January 2

January 2 is the second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 363 days remaining until the end of the year (364 in leap years). This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56).

Events

• 366 – The Alemanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.
• 533 – Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
• 1492 – Reconquista: the Emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
• 1777 – American 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.
• 1788 – Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• 1791 – Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
• 1818 – The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded.
• 1833 – Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
• 1860 – The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River (a.k.a. Battle of Murfreesboro) resumes in central Tennessee after a day's respite, resulting in a significant Union victory.
• 1865 – Uruguayan War: The Siege of Paysandú ends as Brazilian and Coloradans capture Paysandú, Uruguay.
• 1871 – Amadeus I becomes King of Spain.
• 1900 – American statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
• 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Russian garrison surrenders at Port Arthur, China.
• 1911 – A 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.
• 1920 – The 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.
• 1941 – World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
• 1942 – The 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.
• 1942 – World War II: Manila, Philippines is captured by Japanese forces.
• 1945 – World War II: Nuremberg, Germany (in German, Nürnberg) is severely bombed by Allied forces.
• 1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
• 1955 – Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera is assassinated.
• 1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
• 1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory.
• 1967 – Ronald Reagan sworn in as Governor of California
• 1971 – The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football (soccer) match.
• 1974 – United States President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
• 1975 – A bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways
• 1975 – Bangladeshi Marxist leader Siraj Sikder is arrested and dies in police custody.
• 1976 – The Gale of January 1976 begins, which results in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, resulting in at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage.
• 1981 – One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
• 1992 – Leaders of armed opposition declare the President Zviad Gamsakhurdia deposed during a military coup in Georgia.
• 1993 – Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy kill 35-100 civilians on the Jaffna Lagoon.
• 1999 – A 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, where temperatures plunge to -13 °F (-25 °C); 68 deaths are reported.
• 2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
• 2006 – An explosion in a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia traps and kills 12 miners, while leaving one miner in critical condition.
• 2016 – Terrorist attack on Pathankot Air Force Station, India.
• 2016 – Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, was executed by Saudi government along with 46 other.

Births

• 869 – Yōzei, Japanese emperor (d. 949)
• 1403 – Basilios Bessarion, Greek cardinal and scholar (d. 1472)
• 1462 – Piero di Cosimo, Italian painter (d. 1522)
• 1642 – Mehmed IV, Ottoman sultan (d. 1693)
• 1647 – Nathaniel Bacon, English-American rebel leader (d. 1676)
• 1699 – Osman III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1757)
• 1713 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
• 1719 – Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat, French shipbuilder and merchant (d. 1797)
• 1727 – James Wolfe, English general (d. 1759)
• 1732 – František Brixi, Czech organist and composer (d. 1771)
• 1777 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor and educator (d. 1857)
• 1822 – Rudolf Clausius, Polish-German physicist and mathematician (d. 1888)
• 1827 – Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Russian geographer and statistician (d. 1914)
• 1833 – Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician (d. 1893)
• 1836 – Queen Emma of Hawaii (d. 1885)
• 1836 – Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian author (d. 1917)
• 1837 – Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1910)
• 1851 – Ludwig von Graff, Austrian zoologist (d. 1924)
• 1852 – Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan, Turkish playwright and poet (d. 1937)
• 1857 – M. Carey Thomas, American educator and activist (d. 1935)
