What happened on January 2? There are more than 305 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About January 2
January 2 is the 2nd day of the year 2024. There are 364 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday. This day falls under the 1st week of the year 2024.
On this day in Wilkinson, Indiana 46186 sunrise occured at 08:02 AM and sunset occured at 05:30 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Capricorn. The modern birthstone for this month is Garnet while the mystical birthstone is Emerald.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 39 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (February 10, 2024).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 22 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For January 2
- 366The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire
- 533Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy
- 1492Reconquista: the emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders
- 1777American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey
- 1788Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution
- 1791Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War
- 1818The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded
- 1833Re-establishment of British rule on the Falkland Islands.
- 1860The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France
- 1871Amadeus I becomes King of Spain
- 1900John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China
- 1905Russo-Japanese War: The Russian garrison surrenders at Port Arthur, China
- 1911A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill
- 1920The second Palmer Raid takes place with another 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists arrested and held without trial. These raids take place in several U.S. cities.
- 1927Angered by the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, Catholic rebels in Mexico rebelled against the government.
- 1935Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh
- 1941World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
- 1942The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) convicts 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history—the Duquesne Spy Ring
- 1942World War II: Manila, Philippines is captured by Japanese forces
- 1945World War II: Nuremberg, Germany (in German, Nürnberg) is severely bombed by Allied forces
- 1949Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico
- 1955Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera is assassinated
- 1959Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union
- 1971The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football (soccer) match
- 1974President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo
- 1992Leaders of armed opposition declare the President Zviad Gamsakhurdia deposed during a military coup in Georgia.
- 1999A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches (487 mm) in Chicago, Illinois, where temperatures plunge to -13 °F (-25 °C); 68 deaths are reported
- 2001Sila María Calderón becomes the first female Governor of Puerto Rico
- 2002Eduardo Duhalde is appointed interim President of Argentina by the Legislative Assembly.
- 2004Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
- 2006An explosion in a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia traps and kills 12 miners, while leaving one miner in critical condition.
Who Were Born On January 2?
- 1642Mehmed IV, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1693)
- 1647Nathaniel Bacon, English-born American colonist (d. 1676)
- 1699Osman III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1757)
- 1713Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
- 1719Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat, French shipbuilder (d. 1797)
- 1727James Wolfe, British general (d. 1759)
- 1777Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)
- 1822Rudolf Clausius, German physicist (d. 1888)
- 1827Peter Semenov of Tian Shan, Russian explorer (d. 1914)
- 1833Frederick A. Johnson, American politician (d. 1893)
- 1836Mendele Moykher Sforim, Jewish writer (d. 1917)
- 1836Queen Emma of Hawaii, Consort of King Kamehameha IV (d. 1885)
- 1837Mily Balakirev, Russian composer (d. 1910)
- 1857Martha Carey Thomas, American educator, suffragist, and second President of Bryn Mawr College (d. 1935)
