- 1302 – Dante Alighieri is exiled from Florence.
- 1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born.
- 1832 – Lewis Carroll is born.
- 1880 – Thomas Edison patents electric incandescent lamp.
- 1888 – National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
- 1898 – Georgia Neese Clark is born. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman nominated Georgia Neese Clark Gray to the United States Treasury. She was the first woman to hold the position.
- 1924 – Lenin placed in Mausoleum in Red Square.
- 1944 – Siege of Leningrad lifted by the Soviets after 880 days and more than 2 million Russians killed.
- 1945 – Auschwitz and Birkenau are liberated.
- 1948 – Mikhail Baryshnikov is born.
- 1967 – 3 astronauts die in launch pad fire.
- 1973 – Paris Peace Accords are signed, ending the war in Vietnam.
- 1976 – “Laverne & Shirley” premieres on ABC.
- 1993 – Andre the Giant dies of congestive heart failure at age 49.
- 2008 – Gordon B. Hinckley dies
- 2017 – Donald Trump issues executive order banning travel to the US from 7 mostly Muslim countries and suspending admission for refugees.
