January 7 facts for kids

January 7 is the seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 358 days remain until the end of the year (359 in leap years). January 7th is a day filled with many interesting events throughout history. From ancient Roman politics to modern space exploration and important discoveries, this date has seen many moments that shaped our world. It's also the birthday of many famous people, including presidents, scientists, and entertainers.

Events That Shaped History

Early Times (Before 1600)

• 49 BC – The Roman Senate told Julius Caesar to break up his army. If he didn't, they would declare him an enemy. This led to his supporters fleeing to meet him in Ravenna.
• 1325 – Afonso IV became the new King of Portugal.
• 1558 – French soldiers, led by Francis, Duke of Guise, captured Calais. This was the last part of mainland Europe that England still controlled.

From 1600 to 1900

• 1608 – A big fire destroyed the early settlement of Jamestown, Virginia in America.
• 1610 – The famous scientist Galileo Galilei saw four of Jupiter's moons for the first time. These moons are called Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa.
• 1782 – The very first commercial bank in America, the Bank of North America, opened its doors.
• 1785 – Two brave adventurers, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries, flew across the English Channel in a gas balloon. They traveled from Dover in England to Calais in France.
• 1835 – The ship HMS Beagle, carrying the famous naturalist Charles Darwin, arrived near the Chonos Archipelago.
• 1894 – Thomas Edison filmed someone sneezing using his new kinetoscope. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, received a patent for motion picture film.

Modern Era (1901–Present)

• 1904 – The first international distress signal "CQD" was created for ships. It was later replaced by "SOS".
• 1927 – The first commercial telephone call was made across the Atlantic Ocean, connecting New York City to London.
• 1928 – A terrible flood of the River Thames in London caused a lot of damage and killed 14 people.
• 1931 – Guy Menzies made the first solo non-stop flight across the Tasman Sea, from Australia to New Zealand. It took him 11 hours and 45 minutes.
• 1940 – During the Winter War, Finnish soldiers bravely defeated a much larger Soviet army in the Battle of Raate Road.
• 1948 – Pilot Thomas Mantell crashed his plane while chasing what he thought was a UFO. This event is known as the Mantell UFO incident.
• 1950 – In the Sverdlovsk air disaster, an airplane crash killed all 19 people on board. This included almost the entire national ice hockey team of the Soviet Air Force.
• 1955 – The amazing singer Marian Anderson became the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
• 1959 – The United States officially recognized the new government of Cuba, led by Fidel Castro.
• 1968 – Surveyor 7, the last robotic spacecraft in the Surveyor series, launched from Cape Canaveral. It was designed to land on the Moon.
• 1979 – During the Cambodian–Vietnamese War, Vietnamese troops captured Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. This forced Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge group out of power.
• 1984 – Brunei joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), becoming its sixth member.
• 1985 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched Sakigake, Japan's first spacecraft to travel to deep space.
• 1999 – The trial began in the U.S. Senate for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
• 2015 – Two gunmen attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, killing twelve people.
• 2020 – Strong earthquakes hit southern Puerto Rico, causing deaths and injuries.
• 2021 – The United States Congress officially confirmed the results of the 2020 United States presidential election, making Joe Biden the next president. This happened the morning after the Capitol building was attacked by supporters of the previous president, Donald Trump.
• 2023 – After many votes, Kevin McCarthy was finally elected as the 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. This was the longest speaker election in a very long time.

Famous Birthdays

Born Before 1900

• 1502 – Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced the Gregorian calendar we use today.
• 1768 – Joseph Bonaparte, the older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who became King of Naples and Spain.
• 1800 – Millard Fillmore, who became the 13th President of the United States.
• 1827 – Sandford Fleming, a Scottish-Canadian engineer who helped create Universal Standard Time.
• 1830 – Albert Bierstadt, a famous American painter known for his large landscapes of the American West.
• 1831 – Heinrich von Stephan, a German postman who founded the Universal Postal Union, which helps send mail around the world.
• 1834 – Johann Philipp Reis, a German physicist who invented an early version of the Reis telephone.
• 1844 – Bernadette Soubirous, a French nun who is now a saint.
• 1858 – Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, a Belarusian writer who helped bring the Hebrew language back into everyday use.
• 1873 – Adolph Zukor, a Hungarian-American film producer who helped start Paramount Pictures.
• 1891 – Zora Neale Hurston, an important American novelist and folklorist.
• 1895 – Hudson Fysh, an Australian pilot who helped start Qantas Airways Limited.
• 1899 – Francis Poulenc, a well-known French pianist and composer.

