1978January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government.
1971The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. January 1971 January 2 – 66 people are killed and over 200 injured during a crush in Glasgow, Scotland. January 5 – The first ever One Day International cricket match is played between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
19571957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1950s decade. January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed for having handled the ball, in Test cricket.
1900As of March 1 (O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 (O.S. February 15), 2100. The year 1900 also marked the Year of the Rat on the Chinese calendar. January 1900 January 2 – U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announces the Open Door Policy, to promote American trade with China. January 3 – The United States Census estimates the country's population to be about 70 million people.
1903January 1903 January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. January 4 – Topsy, a female Asian circus elephant, is killed by electrocution at Luna Park, Coney Island, New York City. January 19 – The first west–east transatlantic radio broadcast is made from the United States to England (the first east–west broadcast having been made in 1901). January 17 – 13 days after Topsy's death, the Edison Manufacturing Company released the short, black-and-white, silent documentary film Electrocuting an Elephant, showing the footage of Topsy's electrocution.
1977January 1977 January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). January 17 49 marines from the and are killed as a result of a collision in Barcelona harbour, Spain. January 18 Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease. Australia's worst railway disaster at Granville, a suburb of Sydney, leaves 83 people dead.
1954January 1954 January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head office of IBM. January 10 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue, and crashes in the Mediterranean near Elba; all 35 people on board are killed.
1905As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony is subtitled The Year 1905 to commemorate this) and the start of Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland. Canada and the U.S. expand west, with the Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces and the founding of Las Vegas.
1970January 1970 January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Between 10,000 and 14,621 are killed and 26,783 injured. January 14 – Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War. January 15 – After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafran forces under Philip Effiong formally surrender to General Yakubu Gowon.
1912This year is notable for the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. January 1912 January 1 – The Republic of China is established. January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. January 6 German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift. New Mexico become the 47th U.S. State. January 8 – The African National Congress is founded as the South African Native National Congress, at the Waaihoek Wesleyan Church in Bloemfontein, to promote improved rights for black South Africans, with John Langalibalele Dube as its first president.