On This Day in History – January 15

Major Events

• 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, becoming Roman Emperor after the suicide of Galba during the Year of the Four Emperors.
• 1559 – Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England at Westminster Abbey, ushering in the Elizabethan Era.
• 1759 – The British Museum opens to the public in London, becoming one of the world’s first national public museums.
• 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, leaders of the German Spartacist movement, are murdered in Berlin.
• 1929 – Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1943 – The Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, is completed.
• 1967 – The first Super Bowl is played between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
• 2001 – Wikipedia is launched as a free online encyclopedia.
• 2009 – US Airways Flight 1549 successfully lands on the Hudson River after engine failure.
• 2022 – A volcanic eruption in Tonga triggers a Pacific-wide tsunami warning.

Famous Birthdays

• 1482 – Pope Gregory XV, head of the Catholic Church (d. 1623)
• 1622 – Molière, French playwright and actor (d. 1673)
• 1795 – Alexander Griboyedov, Russian writer and diplomat (d. 1829)
• 1891 – Ray Chapman, American baseball player (d. 1920)
• 1929 – Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights leader (d. 1968)
• 1946 – Ronnie Van Zant, American musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)
• 1951 – Drew Brees, American football quarterback
• 1976 – Mel Gibson, Australian-American actor and filmmaker
• 1981 – Pitbull, American rapper and entertainer

Notable Deaths

• 936 – Rudolph II, King of Burgundy (b. c. 880)
• 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg, German philosopher and activist (b. 1871)
• 1919 – Karl Liebknecht, German socialist leader (b. 1871)
• 1965 – Nat King Cole, American singer and pianist (b. 1919)
• 1990 – Gordon Jackson, Scottish actor (b. 1923)
• 2004 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player (b. 1931)
• 2018 – Dolores O’Riordan, Irish singer (The Cranberries) (b. 1971)
• 2020 – Edd Byrnes, American actor (b. 1932)
• 2023 – Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress (b. 1927)

Holidays

• Martin Luther King Jr. Day – United States (observed on the third Monday of January)
• Indian Army Day – India
• Wikipedia Day – International observance
• Thai Teachers’ Day – Thailand

Fun Facts

• Wikipedia launched on January 15 and now exists in hundreds of languages worldwide.
• The first Super Bowl was not originally called the Super Bowl.
• The British Museum’s original collection was based on a single private library.
• Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is one of the few U.S. federal holidays honoring an individual.
• The Hudson River landing is often called the “Miracle on the Hudson.”
• Queen Elizabeth I ruled for over 44 years, one of England’s longest reigns.