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On this day in history - January 6

What Happened On This Day – January 6

  • 2021 The US Capitol is attacked

    A mob of supporters of then US President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol in Washington DC. They were attempting to halt the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden. According to a 2022 Senate report, seven people died in connection with the riot, and many more were injured.

  • 1929 Mother Theresa arrives in India

    Through her tireless work in helping the poor and ill, the Albanian religious sister later received the Nobel Peace Prize and was posthumously beatified.

  • 1912 German scientist Alfred Wegener presents his theory of continental drift

    His work laid the foundation for the theory of plate tectonics, which explains why continents move.

  • 1907 Maria Montessori opens her first school

    Montessori's revolutionary educational approach is practiced at about 30,000 schools today.

  • 1838 Samuel Morse presents the telegraph to the public

    Together with Alfred Vail, the inventor relayed the message “A patient waiter is no loser” over a distance of 2 miles (3 km).

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
January 6

  • 1946 Syd Barrett

    English singer-songwriter, guitarist

  • 1920 John Maynard Smith

    English biologist

  • 1883 Kahlil Gibran

    Lebanese/American poet

  • 1811 Charles Sumner

    American politician

  • 1412 Joan of Arc

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
January 6

  • 1999 Michel Petrucciani

    French/American pianist

  • 1993 Dizzy Gillespie

    American trumpet player, bandleader, composer

  • 1919 Theodore Roosevelt

    American politician, 26th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate

  • 1918 Georg Cantor

    German mathematician

  • 1852 Louis Braille

    French educator, invented Braille