January 8

Pre-1600

 * 307 – Sima Chi becomes emperor of the Jin dynasty in succession to his father, Sima Zhong, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying.
 * 871 – Æthelred I and Alfred the Great lead a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
 * 1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco.
 * 1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador.
 * 1499 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.
 * 1547 – The first Lithuanian-language book, the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas, is published in Königsberg.

1601–1900

 * 1735 – The premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante takes place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
 * 1746 – Second Jacobite rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
 * 1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.
 * 1806 – The Dutch Cape Colony in southern Africa becomes the British Cape Colony as a result of the Battle of Blaauwberg.
 * 1811 – Charles Deslondes leads an unsuccessful slave revolt in the North American settlements of St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
 * 1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
 * 1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.
 * 1835 – US President Andrew Jackson announces a celebratory dinner after having reduced the United States national debt to zero for the only time.
 * 1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield.
 * 1867 – The United States Congress passes the bill to allow African American men the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
 * 1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
 * 1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the 'Art of Applying Statistics' — his punched card calculator.
 * 1900 – President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.

1901–present

 * 1912 – The African National Congress is founded, under the name South African Native National Congress (SANNC).
 * 1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" as conditions for ending World War I.
 * 1920 – The steel strike of 1919 ends in failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.
 * 1926 – Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuỵ is crowned emperor of Vietnam, the country's last monarch.
 * 1926  – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz.
 * 1936 – Kashf-e hijab decree is made and immediately enforced by Reza Shah, Iran's head of state, banning the wearing of Islamic veils in public.
 * 1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
 * 1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack invading Japanese Imperial forces.
 * 1946 – Andrei Zhdanov, Chairman of the Finnish Allied Commission, submitted to the Finnish War Criminal Court an interrogation report by General Erich Buschenhagen, a German prisoner of war, on the contacts between Finnish and German military personnel before the Continuation War and a copy of Hitler's Barbarossa plan.
 * 1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Waorani of Ecuador shortly after making first contact.
 * 1959 – Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.
 * 1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria.
 * 1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
 * 1972 – Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
 * 1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
 * 1973  – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
 * 1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
 * 1977 – Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
 * 1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time".
 * 1982 – Breakup of the Bell System: In the United States, AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
 * 1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
 * 1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
 * 1996 – An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 223 people on the ground; two of six crew members are also killed.
 * 2002 – President of the United States George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
 * 2003 – Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashes near Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey, killing the entire crew and 70 of the 75 passengers.
 * 2003  – Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board.
 * 2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
 * 2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco (SSN-711) collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.
 * 2009 – A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in northern Costa Rica kills 15 people and injures 32.
 * 2010 – Gunmen from an offshoot of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda attack a bus carrying the Togo national football team on its way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, killing three people and injuring another nine.
 * 2011 – Sitting US Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is shot in the head along with 18 others in a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona. Giffords survived the assassination attempt, but six others died, including John Roll, a federal judge.
 * 2016 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world's most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.
 * 2016  – West Air Sweden Flight 294 crashes near the Swedish reservoir of Akkajaure; both pilots, the only people on board, are killed.
 * 2020 – Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashes immediately after takeoff at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport; all 176 on board are killed. The plane was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.
 * 2021 – Twenty-three people are killed in what is described as a police ″massacre″ in La Vega, Caracas, Venezuela.
 * 2023 – Supporters of former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro storm the Brazilian Congress.

Pre-1600

 * 1037 – Su Dongpo, Chinese calligrapher and poet (d. 1101)
 * 1345 – Kadi Burhan al-Din, poet, kadi, and ruler of Sivas (d. 1398)
 * 1529 – John Frederick II, duke of Saxony (d. 1595)
 * 1583 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1643)
 * 1587 – Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1616)
 * 1587  – Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629)
 * 1589 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet and playwright (d. 1638)

