On this day: January 28

Events on January 28

• 98 On the death of Nerva, Trajan is declared Roman emperor in Cologne, the seat of his government in lower Germany. Wikipedia
• 814 The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accession of his son Louis the Pious as ruler of the Frankish Empire. Wikipedia
• 1069 Robert de Comines, Earl of Northumbria, was killed in Durham, causing William the Conqueror to embark on a campaign to subjugate northern England. Wikipedia
• 1393 King Charles VI of France was nearly killed when several other dancers' costumes caught fire during a masquerade ball in Paris. Wikipedia
• 1521 Charles V and the estates of the Holy Roman Empire met at the Diet of Worms to discuss Martin Luther and the effects of the Protestant Reformation. Wikipedia
• 1547 Nine-year-old Edward VI, the first English monarch to be raised as a Protestant, became king. Wikipedia
• 1568 Delegates of the Three Nations of Transylvania adopted the Edict of Torda, allowing local communities to elect their preachers freely, in an unprecedented act of religious tolerance. Wikipedia
• 1671 Anglo-Spanish War: In pursuit of retreating Spanish troops, English soldiers sacked the city of Panama. Wikipedia
• 1724 The Russian Academy of Sciences is founded in St. Petersburg, Russia, by Peter the Great, and implemented by Senate decree. It is called the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917. Wikipedia
• 1754 The word serendipity, derived from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip, was coined by Horace Walpole in a letter to a friend. Wikipedia
• 1813 Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1851 Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois. Wikipedia
• 1916 The province of Manitoba passed a law that first granted some Canadian women the right to vote. Wikipedia
• 1922 The largest recorded snowstorm in the history of Washington, D.C., collapsed the Knickerbocker Theatre, killing 98 people. Wikipedia
• 1933 Choudhry Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet in which he called for the creation of a Muslim state in north-western India that he termed "Pakstan". Wikipedia
• 1935 Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: About three hours after Thai bombers raided Sisophon, a ceasefire paused hostilities in the Franco-Thai War. Wikipedia
• 1956 Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance. Wikipedia
• 1958 The Lego Group, a Danish toy company, filed a patent in Denmark for the design of Lego bricks. Wikipedia
• 1961 In Gitarama, Rwanda, local and other government officials initiated a coup to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic. Wikipedia
• 1964 Three U.S. Air Force pilots aboard an unarmed T-39 Sabreliner were killed when the aircraft was shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19. Wikipedia
• 1977 The Shining, the horror novel and the first hardcover bestseller by Stephen King, is published. Wikipedia
• 1981 U.S. president Ronald Reagan lifted price controls from petroleum products, contributing to the 1980s oil glut. Wikipedia
• 1984 Tropical Storm Domoina made landfall in southern Mozambique, causing some of the most severe flooding recorded in the region. Wikipedia
• 1985 Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief. Wikipedia
• 1986 The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its tenth mission, killing all seven crew members. Wikipedia

Born on January 28

• 1457 Henry VII, king of England (died 1509) Wikipedia
• 1600 Clement IX, pope of the Catholic Church (died 1669) Wikipedia
• 1611 Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (died 1687) Wikipedia
• 1717 Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan (died 1774) Wikipedia
• 1853 José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, and theorist (died 1895) Wikipedia
• 1853 Vladimir Solovyov, Russian philosopher, poet, and critic (died 1900) Wikipedia
• 1873 Colette, French novelist and journalist (died 1954) Wikipedia
• 1887 Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and educator (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1912 Jackson Pollock, American painter (died 1956) Wikipedia
• 1922 Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1993) Wikipedia
• 1936 Ismail Kadare, Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1936 Alan Alda, American actor, director, and writer Wikipedia
• 1938 Tomas Lindahl, Swedish-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1940 Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman and philanthropist, founded Grupo Carso Wikipedia
• 1950 Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahraini king Wikipedia
• 1955 Nicolas Sarkozy, French lawyer and politician, 23rd President of France Wikipedia
• 1978 Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer Wikipedia
• 1978 Jamie Carragher, English footballer and sportscaster Wikipedia
• 1980 Yasuhito Endō, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 1981 Elijah Wood, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1993 Will Poulter, English actor Wikipedia
• 2000 Dušan Vlahović, Serbian footballer Wikipedia

Died on January 28

• 814 Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor (born 742) Wikipedia
• 1547 Henry VIII, king of England (born 1491) Wikipedia
• 1621 Pope Paul V (born 1550) Wikipedia
• 1687 Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (born 1611) Wikipedia
• 1754 Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian-Danish historian and philosopher (born 1684) Wikipedia
• 1864 Émile Clapeyron, French physicist and engineer (born 1799) Wikipedia
• 1939 W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1865) Wikipedia
• 1960 Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (born 1891) Wikipedia
• 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger crew Wikipedia
• 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger crew Wikipedia
• 1996 Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1940) Wikipedia
• 2002 Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author and screenwriter (born 1907) Wikipedia
• 2015 Yves Chauvin, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1930) Wikipedia
• 2021 Cicely Tyson, American actress (born 1924) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Joseph Freinademetz Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Julian of Cuenca Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Thomas Aquinas Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Army Day (Armenia) Wikipedia
• Data Privacy Day Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “January 28” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/January 28” — 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 28” 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 28 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 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. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.