• 660 BC - Traditional founding date of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
• 55 - Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman Emperorship, dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome. This clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.
• 1531 - Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.
• 1659 - The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.
• 1752 - Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in the United States, opens.
• 1790 - Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitions U.S. Congress for abolition of slavery.
• 1794 - First session of United States Senate open to the public.
• 1808 - Anthracite coal is first burned as fuel, experimentally.
• 1809 - Robert Fulton took out a patent for improvements to steamboat navigation
• 1812 - Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry gerrymanders for the first time.
• 1814 - Norway's independence is proclaimed, marking the ultimate end of the Kalmar Union.
• 1826 - University College London is founded under the name University of London.
• 1840 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Régiment receives its first performance in Paris.
• 1843 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi receives its first performance in Milan.
• 1855 - Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam.
• 1858 - The Blessed Virgin Mary reputedly appears to Saint Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes.
• 1861 - American Civil War: United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
• 1873 - King Amadeus I of Spain abdicates.
• 1889 - Meiji constitution of Japan is adopted; the first Diet of Japan convenes in 1890.
• 1895 - The lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2°C is recorded at Braemar in Aberdeenshire. This record was equalled on 10 January, 1982 and again on 30 December, 1995.
• 1902 - Police assault universal suffrage demonstrators in Brussels.
• 1903 - Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna.
• 1905 - Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer nos.
• 1916 - Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control.
• 1919 - Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.
• 1929 - Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
• 1937 - A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers Union.
• 1938 - BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Capek play R.U.R., which coined the term "robot".
• 1939 - Lockheed P-38 flies from California to New York in 7 hours 2 minutes.
• 1941 - First Gold record is presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
• 1942 - The Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore during World War II.
• 1943 - World War II: General Dwight Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in Europe.
• 1948 - John Costello succeeds Éamon de Valera as Taoiseach of Ireland.
• 1953 - President Dwight Eisenhower refuses clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.
• 1953 - The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.
• 1963 - Julia Child's show The French Chef premieres.
• 1964 - Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.
• 1964 - The Republic of China (Taiwan) breaks off diplomatic relations with France.
• 1968 - Israeli-Jordanian border clashes.
• 1971 - Eighty-seven countries, including the US, UK, and USSR, sign the Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons in international waters.
• 1973 - Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.
• 1978 - Censorship: the People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens.
• 1979 - Islamic revolution of Iran achieves victory under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
• 1981 - 100,000 gallons (380 m³) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 8 workers.
• 1987 - Philippines constitution goes into effect.
• 1990 - Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, is freed from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa.
• 1991 - UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, forms in The Hague, Netherlands.
• 1997 - Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
• 2007 - In Portugal, a national referendum legalizes non-therapeutic abortion when requested by the woman during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
• 2008 - In East Timor, assassination attempts were made on Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos-Horta. Both failed.

Births