# On this day: January 15

January 15 is the 15th day of the year (15th in leap years), with 350 days left until the end of the year (351 in a leap year).

## January 15 in one line

Headline entries for January 15, from Wikipedia: in 2022, The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano erupts, cutting off communications with Tonga and causing a tsunami across the Pacific; born 1929: Martin Luther King Jr., American minister and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1968); died 1919: Rosa Luxemburg, German economist, theorist, and philosopher (born 1871). In 2026 it is a Thursday, in 2027 a Friday.

## Events on January 15

- 1759 The British Museum opens to the public. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum)
- 1815 War of 1812: The American frigate USS President, commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, was captured by a squadron of four British frigates. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_President_(1800))
- 1857 In British Hong Kong, hundreds of Europeans were non-lethally poisoned by arsenic in bread from a locally owned bakery, leading to geopolitical tension. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esing_Bakery_incident)
- 1865 American Civil War: The Union Army captured Fort Fisher, the last seaport of the Confederacy. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Fort_Fisher)
- 1867 In Regent's Park, London, the ice on the lake broke, plunging skaters into the water and causing 40 deaths from drowning or hypothermia. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regent's_Park_skating_disaster)
- 1885 Wilson Bentley took the first known photograph of a snowflake by attaching a bellows camera to a microscope. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_Bentley)
- 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill_Dam)
- 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood)
- 1933 A teenage girl in Banneux, Belgium, reported the first of several Marian apparitions, now known as Our Lady of Banneux. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Banneux)
- 1934 At least 10,700 people died when a magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck Nepal and the Indian state of Bihar. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_Nepal%E2%80%93India_earthquake)
- 1937 Spanish Civil War: Nationalist and Republican forces both withdrew after suffering heavy losses at the Second Battle of the Corunna Road. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_the_Corunna_Road)
- 1943 The highest-capacity office building in the world, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense known as the Pentagon, was dedicated. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentagon)
- 1947 The mutilated corpse of the Black Dahlia, a 22-year-old woman whose murder is one of the most famous unsolved crimes in the United States, was found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dahlia)
- 1951 Ilse Koch, wife of Karl-Otto Koch, the Nazi commander of the Buchenwald and Majdanek concentration camps, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a West German court. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilse_Koch)
- 1962 The Derveni papyrus, the oldest surviving manuscript in Europe, was discovered in Macedonia in northern Greece. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derveni_papyrus)
- 1967 The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the American football championship game now known as Super Bowl I. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_I)
- 1970 The Republic of Biafra surrendered following a failed attempt at secession from Nigeria, ending the Nigerian Civil War. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Civil_War)
- 1970 Muammar Gaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muammar_Gaddafi)
- 1973 Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon)
- 1974 American serial killer Dennis Rader, also known as the "BTK killer", murdered his first four victims. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rader)
- 1975 Portugal and the nationalist factions UNITA, the MPLA and the FNLA signed the Alvor Agreement, ending the Angolan War of Independence. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvor_Agreement)
- 1981 The American serial police-procedural television show Hill Street Blues aired its pilot episode, "Hill Street Station". [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_Street_Station)
- 1991 The Victoria Cross for Australia was instituted, making Australia the first Commonwealth realm with a separate Victoria Cross award in its honours system. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross_for_Australia)
- 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations)
- 2001 The first edit to the internet encyclopedia Wikipedia was made. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia)
- 2009 US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of Canada geese during its climb out from New York City and made an emergency landing in the Hudson River. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549)
- 2022 The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano erupts, cutting off communications with Tonga and causing a tsunami across the Pacific. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Hunga_Tonga%E2%80%93Hunga_Ha%CA%BBapai_eruption_and_tsunami)

## Born on January 15

- 1432 Afonso V of Portugal (died 1481) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afonso_V_of_Portugal)
- 1622 Molière, French actor and playwright (died 1673) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moli%C3%A8re)
- 1791 Franz Grillparzer, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (died 1872) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Grillparzer)
- 1795 Alexander Griboyedov, Russian playwright, composer, and poet (died 1829) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Griboyedov)
- 1809 Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French economist and politician (died 1865) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Joseph_Proudhon)
- 1850 Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (died 1891) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofya_Kovalevskaya)
- 1850 Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (died 1889) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihai_Eminescu)
- 1863 Wilhelm Marx, German lawyer and politician, 17th Chancellor of Germany (died 1946) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Marx)
- 1866 Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, historian, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1931) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_S%C3%B6derblom)
- 1895 Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artturi_Ilmari_Virtanen)
- 1902 Nâzım Hikmet, Greek-Turkish author, poet, and playwright (died 1963) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A2z%C4%B1m_Hikmet)
- 1902 Saud of Saudi Arabia (died 1969) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saud_of_Saudi_Arabia)
- 1908 Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (died 2003) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Teller)
- 1918 Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian colonel and politician, second President of Egypt (died 1970) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamal_Abdel_Nasser)
- 1923 Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese economist and politician, fourth President of the Republic of China (died 2020) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Teng-hui)
- 1929 Martin Luther King Jr., American minister and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1968) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.)
- 1958 Boris Tadić, Serbian psychologist and politician, 16th President of Serbia [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Tadi%C4%87)
- 1971 Regina King, American actress [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_King)
- 1981 Pitbull, American rapper and producer [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitbull_(rapper))
- 1988 Skrillex, American DJ and producer [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skrillex)
- 1994 Eric Dier, English footballer [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Dier)
- 1996 Dove Cameron, American actress and singer [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_Cameron)