1601–1900

 * 1601 – Baltasar Gracián, Spanish priest and author (d. 1658)
 * 1626 – Jean Talon, first Intendant of New France (d. 1694)
 * 1628 – François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
 * 1632 – Samuel von Pufendorf, German economist and jurist (d. 1694)
 * 1635 – Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal (d. 1709)
 * 1638 – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (d. 1665)
 * 1735 – John Carroll, American archbishop, founder of Georgetown University (d. 1815)
 * 1763 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French-American translator and diplomat (d. 1834)
 * 1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banker and financier (d. 1844)
 * 1788 – Rudolf of Austria, Austrian archduke and archbishop (d. 1831)
 * 1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer and educator (d. 1872)
 * 1805 – John Bigler, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 3rd Governor of California (d. 1871)
 * 1805  – Orson Hyde, American religious leader, 3rd President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (d. 1878)
 * 1812 – Sigismond Thalberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1871)
 * 1817 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (d. 1893)
 * 1821 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Turkey (d. 1904)
 * 1823 – Alfred Russel Wallace, Welsh geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1913)
 * 1824 – Wilkie Collins, English novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 1889)
 * 1824  – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (d. 1861)
 * 1830 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (d. 1894)
 * 1836 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter and academic (d. 1912)
 * 1843 – Frederick Abberline, English police officer (d. 1929)
 * 1852 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (d. 1931)
 * 1859 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1925)
 * 1860 – Emma Booth-Tucker, English author (d. 1903)
 * 1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (d. 1934)
 * 1864 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)
 * 1865 – Winnaretta Singer, American philanthropist (d. 1943)
 * 1866 – William G. Conley, American educator and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1940)
 * 1867 – Emily Greene Balch, American economist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
 * 1870 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1930)
 * 1871 – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish captain and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1940)
 * 1873 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
 * 1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American dentist and politician (d. 1960)
 * 1881  – Linnie Marsh Wolfe, American librarian and author (d. 1945)
 * 1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter and poet (d. 1941)
 * 1883  – Patrick J. Hurley, American general, politician, and diplomat, 51st United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)
 * 1885 – John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
 * 1885  – Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower and pastor (d. 1972)
 * 1885  – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American pastor and activist (d. 1967)
 * 1888 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician and academic (d. 1972)
 * 1891 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
 * 1891  – Storm Jameson, English journalist and author (d. 1986)
 * 1891  – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1972)
 * 1896 – Jaromír Weinberger, Czech-American composer and academic (d. 1967)
 * 1897 – Dennis Wheatley, English soldier and author (d. 1977)
 * 1899 – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 1959)
 * 1900 – Dorothy Adams, American character actress (d. 1988)
 * 1900  – Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French painter (d. 1969)

