Home   On This Day

On this day in history - Today, January, 4

Today in History

  • 1847 Samuel Colt sells his first revolver

    Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers placed an order for 1000 revolver pistols after having wi

  • 1896 Utah becomes the 45th state of the U.S.A.

    One condition for statehood was that a ban on polygamy had to be written into the state constitution

  • 1948 Burma gains independence from the United Kingdom

    Burma (Myanmar) came under British rule on January 1, 1886.

  • 1958 Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from orbit

    The Soviet Union was the first nation to send an artificial Earth satellite into space.

  • 2010 Burj Khalifa is opened

    Burj Khalifa in Dubai is currently the world's tallest building, at 829.8 m (2,722 ft).

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
January, 4

  • 1986 James Milner

    English footballer

  • 1965 Guy Forget

    French tennis player

  • 1942 John McLaughlin

    English guitarist, songwriter

  • 1832 George Tryon

    English Admiral

  • 1809 Louis Braille

    French educator, invented Braille

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
January, 4

  • 2011 Gerry Rafferty

    Scottish singer-songwriter

  • 1965 T. S. Eliot

    American/English publisher, playwright, critic, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1961 Erwin Schrödinger

    Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1960 Albert Camus

    French author, journalist, philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1941 Henri Bergson

    French philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate