January 28

814 Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, died on January 28, 814. He passed away in bed of pleurisy on January 28, 814 at nine o'clock in the morning, after partaking of Holy Communion.  His last words were "Lord into thy hands I command my Spirit." Charlemagne was buried at Aachen Cathedral on the same day in Aachen Cathedral. At his death Charlemagne's kingdom extended from South Italy and Pyrenees to Bohemia.

Charlemagne's tomb at Aachen Cathedral. By Sailko - Wikipedia

1369 The remains of Saint Thomas Aquinas were placed in the Church of the Jacobins in Toulouse, the mother church of the Dominican order, on January 28, 1369. Since Saint Thomas Aquinas' March 7 feast day commonly fell within Lent, the 1969 revision of the calendar moved his memorial to January 28, the date of the translation of his relics to the Church of the Jacobins.

1393 Charles VI of France was nearly killed when several dancers' costumes caught fire during a masquerade ball on January 28, 1393.  To escape burning at the Bal des Ardents the king huddled under the gown of the Duchesse de Berry, while a lord leaped into a wine vat.  Parisians considered the event proof of courtly decadence and threatened to rebel against the more powerful members of the nobility. The public's outrage forced the king into offering penance.

1547 During his last few years, Henry VIII of England suffered from ulcers and bones sinuses which left him in agony. His ulcerous, swollen, reeking legs, had to be to be dressed several times a day. Henry's obesity hastened his death at the age of 55, which occurred on January 28, 1547 in the Palace of Whitehall. His last words were: "All is lost! Monks! Monks! Monks!" perhaps regarding the monks he caused to be evicted during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

1547 Edward VI became king of England at 9 when Henry VIII died on January 28, 1547. Edward VI's reign lasted until his death on July 6, 1553, and he was succeeded by his half-sister Mary I. He is known for being a minor monarch whose reign was marked by the influence of his advisors, particularly the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of Northumberland.

Edward as Prince of Wales, 1546. 

1591 In medieval Europe, many midwives were burnt at the stake as witches. The North Berwick witch trials in Scotland, which took place in the late 16th century, were among the most notorious examples of this. On January 28, 1591, Agnes Sampson, a midwife, was executed as a witch during these trials. She was garroted and then burned at the stake

1633 Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune on January 28, 1613, although he mistakenly cataloged it as a fixed star. Neptune was officially discovered 233 years later when German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle became the first person to observe it and recognize it as a hitherto unknown planet.

1724 The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great on January 28, 1724 just before he died, and implemented by Senate decree.  The Academy played a significant role in the development of science and education in Russia for centuries, and it continues to be a leading research institution in Russia today. It was called the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917.

1728 There's a great deal of mystery and controversy over Jonathan Swift's relationship with his friend, Esther Johnson, whom he called Stella. Many hold that secretly married in 1716, though they never lived together as man and wife. Stella died on January 28, 1728, but Swift was too ill to be present at Stella's funeral at St. Patrick's, Dublin. Afterwards, a lock of her hair was found in his desk, wrapped in a paper bearing the words, "Only a woman's hair."

Stella (1868). John Everett Millais 

1754 English novelist and politician Horace Walpole is remembered today as perhaps the most prolific letter writer in the English language. He coined the word "serendipity" in a letter dated January 28, 1754 to his friend Horace Mann. He said it was derived from a "silly fairy tale" he had read, The Three Princes of Serendip.

1807 London was the first city in the world to adopt gas street lights. On January 28, 1807, Pall Mall became the first street in the world to be lit by gaslight. Baltimore was the first city outside England to adopt gas street lights ten years later.

A humorous caricature of reactions to installation of Pall Mall gas lighting

1813 Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice was originally titled First Impressions. Several publishers rejected her manuscript in 1797, so the novel languished for 14 years until, flush with the success of Sense and Sensibility, Austen revised the manuscript. It was published on January 28, 1813 when she was 37 years old.

1820 On January 28, 1820 a Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovered the Antarctic mainland at a point with coordinates 69º21'28"S 2º14'50"W. They twice circumnavigated the continent and disproved Captain Cook's assertion that it was impossible to find land in the southern ice fields.

The First Russian Antarctic expedition 1819–1821. By Bourrichon 

1833 British Army officer and administrator Charles George Gordon was born on January 28, 1833 in Woolwich, London. He was the fourth son of Major-General Henry William Gordon and Elizabeth (Enderby) Gordon. Charles was educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, London where and his fellow cadets took pride in bathing outdoors in the winter. He passed out with high marks for map-making and surveying but little else. Charles was known as a hot tempered and rude student.

1841 The journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley was born January 28, 1841 as John Rowlands in Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales. At the age of 18 he took a job as a cabin boy on a sailing ship bound for New Orleans. After arriving at New Orleans, Rowlands asked a wealthy trader called Henry Stanley — who had in fact long wished he had a son — "do you need a boy?", meaning hired help. Rowlands was adopted by Stanley and out of admiration; he took the trader's name.