1901–present

 * 1902 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (d. 1987)
 * 1904 – Karl Brandt, German physician and SS officer (d. 1948)
 * 1905 – Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher from the Vienna and the Berlin Circle (d. 1997)
 * 1908 – William Hartnell, English actor (d. 1975)
 * 1908  – Fearless Nadia, Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman (d. 1996)
 * 1909 – Ashapoorna Devi, Indian author and poet (d. 1995)
 * 1909  – Bruce Mitchell, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
 * 1909  – Evelyn Wood, American author and educator (d. 1995)
 * 1910 – Galina Ulanova, Russian actress and ballerina (d. 1998)
 * 1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (d. 1970)
 * 1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor and director (d. 1992)
 * 1912  – Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2014)
 * 1915 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
 * 1917 – Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1994)
 * 1920 – Douglas Wilmer, English actor (d. 2016)
 * 1922 – Dale D. Myers, American engineer (d. 2015)
 * 1923 – Larry Storch, American actor and comedian (d. 2022)
 * 1923  – Giorgio Tozzi, American opera singer and actor (d. 2011)
 * 1923  – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
 * 1923  – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American computer scientist and author (d. 2008)
 * 1924 – Benjamin Lees, Chinese-American soldier and composer (d. 2010)
 * 1924  – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (d. 2015)
 * 1925 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (d. 1972)
 * 1926 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (d. 2012)
 * 1926  – Kerwin Mathews, American actor (d. 2007)
 * 1926  – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian dancer and choreographer (d. 2004)
 * 1926  – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer (d. 2022)
 * 1926  – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (d. 2009)
 * 1927 – Charles Tomlinson, English poet and academic (d. 2015)
 * 1928 – Slade Gorton, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 14th Attorney General of Washington (d. 2020)
 * 1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (d. 2015)
 * 1931 – Bill Graham, German-American businessman (d. 1991)
 * 1931  – Clarence Benjamin Jones, American lawyer and scholar
 * 1933 – Charles Osgood, American soldier and journalist (d. 2024)
 * 1933  – Jean-Marie Straub, French director and screenwriter (d. 2022)
 * 1934 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
 * 1934  – Roy Kinnear, British actor (d. 1988)
 * 1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 1977)
 * 1936 – Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-English zoologist, ecologist, and academic (d. 2020)
 * 1937 – Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
 * 1938 – Bob Eubanks, American game show host and producer
 * 1939 – Carolina Herrera, Venezuelan-American fashion designer
 * 1940 – Cristy Lane, American country and gospel singer
 * 1941 – Graham Chapman, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1989)
 * 1941  – Boris Vallejo, Peruvian-American painter
 * 1942 – Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (d. 2018)
 * 1942  – Junichirō Koizumi, Japanese politician, 56th Prime Minister of Japan
 * 1942  – Yvette Mimieux, American actress (d. 2022)
 * 1944 – Terry Brooks, American lawyer and author
 * 1945 – Phil Beal, English footballer
 * 1945  – Nancy Bond, American author and academic
 * 1945  – Kathleen Noone, American actress
 * 1946 – Robby Krieger, American guitarist and songwriter
 * 1946  – Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Mexican drug lord
 * 1947 – David Bowie, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2016)
 * 1947  – Antti Kalliomäki, Finnish pole vaulter and politician
 * 1948 – Gillies MacKinnon, Scottish director and screenwriter
 * 1949 – Lawrence Rowe, Jamaican cricketer
 * 1951 – Kenny Anthony, Saint Lucian politician, 5th Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
 * 1952 – Vladimir Feltsman, Russian-American pianist and educator
 * 1952  – Peter McCullagh, Irish mathematician and academic
 * 1953 – Marián Šťastný, Slovak ice hockey player
 * 1953  – Bruce Sutter, American baseball pitcher (d. 2022)
 * 1955 – Harriet Sansom Harris, American actress
 * 1955  – Mike Reno, Canadian singer and drummer
 * 1957 – Dwight Clark, American football player (d. 2018)
 * 1957  – Nacho Duato, Spanish dancer and choreographer
 * 1957  – Ron Cephas Jones, American actor (d. 2023)
 * 1957  – Calvin Natt, American basketball player
 * 1958 – Betsy DeVos, American businesswoman and politician, 11th Secretary of Education
 * 1958 – Rey Misterio, Mexican wrestler, trainer, and actor
 * 1959 – Paul Hester, Australian drummer (d. 2005)
 * 1960 – Dave Weckl, American drummer
 * 1961 – Calvin Smith, American sprinter
 * 1964 – Ron Sexsmith, Canadian singer-songwriter
 * 1965 – Michelle Forbes, American actress
 * 1966 – Maria Pitillo, American actress
 * 1966  – Igor Vyazmikin, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2009)
 * 1966  – Andrew Wood, American singer-songwriter (d. 1990)
 * 1967 – Willie Anderson, American basketball player
 * 1967  – R. Kelly, American singer-songwriter, producer, and sex offender
 * 1967  – Tom Watson, English politician
 * 1971 – Jason Giambi, American baseball player
 * 1971  – Pascal Zuberbühler, Swiss footballer and coach
 * 1972 – Paul Clement, English footballer, coach, and manager
 * 1973 – Mike Cameron, American baseball player
 * 1976 – Jenny Lewis, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress
 * 1977 – Amber Benson, American actress, writer, director, and producer
 * 1978 – Marco Fu, Hong Kongese snooker player
 * 1979 – Seol Ki-hyeon, South Korean footballer and manager
 * 1979  – Windell Middlebrooks, American actor (d. 2015)
 * 1979  – Adrian Mutu, Romanian footballer
 * 1979  – Stipe Pletikosa, Croatian footballer
 * 1979  – Sarah Polley, Canadian actress and director
 * 1980 – Sam Riley, English actor and singer
 * 1981 – Genevieve Cortese, American actress
 * 1981  – Jeff Francis, Canadian baseball player
 * 1982 – Gaby Hoffmann, American actress
 * 1982 (or 1983, 1984) – Kim Jong Un, North Korean soldier and politician, 3rd Supreme Leader of North Korea
 * 1983 – Chris Masters, American wrestler
 * 1984 – Jeff Francoeur, American baseball player and broadcaster
 * 1987 – Chris Douglas-Roberts, American basketball player
 * 1987  – Cynthia Erivo, English actress and singer-songwriter
 * 1987  – Freddie Stroma, English actor
 * 1988 – Adrián López, Spanish footballer
 * 1988  – Michael Mancienne, English footballer
 * 1988  – Alex Tyus, American-Israeli basketball player
 * 1989 – Aaron Cruden, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1990 – Blair Walsh, American football player
 * 1991 – Josh Hazlewood, Australian cricketer
 * 1991  – Stefan Johansen, Norwegian footballer
 * 1991  – Stefan Savić, Montenegrin footballer
 * 1991  – Greg Smith, American basketball player
 * 1992 – Stefanie Dolson, American basketball player
 * 1992  – Koke, Spanish footballer
 * 1993 – William Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player
 * 1993  – Sophie Pascoe, New Zealand swimmer
 * 1994 – Glenn Robinson III, American basketball player
 * 1998 – Tony Bradley, American basketball player
 * 1999 – Ignas Brazdeikis, Lithuanian-Canadian basketball player
 * 1999  – Damiano David, Italian singer-songwriter
 * 2000 – Noah Cyrus, American singer, songwriter, and actress

