January 2
Events
Pre-1600
1601–1900
1901–present
- 1920 - The second Palmer Raid, ordered by the US Department of Justice, results in 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists being arrested and held without trial.
- 1921 - World premiere of the science fiction play R.U.R. by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in a theater in Hradec Králové.
- 1932 - The Young Brothers engaged in a gun battle resulting in the deaths of six law enforcement officers; the worst single killing of US police officers in the 20th century.
- 1941 - World War II: The Cardiff Blitz severely damages the cathedral in Cardiff, Wales.
- 1942 - The Federal Bureau of Investigation obtains the conviction of 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history; Also known as the Duquesne Spy Ring.
- 1942 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces, enabling them to control the Philippines.
- 1949 - Luis Muñoz Marín is inaugurated as the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 1954 - India establishes its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.
- 1955 - Following the assassination of the Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera, his deputy, José Ramón Guizado, takes power, but is quickly deposed after his involvement in Cantera's death is discovered.
- 1959 - Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
- 1963 - Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory, at the Battle of Ap Bac.
- 1967 - Ronald Reagan, past movie actor and future President of the United States, is sworn in as Governor of California.
- 1971 - The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football match.
- 1975 - At the opening of a new railway line, a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.
- 1976 - The Gale of January 1976 begins, resulting in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, affecting countries from Ireland to Yugoslavia and causing at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage.
- 1978 - On the orders of the President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, paramilitary forces opened fire on peaceful protesting workers in Multan, Pakistan; it is known as 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills.
- 1981 - One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
- 1988 - Condor Flugdienst Flight 3782 crashes near Seferihisar, Turkey, killing 16 people.
- 1991 - Sharon Pratt Dixon becomes the first African American woman mayor of a major city and first woman Mayor of the District of Columbia.
- 1993 - Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy kill 35–100 civilians on the Jaffna Lagoon.
- 2004 - Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
- 2022 - Massive nationwide protests and unrest break out in Kazakhstan over the sudden increase of liquefied petroleum gas prices, leading to 238 people dead and thousands injured by January 11.
- 2024 - Two aircraft collide on a runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, killing 5 and injuring 18.
Births
Pre-1600
1601–1900
- 1642 - Mehmed IV, Ottoman sultan
- 1647 - Nathaniel Bacon, English-American rebel leader
- 1699 - Osman III, Ottoman sultan
- 1713 - Marie Dumesnil, French actress
- 1727 - James Wolfe, English general
- 1732 - František Brixi, Czech organist and composer
- 1777 - Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor and educator
- 1803 - Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja, Italian mathematician and academic
- 1822 - Rudolf Clausius, Polish-German physicist and mathematician
- 1827 - Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Russian geographer and statistician
- 1833 - Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician
- 1836 - Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian author
- 1836 - Queen Emma of Hawaii
- 1837 - Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist and composer
- 1857 - M. Carey Thomas, American educator and activist
- 1860 - Dugald Campbell Patterson, Canadian engineer
- 1860 - William Corless Mills, American historian and curator
- 1866 - Gilbert Murray, Australian-English playwright and scholar
- 1870 - Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and playwright
- 1870 - Tex Rickard, American boxing promoter and businessman
- 1873 - Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer and theorist
- 1873 - Thérèse of Lisieux, French nun and saint
- 1878 - Jaakko Mäki, Finnish politician
- 1878 - Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai, Indian activist, founded the Nair Service Society
- 1884 - Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli historian and politician, 4th Israeli Minister of Education
- 1885 - Gordon Flowerdew, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient
- 1886 - Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English explorer and author
- 1889 - Bertram Stevens, Australian accountant and politician, 25th Premier of New South Wales
- 1891 - Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect and urban planner, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station
- 1892 - Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player
- 1895 - Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat
- 1896 - Dziga Vertov, Polish-Russian director and screenwriter
- 1896 - Lawrence Wackett, Australian commander and engineer
- 1897 - Theodore Plucknett, English legal historian
- 1900 - Una Ledingham, British physician, known for research on diabetes in pregnancy
1901–present
- 1901 - Bob Marshall, American activist, co-founded The Wilderness Society
- 1902 - Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer
- 1903 - Kane Tanaka, Japanese Supercentenarian, Oldest Japanese person ever, Second oldest verified person in world history
- 1904 - Walter Heitler, German physicist and chemist
