On January 24

Japan launched the Hiten spacecraft (pictured), the first lunar probe launched by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States.

About 20,000 protestors marched in a civil rights demonstration in Forsyth County, Georgia, United States.

The Soviet nuclear-powered satellite Kosmos 954 burned up during atmospheric reentry, scattering radioactive debris across Canada's Northwest Territories.

Spanish transition to democracy: Neo-fascists attacked an office in Madrid, killing five people and injuring four others.

Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi was found in the jungles of Guam, where he had been hiding since the end of World War II.

Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launched Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese army and the Viet Cong.

A Boeing B-52 Stratofortress carrying two Mark 39 nuclear weapons broke up in mid-air near Goldsboro, North Carolina; one bomb was recovered intact, the other disintegrated.

Greek military aviators Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis performed the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.

The University of Calcutta was established as the first modern university in the Indian subcontinent.

James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill (reconstruction pictured) in Coloma, California, leading to the California gold rush.

The Estates unanimously proclaimed 14-year-old Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary after being persuaded to do so by his uncle Michael Szilágyi.

The Fatimid Caliphate began their first invasion of Egypt, against the Abbasids, which eventually ended in failure.

Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat dedicated a 65-ton stele, the largest stone known to be quarried by the Maya civilization, at his city of Quiriguá.

Roman emperor Caligula was murdered by Cassius Chaerea and other members of the Praetorian Guard, who proclaimed Claudius to be the new emperor.