January 15
January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 351 days remain until the year's end. It falls in winter (northern hemisphere) and under the astrological sign of Capricorn.
External references
Curated jump-off points to the major almanacs, encyclopaedias and primary sources for this date.
Astronomy
On January 15 the Sun's declination is approximately -21.3°. At this latitude the Sun is south of the celestial equator, giving the Northern Hemisphere shorter days than nights.
For specific rise/set times at your location, see the U.S. Naval Observatory, or the NASA APOD archive for any imagery published on a January 15.
Position in the year
Holidays & observances
- Wikipedia Day (informal — Wikipedia launched on this day in 2001)
Events
A selection of widely-documented historical events that took place on this date. Years marked BCE follow standard astronomical convention.
1559 — Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England at Westminster Abbey. ↗(467 years ago)more
Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history and culture, gave name to the Elizabethan era.
- 1870 — A political cartoon by Thomas Nast first depicted the Democratic Party as a donkey. ↗(156 years ago)
1919 — The Boston Molasses Disaster: a tank of molasses burst, killing 21. ↗(107 years ago)more
The Great Molasses Flood, also known as the Boston Molasses Disaster, was a disaster that occurred on Wednesday, January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.
1943 — The Pentagon, the world's largest office building, was dedicated. ↗(83 years ago)more
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S.
1967 — The first Super Bowl was played in Los Angeles; Green Bay defeated Kansas City 35–10. ↗(59 years ago)more
The first AFL–NFL World Championship Game was an American football game played on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League (AFL) champion Kansas City Chiefs by the score of 35–10.
2001 — Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, was launched. ↗(25 years ago)more
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in 2001, Wikipedia has been hosted since 2003 by the Wikimedia Foundation, an American nonprofit organization funded mainly by donations from ...
2009 — US Airways Flight 1549 ditched in the Hudson River; all 155 aboard survived (the "Miracle on the Hudson"). ↗(17 years ago)more
US Airways Flight 1549 was a regularly scheduled US Airways flight from New York City's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte and Seattle, in the United States, that ditched onto the Hudson River shortly after takeoff on January 15, 2009, due to a double engine failure caused by a bird strike.
Notable births
1622 — Molière, French playwright (Tartuffe, The Misanthrope). ↗(404 years ago)more
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world literature. His extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more.
1908 — Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist ("father of the H-bomb"). ↗(118 years ago)more
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of the Teller–Ulam design inspired by Stanisław Ulam.
1929 — Martin Luther King Jr., American civil-rights leader. ↗(97 years ago)more
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister who was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legal...
Notable deaths
1919 — Rosa Luxemburg, Polish-German revolutionary socialist. ↗(107 years ago)more
Rosa Luxemburg was a Polish and naturalised-German Marxist theorist and revolutionary. She was a leading theorist of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and later co-founded the anti-war Spartacus League, which evolved into the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
Numerical & calendrical curiosities
| Day-of-year (15) | 3 × 5 · composite (no) |
|---|---|
| Days remaining (351) | 3^3 × 13 |
| Date code DDMMYYYY | 15012026 · no palindrome in next 200 years |
| Sun declination | -21.26° (Cooper approximation) |
| Distance from solstice | 26 days |