EVENTS:
- 1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.
- 1911 – Glenn H. Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane.
- 1915 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress.
- 1920 – Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.
- 1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (“Complete Independence”) which occurred 17 years later.
- 1950 – The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India.
- 1952 – World Customs Organization is founded.
- 1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
- 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.
- 1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi.
- 2001 – The 2001 Gujarat earthquake causes more than twenty thousand deaths.
- 2004 – President Hamid Karzai signs the current Constitution of Afghanistan.
- 2005 – Glendale train crash: Two trains derail killing 11 and injuring 200 in Glendale, California, near Los Angeles.
- 2015 – An aircraft crashes at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others.
- 2020 – A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people on board, including former five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant.
- 2021 – Protesters and farmers storm the Red Fort near Delhi, clashing with police. One protester is killed and more than 80 police officers are injured.
BIRTHS:
- 1880 – Douglas MacArthur, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
- 1911 – Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
- 1925 – Ben Pucci, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2013)
- 1944 – Jerry Sandusky, American football player and coach
- 1950 – Jack Youngblood, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
- 1962 – Tim May, Australian cricketer
- 1967 – Col Needham, English businessman, co-founded Internet Movie Database
- 1968 – Ravi Teja, Indian actor and singer
- 1982 – Reggie Hodges, American football player
- 1989 – Torrey Smith, American football player
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
