This is a list of selected January 2 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Staging area
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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"The Capitulation of Granada" -
Luis Muñoz Marín -
Fritz Joubert Duquesne -
A. Mitchell Palmer -
A. Mitchell Palmer -
Comet Wild 2 -
Replica of Luna 1 -
Llandaff Cathedral -
Urbain Le Verrier
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Earth at perihelion (13:51 UTC, 2021) | {ref improve} |
| 366 – The Alemanni, an alliance of west Germanic tribes, crossed the frozen Rhine in large numbers to invade the Roman Empire. | date not cited, may not be an appropriate date to feature the article |
| 1666 – The foundation stone of the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest extant building in South Africa, was laid. | tagged with {unreliable sources} |
| 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Siege of Port Arthur ended when the Russian fleet surrendered to Japanese forces at Port Arthur, a deep-water port and Russian naval base in present-day Lüshunkou, China. | refimprove |
| 1942 – In the largest espionage case in American history, over 30 members of a Nazi spy ring led by former South African Boer soldier and adventurer Fritz Joubert Duquesne were convicted following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. | lots of CN tags (7), esp in one section (Leo Waalen) |
| 1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. | lots of CN tags (15) |
| 1967 – Former actor Ronald Reagan began his career in government when he was sworn in as the 33rd governor of California. | mentioned in infobox only and uncited |
| 1971 – At Ibrox Park in Glasgow, Scotland, 66 people were killed in a stampede during an Old Firm football match. | refimprove section |
| 1981 – English serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", was arrested in Sheffield, eventually ending one of the largest police investigations in British history. | tagged with {refimprove} & {unreliable sources} |
| 1975 – Lalit Narayan Mishra, the Indian Minister of Railways, was assassinated in a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar. | refimprove |
| 2006 – An explosion at a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia, U.S., trapped 13 miners for nearly two days, leaving only one survivor. | refimprove |
| Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza |bd|1566; 1614| | copyedit required banner, lots uncited. |
| Beatrice Hicks |b|1919| | Birthday not cited |
Eligible
- 533 – Mercurius, a Roman priest, was elected Pope John II; he was apparently the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
- 1680 – Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram of Java and his courtiers stabbed Trunajaya to death a week after the rebel leader surrendered to VOC forces.
- 1860 – French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier (pictured) announced the putative discovery of the planet Vulcan at a meeting at the French Academy of Sciences in Paris.
- 1865 – Uruguayan War: Brazilian and Colorado Party forces captured the city of Paysandú from its Uruguayan defenders.
- 1920 – Under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, U.S. Department of Justice agents launched a series of raids against radical leftists and anarchists in more than 30 cities and towns across 23 states.
- 1941 – Second World War: Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, was severely damaged by German bombing during the Cardiff Blitz.
- 1944 – World War II: United States and Australian forces successfully landed in Papua New Guinea in an attempt to cut off a Japanese retreat.
- 1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong won its first major victory at the Battle of Ap Bac.
- 1991 – Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as the mayor of Washington, D.C., becoming the first African-American woman to hold the position.
- 2004 – The Stardust space probe flew by the comet Wild 2 and collected particle samples from its coma, which were later returned to Earth.
- 2016 – Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, was executed by the Saudi government along with 46 other people.
- Born/died this day: | Lodomer |d|1298| Salima Sultan Begum |d|1613| Queen Emma of Hawaii |b|1836| Mily Balakirev |b|1837| Bob Marshall |b|1901| Michael Tippett |b|1905| Tex Rickard |b|1870| Lynn Conway |b|1938| Edgar Martínez |b|1963 |Dnyaneshwar Agashe |d|2009
Notes
- Washington's crossing of the Delaware/Battle of Trenton appears on December 25 and Battle of Princeton appears on January 3, so Battle of Assunpink Creek should not appear if either of the two are used
January 2: Feast day of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus and Saint Basil of Caesarea (Roman Rite Catholicism, Anglicanism)
Ronald Reagan
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
- 1959 – The Soviet Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon, was launched by a Vostok rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
- 1967 – Ronald Reagan (pictured) began his career in government when he was sworn in as the 33rd governor of California.
- 1976 – An extratropical cyclone began affecting parts of western Europe, resulting in coastal flooding around the southern portions of the North Sea and leading to at least 82 deaths.
- 2009 – Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lankan army captured the town of Kilinochchi from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, concluding the Battle of Kilinochchi.
- William de St-Calais (d. 1096)
- Hester C. Jeffrey (d. 1934)
- Roman Dmowski (d. 1939)
- Norodom Ranariddh (b. 1944)