On this day: 4 January
Events, births and deaths on 4 January. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Stephen W. Bosworth
- Deaths · S. H. Kapadia
100 years ago1926
- Deaths · Margherita of Savoy
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1077 · Births · Emperor Zhezong of Song
Events · 19
- 46 BCE(Julian date)Battle of Ruspina — 46 BCE battle between the Republican forces of the Optimates and forces loyal to Julius Caesar
- 1717Triple Alliance — 1717 treaty between the Netherlands, France, and Britain
- 1844Saima — newspaper published in 1844–1846 in Kuopio, Grand Duchy of Finland
- 1884Fabian Society — British socialist organisation founded in 1884
- 1896Utah — state of the United States of America
- 1944Operation Carpetbagger — 1944 military operation
- 1948Myanmar — country in Southeast Asia
- 1948President of Myanmar — head of state and head of government of Burma
- 1960European Free Trade Association — international trade organization and free trade area
- 1965Aeroflot Flight 20/101 — Ilyushin Il-18 crash in Alma-Ata
- 19701970 Tonghai earthquake — Earthquake 1970 occurred at 01am on January 5 with a moment magnitude of 7.1 and a Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme)
- 1976Reavey and O'Dowd killings — gun attacks in 1976 in Northern Ireland
- 19871987 Maryland train collision — Train accident
- 1989Gulf of Sidra incident — 1989 air battle between Libyan and US aircraft
- 1990Sukkur rail disaster — 1990 train crash in Sukkur, Sindh Province, Pakistan
- 2000Åsta accident — railway accident in Norway
- 20042004 Georgian presidential election — extraordinary direct presidential election in Georgia on 4 January 2004, won by Mikheil Saakashvili
- 20082008 Los Roques archipelago Transaven Let L-410 crash — aviation accident
- 2018Hennenman–Kroonstad train crash — train crash
Births · 60
- 1077(Julian date)Emperor Zhezong of Song — 7th emperor of the Song Dynasty
- 1581(Julian date)James Ussher — Archbishop of Armagh (1581-1656)
- 1710Giovanni Battista Pergolesi — Italian composer, violinist and organist (1710–1736)
- 1785Jacob Grimm — German philologist, linguist, jurist and mythologist (1785–1863)
- 1809Louis Braille — French organist and teacher (1809-1852), inventor of braille, a system for reading and writing text and music, used by people who are blind or visually impaired
- 1848Katsura Tarō — Japanese general and politician (1848–1913)
- 1874Josef Suk — Czech composer and violinist (1874-1935)
- 1881Wilhelm Lehmbruck — German sculptor (1881–1919)
- 1896André Masson — French painter (1896–1987)
- 1897Chen Cheng — Chinese politician and soldier (1897–1965)
- 1900James Bond — American ornithologist and inspiration for the name of the fictional spy (1900-1989)
- 1903Georg Elser — German opponent of Nazism, planned and carried out an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on 8 November 1939 (1903–1945)
- 1913Malietoa Tanumafili II — Malietoa in Samoa (1913-2007)
- 1927Barbara Rush — American actress (1927–2024)
- 1929Günter Schabowski — German politician (1929-2015)
- 1932Carlos Saura — Spanish photographer and film director (1932–2023)
- 1932Paul Virilio — French philosopher (1932–2018)
- 1933Ilia II of Georgia — Patriarch of Georgia (1933–2026)
- 1934Rudolf Schuster — Slovak President, head of Slovak National Council and politician
- 1935Floyd Patterson — American heavyweight boxer (1935-2006)
- 1937Dyan Cannon — American film and television actress, director, screenwriter, editor, and producer (born 1937)
- 1940Gao Xingjian — Chinese novelist and playwright (1940- )
- 1940Brian David Josephson — Welsh physicist
- 1941George P. Cosmatos — Greek film director and screenwriter (1941–2005)
- 1942John McLaughlin — English guitarist, founder of the Mahavishnu Orchestra
Deaths · 60
- 1248Sancho II of Portugal — King of Portugal from 1223 to 1248
- 1424(Julian date)Muzio Sforza — Italian condottiero
- 1428(Julian date)Frederick I — Elector of Saxony
- 1695François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg — French general (1628-1695)
- 1752Gabriel Cramer — Genevan mathematician (1704-1752)
- 1761Stephen Hales — British scientist (1677-1761)
- 1782Ange-Jacques Gabriel — French architect
- 1786Moses Mendelssohn — German-Jewish philosopher and theologian (1729–1786)
- 1821Elizabeth Ann Seton — first native-born American saint of the Roman Catholic Church (1774-1821)
- 1825Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies — King of Naples (1759-1806, 1815-1816), Sicily (1759-1816), and the Two Sicilies (1816-1825)
- 1877Cornelius Vanderbilt — American businessman and tycoon (1794–1877)
- 1880Anselm Feuerbach — German painter (1829–1880)
- 1882John William Draper — British-American academic (1811-1882)
- 1913Alfred von Schlieffen — Prussian Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff (1833-1913)
- 1919Georg von Hertling — German chancellor (1843–1919)
- 1920Benito Pérez Galdós — Spanish realist novelist (1843–1920)
- 1926Margherita of Savoy — Queen of Italy from 1878 to 1900
- 1927Süleyman Nazif — Turkish poet (1870–1927)
- 1931Louise, Princess Royal — third child and eldest daughter of Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Alexandra of Denmark (1867-1931)
- 1931Maulana Mohammad Ali — Indian Muslim activist (1878–1931)
- 1931Art Acord — American silent film actor, stuntman, ranch hand (1890–1931)
- 1941Henri Bergson — French philosopher (1859–1941)
- 1943Marina Raskova — Soviet pilot (1912-1943)
- 1944Kaj Munk — Danish playwright (1898–1944)
- 1960Albert Camus — French philosopher, author, and journalist (1913–1960)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.