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On this day in history - January 4

What Happened On This Day – January 4

  • 2010 Burj Khalifa is opened

    Burj Khalifa in Dubai is currently the world's tallest building, at 829.8 m (2,722 ft).

  • 1958 Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from orbit

    The Soviet Union was the first nation to send an artificial Earth satellite into space.

  • 1948 Burma gains independence from the United Kingdom

    Burma (Myanmar) came under British rule on January 1, 1886.

  • 1896 Utah becomes the 45th state of the U.S.A.

    One condition for statehood was that a ban on polygamy had to be written into the state constitution.

  • 1847 Samuel Colt sells his first revolver

    Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers placed an order for 1000 revolver pistols after having witnessed their devastating effect.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
January 4

  • 1986 James Milner

    English footballer

  • 1965 Guy Forget

    French tennis player

  • 1942 John McLaughlin

    English guitarist, songwriter

  • 1832 George Tryon

    English Admiral

  • 1809 Louis Braille

    French educator, invented Braille

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
January 4

  • 2011 Gerry Rafferty

    Scottish singer-songwriter

  • 1965 T. S. Eliot

    American/English publisher, playwright, critic, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1961 Erwin Schrödinger

    Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1960 Albert Camus

    French author, journalist, philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1941 Henri Bergson

    French philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate