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On this day in history - January 28

What Happened On This Day – January 28

  • 1986 Space Shuttle “Challenger” explodes

    The orbiter broke apart 73 seconds after lift-off, killing all 7 astronauts on board.

  • 1985 USA for Africa record “We Are the World”

    Over 20 million copies of the charity single were sold.

  • 1958 The Lego brick is patented

    The Lego company has since produced 500 billion Lego elements, amounting to 10 lego towers from Earth to the Moon.

  • 1820 Fabian von Bellinghausen discovers the Antarctic

    The Baltic German explorer is believed to be the first person to sight the Earth's southernmost continent.

  • 1813 Jane Austen's novel, Pride and Prejudice, is published

    It is one of the best-known works of English literature and it was sold about 20 million times.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
January 28

  • 1978 Gianluigi Buffon

    Italian footballer

  • 1968 Sarah McLachlan

    Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, producer

  • 1955 Nicolas Sarkozy

    French politician, 23rd President of France

  • 1912 Jackson Pollock

    American painter

  • 1853 José Martí

    Cuban journalist, poet, theorist

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
January 28

  • 2002 Astrid Lindgren

    Swedish author, screenwriter

  • 1975 Ola Raknes

    Norwegian psychoanalyst, philologist

  • 1939 W. B. Yeats

    Irish poet, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1547 Henry VIII of England

  • 814 Charlemagne

    Frankish king