On this day in history

January 5

30 births · 17 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

107

Spartacist uprising

107 years ago

Born this day

1932

Umberto Eco

Would be 94

Photo (modified): Rob Bogaerts for Anefo · CC0

Oldest record

549th

Charles the Bold

death anniversary

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Famous births30

1592 · 434 yrs

Shah Jahan

Shah Jahan I (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the fifth Mughal Emperor from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. His reign marked the zenith of Mughal architectural and cultural achievements.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 74

View profile Photo (modified): Bichitr · Public domain

1767 · 259 yrs

Jean-Baptiste Say

Jean-Baptiste Say (French:; 5 January 1767 – 15 November 1832) was a liberal French economist and businessman who argued in favor of competition, free trade, and lifting restraints on business.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 65

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1846 · 180 yrs

Rudolf Christoph Eucken

Rudolf Christoph Eucken (German:; 5 January 1846 – 15 September 1926) was a German philosopher.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 80

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1863 · 163 yrs

Constantine Stanislavsky

Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski (Russian: Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, IPA:; né Alekseyev; 17 January 1863 – 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian and Soviet theatre practitioner.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmDied aged 75

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1874 · 152 yrs

Joseph Erlanger

Joseph Erlanger (January 5, 1874 – December 5, 1965) was an American physiologist who is best known for his contributions to the field of neuroscience.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 91

View profile Photo (modified): The Nobel Foundation · Public domain

1876 · 150 yrs

Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 150

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1893 · 133 yrs

Paramahansa Yogananda

Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952) was an Indian and American Hindu monk, yogi, and guru who founded the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF)/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS), a religious meditation and Kriya Yoga organization, to disseminate his teachings.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 133

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1917 · 109 yrs

Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman, TOSD ( WY-mən; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007) was an American actress. A star of both movies and television, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress, four Golden Globe Awards and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 109

View profile Photo (modified): Eiga no Tomo · Public domain

1921 · 105 yrs

Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Friedrich Dürrenmatt (German:; 5 January 1921 – 14 December 1990) was a Swiss author and dramatist. He was a proponent of epic theatre whose plays reflected the recent experiences of World War II. The politically active author's work included avant-garde dramas, philosophical crime novels, and macabre satire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 105

View profile Photo (modified): Metzger, Jack · CC BY-SA 4.0

1928 · 98 yrs

Walter Mondale

Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American politician who was the 42nd vice president of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 98

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1928 · 98 yrs

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto NPk HPk (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister, and statesman who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973, and as the ninth prime minister of Pakistan from 1973 until his overthrow in 1977.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 98

View profile Photo (modified): Bernard Gotfryd · Public domain

1931 · 95 yrs

Robert Duvall

Robert Selden Duvall (January 5, 1931 – February 15, 2026) was an American actor and filmmaker, best known for his roles in films of the later 20th century.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 95

View profile Photo (modified): Bernard Gotfryd · Public domain

Showing 12 of 30

Famous deaths17

1477 · 549 yrs

Charles the Bold

Charles the Bold (Charles Martin; 10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), also called the Rash, was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. A member of the House of Valois-Burgundy, he was the only surviving legitimate son of Philip the Good and his third wife, Isabella of Portugal.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 43

View profile Photo (modified): Rogier van der Weyden · Public domain

1589 · 437 yrs

Catherine de' Medici

Catherine de' Medici (13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King Henry II. She was the mother of French kings Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III, and a cousin to Pope Clement VII.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 69

View profile Photo (modified): Attributed to Germain Le Mannier · Public domain

1762 · 264 yrs

Elizabeth I of Russia

Elizabeth or Elizaveta Petrovna (Russian: Елизаве́та Петро́вна; 29 December 1709 – 5 January 1762) was Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 52

View profile Photo (modified): Vigilius Eriksen · Public domain

1910 · 116 yrs

Léon Walras

Marie-Esprit-Léon Walras (French:; 16 December 1834 – 5 January 1910) was a French mathematical economist and Georgist. He formulated the marginal theory of value (independently of William Stanley Jevons and Carl Menger) and pioneered the development of general equilibrium theory.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 75

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1913 · 113 yrs

Lewis A. Swift

Lewis A. Swift (February 29, 1820 – January 5, 1913) was an American astronomer who discovered 13 comets and 1,248 previously uncatalogued nebulae. Only William Herschel discovered more nebulae visually.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 92

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1922 · 104 yrs

Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ExplorationDied aged 47

View profile Photo (modified): Nadar · Public domain

1933 · 93 yrs

Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; KOOL-ij; July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he served from 1921 to 1923 as the 29th vice president, under President Warren G.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 60

View profile Photo (modified): Harris & Ewing · Public domain

1939 · 87 yrs

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Mary Earhart ( AIR-hart; born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviator and aviation pioneer who became one of the most celebrated figures of early flight. In 1928, she was the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 129

View profile Photo (modified): NBC Photo-NBC Radio · Public domain

1943 · 83 yrs

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver (c. 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyDied aged 79

View profile Photo (modified): not listed · Public domain

1951 · 75 yrs

Soh Jaipil

Seo Jae-pil (Korean: 서재필; Hanja: 徐載弼; January 7, 1864 – January 5, 1951), better known by his English name Philip Jaisohn, was a Korean American politician, physician, and Korean independence activist. He was the first Korean to become a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ActivismDied aged 86

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1951 · 75 yrs

Andrei Platonov

Andrei Platonovich Platonov (Russian: Андрей Платонович Платонов, IPA:; né Klimentov; 28 August 1899 – 5 January 1951) was a Soviet Russian novelist, short story writer, philosopher, playwright, and poet.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 127

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1970 · 56 yrs

Max Born

Max Born (German:; 11 December 1882 – 5 January 1970) was a German–British theoretical physicist who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics, and supervised the work of a number of notable physicists in the 1920s and 1930s.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 143

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Showing 12 of 17

Events5

1919 · 107 yrs

Spartacist uprising

The Spartacist uprising (German: Spartakusaufstand), also known as the January uprising (Januaraufstand) or, more rarely, Bloody Week, was an armed uprising that took place in Berlin from 5–12 January 1919. It occurred in connection with the German revolution that broke out just before the end of World War I.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1927 · 99 yrs

Petrushka

Petrushka (French: Petrouchka; Russian: Петрушка) is a ballet by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

1942 · 84 yrs

Battles of Rzhev

The Battles of Rzhev (Russian: Ржевская битва, romanized: Rzhevskaya bitva) were a series of Red Army offensives against the Wehrmacht between 8 January 1942 and 31 March 1943, on the Eastern Front of World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1991 · 35 yrs

1991–1992 South Ossetia War

The 1991–1992 South Ossetia War (also known as the First South Ossetia War) was fought between Georgian government forces and ethnic Georgian militias on one side and the forces of South Ossetian separatists and Russia on the other.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2024 · 2 yrs

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on 5 January 2024

Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Alaska Airlines from Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon, to Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

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