- 1860Dugald Campbell Patterson, American pioneer (d. 1931)
- 1860William Corless Mills, American museum curator (d. 1928)
- 1866Prof. Gilbert Murray, Australian classical scholar (d. 1957)
- 1870Ernst Barlach, German sculptor (d. 1938)
- 1873Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer and Marxist theorist (d. 1960)
- 1873Thérèse of Lisieux, French Roman Catholic nun (d. 1897)
- 1877Slava Raškaj, Croatian painter (d. 1906)
- 1884Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-born Israeli educator, historian and politician (d. 1973)
- 1885Gordon Flowerdew, Canadian Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
- 1886Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English Antarctic explorer (d. 1959)
- 1886Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (d. 1938)
- 1889Sir Bertram Stevens, Premier of New South Wales 1932-39 (d. 1973)
- 1892Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player (d. 1962)
- 1893Lillian Leitzel, German acrobat and strongwoman (d. 1931)
- 1895Count Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (d. 1948)
- 1896Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (d. 1954)
- 1896Sir Lawrence Wackett, Australian aircraft engineer (d. 1982)
- 1897Jim Londos, Greek wrestler (d. 1975)
- 1901Bob Marshall, American conservationist (d. 1939)
- 1902Dan Keating, Irish republican (d. 2007)
- 1904Truus Klapwijk, Dutch diver and freestyle swimmer(d. 1991)
- 1905Lev Schnirelmann, Russian mathematician (d. 1938)
- 1905Luigi Zampa, Italian film director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
- 1905Michael Tippett, English composer (d. 1998)
- 1909Barry M. Goldwater, American politician (d. 1998)
- 1909Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer (d. 2009)
- 1913Anna Lee, English actress (d. 2004)
- 1914Violet Vivian Finlay Stuart Mann, British writer (d. 1986)
- 1916Zypora Spaisman, Polish-born American Yiddish theatre actress and producer (d. 2002)
- 1917Vera Zorina, German dancer (d. 2003)
- 1918Willi Graf, German anti-Nazi activist (d. 1943)
- 1920Isaac Asimov, American author and biochemistry professor (d. 1992)
- 1921Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
- 1924Evgenios Spatharis, Greek shadow theatre artist (d. 2009)
- 1925Larry Harmon, American entertainer and TV producer (d. 2008)
- 1925William J. Crowe, American admiral and ambassador (d. 2007)
- 1927Grigoris Varfis, Greek politician
- 1928Avie Bennett, Canadian philanthropist
- 1928Daisaku Ikeda, Japanese writer
- 1928Robert Goralski, American journalist (d. 1988)
- 1930Julius La Rosa, American singer
- 1931Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese politician
- 1932Peter Redgrove, British poet (d. 2003)
- 1933Ed Casey, Australian politician (d. 2006)
- 1933Richard Riley, American politician
- 1933Seiichi Morimura, Japanese novelist
- 1936Roger Miller, American singer (d. 1992)
- 1938Goh Kun, South Korean politician
- 1938Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author
- 1938Ian Brady, British serial killer
- 1940Jim Bakker, American televangelist
- 1940S. R. S. Varadhan, Indian-American mathematician
- 1942Dennis Hastert, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
- 1942Hugh Shelton, 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- 1942Ray Moore, Radio 2 DJ (d. 1989)
- 1943Barış Manço, Turkish singer and television producer (d. 1999)
- 1944Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor
- 1944Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician
- 1946Richard Cole, English tour manager
- 1947Calvin Hill, American football player
- 1947David Shapiro, American poet, literary critic, and art historian
- 1947Jack Hanna, American zoologist
- 1947Valery Shary, Byelorussian Olympic champion weightlifter
- 1948Judith Miller, American journalist
- 1949Christopher Durang, American playwright
- 1949Leijn Loevesijn, Dutch cyclist
- 1950Débora Duarte, Brazilian actress
- 1950David Shifrin, American classical clarinetist
- 1950Leo van der Goot, Dutch Radio DJ and singer
- 1951Alexander Pogrebinsky, Russian painter
- 1951Jim Essian, American baseball player
- 1952Christine Lavin, American singer-songwriter
- 1952Graeme Strachan, Australian rock singer (Skyhooks) (d. 2001)
- 1952Jimmy Santiago Baca, American poet and writer
- 1952Robbie Ftorek, American ice hockey player
- 1953Jacques Tichelaar, a Dutch politician and trade union leader
- 1953Manfred Wittke, German footballer
