January 24 - Events

Events

• 41 – Gaius Caesar (Caligula), known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. Claudius succeeds his nephew.
• 1438 – The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa fromGoa.
• 1679 – King Charles II of England disbands Parliament.
• 1742 – Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1776 – Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported fromFort Ticonderoga.
• 1826 – Mississippi College is founded in Clinton, becoming the first college in the state of Mississippi.
• 1848 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento.
• 1857 – The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first full-fledged university in south Asia.
• 1859 – Political union of Moldavia and Wallachia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected as ruler.
• 1862 – Bucharest proclaimed capital of Romania.
• 1878 – The revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg.
• 1885 – Edge Hill College opens in Liverpool
• 1916 – In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad, the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federalincome tax constitutional.
• 1918 – The Gregorian calendar introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People's Commissarseffective from February 14(NS)
• 1924 – Petrograd, formerly Saint Petersburg, Russia, is renamed Leningrad.
• 1942 – World War II: The Allies bombard Bangkok, leading Thailand to the decision of war declaration against the United States andUnited Kingdom .
• 1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
• 1952 – Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.
• 1961 – 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost.
• 1966 – An Air India Boeing 707 jet crashes on Mont Blanc, on the border between France and Italy, killing 117.
• 1972 – Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
• 1977 – Massacre of Atocha in Madrid, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
• 1978 – Soviet satellite Cosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor onboard, burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris overCanada's Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.
• 1984 – The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.
• 1986 – Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 km (50,680 miles) of Uranus.
• 1993 – Turkish journalist and writer Uğur Mumcu is assassinated by a car bomb in Ankara.
• 1996 – Polish Premier Jozef Oleksy resigns amid charges that he spied for Moscow.
• 2003 – The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.