• 1860 – William Corless Mills, American historian and curator (d. 1928)
• 1860 – Dugald Campbell Patterson, Canadian engineer (d. 1931)
• 1866 – Gilbert Murray, Australian-English playwright and scholar (d. 1957)
• 1870 – Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and playwright (d. 1938)
• 1873 – Thérèse of Lisieux, French nun and saint (d. 1897)
• 1873 – Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer and theorist (d. 1960)
• 1876 – Aquiles Serdán, Mexican activist and politician (d. 1910)
• 1878 – Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai, Indian activist, founded the Nair Service Society (d. 1970)
• 1879 – Rudolf Bauer, Hungarian discus thrower (d. 1932)
• 1884 – Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli historian and politician, 4th Israeli Minister of Education (d. 1973)
• 1885 – Gordon Flowerdew, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
• 1886 – Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English explorer and author (d. 1959)
• 1886 – Florence Lawrence, Canadian-American actress (d. 1938)
• 1887 – Burhan Asaf Belge, Turkish diplomat (d. 1967)
• 1889 – Bertram Stevens, Australian accountant and politician, 25th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1973)
• 1890 – Henrik Visnapuu, Estonian-American poet and playwright (d. 1951)
• 1891 – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect and urban planner, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station (d. 1990)
• 1892 – Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player (d. 1962)
• 1893 – Lillian Leitzel, German acrobat and strongwoman (d. 1931)
• 1895 – Folke Bernadotte, Swedish lieutenant and diplomat (d. 1948)
• 1896 – Dziga Vertov, Polish-Russian director and screenwriter (d. 1954)
• 1896 – Lawrence Wackett, Australian commander and engineer (d. 1982)
• 1897 – Jim Londos, Greek-American wrestler (d. 1975)
• 1897 – Theodore Plucknett, English legal historian (d. 1965)
• 1898 – Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, American economist and lawyer (d. 1989)
• 1900 – William Haines, American actor and interior designer (d. 1973)
• 1901 – Bob Marshall, American activist, co-founded The Wilderness Society (d. 1939)
• 1902 – Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer (d. 2007)
• 1904 – Truus Klapwijk, Dutch diver and swimmer (d. 1991)
• 1905 – Jainendra Kumar, Indian author and translator (d. 1988)
• 1905 – Lev Schnirelmann, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1938)
• 1905 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (d. 1998)
• 1905 – Luigi Zampa, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
• 1909 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author (d. 2009)
• 1909 – Barry Goldwater, American general and politician (d. 1998)
• 1913 – Anna Lee, English-American actress (d. 2004)
• 1913 – Juanita Jackson Mitchell, American lawyer and activist (d. 1992)
• 1914 – Kenny Clarke, American drummer and composer (d. 1985)
• 1914 – Noor Inayat Khan, British SOE agent (d. 1944)
• 1916 – Zypora Spaisman, Polish-American midwife, actress, and producer for the Yiddish stage (d. 2002)
• 1917 – Vera Zorina, German-Norwegian actress and dancer (d. 2003)
• 1918 – Beatrice Hicks, American engineer (d. 1979)
• 1919 – Willi Graf, German physician and activist (d. 1943)
• 1920 – Isaac Asimov, Russian-American chemist, author, and academic (d. 1992)
• 1921 – Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
• 1923 – Rachel Waterhouse, English historian and author
• 1924 – Evgenios Spatharis, Greek puppeteer, actor, and director (d. 2009)
• 1925 – William J. Crowe, American admiral and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2007)
• 1925 – Giacomo Furia, Italian actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
• 1928 – Avie Bennett, Canadian businessman and philanthropist
• 1928 – Robert Goralski, American journalist and author (d. 1988)
• 1928 – Kate Molale, South African activist and politician (d. 1980)
• 1931 – James D. Murray, Scottish mathematician and academic
• 1931 – Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese lawyer and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Japan
• 1932 – Peter Redgrove, English poet, author, and playwright (d. 2003)
• 1933 – Ed Casey, Australian banker and politician (d. 2006)
• 1933 – Seiichi Morimura, Japanese author
• 1933 – Richard Riley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 6th United States Secretary of Education
• 1933 – Keith Thomas, Welsh historian, author, and academic
• 1935 – David McKee, English author and illustrator
• 1935 – Lolo Soetoro, Indonesian geographer and academic (d. 1987)
• 1936 – Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1992)