## Died on January 15

- 69 Galba, Roman emperor (born 3 BC) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galba)
- 936 Rudolph of France (born 880) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_of_France)
- 1919 Rosa Luxemburg, German economist, theorist, and philosopher (born 1871) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg)
- 1919 Karl Liebknecht, German politician (born 1871) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Liebknecht)
- 1955 Yves Tanguy, French-American painter (born 1900) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Tanguy)
- 1988 Seán MacBride, Irish republican activist and politician, Minister for External Affairs, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se%C3%A1n_MacBride)
- 1998 Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian economist and politician, Prime Minister of India (born 1898) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulzarilal_Nanda)
- 2006 Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler (born 1926) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaber_Al-Ahmad_Al-Sabah)
- 2008 Brad Renfro, American actor (born 1982) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Renfro)
- 2011 Susannah York, English actress and activist (born 1939) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susannah_York)
- 2013 Nagisa Oshima, Japanese director and screenwriter (born 1932) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagisa_%C5%8Cshima)
- 2018 Dolores O'Riordan, Irish pop singer (born 1971) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolores_O'Riordan)
- 2019 Carol Channing, American actress (born 1921) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Channing)
- 2025 David Lynch, American television and film director, visual artist and musician, complications from emphysema (born 1946) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch)

## Holidays and observances

- Arbor Day (Egypt) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbor_Day)
- Armed Forces Remembrance Day (Nigeria) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_Remembrance_Day)
- Army Day (India) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Day_(India))
- Christian feast day: Abeluzius (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abeluzius)
- Christian feast day: Arnold Janssen [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Janssen)
- Christian feast day: Francis Ferdinand de Capillas (one of Martyr Saints of China) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Ferdinand_de_Capillas)
- Christian feast day: Ita [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Dte_of_Killeedy)
- Christian feast day: Our Lady of the Poor [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Banneux)
- Christian feast day: Macarius of Egypt (Western Christianity) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macarius_of_Egypt)
- Christian feast day: Maurus and Placidus (Order of Saint Benedict) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placidus_(abbot))
- Christian feast day: Paul the Hermit [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_of_Thebes)
- Christian feast day: January 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_15_(Eastern_Orthodox_liturgics))
- John Chilembwe Day (Malawi) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Malawi)
- Korean Alphabet Day (North Korea) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul_Day)
- Ocean Duty Day (Indonesia) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Indonesia)
- Teacher's Day (Venezuela) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Venezuela)

## Sources

- [Wikipedia — “January 15”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_15) — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
- [Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/January 15”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Selected_anniversaries/January_15) — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/) — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
- [vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence)](https://github.com/vacanza/holidays) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article [“January 15”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_15) and the articles it links to ([authors and history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_15?action=history)), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/); this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for January 15 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 27 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. The 2022 entry stays as well, and comes first in the one-line summary: we keep a short list, checked by hand, of widely known events that Wikipedia's editors leave out of their selection, usually because the article carries a maintenance notice. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.

## January 15 in the calendar

| Year | Weekday | ISO week | Moon (UTC) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 | Thursday | 2026-W03 | 🌘 Waning Crescent |
| 2027 | Friday | 2027-W02 | 🌓 First Quarter |
| 2028 | Saturday | 2028-W02 | 🌖 Waning Gibbous |
| 2029 | Monday | 2029-W03 | 🌒 Waxing Crescent |
| 2030 | Tuesday | 2030-W03 | 🌔 Waxing Gibbous |

Moon phases are for the day in UTC; at the edges of a phase your local date can differ.

## Public holidays on January 15

None of the 28 countries we track has a public holiday on January 15 in 2026 or 2027.

[Today's holidays in 28 countries →](https://whathappen.today/holidays/)

## Nearby dates

[← January 14](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/january-14/) · [January 16 →](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/january-16/)

[All 366 days](https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/)

Last updated: 15 October 2026

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Web page: https://whathappen.today/on-this-day/january-15/