On this day: 1 January

Selected events and births on 1 January, from Wikipedia’s “On this day”.

Events

• 417 – Galla Placidia was forced by her brother Honorius into marriage with Constantius III, his magister militum. Read more: Galla Placidia Honorius Constantius III
• 1068 – Having been pardoned by Eudokia Makrembolitissa, the regent of the Byzantine Empire, for attempting to usurp the throne, Romanos IV Diogenes married her to become Byzantine emperor. Read more: Eudokia Makrembolitissa Byzantine Empire Romanos IV Diogenes
• 1725 – J. S. Bach led the first performance of his chorale cantata Jesu, nun sei gepreiset, which features trumpet fanfares at the start and end. Read more: Johann Sebastian Bach Chorale cantata cycle Jesu, nun sei gepreiset, BWV 41
• 1726 – J. S. Bach led the first performance of Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 16, his church cantata for New Year's Day to a libretto by Georg Christian Lehms. Read more: Johann Sebastian Bach Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 16 Church cantata
• 1773 – The hymn "Amazing Grace" was probably first used in a prayer meeting in Olney, England, without the music familiar to modern listeners. Read more: Hymn Amazing Grace Olney, Buckinghamshire
• 1785 – The Times began publication in London as The Daily Universal Register. Read more: The Times
• 1801 – Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the dwarf planet Ceres, naming it after the Roman goddess of agriculture and of motherly love. Read more: Giuseppe Piazzi Ceres (dwarf planet) Ceres (mythology)
• 1810 – Lachlan Macquarie became Governor of New South Wales, eventually playing a major role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony in Australia. Read more: Lachlan Macquarie Governor of New South Wales
• 1892 – The immigration station on Ellis Island in New York Harbor opened, and would process almost 12 million immigrants to the United States over the course of its existence. Read more: Ellis Island New York Harbor Immigration to the United States
• 1914 – The St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line in the U.S. state of Florida became the first scheduled airline using a winged aircraft. Read more: St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line Florida
• 1926 – Ireland's first broadcaster, 2RN, began broadcasting. Read more: 2RN
• 1948 – British Railways came into existence when the "Big Four" railway companies were nationalised. Read more: British Rail Big Four (British railway companies) Nationalization
• 1965 – The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which later helped the country become a republic, was founded. Read more: People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan Republic of Afghanistan
• 1995 – The World Trade Organization, the international organization designed to supervise and liberalize international trade, came into being, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Read more: World Trade Organization Free trade General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
• 1998 – Argentinian physicist Juan Maldacena published a landmark paper initiating the study of AdS/CFT correspondence, which links string theory and quantum gravity. Read more: Juan Maldacena AdS/CFT correspondence String theory
• 2005 – Jeanna Giese, the first known rabies survivor who did not receive the vaccine, was discharged from Children's Wisconsin. Read more: Jeanna Giese Children's Wisconsin
• 2019 – The NASA space probe New Horizons flew by the trans-Neptunian object Arrokoth, making it the farthest object visited by a spacecraft. Read more: NASA New Horizons Trans-Neptunian object

Born on this day

• 1943 – Tony Knowles, American soldier and politician, 7th Governor of Alaska Read more: Tony Knowles (politician) List of governors of Alaska
• 1947 – Jon Corzine, American sergeant and politician, 54th Governor of New Jersey Read more: Jon Corzine Governor of New Jersey
• 1948 – Devlet Bahçeli, Turkish economist, academic, and politician, 57th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Read more: Devlet Bahçeli Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
• 1953 – Gary Johnson, American businessman and politician, 29th Governor of New Mexico Read more: Gary Johnson Governor of New Mexico
• 1954 – Yannis Papathanasiou, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Finance Read more: Yannis Papathanasiou Ministry of National Economy and Finance (Greece)
• 1956 – Christine Lagarde, French lawyer and politician; Managing Director, International Monetary Fund Read more: Christine Lagarde International Monetary Fund
• 1957 – Evangelos Venizelos, Greek lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece Read more: Evangelos Venizelos Deputy Prime Minister of Greece
• 1959 – Azali Assoumani, Comorian colonel and politician, President of the Comoros Read more: Azali Assoumani List of heads of state of the Comoros
• 1966 – Anna Burke, Australian businesswoman and politician, 28th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives Read more: Anna Burke Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
• 1966 – Ivica Dačić, Serbian journalist and politician, 95th Prime Minister of Serbia Read more: Ivica Dačić Prime Minister of Serbia
• 1966 – Tihomir Orešković, Croatian–Canadian businessman, 11th Prime Minister of Croatia Read more: Tihomir Orešković Prime Minister of Croatia
• 1974 – Christian Paradis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Industry Read more: Christian Paradis Minister of Industry (Canada)

Text from Wikipedia: Selected anniversaries / January 1 and the linked articles, via the Wikimedia “On this day” feed, under CC BY-SA 4.0. We leave out entries about wars, violence and disasters to keep this page family-friendly.