On this day: January 27

Events on January 27

• 98 Trajan succeeded his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; the Roman Empire reached its maximum extent under his rule. Wikipedia
• 532 Nika riots in Constantinople fail. Wikipedia
• 945 The brothers Stephen and Constantine Lekapenos, having deposed their father as Byzantine emperor a few weeks earlier, were themselves overthrown by Constantine VII, their co-emperor. Wikipedia
• 1302 Dante Alighieri is condemned in absentia and exiled from Florence. Wikipedia
• 1343 Clement VI issued the papal bull Unigenitus, justifying the power of the pope and the use of indulgences. Wikipedia
• 1726 J. S. Bach led the first performance of Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV 72, concluding his third Christmas season in Leipzig on the Third Sunday after Epiphany. Wikipedia
• 1785 The University of Georgia, the oldest state-chartered public university in the United States, was founded. Wikipedia
• 1799 French Revolutionary Wars: In the Macau Incident, French and Spanish warships encountered a British Royal Navy escort squadron in the Wanshan Archipelago; subsequent events, including which side retreated, were disputed by the commanders present. Wikipedia
• 1825 On the advice of John C. Calhoun, President James Monroe asked Congress to organize Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, laying the groundwork for Indian removal in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1869 Former members of the overthrown Tokugawa shogunate proclaimed Japan's second-largest island, Hokkaido, to be the independent Republic of Ezo. Wikipedia
• 1880 Thomas Edison receives a patent for his incandescent lamp. Wikipedia
• 1918 Beginning of the Finnish Civil War. Wikipedia
• 1924 Six days after his death, Vladimir Lenin's body is carried into a specially erected mausoleum. Wikipedia
• 1927 A contaminated diphtheria vaccine was used in an Australian immunisation program, leading to the deaths of twelve children and the suspension of immunisation programs in several countries. Wikipedia
• 1945 The Soviet Red Army liberated about 7,000 prisoners left behind by the Nazis in Auschwitz concentration camp. Wikipedia
• 1965 South Vietnamese prime minister Trần Văn Hương was removed by the military junta of Nguyễn Khánh. Wikipedia
• 1967 A fire during a launch simulation for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Kennedy killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. Wikipedia
• 1973 The Paris Peace Accords officially ends the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict's last recorded American combat casualty. Wikipedia
• 1980 Six American diplomats who had evaded capture in the Iran hostage crisis escaped with the help of Canadian government officials to Zürich, Switzerland. Wikipedia
• 1996 Mahamane Ousmane, the first democratically elected president of Niger, was deposed by Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara in a military coup d'état. Wikipedia
• 2003 The first selections for the United States National Recording Registry were announced by the Library of Congress. Wikipedia
• 2010 Porfirio Lobo Sosa became the new president of Honduras, ending a constitutional crisis that had begun in 2009 when Manuel Zelaya was forcibly removed from office. Wikipedia
• 2010 Apple announces the iPad. Wikipedia
• 2011 Arab Spring: The Yemeni Revolution began as more than 16,000 protesters demonstrated in Sanaa to demand governmental changes. Wikipedia
• 2011 Astronomers documented H1504+65, a white dwarf in Ursa Minor with the hottest surface temperature known at the time, at 200,000 kelvins (360,000 °F). Wikipedia
• 2017 A naming ceremony for the chemical element tennessine takes place in the United States. Wikipedia
• 2019 MBC Newsdesk reported on a nightclub assault in Seoul, South Korea, leading to the Burning Sun scandal, which involved several Korean idols and police officials. Wikipedia

Born on January 27

• 1571 Abbas I of Persia (died 1629) Wikipedia
• 1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian pianist and composer (died 1791) Wikipedia
• 1775 Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German-Swiss philosopher and academic (died 1854) Wikipedia
• 1814 Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect, designed the Lausanne Cathedral (died 1879) Wikipedia
• 1826 Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian journalist and author (died 1889) Wikipedia
• 1832 Lewis Carroll, English novelist, poet, and mathematician (died 1898) Wikipedia
• 1836 Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian journalist and author (died 1895) Wikipedia
• 1859 Wilhelm II, German Emperor during World War I (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1893 Soong Ching-ling, Chinese politician, Honorary President of the People's Republic of China (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1903 John Eccles, Australian-Swiss neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1921 Donna Reed, American actress (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1924 Rauf Denktaş, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 1st President of Northern Cyprus (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1934 Édith Cresson, French politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of France Wikipedia
• 1936 Samuel C. C. Ting, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1942 Tasuku Honjo, Japanese immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine Wikipedia
• 1944 Mairead Maguire, Northern Irish activist, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1948 Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian-American dancer, choreographer, and actor Wikipedia
• 1955 John Roberts, American lawyer and judge, 17th Chief Justice of the United States Wikipedia
• 1964 Bridget Fonda, American actress Wikipedia
• 1974 Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Norwegian skier and biathlete Wikipedia
• 1980 Marat Safin, Russian tennis player and politician Wikipedia
• 2000 Aurélien Tchouaméni, French footballer Wikipedia

Died on January 27

• 98 Nerva, Roman emperor (born 35) Wikipedia
• 847 Pope Sergius II (born 790) Wikipedia
• 1596 Francis Drake, English captain and explorer (born 1540) Wikipedia
• 1814 Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher and academic (born 1762) Wikipedia
• 1851 John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist and painter (born 1789) Wikipedia
• 1901 Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (born 1813) Wikipedia
• 1951 Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish field marshal and politician, 6th President of Finland (born 1867) Wikipedia
• 1983 Louis de Funès, French actor and screenwriter (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 2006 Johannes Rau, German journalist and politician, 8th President of Germany (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 2008 Suharto, Indonesian general and politician, 2nd President of Indonesia (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 2009 John Updike, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 2010 J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (born 1919) Wikipedia
• 2014 Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist (born 1919) Wikipedia
• 2015 Charles Hard Townes, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1915) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Angela Merici Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Paul Joseph Nardini Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Devota (Monaco) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Enrique de Ossó y Cercelló Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Chrysostom (translation of relics) (Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sava (Serbia) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad (Russia) Wikipedia
• Liberation of the remaining inmates of Auschwitz-related observances: Holocaust Memorial Day (UK) Wikipedia
• Liberation of the remaining inmates of Auschwitz-related observances: International Holocaust Remembrance Day Wikipedia
• Liberation of the remaining inmates of Auschwitz-related observances: Memorial Day (Italy) Wikipedia
• Liberation of the remaining inmates of Auschwitz-related observances: Other Holocaust Memorial Days observances Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “January 27” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/January 27” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — 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) — 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 27” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for January 27 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 1973 entry stays as well: 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.