History of 28th January

1077 - German king Henry IV petitions Pope Gregory VII for forgiveness
1077 - Pope Gregory VII pardons German emperor Heinrich IV
1077 - Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor is lifted.
1099 - 1st Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria
1262 - Flemish/Dutch coast ravaged by north western storm
1393 - Fire during Royal Ball at Paris, 4 die (Ball of the Ardents)
1495 - Pope gives his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France
1521 - The Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25.
1547 - 9-year-old Edward VI succeeds Henry VIII as king of England
1561 - By Edict of Orleans persecution of French Huguenots is suspended
1573 - Articles of Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland.
1581 - James VI signs 2nd Confession of Faith in Scotland
1613 - Galileo may have unknowingly viewed undiscovered planet Neptune
1624 - Sir Thomas Warner founds the first British colony in the Caribbean, on Saint Kitts.
1689 - English parliament ends king Charles II reign
1724 - The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented in the Senate decree. It was called St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917.
1754 - Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word serendipity
1760 - Pownal, Vermont created by Benning Wentworth as one of the New Hampshire Grants.
1787 - Philadelphia's Free Africa Society organizes
1788 - Capt Arthur Phillip forms English colony at Sydney, Botany Bay NSW
1788 - Lord Gordon found guilty of libel of queen of France
1807 - London's Pall Mall is 1st street lit by gaslight
1813 - Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom.
1814 - Stendahl's 1st book is published
1819 - Sir Stamford Raffles 1st lands in Singapore
1820 - Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovered the Antarctic continent approaching the Antarctic coast.
1821 - Bellingshausen discovers Alexander Island off Antarctica
1824 - William Kneass becomes 3rd US chief engraver (1824-40)
1830 - Opera "Fra Diavolo," premieres in Paris
1846 - Battle of Allwal, Brits beat Sikhs in Punjab (India)
1848 - King of Naples grants his subjects a constitution
1851 - Northwestern University (Chicago) chartered
1855 - The first locomotive runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the Panama Railway.
1858 - John Brown organized raid on Arsenal at Harper's Ferry
1860 - Britain formally returns Mosquito Coast to Nicaragua
1864 - Battle of New Bern, NC
1865 - Pres Jefferson Davis names 3 peace commissioners
1871 - Paris surrenders to Prussians
1878 - 1st telephone exchange (New Haven, CT)
1878 - George W Coy hired as 1st full-time telephone operator
1878 - Yale Daily News published, 1st college daily newspaper
1881 - Battle at Laing's Neck Natal: Boers beat superior powered British
1887 - England all out for 45 v Aust SCG, their lowest total ever
1887 - In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.
1893 - Edward Mcdowell's "Hamlet & Ophelia," premieres in Boston
1899 - American Social Science Association incorporated by Congress
1902 - Carnegie Institute founded in Wash DC
1904 - 1st college sports letters given to Seniors who played on U of Chicago's football team are awarded blankets with letter "C" on them
1909 - US milt forces leave Cuba for 2nd time
1911 - Frenchman Henri Rougier wins 1st Rally of Monte Carlo
1914 - 1st Millrose Games (athletics) held (NYC)
1914 - Beverly Hills, Ca, is incorporated
1915 - 1st US ship lost in WW I, William P Frye (carrying wheat to UK)
1915 - US Coast Guard created from Life Saving & Revenue Cutter services
1915 - US Pres Wilson refuses to prohibit immigration of illiterates
1916 - 1st Jewish Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis, appointed by Wilson
1916 - German colony of Cameroon surrenders to Britain & France
1916 - Opera "Goyescas," premieres (NYC)
1917 - Municipally owned streetcars take to the streets of San Francisco, California.
1918 - Strike on Berlin ammunition's factory
1918 - Trotsky becomes leader of Reds
1918 - Finnish Civil War: Rebels seized control of the capital, Helsinki, and members of the Senate of Finland go underground.
1922 - American Pro Football Association renamed "National Football League"
1922 - J E Clair turns Green Bay franchise back to NFL
1922 - Knickerbocker Storm, Washington D.C.'s biggest snowfall, causes the city's greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theater collapses.
1923 - 1st "Reichs Party" (NSDAP) forms in Munich
1923 - Demonstration against a Dutch University in Ghent
1923 - NSDAP 1st election in Munich
1925 - -46°F (-43°C), Pittsburgh, New Hampshire (state record)
1927 - Serbian-Croatian-Slavic govt of Oezonowitsj falls
1928 - Christopher Hornsrud chosen PM of Norway at age 101
1931 - Bradman scores 220 NSW v Victoria, 308 mins, 13 fours
1932 - 1st US state unemployment insurance act enacted (Wisconsin)
1932 - Japan occupies Shanghai
1932 - Japanese forces attack Shanghai.
