Today In History

Today is Saturday, Jan. 27, the 27th day of 2018. There are 338 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1880: Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.

ON THIS DATE

› 1888: The National Geographic Society was incorporated in Washington, D.C.

› 1913: The musical play “The Isle O’ Dreams,” featuring the song “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” by Ernest R. Ball, Chauncey Olcott and George Graff Jr., opened in New York.

› 1945: During World War II, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

› 1951: An era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flat.

› 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. More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the deploying of nuclear weapons in outer space.

› 1973: The Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.

› 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.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor James Cromwell is 78. Actor John Witherspoon is 76. Rock musician Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) is 74. Rhythm and blues singer Nedra Talley (The Ronettes) is 72. Chief U.S. Justice John Roberts is 63. Country singer Cheryl White is 63. Country singer-musician Richard Young (The Kentucky Headhunters) is

63. Actress Mimi Rogers is 62. Actress Susanna Thompson is 60. Political and sports commentator Keith Olbermann is 59. Rock singer Margo Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) is

57. Rock musician Gillian Gilbert is 57. Actress Tamlyn Tomita is 55. Actress Bridget Fonda is 54. Actor Alan Cumming is 53. Actor-comedian Patton Oswalt is 49. Actor Josh Randall is 46. Country singer Kevin Denney is

40. Tennis player Marat Safin is 38. Neo-soul musician Andrew Lee (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) is 32. Rock musician Matt Sanchez (American Authors) is 32. Actor Braeden Lemasters is 22.