Pre-1600

 * 307 – Hui of Jin, Chinese emperor (b. 259)
 * 482 – Severinus of Noricum, Italian apostle and saint
 * 871 – Bagsecg, Viking warrior and leader
 * 926 – Athelm, archbishop of Canterbury
 * 1079 – Adèle of France, countess of Flanders (b. 1009)
 * 1107 – Edgar, King of Scotland (b. 1074)
 * 1198 – Celestine III, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1106)
 * 1337 – Giotto, Italian painter and architect, designed Scrovegni Chapel and Giotto's Campanile (b. 1266)
 * 1354 – Charles de la Cerda, French nobleman (b. 1327)
 * 1424 – Stephen Zaccaria, archbishop of Patras
 * 1456 – Lawrence Giustiniani, Italian bishop and saint (b. 1381)
 * 1538 – Beatrice of Portugal, duchess of Savoy (b. 1504)
 * 1557 – Albert Alcibiades, margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (b. 1522)
 * 1570 – Philibert de l'Orme, French sculptor and architect, designed the Château d'Anet (b. 1510)
 * 1598 – John George, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1525)

1601–1900

 * 1642 – Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (b. 1564)
 * 1707 – John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and politician, Scottish Secretary of State (b. 1648)
 * 1713 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1653)
 * 1775 – John Baskerville, English printer and type designer (b. 1706)
 * 1789 – Jack Broughton, English boxer (b. 1703)
 * 1794 – Justus Möser, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1720)
 * 1815 – Edward Pakenham, Anglo-Irish general and politician (b. 1778)
 * 1825 – Eli Whitney, American engineer and theorist, invented the cotton gin (b. 1765)
 * 1854 – William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, English field marshal and politician, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance (b. 1768)
 * 1865 – Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (b. 1779)
 * 1874 – Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French historian and archaeologist (b. 1814)
 * 1878 – Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet and critic (b. 1821)
 * 1880 – Emperor Norton, English-American businessman (b. 1811)
 * 1883 – Miska Magyarics, Slovene-Hungarian poet (b. 1825)
 * 1896 – William Rainey Marshall, American banker and politician, 5th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1825)
 * 1896  – Paul Verlaine, French poet and writer (b. 1844)

