January 2

January 2 is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 363 days remaining (364 in leap years).

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Events

• 366 – Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading Roman Empire.
• 533 – Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
• 1492 – Reconquista: Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
• 1757 – The United Kingdom captures Calcutta, India.
• 1788 – Georgia becomes the 4th state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• 1793 – Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
• 1815 – Lord Byron marries Anna Isabella Milbanke, Seaham, County Durham.
• 1818 – British Institution of Civil Engineers formed
• 1859 – Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette.
• 1860 – The discovery of the planet Vulcan was announced at a meeting of the Académie des Sciences in Paris.
• 1870 – Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
• 1871 – Amadeus I becomes King of Spain.
• 1872 – Brigham Young is arrested for bigamy (25 wives).
• 1879 – Fred Spofforth claims the first Hat-trick in test cricket on the Sydney Cricket Ground against England.
• 1882 – John D. Rockefeller unites his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust.
• 1890 – Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer for the White House.
• 1893 – Introduction by Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America: Railroad chronometers.
• 1900 – John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
• 1900  – Chicago Canal opens.
• 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur, China.
• 1917 – The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
• 1921 – The first religious radio broadcast (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) .
• 1921  – DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
• 1923 – U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall resigns due to the Teapot Dome scandal.
• 1929 – Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.
• 1935 – Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
• 1941 – WWII: German bombing severely damaged the Llandaff Cathedral, built in 1290 on the bank of the River Taff in Cardiff, Wales.
• 1941 – The U.S. government announces its Liberty ship program with a stated goal of building 200 freighters. Over 2,700 ships will eventually be constructed by the end of the war.
• 1942 – World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
• 1942 – The United States Navy opens a blimp base at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
• 1946 – Unable to resume his rule over Albania after World War II, King Zog abdicated but retained his claim to the throne.
• 1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
• 1955 – Panamanian president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated.
• 1957 – San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge.
• 1959 – CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
• 1967 – Dr. Christiaan Barnard performs the second successful heart transplant.
• 1971 – 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland. See Ibrox disaster.
• 1974 – Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum US speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
• 1979 – Sid Vicious goes on trial for the murder of Nancy Spungen.
• 1981 – Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, is arrested.
• 1983 – The musical Annie is performed for the last time after 2,377 shows at the Uris Theatre on Broadway.
• 1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first African American woman to lead a city of that size and importance.
• 1992 – Paraguay becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
• 1993 – Leaders of the three warring factions in Bosnia meet to discuss peace plans.
• 1998 – Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
• 1999 – A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern USA, causing 14 inches (359mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487mm) at Chicago. In Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.
• 2002 – Levy Mwanawasa took office as the third President of Zambia.
• 2004 – Stardust successfully flew past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that it will return to Earth two years later.

Births

• 1727 – James Wolfe, British general in French and Indian War (d. 1759)
• 1777 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)
• 1816 – Benjamin Hobson, medical missionary to China
• 1822 – Rudolf Clausius, German physicist, contributions to thermodynamics (d. 1888)
• 1836 – Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian writer (d. 1917)
• 1837 – Mily Balakirev, Russian composer (d. 1910)
• 1859 – Anna Sacher, Austrian hotelier, Sacher cake (d. 1930)
• 1870 – Ernst Barlach, German sculptor, graphic artist, and poet (d. 1938)
• 1877 – Slava Raskaj, Croatian painter (d.1906)
• 1886 – Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (d. 1938)
• 1896 – Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (d. 1954)
• 1904 – Sally Rand, American fan dancer (d. 1979)
• 1905 – Michael Tippett, English composer (d. 1998)
• 1912 – Renato Guttuso, Italian painter (d. 1987)
• 1913 – Anna Lee, English actress (d. 2004)
• 1917 – Vera Zorina, dancer, actress (d. 2003)
• 1920 – Isaac Asimov, Russian-born American science fiction author (d. 1992)
• 1930 – Julius LaRosa, singer
• 1936 – Roger Miller, American country music singer (d. 1992)
• 1938 – Ian Brady, British serial killer
• 1938 – Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author
• 1939 – Jim Bakker, American televangelist
• 1939 – Konstanze Vernon, dancer
• 1942 – Hugh Shelton, American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• 1944 – Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician
• 1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist
• 1949 – Christopher Durang, American playwright
• 1954 – Henry Bonilla, American politician
• 1954 – Dawn Silva, singer (The Brides of Funkenstein, P-Funk)
• 1955 – Tex Brashear, American voice actor
• 1959 – Kirti Azad, Indian cricketer
• 1961 – Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
• 1961 – Todd Haynes, American film director
• 1963 – David Cone, American baseball pitcher
• 1964 – Pernell Whitaker, American boxer
• 1965 – Diane Lane, American actress
• 1967 – Tia Carrere, American actress
• 1968 – Cuba Gooding Jr., American actor
• 1969 – Christy Turlington, American fashion model
• 1969 – Tommy Morrison, American boxer
• 1972 – Taye Diggs, American actor
• 1974 – Tricia Helfer, Canadian actress and model
• 1975 – Doug Robb, American singer (Hoobastank)
• 1976 – Paz Vega, Spanish actress
• 1983 – Kate Bosworth, American actress

Deaths

• 1893 – John Obadiah Westwood, British entomologist (b. 1805)
• 1904 – James Longstreet, Confederate general (b. 1821)
• 1913 – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
• 1917 – Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
• 1924 – Sabine Baring-Gould, English composer, novelist (b. 1834)
• 1939 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
• 1963 – Dick Powell, American actor (b. 1904)
• 1963 – Jack Carson, American actor (b. 1910)
• 1974 – Tex Ritter, American actor, singer (b. 1905)
• 1977 – Errol Garner, American jazz musician (b. 1921)
• 1986 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
• 1986 – Bill Veeck, baseball executive (b. 1914)
• 1990 – Alan Hale Jr., American actor (b. 1918)
• 1995 – Siad Barre, President of Somalia
• 1996 – Karl Targownik, Jewish psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor (b. 1915)
• 2000 – Patrick O'Brian, novelist (b. 1914)
• 2000 – Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., American admiral (b. 1920)
• 2000 – Nat Adderley, American musician and composer (b. 1931)
• 2005 – H. David Dalquist, founder of Nordic Ware, creator of Bundt cake pan, (b. 1918?)
• 2005 – Cyril Fletcher, British comedian (b. 1913)
• 2005 – Frank Kelly Freas, United States science fiction artist (b. 1922)
• 2005 – Ronald 'Bo' Ginn, U.S. Congressman from Georgia (b. 1934)
• 2005 – Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist and DNA research pioneer (b. 1911)
• 2005 – Edo Murtić, Croatian painter (b. 1921)

Holidays and observances

• The eighth day and ninth night of Christmas in Western Christianity.
• Catholicism and Anglicanism — Feast day of St. Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen.
• Scotland — Second day of the Hogmanay Bank Holiday.

External links

• BBC: On This Day

January 1 – January 3 – December 2 – February 2 — listing of all days