1855 A locomotive on the Panama Canal Railway ran from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean for the first time on January 28, 1855. The railway was originally built to carry cargo and passengers between the ports at either end of the canal, and it played an important role in the construction of the canal itself. It was an engineering marvel of its time and is still in operation today. 

1871 After France declared war on Prussia in July 1870. Prussia laid siege to Paris. The French capital fell on January 28, 1871 to the Prussian forces, which led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the German Empire as well as the Paris Commune.

The Siege of Paris by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier. Oil on canvas.

1878 The first commercial North American telephone exchange was opened in New Haven, Connecticut on January 28, 1878. The first telephone book was issued the same time in New Haven. It contained only 50 entries.

1878 Yale Daily News was the first daily college newspaper in the United States. The independent student newspaper was first published by Yale University students on January 28, 1878. The Yale Daily News has been an important source of news and information for the Yale community for over a century, and it continues to be published today.

1887 The world's largest snowflakes were reported to have been during a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana on January 28, 1887. This event was recorded by a rancher and Fort Keogh's official weather observer, Captain J. P. Finley. The snowflakes were described as being "larger than milk pans" and "as large as a big saucer"  and were reported as being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.

1896 On January 28, 1896 Mr Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent became the first person to be fined for breaking the speed limit. He was fined one shilling plus nine shillings costs for driving his car at 8mph when the speed limit was 2mph.

1903 A cleanliness bill introduced in the Utah legislature on January 28, 1903 aimed to create "Health Day" - a holiday when everyone would clean and disinfect homes, stores, theaters, "and, in fact, every building frequented by people." The penalty for not cleaning was $50.

1912 The American Abstract Expressionist artist Jackson Pollack was born on January 28, 1912. He was known for his "drip and splash" technique, in which he laid his canvas on the floor and poured paint from a can instead of using an easel. Critics, dubbed him "Jack the Dripper."

1922 Snowfall from the biggest recorded snowstorm in Washington, D.C., history caused the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre to collapse on January 28, 1922. The theater was packed with people watching the silent film Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford when the roof caved in, trapping many of the patrons inside. The incident resulted in the deaths of 98 people and injury of more than 130, making it the city's greatest loss of life in one event.

1932 By 1932, Shanghai had become the world's fifth largest city and home to 70,000 foreigners. However, the Japanese captured Shanghai on January 28, 1932, as they invaded China. Shanghai remained occupied until Japan's surrender in 1945, during which time many war crimes were committed.

1933 Choudhry Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet entitled Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever? on January 28, 1933 while a student at Cambridge University's Emmanuel College. In it he called for the creation of a Muslim state in northwest India that the young student termed "Pakstan" (without the letter "i"). “Pak” means spiritually pure in Urdu and “Stan” means land. The name was adopted by the Indian Muslims for their Pakistan Movement seeking independence.

1935 Iceland became the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion on January 28, 1935.  It allowed women to obtain an abortion if they could prove that they were in a difficult economic or social situation, or if the pregnancy endangered their health.

1938 On January 28, 1938, a new World Land Speed Record on a public road was set in Germany at 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph). That record, set by Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen, stood until November 5, 2017 when an Agera RS driven by Niklas Lilja, achieved 445.6 km/h (276.9 mph) on a closed highway in Nevada.

1941 The modern formulation of the antiperspirant was patented by Jules Montenier on January 28, 1941. This formulation was first found in "Stopette" deodorant spray, which gained its prominence as the first and long-time sponsor of the game show What's My Line? Time Magazine called it "the best-selling deodorant of the early 1950s. but was later eclipsed by many other brands as the 1941 patent expired.

1956 On January 28, 1956, Elvis Presley made his first television appearance on The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show. He sang "Shake, Rattle and Roll." It was a significant moment in his career, as it helped to establish him as a rising star in the music industry.

1958 Ole Christiansen (1891–1958), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark began building simple wooden toys in 1932 in his workshop after losing his job. Two years later, Christiansen founded The Lego company. The Danish words Leg (play) and Godt (well) were put together to make its name. The modern brick design was developed by Ole's son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. At 1:58 p.m. on January 28, 1958, he filed a patent for the Lego plastic brick with its stud-and-hole design.

1965 The current design of the Flag of Canada was chosen by an act of Parliament on January 28, 1965.

The new red-and-white maple leaf design was officially inaugurated as the flag of Canada on February 15, 1965, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

1984 Ice Hockey star Wayne Gretzky set a National Hockey League record for consecutive game scoring. The streak began on October 5, 1983, and ended 51 games later on January 28, 1984 when the L.A. Kings defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2. Gretzky collected 153 points (61 goals and 92 assists) during the run.

1986 On January 28, 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into the flight killing all seven astronauts on board. Immediately after the Challenger explosion, shares of every corporation involved in the Space Shuttle dropped. But by the end of the day, most had rebounded; only Morton Thiokol remained low. This was months before the official investigation found Thiokol to be responsible for the disaster.