• 1937 – David Bailey, English photographer and painter
• 1937 – Martin Lauer, German runner and journalist
• 1938 – Lynn Conway, American computer scientist and electrical engineer
• 1938 – Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author and educator
• 1938 – Goh Kun, South Korean politician, 31st Prime Minister of South Korea
• 1938 – Robert Smithson, American sculptor and photographer (d. 1973)
• 1938 – Dana Ulery, American computer scientist
• 1940 – Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian economist and politician, Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
• 1940 – S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan, Indian-American mathematician and academic
• 1942 – Thomas Hammarberg, Swedish lawyer and diplomat
• 1942 – Dennis Hastert, American educator and politician, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
• 1942 – Hugh Shelton, American general
• 1943 – Janet Akyüz Mattei, Turkish-American astronomer (d. 2004)
• 1944 – Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor
• 1944 – Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian field marshal and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia
• 1946 – Sonny Ruberto, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
• 1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist and author
• 1947 – Calvin Hill, American football player
• 1947 – David Shapiro, American poet, historian, and critic
• 1948 – Judith Miller, American journalist and author
• 1948 – Joyce Wadler, American journalist and author
• 1949 – Christopher Durang, American playwright and screenwriter
• 1949 – Jean Krier, Luxembourger poet (d. 2013)
• 1949 – Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and academic (d. 2006)
• 1950 – Anatoli Ushanov, Russian footballer and coach
• 1951 – Jim Essian, American baseball player and coach
• 1951 – Alexander Pogrebinsky, Ukrainian-American painter and educator
• 1952 – Jimmy Santiago Baca, American poet and author
• 1952 – Indulis Emsis, Latvian biologist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Latvia
• 1952 – Robbie Ftorek, American ice hockey player and coach
• 1952 – Wendy Phillips, American actress
• 1952 – Graeme Strachan, Australian singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
• 1953 – Vincent Racaniello, American virologist, author, and academic
• 1953 – Jacques Tichelaar, Dutch educator and politician
• 1954 – Henry Bonilla, American broadcaster and politician
• 1956 – Lynda Barry, American cartoonist and author
• 1957 – Beppe Gabbiani, Italian race car driver
• 1958 – Helen Goodman, English lawyer and politician
• 1958 – Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Russian pianist and educator
• 1959 – Kirti Azad, Indian cricketer and politician
• 1960 – Raman Lamba, Indian cricketer (d. 1998)
• 1961 – Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
• 1961 – Todd Haynes, American director and screenwriter
• 1961 – Craig James, American football player and sportscaster
• 1961 – Hitoshi Saito, Japanese martial artist (d. 2015)
• 1961 – Robert Wexler, American lawyer and politician
• 1963 – David Cone, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1963 – Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
• 1964 – Michael McCann, Scottish lawyer and politician
• 1965 – Greg Swindell, American baseball player and coach
• 1967 – Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and politician; 20th Mayor of Reykjavik City
• 1967 – Robert Liberace, American painter
• 1967 – Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
• 1968 – Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor and producer
• 1968 – Anky van Grunsven, Dutch horse rider
• 1969 – István Bagyula, Hungarian pole vaulter
• 1969 – William Fox-Pitt, English horse rider and journalist
• 1969 – Robby Gordon, American race car driver
• 1969 – Karl-Heinz Grasser, Austrian businessman and politician, 16th Finance Minister of Austria
• 1969 – Patrick Huard, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1969 – Glen Johnson, Jamaican boxer
• 1969 – Christy Turlington, American model
• 1970 – Eric Whitacre, American composer and conductor
• 1970 – Ogie Diaz, Filipino comedian and actor
• 1971 – Taye Diggs, American actor
• 1971 – Renée Elise Goldsberry, American actress
• 1971 – Lisa Harrison, American basketball player
• 1972 – Adam Elliot, Australian animator and screenwriter
• 1972 – Paweł Januszewski, Polish hurdler
• 1972 – Rodney MacDonald, Canadian educator and politician, 26th Premier of Nova Scotia
• 1972 – Hristos Meletoglou, German-Greek triple jumper
• 1972 – Mattias Norström, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
• 1973 – Lucy Davis, English actress
• 1974 – Jason de Vos, Canadian soccer player and sportscaster
