1904January 1904 January 7 – The distress signal CQD is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by SOS. January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. January 12 – The Herero Wars in German South West Africa begin. January 17 – Anton Chekhov's last play, The Cherry Orchard («Вишнëвый сад», Vishnevyi sad), opens at the Moscow Art Theatre directed by Constantin Stanislavski, 6 month's before the author's death.
1902January 1902 January 1 The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's first registered nurse. Nathan Stubblefield demonstrates his wireless telephone device in the U.S. state of Kentucky. January 8 – A train collision in the New York Central Railroad's Park Avenue Tunnel kills 17 people, injures 38, and leads to increased demand for electric trains and the banning of steam locomotives in New York City.
1866January 1 Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. The last issue of the abolitionist magazine The Liberator is published. January 6 – Ottoman troops clash with supporters of Maronite leader Youssef Bey Karam, at St. Doumit in Lebanon; the Ottomans are defeated. January 12 The Royal Aeronautical Society is formed as The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain in London, the world's oldest such society.
1931January 1931 January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. January 22 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia. January 25 – Mohandas Gandhi is again released from imprisonment in India. January 27 – Pierre Laval forms a government in France.
1920January 1920 January 1 Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own market town. January 3 – The 1920 Xalapa earthquake in Mexico kills over 600 people, making it the second deadliest in the country. January 7 – Russian Civil War: The forces of Russian White Admiral Alexander Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk; the Great Siberian Ice March ensues.
1930January 1930 January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on January 1, 2257, at . January 26 – The Indian National Congress declares this date as Independence Day, or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence). January 28 – The first patent for a field-effect transistor is granted in the United States, to Julius Edgar Lilienfeld.
19961996 was designated as: International Year for the Eradication of Poverty January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, killing 300 people. January 9–20 – Serious fighting breaks out between Russian soldiers and rebel fighters in Chechnya. January 11 – Ryutaro Hashimoto, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, becomes Prime Minister of Japan. January 13 – Italy's Prime Minister, Lamberto Dini, resigns after the failure of all-party talks to confirm him.
1980January 1980 January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. January 9 – In Saudi Arabia, 63 Islamist insurgents are beheaded for their part in the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca in November 1979. January 14 – Congress (I) party leader, Indira Gandhi returns to power as the Prime Minister of India. January 20 – At least 200 people are killed when the Corralejas Bullring collapses at Sincelejo, Colombia.
19881988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United States (NSFNET) and Europe (Nordunet) as well as the first Internet-based chat protocol, Internet Relay Chat. The concept of the World Wide Web was first discussed at CERN in 1988. The Soviet Union began its major deconstructing towards a mixed economy at the beginning of 1988 and began its gradual dissolution.
