On this day in history

January 4

29 births · 11 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

57 years ago

Born this day

1940

Gao Xingjian

Turns 86

Oldest record

755th

Elizabeth of Aragon

birth anniversary

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Famous births29

1271 · 755 yrs

Elizabeth of Aragon

Elizabeth of Portugal, TOSF (Elisabet in Catalan, Isabel in Aragonese, Portuguese and Spanish; 4 January 1271 – 4 July 1336), also known as Elizabeth of Aragon, was Queen of Portugal from 1282 to 1325 as the wife of King Denis.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 65

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Photo: José Gil de Castro · Public domain

1710 · 316 yrs

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

Giovanni Battista Draghi (Italian:; 4 January 1710 – 16 or 17 March 1736), usually referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (Italian:), was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist, leading exponent of the Baroque; he is considered one of the greatest Italian musicians of the first half of the 18th…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 26

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Photo: Domenico Antonio Vaccaro · Public domain

1785 · 241 yrs

Jacob Grimm

Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScholarshipDied aged 78

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Photo: Siegmund Friedlaender · Public domain

1795 · 231 yrs

Alexander Griboyedov

Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov (Russian: Александр Сергеевич Грибоедов, romanized: Aleksandr Sergeevich Griboedov; 15 January 1795 – 11 February 1829) was a Russian diplomat, playwright, poet, and composer. His one notable work is the 1823 verse comedy Woe from Wit.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 34

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Photo: Ivan Kramskoi · Public domain

1809 · 217 yrs

Louis Braille

Louis Braille ( BRAYL; French:; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system named after him, braille, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virtually unchanged to this day.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyDied aged 43

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Photo: Henri Thiriat · Public domain

1848 · 178 yrs

Katsura Tarō

Prince Katsura Tarō (桂太郎; 4 January 1848 – 10 October 1913) was a Japanese statesman and general who served as prime minister of Japan from 1901 to 1906, from 1908 to 1911, and from 1912 to 1913.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryDied aged 65

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Photo: 故桂公爵記念事業会 · Public domain

1932 · 94 yrs

Carlos Saura

Carlos Saura Atarés (4 January 1932 – 10 February 2023) was a Spanish film director, photographer and writer. With Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, he is considered to be among Spain's great filmmakers.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 94

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Photo: Carlos Delgado · CC BY-SA 4.0

1933 · 93 yrs

Ilia II of Georgia

Ilia II (secular name Irakli Gudushauri-Shiolashvili; 4 January 1933 – 17 March 2026) was the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia from 1977 until his death in 2026. He was the longest serving patriarch in the history of the Georgian Orthodox Church, which spans more than a millennium.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 93

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Photo: Surprizi · CC BY-SA 4.0

1937 · 89 yrs

Dyan Cannon

Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American actress, filmmaker, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmAge 89

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1940 · 86 yrs

Gao Xingjian

Gao Xingjian (Chinese: 高行健; born January 4, 1940) is a Chinese émigré and later French naturalized novelist, playwright, critic, painter, photographer, film director, and translator who was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity." He is…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureAge 86

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Photo: Jwh · CC BY-SA 3.0 lu

1940 · 86 yrs

Brian David Josephson

Brian David Josephson (born 4 January 1940) is a British theoretical physicist and emeritus professor at the University of Cambridge.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceAge 86

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Photo: Brian Josephson · CC BY 3.0

1945 · 81 yrs

Richard R. Schrock

Richard Royce Schrock (born January 4, 1945) is an American chemist and Nobel laureate recognized for his contributions to the olefin metathesis reaction used in organic chemistry.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceAge 81

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Photo: R._Schrock_-_IChO_2012_Opening_Ceremony.JPG : A.mela93 derivative work: Materialscientist · CC BY-SA 3.0

Showing 12 of 29

Famous deaths11

1465 · 561 yrs

Charles I, Duke of Orléans

Charles I (24 November 1394 – 5 January 1465) was Duke of Orléans from 1407, following the murder of his father, Louis I, Duke of Orléans. He was also Duke of Valois, Count of Beaumont-sur-Oise and of Blois, Lord of Coucy, and the inheritor of Asti in Italy via his mother Valentina Visconti.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 70

