TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Saturday, Jan. 27, the 27th day of 2024. There are 339 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 27, 1967, astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft.
On this date:
In 1756, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria. In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp. In 1888, the National Geographic Society was incorporated in Washington, D.C. In 1944, during World War II, the Soviet Union announced the complete end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years. In 1945, during World War II, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland. In 1973, the Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, greeted at the White House the 52 former American hostages released by Iran. In 1984, singer Michael Jackson suffered serious burns to his scalp when pyrotechnics set his hair on fire during the filming of a Pepsi-Cola TV commercial at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. In 2006, Western Union delivered its last telegram. In 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet during a presentation in San Francisco. In 2013, Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil, killing 242 people. In 2020, China confirmed more than 2,700 cases of the new coronavirus with more than 80 deaths in that country. U.S. health officials said they believed the risk to Americans remained low and that they had no evidence that the new virus was spreading in the United States. Today’s birthdays: Actor James Cromwell is 84. Rock musician Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) is 80. R&B singer Nedra Talley (The Ronettes) is 78. Ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov is 76. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts is 69. Actor Mimi Rogers is 68. Rock musician Janick Gers (Iron Maiden) is 67. Political and sports commentator Keith Olbermann is 65. Rock singer Margo Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) is 63. Actor Bridget Fonda is 60. Actor Alan Cumming is 59. Actorcomedian Patton Oswalt is 55. Actor Braeden Lemasters is 28.