- 1953Vincent Racaniello American virologist
- 1954Dawn Silva, American singer (The Brides of Funkenstein, P-Funk)
- 1954Henry Bonilla, American politician
- 1955Tex Brashear, American voice actor
- 1955Vivien Savage, French singer
- 1956Lynda Barry, American cartoonist
- 1958Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Russian pianist
- 1959Kim Coates, Canadian actor
- 1960Naoki Urasawa, Japanese manga author
- 1961Craig James, American football player
- 1961Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
- 1961IJsbrand Chardon, Dutch equestrian
- 1961Robert Wexler, American politician
- 1961Todd Haynes, American film director
- 1963David Cone, American baseball player
- 1963Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
- 1964Luis d'Antin, Spanish motorcycle racer
- 1964Pernell Whitaker, American boxer
- 1965Greg Swindell, American baseball player
- 1966Kate Hodge, American actress
- 1967Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
- 1967Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and mayor of Reykjavik
- 1967Tia Carrere, American actress
- 1968Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion
- 1968Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor
- 1968Evan Parke, Jamaican actor
- 1968Goichi Suda, Japanese video game developer
- 1969Christy Turlington, American model
- 1969Glen Johnson, Jamaican boxer
- 1969Karl-Heinz Grasser, Austrian politician
- 1969Patrick Huard, Quebec actor and comedian
- 1969Róbert Švehla, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1969Robby Gordon, American racing driver
- 1969Tommy Morrison, American boxer
- 1970Eric Whitacre, American composer
- 1970Royce Clayton, American baseball player
- 1970Sanda Ladoşi, Romanian singer
- 1971Lisa Harrison, American basketball player
- 1971Markus Hoffmann, German actor (d. 1997)
- 1971Renee Elise Goldsberry, American actress and singer
- 1971Taye Diggs, American actor
- 1971Yutaka Takenouchi, Japanese actor
- 1972Adam Elliot, Australian animator
- 1972Christopher Lennertz, American composer
- 1972Hristos Meletoglou, Greek triple jumper
- 1972Mattias Norström, Swedish professional ice hockey player
- 1972Rodney MacDonald, Canadian politician and musician
- 1973Lucy Davis, British actress
- 1973Will Kirby, American actor
- 1974Jason de Vos, Canadian footballer
- 1974Luis Moro, Cuban-American actor and filmmaker
- 1975Chris Cheney, Australian musician (The Living End)
- 1975Dax Shepard, American actor
- 1975Doug Robb, American singer (Hoobastank)
- 1975Jeff Suppan, American baseball player
- 1975Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby union player
- 1976Cletidus Hunt, American football player
- 1976Danilo Di Luca, Italian cyclist
- 1976Hrysopiyi Devetzi, Greek triple jumper
- 1976Mahée Paiement, Canadian actress
- 1976Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- 1977Ales Pisa, Czech ice hockey player
- 1977Brian Boucher, American professional ice hockey player
- 1977Nikos Soultanidis, Greek footballer
- 1977Scott Proctor, American baseball player
- 1977Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player
- 1978Karina Smirnoff, Ukrainian-American professional ballroom dancer
- 1978Megumi Toyoguchi, Japanese voice actress
- 1979Jonathan Greening, British footballer
- 1980Annie Bellemare, Canadian Figure Skater
- 1980Jérôme Pineau, French cyclist
- 1980Mac Danzig, American Mixed martial arts combatant
- 1980Melvin Holwijn, Dutch footballer
- 1981Hanno Balitsch, German footballer
- 1981Kirk Hinrich, American basketball player
- 1981Maxi Rodríguez, Argentine footballer
- 1981Ryan Garko, American baseball player
- 1982Athanasia Tsoumeleka, Greek race walker
- 1983Andrew Ebbett, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983Kate Bosworth, American actress
- 1984Otacilio, Brazilian footballer, Aviation Professional
- 1985Heather O'Reilly, American soccer player
- 1985Luis Beza, American musician
- 1986Troy Andrews, American musician
- 1987Shelley Hennig, American actress
- 1987Syesha Mercado, American singer and actress
- 1988Damien Tussac, French-born German rugby player
- 1988Jonny Evans, Northern Irish footballer
- 1989Maksims Bogdanovs, Latvian motorcycle racer
- 1990Karel Abraham, Czech motorcycle racer
- 1991Davide Santon, Italian footballer
- 1991Steele Sidebottom, Australian Rules Footballer
- 2001Christopher Barrios Jr., American murder victim (d. 2007)
Who Died On January 2?
