Events in History
- Jan 1 Denmark adopts Mid-European time
- Jan 1 Manchester Ship Canal in England opens to traffic
- Jan 1 South African Amateur Athletic Union is founded in Johannesburg
- Jan 4 France ratifies Duple Alliance with Russia
- Jan 8 Columbus World's fair in Chicago destroyed by fire
- Jan 9 Georges Feydeau's "Un à la Patte" premieres in Paris
- Jan 9 New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
- Jan 11 Donghak Peasant Rebellion begins in Mujiang, Korea over local corruption, sparking the 1st Sino-Japanese War
- Jan 13 Revolution in Sicily crushed by government troops
- Jan 21 Oscar Fredriksen skates world record 500m in 47.8 sec
- Jan 23 G. W. Bunbury of Dublin sets shorthand record of 250 wpm for 10 min
- Jan 27 Midwinter Fair opens in Golden Gate Park
- Jan 30 Pneumatic hammer patented by Charles King of Detroit
- Jan 30 US flag fired on in Rio; prompt satisfaction exacted by Adm Benham
Birthdays in History
- Jan 1 Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist (Bose–Einstein statistics), born in Calcutta, British India (d. 1974)
- Jan 1 Shitsu Nakano, Japanese supercentenarian (d. 2007)
- Jan 2 Robert Nathan, American poet and novelist (Portrait of Jennie), born in NYC, New York (d. 1985)
- Jan 4 Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician (d. 1962)
- Jan 8 St Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr (d. 1941)
- Jan 9 Henryk Stazewski, Polish abstract painter and graphic artist, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1988)
- Jan 10 Reginald Denham, English writer & director (Obsession, The Bad Seed), born in London, England (d. 1983)
- Jan 15 Edmond Rubbens, Belgian attorney and politician, born in Zele, Belgium (d. 1938)
- Jan 18 Wilhelm H. C. Tenhaeff, Dutch parapsychologist, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1981)
- Jan 22 Charles Morgan, English writer (Fountain) (d. 1958)
- Jan 27 Albert Patterson, American politician and attorney, born in New Site, Alabama (d. 1954)
- Jan 30 Marcel Canneel, Flemish painter (Reuzenstoet) (d. 1953)
Deaths in History
- Jan 1 Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (1st to broadcast & receive radio waves), dies after surgical complications at 36
- Jan 8 Pierre-Joseph van Beneden, Belgian paleontologist (life cycle of tapeworms), dies at 84
- Jan 13 Nadezhda von Meck, Russian patroness of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, dies of tuberculosis at 62
- Jan 19 Francois Haverschmidt, Dutch writer (Snikken en grimlachjes), dies at 58
- Jan 24 Constance Fenimore Woolson, American writer (Jupiter Lights), dies falls to her death in Venice at 53
- Jan 27 Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, English sculptor and naturalist, dies at 86
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
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Kings
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Scientists