On This Day in History - January 15th - Almanac

Today is Friday, Jan. 15, the 15th day of 2021 with 350 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include French playwright Moliere, born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, in 1622; signer of the Declaration of Independence Philip Livingston in 1716; Swedish clergyman/Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nathan Soderblom in 1866; drummer Gene Krupa in 1909; actor Lloyd Bridges in 1913; Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1918; civil rights leader/Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martin Luther King Jr. in 1929; actor Margaret O'Brien in 1937 (age 84); actor Andrea Martin in 1947 (age 74); Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zant in 1948; actor Mario Van Peebles in 1957 (age 64); actor James Nesbitt in 1965 (age 56); actor Chad Lowe in 1968 (age 53); actor Regina King in 1971 (age 50); pro football quarterback Drew Brees in 1979 (age 42); rapper Pitbull, born Armando Perez, in 1981 (age 40); DJ Skrillex, born Sonny John Moore, in 1988 (age 33); actor Chris Warren Jr. in 1990 (age 31); actor Dove Cameron in 1996 (age 25).

On this date in history:

In 1870, a cartoon by Thomas Nast appeared in Harper's weekly with a donkey symbolizing the Democratic Party for the first time.

In 1892, Dr. James Naismith published the rules of basketball. He invented the game at a YMCA in Springfield, Mass.

In 1919, 21 people were killed and scores injured when a vat holding 2.3 million gallons of molasses exploded and sent torrents of the syrup into the streets of Boston. The event is known as the Boston Molasses Disaster.

In 1922, the Irish Free State was formed.

In 1943, the Pentagon, the world's largest building of its kind, was dedicated on the Virginia side of the Potomac River just outside of Washington.

In 1967, the first Super Bowl, pitting the NFL and AFL champions, was played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, with the Green Bay Packers defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon called a halt to U.S. military offensives in Vietnam.

In 1986, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev proposed a sweeping arms-control plan to eliminate all nuclear weapons by the year 2000 and rid "mankind of the fear of nuclear catastrophe."

In 1997, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reached an agreement on the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank city of Hebron.

In 2001, free online encyclopedia Wikipedia debuts, giving users the ability to create and edit articles. Within four years, Wikipedia was the largest and fastest-growing educational reference website.

In a 2006 runoff, Chile elected Michelle Bachelet as its first female president.

In 2008, meat and milk from cloned animals were ruled safe for human consumption by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after years of debate.

In 2009, all 155 people aboard US Airways Flight 1549 escaped serious injury when pilot Chesley Sullenberger gently landed his disabled aircraft in the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey. The landing became known as the "Miracle on the Hudson."

In 2011, voters in southern Sudan overwhelmingly approved a referendum to secede from Sudan and become an independent African nation.

In 2018, Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles revealed she was one of more than 100 women and young girls abused by former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar.

A thought for the day: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -- American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.