• 1974 – Ludmila Formanová, Czech runner
• 1974 – Tomáš Řepka, Czech footballer
• 1975 – Chris Cheney, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
• 1975 – Dax Shepard, American actor
• 1975 – Jeff Suppan, American baseball player
• 1975 – Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby player
• 1976 – Hrysopiyi Devetzi, Greek jumper
• 1977 – Brian Boucher, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
• 1977 – Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player
• 1977 – Aleš Píša, Czech ice hockey player
• 1978 – Karina Smirnoff, Ukrainian-American dancer
• 1978 – Megumi Toyoguchi, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1978 – Yoon Se-ah, South Korean actress
• 1979 – Jonathan Greening, English footballer and coach
• 1980 – Georgios Dedas, Greek basketball player
• 1980 – Melvin Holwijn, Dutch footballer
• 1980 – Jérôme Pineau, French cyclist
• 1981 – Hanno Balitsch, German footballer
• 1981 – Ryan Garko, American baseball player
• 1981 – Kirk Hinrich, American basketball player
• 1981 – Maxi Rodríguez, Argentinian footballer
• 1983 – Kate Bosworth, American actress
• 1984 – Otacílio Jales, Brazilian footballer
• 1985 – Ivan Dodig, Croatian tennis player
• 1985 – Marius Neset, Norwegian saxophonist and composer
• 1985 – Heather O'Reilly, American soccer player
• 1986 – Ediz Bahtiyaroğlu, Turkish-Bosnian footballer (d. 2012)
• 1986 – Nicolás Bertolo, Argentinian footballer
• 1986 – Trombone Shorty, American trumpet player and composer
• 1988 – Damien Tussac, French-German rugby player
• 1988 – Kim Shi-hoo, South Korean actor
• 1989 – Maksims Bogdanovs, Latvian motorcycle racer
• 1990 – Karel Abraham, Czech motorcycle racer
• 1990 – Maurício Alves Peruchi, Brazilian footballer (d. 2014)
• 1991 – Davide Santon, Italian footballer
• 1991 – Luis Pedro Cavanda, Belgian footballer
• 1993 – Bryson Tiller, American singer-songwriter

Deaths

• 1512 – Svante Nilsson, Sweden politician (b. 1460)
• 1514 – William Smyth, English bishop and academic (b. 1460)
• 1557 – Pontormo, Italian painter and educator (b. 1494)
• 1664 – Georg II of Fleckenstein-Dagstuhl (b. 1588)
• 1726 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian organist and composer (b. 1688)
• 1849 – Micanopy, American tribal chief (b. 1780)
• 1861 – Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795)
• 1892 – George Biddell Airy, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1801)
• 1904 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat (b. 1821)
• 1913 – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
• 1915 – Karl Goldmark, Hungarian violinist and composer (b. 1830)
• 1917 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (b. 1877)
• 1920 – Paul Adam, French author (b. 1862)
• 1924 – Sabine Baring-Gould, English author and scholar (b. 1834)
• 1937 – Ross Alexander, American stage and film actor (b. 1907)
• 1939 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1864)
• 1941 – Mischa Levitzki, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1898)
• 1946 – Joe Darling, Australian cricketer and politician (b. 1870)
• 1950 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1877)
• 1950 – Theophrastos Sakellaridis, Greek composer and conductor (b. 1883)
• 1951 – William Campion, English colonel and politician, 21st Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870)
• 1959 – Chris van Abkoude, Dutch-American author (b. 1880)
• 1960 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (b. 1907)
• 1963 – Dick Powell, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1904)
• 1963 – Jack Carson, Canadian-American actor (b. 1910)
• 1968 – Nikolai Stepulov, Russian-Estonian boxer (b. 1913)
• 1974 – Tex Ritter, American actor (b. 1905)
• 1977 – Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer (b. 1921)
• 1983 – Dick Emery, English comedian and actor (b. 1915)
• 1986 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
• 1987 – Harekrushna Mahatab, Indian journalist and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Odisha (b. 1899)
• 1989 – Safdar Hashmi, Indian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1954)
• 1990 – Alan Hale, Jr., American film and television actor (b. 1921)
• 1990 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister for National Defence (b. 1910)
• 1994 – Dixy Lee Ray, American biologist and politician; 17th Governor of Washington (b. 1914)
• 1994 – Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, French lawyer and businessman (b. 1915)
• 1995 – Siad Barre, Somalian general and politician; 3rd President of Somalia (b. 1919)
• 1995 – Nancy Kelly, American actress (b. 1921)
• 1996 – Karl Targownik, Hungarian-American psychiatrist and author (b. 1915)
• 1996 – Karl Rappan, Austrian footballer and coach (b. 1905)