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Photo: User:Acoma · CC BY 3.0

1786 · 240 yrs

Moses Mendelssohn

Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the Haskalah, or 'Jewish Enlightenment' of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 56

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Photo: After Anton Graff · Public domain

1877 · 149 yrs

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

BusinessDied aged 82

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Photo: Produced by Mathew Brady 's studio, restored by Michel Vuijlsteke · Public domain

1920 · 106 yrs

Benito Pérez Galdós

Benito María de los Dolores Pérez Galdós (Spanish pronunciation:; 10 May 1843 – 4 January 1920) was a Spanish realist novelist and politician. He was a leading literary figure in 19th-century Spain, and some scholars consider him second only to Miguel de Cervantes in stature as a Spanish novelist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 76

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Photo: Kaulak · CC BY 4.0

1941 · 85 yrs

Henri Bergson

Henri-Louis Bergson (French:; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the Second World War, but also after 1966 when Gilles Deleuze published Le…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 81

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Photo: Henri Manuel · Public domain

1960 · 66 yrs

Albert Camus

Albert Camus ( kam-OO; French:; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, writer, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in history, and the first laureate in literature born in Africa.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 112

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Photo: Photograph by United Press International · Public domain

1961 · 65 yrs

Erwin Schrödinger

Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger (12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961), sometimes anglicised as Schroedinger or Schrodinger, was an Austrian theoretical physicist who developed fundamental results in quantum theory.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 139

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

1965 · 61 yrs

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright. He was a leading figure of modernist poetry in the English language where he altered the art through his use of pessimistic language, writing style, and verse structure.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 138

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Photo: Thomas Stearns Eliot with his sister and his cousin by Lady Ottoline Morrell.jpg : Lady Ottoline Morrell (1873–1938) der · Public domain

2011 · 15 yrs

Mohamed Bouazizi

Tarek El-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi (Arabic: طارق الطيب محمد البوعزيزي, romanized: Ṭāriq aṭ-Ṭayib Muḥammad al-Būʿazīzī; 29 March 1984 – 4 January 2011) was a Tunisian street vendor who, in response to the confiscation of his wares as well as the harassment and humiliation inflicted by municipal officials and their aides,…

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Notable PeopleWould be 42

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Photo: Antoine Walter · CC BY-SA 2.0

2021 · 5 yrs

Martinus J. G. Veltman

Martinus Justinus Godefriedus "Tini" Veltman (Dutch pronunciation:; 27 June 1931 – 4 January 2021) was a Dutch theoretical physicist. He shared the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics with his former PhD student Gerardus 't Hooft for their work on particle theory.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 95

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Photo: Silin2005 · Public domain

2024 · 2 yrs100 Club

Glynis Johns

Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (5 October 1923 – 4 January 2024) was a British actress and singer. In a career exceeding seven decades on stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 103

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Photo: Unknown photographer, Two Cities Films, United Artists · Public domain

Events5

1894 · 132 yrs

Franco-Russian Alliance

The Franco-Russian Alliance (French: Alliance Franco-Russe, Russian: Франко-Русский Альянс, romanized: Franko-Russkiy Al'yans), also known as the Dual Entente or Russo-French Rapprochement (Rapprochement Franco-Russe, Русско-Французское Сближение; Russko-Frantsuzskoye Sblizheniye), was an alliance formed by the…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1969 · 57 yrs

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. A third-generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1989 · 37 yrs

Murder of Junko Furuta

Junko Furuta (Japanese: 古田順子, Hepburn: Furuta Junko; 18 January 1971 – 4 January 1989) was a 17-year-old Japanese high school student who was abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

2004 · 22 yrs

South Thailand insurgency

The Southern Thailand insurgency (Thai: ความไม่สงบในชายแดนภาคใต้ของประเทศไทย; Malay: Pemberontakan di Thailand Selatan) is an ongoing conflict centered in southern Thailand.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2019 · 7 yrs

World Braille Day

World Braille Day is an international day on 4 January and celebrates awareness of the importance of braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and visually impaired people.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

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