January 27
1880 - Thomas Edison was granted a patent for his incandescent light.
1888 - The National Geographic Society was incorporated in Washington, D.C.
1944 - The Soviets announced the end of the two-year siege of Leningrad.
1945 - The Russians liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp, where the Nazis had killed an estimated 1.5 million people during World War II.
1951 - The U.S. Air Force began atomic testing in the Nevada desert.
1967 - Astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft.
1973 - Peace accords for the Vietnam War were signed in Paris.
1981 - President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, greeted at the White House the 52 former American hostages released by Iran.
1984 - Singer Michael Jackson suffered serious burns to his scalp when pyrotechnics set his hair on fire during the filming of a Pepsi-Cola TV commercial at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
2006 - Western Union delivered its last telegram.
2010 - Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet computer during a presentation in San Francisco.
2010 - J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” died in Cornish, New Hampshire, at age 91.
2017 - President Donald Trump barred all refugees from entering the United States for four months — and those from war-ravaged Syria indefinitely — declaring the ban necessary to prevent “radical Islamic terrorists” from entering the nation.
2020 - China confirmed more than 2,700 cases of the new coronavirus with more than 80 deaths in that country; authorities postponed the end of the Lunar New Year holiday to keep the public at home. U.S. health officials said they believed the risk to Americans remained low and that they had no evidence that the new virus was spreading in the United States; they advised Americans to avoid non-essential travel to any part of China.
2021 - Liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer confirmed that he would step down from the court later in the year. President Joe Biden strongly affirmed that he would nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court to replace Breyer, declaring that such historic representation is “long overdue.” (Biden’s nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, would be confirmed in April.)
Birthdays
27 - Braeden Lemasters (actor)
29 - Georgina Rodriguez (model)
35 - Dorothy Wang (reality star)
51 - Josh Randall (actor)
54 - Patton Oswalt (actor/comedian)
55 - Tracy Lawrence (singer)
58 - Alan Cumming (actor)
59 - Bridget Fonda (actress)
64 - Keith Olbermann (sports/political commentator)
65 - Susanna Thompson (actress)
67 - Mimi Rogers (actress)
68 - Cheryl White (singer)
68 - John Roberts (chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court)
75 - Mikhail Baryshnikov (ballet dancer)
83 - James Cromwell (actor)
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Today in Sports History - January 27
1963 - Sam Rice, Eppa Rixey, Elmer Flick and John Clarkson are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1973 - The UCLA Bruins won their 61st consecutive game to break the NCAA record held by the University of San Francisco.
1984 - Carl Lewis beat his own two-year-old record by 9-1/4 inches when he set a new indoor world record with a long-jump mark of 28 feet, 10-1/4 inches.
1984 - Wayne Gretzky set a National Hockey League (NHL) record for consecutive game scoring. He ended the streak at 51 games the next night against the Los Angeles Kings. The streak began on October 5, 1983.
1989 - Detroit Red Wings center Steve Yzerman becomes the fourth player in NHL history to score 100 points in 50 games or less.
1991 - The New York Giants defeat the Buffalo Bills 20-19 to win Super Bowl XXV.
1992 - Former world boxing champion Mike Tyson went on trial for allegedly raping an 18-year-old contestant in the 1991 Miss Black America Contest.
2012 - Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-2 to become the first man in the Open era to win three consecutive Australian Open titles.
2021 - Longtime Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger announced his retirement after 18 seasons and two Super Bowl wins.
1880 - Thomas Edison was granted a patent for his incandescent light.
1888 - The National Geographic Society was incorporated in Washington, D.C.
1944 - The Soviets announced the end of the two-year siege of Leningrad.
1945 - The Russians liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp, where the Nazis had killed an estimated 1.5 million people during World War II.
1951 - The U.S. Air Force began atomic testing in the Nevada desert.
1967 - Astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft.
1973 - Peace accords for the Vietnam War were signed in Paris.
1981 - President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, greeted at the White House the 52 former American hostages released by Iran.
1984 - Singer Michael Jackson suffered serious burns to his scalp when pyrotechnics set his hair on fire during the filming of a Pepsi-Cola TV commercial at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
2006 - Western Union delivered its last telegram.
2010 - Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet computer during a presentation in San Francisco.
2010 - J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” died in Cornish, New Hampshire, at age 91.
2017 - President Donald Trump barred all refugees from entering the United States for four months — and those from war-ravaged Syria indefinitely — declaring the ban necessary to prevent “radical Islamic terrorists” from entering the nation.
2020 - China confirmed more than 2,700 cases of the new coronavirus with more than 80 deaths in that country; authorities postponed the end of the Lunar New Year holiday to keep the public at home. U.S. health officials said they believed the risk to Americans remained low and that they had no evidence that the new virus was spreading in the United States; they advised Americans to avoid non-essential travel to any part of China.
2021 - Liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer confirmed that he would step down from the court later in the year. President Joe Biden strongly affirmed that he would nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court to replace Breyer, declaring that such historic representation is “long overdue.” (Biden’s nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, would be confirmed in April.)
Birthdays
27 - Braeden Lemasters (actor)
29 - Georgina Rodriguez (model)
35 - Dorothy Wang (reality star)
51 - Josh Randall (actor)
54 - Patton Oswalt (actor/comedian)
55 - Tracy Lawrence (singer)
58 - Alan Cumming (actor)
59 - Bridget Fonda (actress)
64 - Keith Olbermann (sports/political commentator)
65 - Susanna Thompson (actress)
67 - Mimi Rogers (actress)
68 - Cheryl White (singer)
68 - John Roberts (chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court)
75 - Mikhail Baryshnikov (ballet dancer)
83 - James Cromwell (actor)
==============================
Today in Sports History - January 27
1963 - Sam Rice, Eppa Rixey, Elmer Flick and John Clarkson are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1973 - The UCLA Bruins won their 61st consecutive game to break the NCAA record held by the University of San Francisco.
1984 - Carl Lewis beat his own two-year-old record by 9-1/4 inches when he set a new indoor world record with a long-jump mark of 28 feet, 10-1/4 inches.
1984 - Wayne Gretzky set a National Hockey League (NHL) record for consecutive game scoring. He ended the streak at 51 games the next night against the Los Angeles Kings. The streak began on October 5, 1983.
1989 - Detroit Red Wings center Steve Yzerman becomes the fourth player in NHL history to score 100 points in 50 games or less.
1991 - The New York Giants defeat the Buffalo Bills 20-19 to win Super Bowl XXV.
1992 - Former world boxing champion Mike Tyson went on trial for allegedly raping an 18-year-old contestant in the 1991 Miss Black America Contest.
2012 - Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-2 to become the first man in the Open era to win three consecutive Australian Open titles.
2021 - Longtime Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger announced his retirement after 18 seasons and two Super Bowl wins.
