On January 23

The final signal was detected from the NASA space probe Pioneer 10, then about 12 billion kilometres (7.5 billion miles) from Earth.

American journalist Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and later murdered by al-Qaeda agents in Karachi, Pakistan.

Five people attempted to set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, an act that many later claimed to have been staged by the Chinese Communist Party to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.

Madeleine Albright was sworn in as the first female United States Secretary of State, becoming the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government at that time.

The first version of Mosaic, created by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina, was released, becoming the first popular web browser.

USS Pueblo was seized by North Korean forces, who claimed that it had violated their territorial waters while spying.

American inventor Fred Morrison sold the rights to his "flying disc" to the Wham-O toy company, who later renamed it the "Frisbee"

World War II: Japan began an invasion of the island of New Britain in the Australian Territory of New Guinea.

Rebels led by John Chilembwe attacked local plantation owners, beginning an uprising regarded as a key moment in the history of Malawi.

Two men committed an armed robbery in Tottenham, London, and led police on a two-hour chase, partially by tram, that ended in the perpetrators' suicides.

In the most fatal recorded mountaineering accident, 199 of the 210 members of an Imperial Japanese Army unit perished in a blizzard on the Hakkōda Mountains.

American Indian Wars: In the Marias Massacre, the United States Army killed about 200 Piegan Blackfeet, mostly women, children, and the elderly.

Elizabeth Blackwell (pictured) graduated from Geneva Medical College in New York, making her the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States.

The Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia partitioned the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth for the second time.

Bishop John Carroll purchased a plot of land that would become the home of the future Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in the United States.

Queen Elizabeth I opened the Royal Exchange in London, giving it its royal title.

James Hamilton killed James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, in the first recorded assassination of a head of government using a firearm.

One of the deadliest earthquakes in history struck Shaanxi, China, resulting in at least 100,000 direct deaths.

The Hongwu Emperor (pictured) ascended the throne, initiating the Ming dynasty, which would rule China for three centuries.

King Louis IX of France issued the Mise of Amiens, a settlement between King Henry III of England and barons led by Simon de Montfort heavily favouring the former, which later led to the Second Barons' War.