- 1905 - Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor
- 1905 - Luigi Zampa, Italian director and screenwriter
- 1909 - Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author
- 1909 - Barry Goldwater, American politician, businessman, and author
- 1913 - Juanita Jackson Mitchell, American lawyer and activist
- 1913 - Anna Lee, English-American actress
- 1917 - Vera Zorina, German-Norwegian actress and dancer
- 1918 - Willi Graf, German physician and activist
- 1919 - Ernest Bender, American Indologist
- 1919 - Beatrice Hicks, American engineer
- 1920 - Isaac Asimov, American writer and professor of biochemistry
- 1920 - Bob Feerick, American basketball player and coach
- 1921 - Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1926 - Gino Marchetti, American football player
- 1928 - Dan Rostenkowski, American politician
- 1929 - Charles Beaumont, screenwriter and American author of speculative fiction
- 1929 - Tellervo Koivisto, Finnish politician, former First Lady of Finland
- 1931 - Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese lawyer and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Japan
- 1934 - John Hollowbread, English footballer, goalkeeper
- 1936 - Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
- 1938 - David Bailey, English photographer and painter
- 1938 - Lynn Conway, American computer scientist and electrical engineer
- 1938 - Robert Smithson, American sculptor and photographer
- 1940 - Jim Bakker, American televangelist
- 1940 - Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian economist and politician, Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1942 - Thomas Hammarberg, Swedish lawyer and diplomat
- 1942 - Dennis Hastert, American educator and politician, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
- 1943 - Janet Akyüz Mattei, Turkish-American astronomer
- 1944 - Charlie Davis, Trinidadian cricketer
- 1944 - Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor
- 1944 - Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian field marshal and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia
- 1944 – Mohamed Ali Yusuf, Somali politician
- 1947 - Jack Hanna, American zoologist and author
- 1947 - Calvin Hill, American football player
- 1947 - David Shapiro, American poet, historian, and critic
- 1948 - Judith Miller, American journalist
- 1948 - Deborah Watling, English actress
- 1949 - Christopher Durang, American playwright and screenwriter
- 1949 - Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and academic
- 1952 - Indulis Emsis, Latvian biologist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Latvia
- 1952 - Wendy Phillips, American actress
- 1954 - Henry Bonilla, American broadcaster and politician
- 1954 - Évelyne Trouillot, Haitian playwright and author
- 1961 - Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
- 1961 - Paula Hamilton, English model
- 1961 - Todd Haynes, American film director, screenwriter, and producer
- 1961 - Craig James, American football player and sportscaster
- 1961 - Robert Wexler, American lawyer and politician
- 1963 - David Cone, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1963 - Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
- 1964 - Chris Welp, German-American basketball player
- 1964 - Pernell Whitaker, American boxer
- 1967 - Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
- 1967 - Tia Carrere, American actress
- 1967 - Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and politician; 20th Mayor of Reykjavík
- 1968 - Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor and producer
- 1968 - Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion
- 1969 - István Bagyula, Hungarian pole vaulter
- 1969 - William Fox-Pitt, English horse rider and journalist
- 1969 - Elena Gorolová, Czech Romani activist
- 1969 - Róbert Švehla, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1969 - Christy Turlington, American model
- 1970 - Eric Whitacre, American composer and conductor
- 1971 - Taye Diggs, American actor and singer
- 1971 - Renée Elise Goldsberry, American actress
- 1972 - Rodney MacDonald, Canadian educator and politician, 26th Premier of Nova Scotia
- 1972 - Shiraz Minwalla, Indian theoretical physicist and string theorist
- 1972 - Mattias Norström, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
- 1974 - Ludmila Formanová, Czech runner
- 1974 - Juha Lind, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1974 - Tomáš Řepka, Czech footballer
- 1975 - Dax Shepard, American actor
- 1975 - Jeff Suppan, American baseball player
- 1975 - Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby player
- 1976 - Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- 1977 - Brian Boucher, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1977 - Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player
- 1979 - Jonathan Greening, English footballer
- 1980 - David Gyasi, British actor
- 1981 - Kirk Hinrich, American basketball player
- 1981 - Maxi Rodríguez, Argentine footballer
- 1983 - Kate Bosworth, American actress
- 1983 - Anthony Carrigan, American actor
- 1987 - Shelley Hennig, American actress and model
- 1987 - Robert Milsom, English footballer
- 1987 - Loïc Rémy, French footballer
- 1988 - Germán Cano, Argentine footballer
- 1988 - Luke Harangody, American basketball player
- 1988 - Damien Tussac, French-German rugby player
- 1991 - Ben Hardy, English actor
- 1992 - Paulo Gazzaniga, Argentine footballer
- 1992 - Alexey Marchenko, Russian ice hockey player
- 1992 - Teemu Pulkkinen, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1992 - Korbin Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
- 1993 - Bryson Tiller, American singer and rapper
- 1994 - Ronald Darby, American football player
- 1996 - Jonah Bolden, Australian-American basketball player
- 1997 - Arshad Nadeem, Pakistani javelin thrower
