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This day in history

This day in history: 30 January

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day166 · 95

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Key facts

312 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 30 January.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2020: The World Health Organization declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day: Adelelmus of Burgos

Christian Feast Day: Aldegonde

Christian Feast Day: Anthony the Great (Coptic Church)

Christian Feast Day: Armentarius of Pavia

Christian Feast Day: Balthild

Christian Feast Day: Charles, King and Martyr (various provinces of the Anglican Communion)

Christian Feast Day: Hyacintha Mariscotti

Christian Feast Day: January 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian Feast Day: Martina

Christian Feast Day: Matthias of Jerusalem

Christian Feast Day: Mutien-Marie Wiaux

Christian Feast Day: Savina

Events

2020The World Health Organization declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

2013Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.

2007Microsoft Corporation releases Windows Vista, a major release of the operating system Microsoft Windows and the NT based kernel.

2006The Goleta postal facility shootings occur, killing seven people before the perpetrator took her own life.

2000Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ivory Coast, killing 169.

1995Hydroxycarbamide becomes the first approved preventive treatment for sickle cell disease.

1989The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is closed.

1982Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner".

1979A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.

1975The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.

1975Turkish Airlines Flight 345 crashes into the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport, killing 42.

1974Pan Am Flight 806 crashes near Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa, killing 97.

1972Pakistan leaves the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of its recognition of breakaway Bangladesh.

1972The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British paratroopers open fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 people; another person later dies of injuries sustained.

1969The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.

1968Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.

1964In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh's military junta in South Vietnam.

1960The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.

1959MS Hans Hedtoft, specifically designed to operate in icebound seas, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.

1959The forces of the Sultanate of Muscat occupy the last strongholds of the Imamate of Oman, Saiq and Shuraijah, marking the end of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman.

1956In the United States, Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery bus boycott.

1948British South American Airways' Tudor IV Star Tiger disappears over the Bermuda Triangle.

1948Following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in his home compound, India's prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, broadcasts to the nation, saying "The light has gone out of our lives". The date of the assassination becomes observed as "Martyrs

1945World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: One hundred and twenty-six American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied prisoners from the Japanese-controlled Cabanatuan POW camp.

1945World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 9,500 people.

1944World War II: The Battle of Cisterna, part of Operation Shingle, begins in central Italy.

1942World War II: Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies. Some 300 captured Allied troops are killed after the surrender. One-quarter of the remaining POWs remain alive at the end of the war.

1939During a speech in the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler makes a prediction about the end of the Jewish race in Europe if another world war were to occur.

1933Adolf Hitler's rise to power: Hitler takes office as the Chancellor of Germany.

1930The Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union orders the confiscation of lands belonging to the Kulaks in a campaign of Dekulakization, resulting in the executions and forced deportations of millions.

1925The Government of Turkey expels Patriarch Constantine VI from Istanbul.

1920Japanese carmaker Mazda is founded, initially as a cork-producing company.

1911The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of Douglas McCurdy 16 kilometres (10 miles) from Havana, Cuba.

1908Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.

1902The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London.

1889Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling.

1862American Civil War: The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.

1858The first Hallé concert is given in Manchester, England, marking the official founding of The Hallé orchestra as a full-time, professional orchestra.

1847Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco, California.

1835In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen as well as Jackson himself.

Born on this day

2005Prince Hashem, second son of King Abdullah II of Jordan

2003Amen Thompson, American basketball player

2003Ausar Thompson, American basketball player

2002Bijan Robinson, American football player

2002Tyla, South African singer and songwriter.

2001Curtis Jones, English footballer

2000Bryan Woo, American baseball player

2000Markella Kavenagh, Australian actress

1997Colin White, American ice hockey player

1997Thomas Chabot, Canadian ice hockey player

1996Dafne Navarro, Mexican trampoline gymnast

1995Danielle Campbell, American actress

1995Jack Laugher, English diver

1995Marcos Llorente, Spanish footballer

1994Amelia Dimoldenberg, English comedian, writer and presenter

1993Katy Marchant, English track cyclist

1993Kodai Senga, Japanese baseball player

1993Thitipoom Techaapaikhun, Thai actor

1991Jason Gastrow, American YouTuber

1991Stefan Elliott, Canadian ice hockey player

1990Eiza González, Mexican actress and singer

1990Jake Thomas, American actor

1990Luca Sbisa, Italian-Swiss ice hockey player and coach

1990Melissa Duncan, Australian track and field athlete

1990Mitchell Starc, Australian cricketer

1989Jahvid Best, American football player and athlete

1989Kylie Bunbury, Canadian-American actress

1989Misha Zilberman, Israeli Olympic badminton player

1987Arda Turan, Turkish footballer

1987Becky Lynch, Irish wrestler

1987Phil Lester, English Youtuber

1987Renato Santos, Brazilian footballer

1985Gisela Dulko, Argentinian tennis player

1984Junior dos Santos, Brazilian mixed martial artist

1984Kid Cudi, American entertainer

1984Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro, Japanese sumo wrestler

1983Drake Maverick, English wrestler

1983Slavko Vraneš, Montenegrin basketball player

1982Cameron Wake, American football player

1982DeSagana Diop, Senegalese basketball player and coach

Died on this day

2026Catherine O'Hara, Canadian-American actress, comedian and screenwriter (born 1954)

2025Dick Button, American figure skater and actor (born 1929)

2025Edcel Lagman, Filipino politician (born 1942)

2025Julius Chan, Papua New Guinean politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (born 1939)

2025Marianne Faithfull, English singer-songwriter and actress (born 1946)

2024Chita Rivera, American actress, singer, and dancer (born 1933)

2023Bobby Beathard, American Pro Football Hall of Fame executive (born 1937)

2023Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1939)

2022Cheslie Kryst, American television presenter and model (born 1991)

2021Sophie, Scottish musician (born 1986)

2019Dick Miller, American actor (born 1928)

2018Mark Salling, American actor and musician (born 1982)

2016Francisco Flores Pérez, Salvadorian politician, President of El Salvador (born 1959)

2016Frank Finlay, English actor (born 1926)

2016Gaston Mialaret, French pedagogist and professor (born 1918)

2016Georgia Davis Powers, American activist and politician (born 1923)

2015Carl Djerassi, Austrian-American chemist, author, and playwright (born 1923)

2015Geraldine McEwan, English actress (born 1932)

2015Gerrit Voorting, Dutch cyclist (born 1923)

2015Ülo Kaevats, Estonian academic, philosopher, and politician (born 1947)

2015Zhelyu Zhelev, Bulgarian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of Bulgaria (born 1935)

2014Arthur Rankin Jr., American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1924)

2014Greater, oldest known greater flamingo and Feast Festival 2021 mascot (h. c.1919–1933)

2014Russell D. Hemenway, American political activist (born 1925)

2014Stefan Bałuk, Polish general and photographer (born 1914)

2014The Mighty Hannibal, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1939)

2014William Motzing, American composer and conductor (born 1937)

2013Gamal al-Banna, Egyptian author and scholar (born 1920)

2013George Witt, American baseball player and coach (born 1931)

2013Patty Andrews, American singer (born 1918)

Quote of the day

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”

Marcus Aurelius

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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