On January 12

An earthquake registering 7.0 Mw struck Haiti, killing more than 100,000 people.

Iranian physicist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi was assassinated while leaving his home for the University of Tehran, where he was a professor.

Comet McNaught (pictured) reached perihelion, becoming the brightest comet in over 40 years, with an apparent magnitude of −5.5.

Seventy-three-year-old psychology professor James Bedford became the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.

Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah was overthrown by rebels led by John Okello, ending 200 years of Arab dominance in Zanzibar.

An underground explosion at a coal mine in Staffordshire, England, killed 155 men and boys.

Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann became the first German aviators to be awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military honour.

During a storm, the crew of Lynmouth Lifeboat Station transported their 10-ton lifeboat 15 mi (24 km) overland in order to rescue a damaged schooner.

The National Trust, a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, was founded.

Anglo-Zulu War: Natal Native Contingent and British troops defeated Zulu forces in the Action at Sihayo's Kraal.

The foundation stone of Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork was laid.

John Rennie's scheme to defend St Mary's Church (pictured) in Reculver from coastal erosion was abandoned in favour of demolition, despite the church being an exemplar of Anglo-Saxon architecture.

Mission Santa Clara de Asís (pictured), a Spanish mission in California that formed the basis of both the city of Santa Clara and Santa Clara University, was established by the Franciscans.

The fort at Allahabad was surrendered to the forces of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Bayinnaung, who later assembled what was probably the largest empire in the history of mainland Southeast Asia, was crowned as the king of the Burmese Toungoo dynasty.

Basiliscus became Byzantine emperor after Zeno was forced to flee Constantinople.