- 1512Svante, Regent of Sweden (b. 1460)
- 1514William Smyth, English bishop and statesman (b. c1460)
- 1557Pontormo, Italian painter (b. 1494)
- 1685Harbottle Grimston, English politician (b. 1603)
- 1694Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English politician (b. 1651)
- 1726Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (b. 1688)
- 1861King Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795)
- 1892George Airy, British Astronomer Royal (b. 1801)
- 1893John Obadiah Westwood, British entomologist (b. 1805)
- 1904James Longstreet, American Confederate general (b. 1821)
- 1913Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
- 1915Carl Goldmark, Hungarian composer (b. 1830)
- 1917Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
- 1920Paul Adam, French novelist (b. 1862)
- 1924Sabine Baring-Gould, English composer and novelist (b. 1834)
- 1936Sir Francis Newdegate, Governor of Tasmania (b. 1862)
- 1939Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
- 1941Mischa Levitzki, Russian-born pianist (b. 1898)
- 1945Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, British naval commander (b. 1883)
- 1946Joe Darling, Australian cricketer (b. 1870)
- 1948Vicente Huidobro, Chilean poet (b. 1893)
- 1950James Dooley, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1877)
- 1950Theophrastos Sakellaridis, Greek composer and conductor (b. 1883)
- 1951Sir William Campion, Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870)
- 1959Chris van Abkoude, Dutch-born writer and novelist (b. 1880)
- 1960Fausto Coppi, Italian cyclist (b. 1919)
- 1960Paul Sauvé, Canadian politician (b. 1907)
- 1963Dick Powell, American actor (b. 1904)
- 1963Jack Carson, American actor (b. 1910)
- 1971E. V. Knox, English poet and satirist (b. 1881)
- 1971Willard Maas, American poet and filmmaker (b. 1906)
- 1974Tex Ritter, American actor (b. 1905)
- 1977Erroll Garner, American musician (b. 1921)
- 1983Dick Emery, English comedian (b. 1915)
- 1986Bill Veeck, American baseball executive (b. 1914)
- 1986Dick James, English music publisher (Northern Songs) (b. 1920)
- 1986Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
- 1990Alan Hale Jr., American actor (b. 1921)
- 1990Evangelos Averoff, Greek politician and author (b. 1910)
- 1994Dixy Lee Ray, American politician, 17th Governor of Washington (b. 1914)
- 1994Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (b. 1915)
- 1995Nancy Kelly, American actress (b. 1921)
- 1995Siad Barre, President of Somalia (b. 1919)
- 1996Karl Targownik, Hungarian psychiatrist (b. 1915)
- 1997Randy California, American guitarist & songwriter (Spirit) (b. 1951)
- 1998Frank Muir, English writer, raconteur (b. 1920)
- 1999Rolf Liebermann, Swiss composer (b. 1910)
- 1999Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author (b. 1907)
- 2000Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., American admiral (b. 1920)
- 2000Nat Adderley, American musician and composer (b. 1931)
- 2000Patrick O'Brian, British novelist (b. 1914)
- 2001Teri Diver, American actress (b. 1971)
- 2001William P. Rogers, American politician (b. 1913)
- 2002Armi Aavikko, Finnish singer (b. 1958)
- 2003Eric Jupp, British-born pianist, composer, arranger (b. 1922)
- 2004Jess Collins, American artist (b. 1923)
- 2004Lynn Cartwright, American actress (b. 1927)
- 2005Cyril Fletcher, British comedian (b. 1913)
- 2005Edo Murtić, Croatian painter (b. 1921)
- 2005Frank Kelly Freas, American artist (b. 1922)
- 2005Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist (b. 1911)
- 2005Ronald ‘Bo’Ginn, American politician (b. 1934)
- 2006Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, first female Philippine Supreme Court Justice (b. 1913)
- 2007Dan Shaver, American racecar driver (b. 1950)
- 2007David Perkins, American geneticist (b. 1919)
- 2007Don Massengale, American PGA Tour golf player (b. 1937)
- 2007Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, American historian (b. 1941)
- 2007Garry Betty, American CEO of Earthlink (b. 1957)
- 2007Mauno Jokipii, Finnish professor and researcher (b. 1924)
- 2007Paek Nam-sun, North Korean Foreign Affairs minister (b. 1929)
- 2007Richard Newton, Australian-born technology pioneer and professor (b. 1951)
- 2007Robert C. Solomon, American scholar of continental philosophy (b. 1942)
- 2007Teddy Kollek, Austrian-born mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911)
- 2008Galyani Vadhana, Princess of Thailand (b. 1923)
- 2008George MacDonald Fraser, British author (b. 1925)
- 2008Gerry Staley, American baseball player (b. 1920)
- 2008Lee S. Dreyfus, American politician (b. 1926)
- 2008Martinus Tels, Dutch physicist and chemical engineer (b. 1926)
- 2009Inger Christensen, Danish poet (b. 1935)
- 2009Maria de Jesus, Portuguese supercentenarian (b. 1893)
- 2010David R. Ross, Scottish author and historian (b. 1958)
- 2011Anne Francis, American actress (b. 1930)
- 2011Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (b. 1946)
- 2011Richard D. Winters, American Army officer (b.1918)
- 2011Szeto Wah, Hong Kong politician and educationalist (b. 1931)
- 2012Anatoly Kolesov, 73, Russian wrestler (b.1938)
- 2012Helmut Müller-Brühl, 78, German conductor(b.19)
- 2012Ian Bargh, British-born Canadian jazz pianist (b.1935)
- 2012Ioan Drăgan, 46, Romanian footballer (b.1965)
- 2012Paulo Rodrigues da Silva, 25, Brazilian footballer(b.1986)
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