Born After 1900

• 1903 – Alan Napier, an English actor famous for playing Alfred the butler in the 1960s Batman TV show.
• 1912 – Charles Addams, an American cartoonist who created The Addams Family.
• 1925 – Gerald Durrell, an Indian-English zookeeper and author who worked to protect animals.
• 1926 – Kim Jong-pil, a South Korean politician who served as Prime Minister of South Korea.
• 1928 – William Peter Blatty, an American author and screenwriter.
• 1935 – Valery Kubasov, a Russian engineer and astronaut.
• 1941 – John E. Walker, an English chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 1943 – Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. She is known for her story about making one thousand origami cranes.
• 1945 – Raila Odinga, a Kenyan engineer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Kenya.
• 1946 – Jann Wenner, an American publisher who helped start Rolling Stone magazine.
• 1948 – Kenny Loggins, a popular American singer-songwriter.
• 1952 – Sammo Hung, a famous Hong Kong actor, director, and martial artist.
• 1956 – David Caruso, an American actor.
• 1957 – Katie Couric, a well-known American television journalist and author.
• 1962 – Ron Rivera, an American football player and coach.
• 1963 – Rand Paul, an American politician and physician.
• 1964 – Nicolas Cage, a very famous American actor.
• 1967 – Nick Clegg, an English politician who was the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1967 – Irrfan Khan, a talented Indian actor.
• 1971 – Jeremy Renner, an American actor.
• 1976 – Alfonso Soriano, a Dominican baseball player.
• 1977 – Sofi Oksanen, a Finnish author and playwright.
• 1982 – Lauren Cohan, an American-English actress.
• 1983 – Edwin Encarnación, a Dominican baseball player.
• 1985 – Lewis Hamilton, a highly successful English racing driver in Formula One.
• 1988 – Robert Sheehan, an Irish actor.
• 1991 – Eden Hazard, a famous Belgian footballer.
• 1991 – Caster Semenya, a South African sprinter.
• 1997 – Lamar Jackson, an American football player.
• 2004 – Sofia Wylie, an American actress, singer, and dancer.

Notable Deaths

Died Before 1900

• 312 – Lucian of Antioch, an early Christian martyr and theologian.
• 1325 – Denis of Portugal, a King of Portugal.
• 1536 – Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII of England.
• 1655 – Pope Innocent X, who was the head of the Catholic Church.
• 1715 – François Fénelon, a French archbishop and writer.
• 1830 – Thomas Lawrence, a famous English painter.
• 1893 – Josef Stefan, a Slovenian physicist and mathematician.

Died After 1900

• 1920 – Edmund Barton, the very first Prime Minister of Australia.
• 1932 – André Maginot, a French politician known for the Maginot Line.
• 1943 – Nikola Tesla, a brilliant Serbian-American physicist and engineer who made many inventions related to electricity.
• 1960 – Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers, an English tennis player.
• 1984 – Alfred Kastler, a German-French physicist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1989 – Hirohito, the Emperor of Japan for many years.
• 1998 – Vladimir Prelog, a Croatian-Swiss chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 2006 – Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountaineer and author.
• 2014 – Run Run Shaw, a Chinese-Hong Kong businessman who founded famous film and TV companies.
• 2015 – Rod Taylor, a well-known Australian-American actor.
• 2017 – Mário Soares, a Portuguese politician who served as President of Portugal.
• 2020 – Neil Peart, the famous drummer and songwriter for the band Rush.
• 2021 – Tommy Lasorda, a legendary American baseball player and manager.
• 2024 – Franz Beckenbauer, a German footballer and manager, considered one of the greatest players of all time.

Holidays and Observances Around the World

• Christian Feast Day:
  • André Bessette (Canada)
  • Canute Lavard
  • Charles of Sezze
  • Lucian of Antioch
  • Raymond of Penyafort
• Christmas is celebrated by many Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches that use the Julian calendar.
  • This includes Christmas in Russia, Christmas in Ukraine, and Ethiopian Christmas.
• Distaff Day (a traditional holiday in medieval Europe)
• Nanakusa-no sekku (Japan) – A festival where people eat seven special herbs.
• Pioneer's Day (Liberia)
• Tricolour day or Festa del Tricolore (Italy) – Celebrates the Italian flag.
• Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia) – A day to remember the end of the Khmer Rouge regime.

See also

In Spanish: 7 de enero para niños