- 1997 - Carlos Soler, Spanish footballer
- 1998 - Tfue, American online streamer
- 1998 - Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer
- 1999 - Georgios Kalaitzakis, Greek basketball player
- 1999 - Fernando Tatís Jr., Dominican baseball player
- 1999 - Aaron Wiggins, American professional basketball player
- 2000 - Spencer Arrighetti, American baseball player
- 2001 - Cole Caufield, American ice hockey player
- 2001 - Luiz Henrique, Brazilian footballer
- 2003 - CJ Egan-Riley, English footballer
- 2003 - Elye Wahi, French footballer
- 2006 - Claudio Echeverri, Argentine footballer
Deaths
Pre-1600
- 951 - Liu Chengyou, Emperor Yin of the Later Han
- 951 - Su Fengji, Chinese official and chancellor
- 1096 - William de St-Calais, Bishop of Durham and chief counsellor of William II of England
- 1169 - Bertrand de Blanchefort, sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar
- 1184 - Theodora Komnene, Duchess of Austria, daughter of Andronikos Komnenos
- 1298 - Lodomer, Hungarian prelate, Archbishop of Esztergom
- 1470 - Heinrich Reuß von Plauen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
- 1512 - Svante Nilsson, Swedish politician
- 1514 - William Smyth, English bishop and academic
- 1543 - Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer
- 1557 - Pontormo, Italian painter and educator
- 1598 - Morris Kyffin, Welsh soldier and writer
1601–1900
1901–present
- 1904 - James Longstreet, American general and diplomat
- 1913 - Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist
- 1915 - Karl Goldmark, Hungarian violinist and composer
- 1917 - Léon Flameng, French cyclist
- 1920 - Paul Adam, French author
- 1924 - Sabine Baring-Gould, English author and scholar
- 1939 - Roman Dmowski, Polish politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1941 - Mischa Levitzki, Russian-American pianist and composer
- 1946 - Joe Darling, Australian cricketer and politician
- 1950 - James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales
- 1951 - William Campion, English colonel and politician, 21st Governor of Western Australia
- 1951 - Edith New, English militant suffragette
- 1953 - Guccio Gucci, Italian businessman and fashion designer, founder of Gucci
- 1960 - Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec
- 1963 - Dick Powell, American actor, singer, and director
- 1963 - Jack Carson, Canadian-American actor
- 1974 - Tex Ritter, American actor
- 1975 - Siraj Sikder, Bangladesh revolutionary leader
- 1977 - Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer
- 1986 - Una Merkel, American actress
- 1987 - Harekrushna Mahatab, Indian journalist and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Odisha
- 1989 - Safdar Hashmi, Indian actor, director, and playwright
- 1990 - Alan Hale Jr., American film and television actor
- 1990 - Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister for National Defence
- 1994 - Dixy Lee Ray, American biologist and politician; 17th Governor of Washington
- 1994 - Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, French lawyer and businessman
- 1995 - Nancy Kelly, American actress
- 1995 - Siad Barre, Somalian general and politician; 3rd President of Somalia
- 1999 - Rolf Liebermann, Swiss-French composer and manager
- 1999 - Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author
- 2000 - Elmo Zumwalt, American admiral
- 2000 - Patrick O'Brian, English author and translator
- 2001 - William P. Rogers, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State
- 2005 - Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist and physician
- 2006 - Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, Filipino lawyer and jurist
- 2006 - Osa Massen, Danish-American actress
- 2007 - A. Richard Newton, Australian-American engineer and academic
- 2007 - Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, American historian and author
- 2007 - Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem
- 2008 - George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish journalist and author
- 2008 - Lee S. Dreyfus, American politician, Governor of Wisconsin
- 2009 - Inger Christensen, Danish poet and author
- 2010 - David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author
- 2011 - Anne Francis, American actress
- 2011 - Bali Ram Bhagat, Indian politician; 16th Governor of Rajasthan
- 2011 - Pete Postlethwaite, English actor
- 2012 - Gordon Hirabayashi, American-Canadian sociologist and academic
- 2012 - Silvana Gallardo, American actress and producer
- 2012 - William P. Carey, American businessman and philanthropist, founded W. P. Carey
- 2013 - Gerda Lerner, Austrian-American historian, author, and academic
- 2013 - Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author
- 2014 - Bernard Glasser, American director and producer
- 2014 - Elizabeth Jane Howard, English author and screenwriter
- 2015 - Tihomir Novakov, Serbian-American physicist and academic
- 2016 - Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, Indian lawyer and politician
- 2016 - Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author
- 2016 - Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabian religious leader
- 2016 - Gisela Mota Ocampo, mayor of Temixco, Morelos, Mexico, assassinated
- 2017 - Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer
- 2017 - John Berger, English art critic, novelist and painter
- 2018 - Guida Maria, Portuguese actress
- 2018 - Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader, 16th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- 2019 - Daryl Dragon, American musician
- 2019 – Julia Grant, British transgender activist
- 2019 - Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian
- 2019 - Gene Okerlund, American wrestling announcer
- 2025 - Ágnes Keleti, Hungarian Olympic gymnast
- 2025 - Francesc Antich, Spanish politician
Holidays and observances