapio Räihälä, Finnish composer
1965 – Maurizio Fondriest, Italian cyclist
1965 – Bernard Hopkins, American boxer
1965 – Adam Jones, American musician (Tool)
1965 – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
1968 – Chad Lowe, American actor
1968 – Iñaki Urdangarín, Spanish royalty
1969 – Delino DeShields, American baseball player
1970 – Shane McMahon, American professional wrestler
1971 – Max Beesley, English musician and actor
1971 – Regina King, American actress
1972 – Kobe Tai, American porn star
1972 – Claudia Winkleman, English television presenter
1973 – Essam El-Hadary, Egyptian footballer
1974 – Ray King, American baseball player
1975 – Edith Bowman, Scottish television and radio presenter
1975 – Mary Pierce, French tennis player
1976 – Corey Chavous, American football player
1976 – Dorian Missick, American actor
1978 – Eddie Cahill, American actor
1978 – Franco Pellizotti, Italian cyclist
1979 – Drew Brees, American football player
1979 – Young Dro, American rapper
1979 – Ken Chu, Taiwanese singer-actor and taichi champ
1979 – Martin Petrov, Bulgarian footballer
1980 – Matt Holliday, American baseball player
1981 – Howie Day, American singer
1981 – El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
1981 – Sean Lamont, Scottish rugby union footballer
1982 – Benjamin Agosto, American skater
1982 – Armando Galarraga, Venezuelan baseball player
1982 – Brett Lebda, American hockey player
1982 – Neil Nitin Mukesh, Indian actor
1982 – Prince Philip and Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia
1983 – Jermaine Pennant, English footballer
1983 – Hugo Viana, Portuguese footballer
1984 – Megan Jendrick, American swimmer
1984 – Victor Rasuk, American actor
1985 – Kenneth Emil Petersen, Danish footballer
1986 – Fred Davis, American football player
1987 – Kelly Kelly, American WWE Diva
1987 – Greg Inglis, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Aria C Jalali, American musician
1987 – David Knight, English footballer
1987 – Michael Seater, Canadian actor
1988 – Sonny Moore, American musician From First to Last
1989 – Alexei Cherepanov, Russian hockey player (d. 2008)
1990 – Fernando Forestieri, Italian footballer
1990 – Chris Warren Jr., American actor
Deaths
69 – Galba, Roman Emperor (b. 3 BC)
570 – Saint Ita, Irish nun (b. 475)
936 – King Rudolph of France
1345 – Martin Zaccaria, Italo-Greek ruler
1595 – Murat III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1546)
1623 – Fra Paolo Sarpi, Italian patriot, scholar, scientist and church reformer (b. 1552)
1672 – John Cosin, English clergyman (b. 1594)
1683 – Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (b. 1609)
1775 – Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Italian composer
1781 – Marianne Victoria of Borbón, queen regent of Portugal (b. 1718)
1790 – John Landen, English mathematician (b. 1719)
1804 – Dru Drury, English entomologist (b. 1725)
1815 – Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Lord Nelson (b. 1761)
1864 – Isaac Nathan, UK-Australian composer (b. 1792)
1876 – Eliza Johnson, U.S. First Lady (b. 1810)
1885 – Leopold Damrosch, German-American orchestral conductor (b. 1832)
1893 – Fanny Kemble, British actress and author (b. 1809)
1896 – Mathew Brady, U.S. photographer (b. 1822)
1909 – Arnold Janssen missionary (b. 1837)
1916 – Modest Tchaikovsky, Russian writer (b. 1850)
1919 – Rosa Luxemburg, German politician (b. 1870)
1919 – Karl Liebknecht, German politician (b. 1871)
1926 – Enrico Toselli, Italian composer (b. 1883)
1936 – Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1866)
1945 – Wilhelm Wirtinger, Austrian mathematician (b. 1865)
1947 – Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia (b. 1924)
1950 – Gen Henry Hap Arnold, U.S. General of the Air Force (b. 1886)
1952 – Ned Hanlon, Premier of Queensland (b. 1887)
1955 – Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
1964 – Jack Teagarden, American musician (b. 1905)
1967 – David Burliuk, Ukrainian artist (b. 1882)
1968 – Bill Masterton, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938)
1970 – William T. Piper, American aircraft designer (b. 1881)
1972 – Daisy Ashford, English child writer (The Young Visiters) (b. 1881)
1973 – Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1901)
1973 – Coleman Francis, American film director (b. 1919)
1983 – Meyer Lansky, Russian-born gangster (b. 1902)
1983 – Shepperd Strudwick, American actor (b. 1907)
1987 – Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1904)
1988 – Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904)
1990 – Dame Peggy van Praagh, British ballet dancer, choreographer, director (b. 1910)
1992 – Dee Murray, English bassist (b. 1946)
1993 – Sammy Cahn, American songwriter (b. 1913)
1994 – Georges Cziffra, Hungarian-French pianist (b. 1921)
1994 – Harry Nilsson, American musician (b. 1941)
1994 – Harilal Upadhyay, Gujarati-Indian Author, Poet, Astrologist (b. 1916)
1995 – Vera Maxwell, American fashion designer (b. 1901)
1996 – Minnesota Fats, American billiards player (b. 1913)
1996 – Les Baxter, American musician and composer (b. 1922)
1996 – Paramount Chief Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (b. 1938)
1998 – Junior Wells, American musician (b. 1934)
1999 – Betty Box, British film producer (b. 1915)
2000 – Georges-Henri Lévesque, Canadian Dominican priest and sociologist (b. 1903)
2000 – Fran Ryan, American actress (b. 1916)
2000 – Željko Ražnatovic, aka Arkan, Serbian paramilitary leader (b. 1952)
2001 – Ted Mann, American screenwriter (b. 1916)
2002 – Steve Gromek, American baseball player (b. 1920)
2003 – Doris Fisher, American singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
2005 – Elizabeth Janeway, American author (b. 1913)
2005 – Ruth Warrick, American actress (b. 1915)
2005 – Walter Ernsting, German author (b. 1920)
2005 – Victoria de los Angeles, Catalan soprano (b. 1923)
2005 – Deem Bristow, American video game voice actor (b. 1947)
2005 – Dan Lee, Canadian animator (b. 1969)
2006 – Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1926)
2007 – Bo Yibo, Chinese politician (b. 1908)
2007 – James Hillier, Canadian inventor of electron microscope (b. 1915)
2007 – Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Iraqi Revolutionary Court (b. 1945) (executed)
2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein (b. 1951) (executed)
2007 – David Vanole, American soccer player (b. 1963)
2007 – Pura Santillan-Castrence, Filipino writer and diplomat (b. 1905)
2008 – Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Game Designer (b. 1964)
2008 – Brad Renfro, American actor (b. 1982)
Holidays and observances
Roman Empire – Second day of the Carmentalia in honor of Carmenta.
Malawi – John Chilembwe Day.
North Korea – Korean Alphabet Day.
United States – Traditionally, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Kerala in India – Makaravilakku or Makara Sankranthy at Sabarimala.
Jallikattu in South India.
St. Abeluzius in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Roman Catholic Church – Saint Ita, virgin, died January 15, 570.
St. Macarius of Egypt
St. Paul the Hermit
January 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics).
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