On this day: January 15

Events on January 15

• 1777 American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present-day Vermont) declares its independence. Wikipedia
• 1865 American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy. Wikipedia
• 1867 Forty people die when ice covering the boating lake at Regent's Park, London, collapses. Wikipedia
• 1892 James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball. Wikipedia
• 1910 Construction was completed on the Buffalo Bill Dam, then the tallest dam in the world, on the Shoshone River in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Wikipedia
• 1910 Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, United States, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at 99 m (325 ft). Wikipedia
• 1919 Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent communists in Germany, are clubbed and then shot to death by members of the Freikorps at the end of the Spartacist uprising. Wikipedia
• 1919 A large molasses tank in Boston, Massachusetts, burst and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets , killing 21 people and injuring 150 others. Wikipedia
• 1919 Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150. Wikipedia
• 1934 The 8.0 Mw Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing an estimated 6,000–10,700 people. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins. Wikipedia
• 1967 The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10. Wikipedia
• 1969 The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5. Wikipedia
• 1970 Nigerian Civil War: Biafran rebels surrender following an unsuccessful 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria. Wikipedia
• 1970 Muammar Gaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya. Wikipedia
• 1977 Linjeflyg Flight 618 crashes in Kälvesta near Stockholm Bromma Airport in Stockholm, Sweden, killing 22 people. Wikipedia
• 1981 Pope John Paul II receives a delegation from the Polish trade union Solidarity at the Vatican led by Lech Wałęsa. Wikipedia
• 1991 The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm. Wikipedia
• 1991 Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own Victoria Cross in its honours system. Wikipedia
• 2001 The first edit to the internet encyclopedia Wikipedia was made. Wikipedia
• 2001 Wikipedia, a free wiki content encyclopedia, is launched (Wikipedia Day). Wikipedia
• 2005 ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the Moon. Wikipedia
• 2015 The Swiss National Bank abandons the cap on the Swiss franc's value relative to the euro, causing turmoil in international financial markets. Wikipedia
• 2016 The Kenyan Army suffers its worst defeat ever in a battle with Al-Shabaab Islamic insurgents in El-Adde, Somalia. An estimated 150 Kenyan soldiers are killed in the battle. Wikipedia
• 2019 Somali militants attack the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya killing at least 21 people and injuring 19. Wikipedia
• 2022 The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano erupts, cutting off communications with Tonga and causing a tsunami across the Pacific. Wikipedia

Born on January 15

• 1481 Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shōgun (died 1511)[citation needed] Wikipedia
• 1622 Molière, French actor and playwright (died 1673) Wikipedia
• 1791 Franz Grillparzer, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (died 1872) Wikipedia
• 1795 Alexander Griboyedov, Russian playwright, composer, and poet (died 1829) Wikipedia
• 1809 Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French economist and politician (died 1865) Wikipedia
• 1850 Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (died 1891) Wikipedia
• 1850 Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (died 1889) Wikipedia
• 1863 Wilhelm Marx, German lawyer and politician, 17th Chancellor of Germany (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1866 Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, historian, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1931) Wikipedia
• 1895 Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1902 Nâzım Hikmet, Greek-Turkish author, poet, and playwright (died 1963) Wikipedia
• 1902 Saud of Saudi Arabia (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1908 Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (died 2003) Wikipedia
• 1918 Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian colonel and politician, second President of Egypt (died 1970) Wikipedia
• 1918 João Figueiredo, Brazilian general and politician, 30th President of Brazil (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1923 Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese economist and politician, fourth President of the Republic of China (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1929 Martin Luther King Jr., American minister and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1968) Wikipedia
• 1958 Boris Tadić, Serbian psychologist and politician, 16th President of Serbia Wikipedia
• 1981 Pitbull, American rapper and producer Wikipedia
• 1988 Skrillex, American DJ and producer Wikipedia
• 1994 Eric Dier, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1996 Dove Cameron, American actress and singer Wikipedia

Died on January 15

• 69 Galba, Roman emperor (born 3 BC) Wikipedia
• 936 Rudolph of France (born 880) Wikipedia
• 1569 Catherine Carey, lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I of England (born 1524) Wikipedia
• 1815 Emma, Lady Hamilton, English-French mistress of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (born 1761) Wikipedia
• 1876 Eliza McCardle Johnson, American wife of Andrew Johnson, 18th First Lady of the United States (born 1810) Wikipedia
• 1919 Rosa Luxemburg, German economist, theorist, and philosopher (born 1871) Wikipedia
• 1919 Karl Liebknecht, German politician (born 1871) Wikipedia
• 1962 Yos Sudarso, Indonesian naval officer (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 1988 Seán MacBride, Irish republican activist and politician, Minister for External Affairs, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1998 Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian economist and politician, Prime Minister of India (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 2007 James Hillier, Canadian-American computer scientist and academic, co-invented the electron microscope (born 1915) Wikipedia
• 2018 Dolores O'Riordan, Irish pop singer (born 1971) Wikipedia
• 2019 Carol Channing, American actress (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 2025 David Lynch, American television and film director, visual artist and musician, complications from emphysema (born 1946) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Arbor Day (Egypt) Wikipedia
• Armed Forces Remembrance Day (Nigeria) Wikipedia
• Army Day (India) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Abeluzius (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Arnold Janssen Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Francis Ferdinand de Capillas (one of Martyr Saints of China) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ita Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Our Lady of the Poor Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Macarius of Egypt (Western Christianity) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maurus and Placidus (Order of Saint Benedict) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paul the Hermit Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• John Chilembwe Day (Malawi) Wikipedia
• Korean Alphabet Day (North Korea) Wikipedia
• Ocean Duty Day (Indonesia) Wikipedia
• Teacher's Day (Venezuela) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “January 15” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.