• 1998 – Frank Muir, English radio and television host (b. 1920)
• 1999 – Rolf Liebermann, Swiss-French composer and manager (b. 1910)
• 1999 – Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author (b. 1907)
• 2000 – Elmo Zumwalt, American admiral (b. 1920)
• 2000 – Patrick O'Brian, English author and translator (b. 1914)
• 2001 – William P. Rogers, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State (b. 1913)
• 2005 – Frank Kelly Freas, American illustrator and painter (b. 1922)
• 2005 – Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist and physician (b. 1911)
• 2006 – Osa Massen, Danish-American actress (b. 1914)
• 2006 – Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1913)
• 2007 – A. Richard Newton, Australian-American engineer and academic (b. 1951)
• 2007 – Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, American historian and author (b. 1941)
• 2007 – Garry Betty, American businessman (b. 1957)
• 2007 – Mauno Jokipii, Finnish author and academic (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911)
• 2007 – David Perkins, American geneticist and academic (b. 1919)
• 2007 – Robert C. Solomon, American philosopher, author, and academic (b. 1942)
• 2008 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish journalist and author (b. 1925)
• 2008 – Lee S. Dreyfus, American sailor, academic, and politician, 40th Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1926)
• 2008 – Martinus Tels, Dutch physicist and engineer (b. 1926)
• 2009 – Inger Christensen, Danish poet and author (b. 1935)
• 2010 – David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author (b. 1958)
• 2011 – Anne Francis, American actress (b. 1930)
• 2011 – Bali Ram Bhagat, Indian politician; 16th Governor of Rajasthan (b. 1922)
• 2011 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (b. 1946)
• 2012 – Gordon Hirabayashi, American-Canadian sociologist and academic (b. 1918)
• 2012 – Larry Reinhardt, American guitarist (b. 1948)
• 2012 – Silvana Gallardo, American actress and producer (b. 1953)
• 2012 – William P. Carey, American businessman and philanthropist, founded W. P. Carey (b. 1930)
• 2012 – Yoshiro Hayashi, Japanese golfer (b. 1922)
• 2013 – Gerda Lerner, Austrian-American historian, author, and academic (b. 1920)
• 2013 – Maulvi Nazir, Pakistani militant leader (b. 1975)
• 2013 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (b. 1944)
• 2014 – Bernard Glasser, American director and producer (b. 1924)
• 2014 – Elizabeth Jane Howard, English author and screenwriter (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Thomas Kurzhals, German keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1953)
• 2014 – Michael J. Matthews, American lawyer and politician; 34th Mayor of Atlantic City (b. 1934)
• 2014 – Jay Traynor, American singer-songwriter (b. 1943)
• 2015 – Derek Minter, English motorcycle racer (b. 1932)
• 2015 – Tihomir Novakov, Serbian-American physicist and academic (b. 1929)
• 2016 – Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabian religious leader (b. 1959)
• 2016 – Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
• 2016 – Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1935)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Basil the Great (Catholic Church and Church of England)
  • Defendens of Thebes
  • Gregory of Nazianzus (Catholic Church)
  • Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe (Lutheran Church)
  • Macarius of Alexandria
  • Seraphim of Sarov (repose)
  • Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (Episcopal Church)
  • January 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics))
  • Earliest day on which the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is observed, while January 5 is the latest; celebrated on Sunday between January 2 and 5. (Roman Catholic Church)
  • The ninth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
• Ancestry Day (Haiti)
• Berchtold's Day (Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Alsace)
• Blacks and Whites' Carnival, January 2–7 (southern Colombia)
• Carnival of Riosucio, January 2–8 celebrated every 2 years. (Riosucio)
• Carnival Day (Saint Kitts and Nevis)
• Funaoroshi (Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan)
• Kakizome (Japan)
• National Creampuff Day (United States)
• National Science Fiction Day (United States)
• The second day of New Year (a holiday in Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Mauritius, Montenegro, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine):
  • New Year Holiday (Scotland), if it is a Sunday, the day moves to January 3
  • Kaapse Klopse (Cape Town, South Africa)
• Nyinlong (Bhutan)
• Victory of Armed Forces Day (Cuba)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Today in Canadian History