The Apollo 1 crew, from left to right: Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee (Photo: NASA)

Today in History

• Trajan becomes emperor of Rome (98)
• Dante Alighieri is exiled from Florence (1302)
• The trial of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators begins (1606)
• Thomas Edison patents the incandescent lamp (1880)
• The Lockheed P-38 Lightning makes its maiden flight (1939)
• The Auschwitz concentration camp is liberated (1945)
• A launch pad fire kills the crew of Apollo 1 (1967)
• The Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War (1973)

Birthdays

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer (1756)
• Eli Whitney Blake, invented the Mortise lock (1795)
• Lewis Carroll, novelist and mathematician (1832)
• Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, author, namesake of “masochism” (1836)
• Samuel Gompers, labor leader (1850)
• Wilhelm II, German kaiser (1859)
• Jerome Kern, composer (1885)
• Hyman G. Rickover, US admiral (1900)
• Skitch Henderson, bandleader (1918)
• Donna Reed, actress (1921)
• Bobby “Blue” Bland, blues singer-songwriter (1930)
• Troy Donahue, actor (1936)
• James Cromwell, actor (1940)
• Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer (1948)
• John Roberts, US Supreme Court justice (1955)
• Mimi Rogers, actress (1956)
• Frank Miller, comics illustrator and filmmaker (1957)
• Bridget Fonda, actress (1964)
• Alan Cumming, actor (1965)
• Patton Oswalt, comedian and actor (1969)

Deaths

• John James Audubon, ornithologist and painter (1851)
• Giuseppe Verdi, composer (1901)
• Thomas Crapper, plumber and inventor (1910)
• Nellie Bly, journalist (1922)
• Mahalia Jackson, singer (1972)
• Thomas Sopwith, aircraft manufacturer (1989)
• Andre the Giant, wrestler and actor (1993)
• Claude Akins, actor (1994)
• Jack Paar, talk show host and author (2004)
• Suharto, Indonesian president (2008)
• John Updike, novelist (2009)
• J. D. Salinger, novelist (2010)
• Charlie Callas, comedian (2011)
• Pete Seeger, singer-songwriter and activist (2014)

Holidays and Celebrations

• Auschwitz Liberation Day
• Day of the Lifting of the Siege of Leningrad (Russia)
• Holocaust Memorial Day (UK)
• International Holocaust Remembrance Day
• Memorial Day (Italy)
• National Geographic Day

January 27 is the 27th day of the year. There are 338 days (339 in leap years) remaining until the end of the year.