1901–present

 * 1914 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, American general and 30th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1823)
 * 1916 – Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (b. 1884)
 * 1916  – Ada Rehan, Irish-American actress (b. 1860)
 * 1918 – Ellis H. Roberts, American journalist and politician, 20th Treasurer of the United States (b. 1827)
 * 1920 – Josef Josephi, Polish-born singer and actor (b. 1852)
 * 1925 – George Bellows, American painter (b. 1882)
 * 1934 – Andrei Bely, Russian novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1880)
 * 1934  – Alexandre Stavisky, Ukrainian-French financier (b. 1886)
 * 1938 – Johnny Gruelle, American author and illustrator (b. 1880)
 * 1941 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general and founder of the Scout movement (b. 1857)
 * 1941  – Vladimír Mandl, Czechoslovak lawyer (b. 1899)
 * 1942 – Joseph Franklin Rutherford, American lawyer and religious leader (b. 1869)
 * 1943 – Andres Larka, Estonian general and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of War (b. 1879)
 * 1944 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, American lieutenant and sailor (b. 1878)
 * 1945 – Karl Ernst Krafft, Swiss astrologer and author (b. 1900)
 * 1948 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter and graphic designer (b. 1887)
 * 1950 – Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and academic (b. 1883)
 * 1952 – Antonia Maury, American astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1866)
 * 1953 – Hugh Binney, English admiral and politician, 16th Governor of Tasmania (b. 1883)
 * 1954 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian-French painter and illustrator (b. 1898)
 * 1958 – Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (b. 1869)
 * 1961 – Schoolboy Rowe, American baseball player and coach (b. 1910)
 * 1963 – Kay Sage, American painter (b. 1898)
 * 1975 – Richard Tucker, American operatic tenor (b. 1913)
 * 1976 – Zhou Enlai, Chinese soldier and politician, 1st Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1898)
 * 1980 – John Mauchly, American physicist and academic (b. 1907)
 * 1982 – Grégoire Aslan, Swiss-English actor and screenwriter (b. 1908)
 * 1983 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German general and pilot (b. 1919)
 * 1986 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist and educator (b. 1906)
 * 1990 – Bernard Krigstein, American illustrator (b. 1919)
 * 1990  – Terry-Thomas, English actor and comedian (b. 1911)
 * 1991 – Steve Clark, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1960)
 * 1994 – Pat Buttram, American actor and comedian (b. 1915)
 * 1994  – Harvey Haddix, American baseball player and coach (b. 1925)
 * 1996 – Metin Göktepe, Turkish photographer and journalist (b. 1968)
 * 1996  – François Mitterrand, French sergeant and politician, 21st President of France (b. 1916)
 * 1997 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
 * 1998 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (b. 1905)
 * 2000 – Hilary Smart, American sailor (b. 1925)
 * 2002 – Alexander Prokhorov, Australian-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
 * 2002  – Dave Thomas, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Wendy's (b. 1932)
 * 2003 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (b. 1925)
 * 2006 – Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Northern Irish broadcaster and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics (b. 1943)
 * 2007 – Jane Bolin, American lawyer and judge (b. 1908)
 * 2007  – Arthur Cockfield, Baron Cockfield, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1916)
 * 2007  – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1922)
 * 2007  – David Ervine, Northern Irish politician and activist (b. 1953)
 * 2007  – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1925)
 * 2008 – George Moore, Australian jockey and trainer (b. 1923)
 * 2009 – Lasantha Wickrematunge, Sri Lankan journalist (b. 1958)
 * 2010 – Art Clokey, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
 * 2011 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician (b. 1937)
 * 2011  – Thorbjørn Svenssen, Norwegian footballer (b. 1924)
 * 2012 – Dave Alexander, American singer and pianist (b. 1938)
 * 2012  – T. J. Hamblin, English haematologist and academic (b. 1943)
 * 2012  – Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian-French pianist and educator (b. 1929)
 * 2013 – Kenojuak Ashevak, Canadian sculptor and illustrator (b. 1927)
 * 2013  – Jeanne Manford, American educator and activist, co-founded PFLAG (b. 1920)
 * 2013  – Alasdair Milne, Indian-English director and producer (b. 1930)
 * 2014 – Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher, Dutch-Australian swimmer (b. 1925)
 * 2014  – Antonino P. Roman, Filipino lawyer and politician (b. 1939)
 * 2015 – Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor (b. 1942)
 * 2015  – Kep Enderby, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 23rd Attorney-General for Australia (b. 1926)
 * 2015  – Patsy Garrett, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
 * 2016 – Maria Teresa de Filippis, Italian racing driver (b. 1926)
 * 2016  – German Moreno, Filipino television host, actor, comedian and talent manager (b. 1933)
 * 2017 – Nicolai Gedda, Swedish operatic tenor (b. 1925)
 * 2017  – James Mancham, Seychellois politician, President 1976-77 (b. 1939)
 * 2017  – Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iranian politician (b. 1934)
 * 2017  – Peter Sarstedt, Indian-British singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
 * 2020 – Pat Dalton, Australian footballer (b. 1942)
 * 2020  – Buck Henry, American actor, screenwriter, and director (b. 1930)
 * 2021 – Iancu Țucărman, Romanian Holocaust survivor (b. 1922)
 * 2022 – Michael Lang, American concert promoter and producer (b. 1944)
 * 2024 – Adan Canto, Mexican actor (b. 1981)

Holidays and observances

 * Babinden (Belarus, Russia)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Abo of Tiflis
 * Apollinaris Claudius
 * Blessed Eurosia Fabris
 * Gauchito Gil (Folk Catholicism)
 * Gudula
 * Harriet Bedell (Episcopal Church (USA))
 * Lawrence Giustiniani
 * Lucian of Beauvais
 * Maximus of Pavia
 * Our Lady of Prompt Succor (Roman Catholic Church)
 * Pega (Anglican and Roman Catholic churches)
 * Severinus of Noricum
 * Thorfinn of Hamar
 * January 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Commonwealth Day (Northern Mariana Islands)
 * Earliest day on which Children's Day can fall, while January 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Saturday in January. (Thailand)
 * Typing Day (International observance)