23rd January

1556 Shaanxi Earthquake – deadliest ever recorded kills 830,000 in Shensi Province, China.
1859 Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii begins an eruption that lasts 300 days

24th January

1857 University of Calcutta founded as the first full-fledged university in South Asia.
1927 Alfred Hitchcock releases his first film as director – The Pleasure Garden, in England

25th January

1802 Napoleon Bonaparte elected president of Italian (Cisalpine) Republic.
1971 Himachal Pradesh becomes 18th Indian state

26th January

1823 Edward Jenner, English physician, father of immunology, pioneered smallpox vaccinations, dies at 73.
1905 World’s largest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, is found in South Africa

27th January

1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian musical prodigy and composer (Figaro), born in Salzburg, Austria (d. 1791)
1926 Physicist Erwin Schrödinger publishes his theory of wave mechanics and presents what becomes known as the Schrödinger equation in quantum mechanics

28th January

1933 The name “Pakistan” is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali and gradually accepted by Muslims in the Indian sub-continent who use it to push for a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia.
1949 NY Giants sign their 1st black players, Monte Irvin & Ford Smith

29th January

1936 1st players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson & Walter Johnson
1948 Pakistan Socialist Party is founded

30th January

1948 Mahatma Gandhi Indian independence activist and spiritual leader, assassinated in New Delhi by Hindu extremists at 78
1972 Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations

31st January

1944, several key military and political leaders agreed to postpone the D-Day invasion due to a shortage of ships. The date for the planned invasion was changed from May 1 to June 5, 1944.
1865 Congress passes the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in America (passes 121-24)
1958 US launches their 1st artificial satellite, Explorer 1