1933 - French govt of Paul Boncour falls
1933 - German govt of Von Schleicher falls
1933 - The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhary Rehmat Ali Khan and is accepted by the Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
1934 - 1st US ski tow (rope) begins operation (Woodstock Vermont)
1935 - Iceland becomes 1st country to legalize abortion
1936 - Pravda criticizes Sjostakovitsj' "Lady Macbeth" opera
1941 - French-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
1942 - General Timoshenko's troops move into Ukraine
1942 - German troops occupy Benghazi Libya
1943 - Chic Blackhawks beats NY Rangers 10-1, Max Bentley scores 4 goals
1943 - Forward Doug Bentley sets NHL record with 5 points in a game
1944 - 683 British bombers attack Berlin
1944 - Leonard Bernstein's "Jeremiah," premieres in Pittsburgh
1944 - U-271 & U-571 sunk off Ireland
1945 - Dutch airplanes dump pamphlets on Java
1945 - Gen "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell & truck convoy reopen Burma Road to China
1945 - Swedish ships bring food to starving Netherlands
1947 - "Bay Psalm" book auctioned for a record $151,000
1949 - NY Giants sign their 1st black players, Monte Irvin & Ford Smith
1949 - UN Security council convicts Dutch aggression in Indonesia
1950 - Preston Tucker, auto maker, found not guilty of mail fraud
1951 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1951 - "La Vie Commence Demain," which depicted artificial insemination & is the 1st X-rated movie, opened in London
1953 - J Fred Muggs (the chimp) joins NBC's "Today Show"
1953 - WJTV TV channel 12 in Jackson, MS (CBS) begins broadcasting

1956 - Elvis Presley's 1st TV appearance (Dorsey Bros Stage Show)
1957 - "Tonight! America After Dark" premieres, with Jack Lescoulie & Al (Jazzbo) Collins on NBC (between Steve Allen & Jack Paar)
1958 - Construction began on 1st private thorium-uranium nuclear reactor
1958 - Dodger catcher Roy Campanella is paralyzed in an automobile wreck
1958 - The Lego company patented their design of Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.
1959 - Soviet Union wins 62-37 for 1st international basketball loss by US
1960 - 1st photograph bounced off Moon, Washington DC
1960 - Goon Show's final episode on BBC
1960 - NFL announces Dallas Cowboys (1960) & Minn Vikings (1961) franchises
1961 - Republic of Rwanda proclaimed
1962 - Johanne Relleke gets stung by bees 2,443 times in Rhodesia & survives
1963 - -34°F (-37°C), Cynthiana, Kentucky (state record)
1965 - The Who make their 1st appearance on British TV
1967 - Rolling Stones release "Let's Spend the Night Together"
1968 - 29th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Chandler Harper
1968 - Goose Goslin & Kiki Cuyler elected to baseball Hall of Fame
1969 - 2nd ABA All-Star Game: West 133 beats East 127 at Louisville
1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin becomes 1st woman jockey to win in N America
1970 - Lubomír Strougal succeeds Cernik as premier of Czechoslovakia
1972 - Oral Roberts' Eddie Woods grabs 30 rebounds for 2nd consecutive game
1973 - "Barnaby Jones" premieres on CBS TV
1973 - Henry Boucha, Detroit Red Wings, scores 6 sec into a game vs Mont
1973 - Mickey Welch, George Kelly & Billy Evans elected to Hall of Fame
1973 - Ron Howard appears on M*A*S*H in "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet"
1974 - Sam Thompson, Jim Bottomley, & Jocko Conlan elected to Hall of Fame
1975 - 8th ABA All-Star Game: East 151 beats West 124 at San Antonio
1976 - Erapalli Prasanna takes 8-76 to rip through NZ at Eden Park
1976 - NBA Atlanta Hawks begin a 28 game road losing streak
1978 - "Fantasy Island" starring Ricardo Montalban premieres on ABC TV
1978 - "We Are the World" is recorded
1978 - Ranger's Don Murdoch failed on 4th penalty shot against Islanders
1978 - Ted Nugent autographs a fan's arm with his knife
1979 - "Wiz" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 1672 performances
1979 - Arthur Kopit's "Wings," premieres in NYC
1980 - 37th Golden Globes: Dustin Hoffman & Sally Field wins
1980 - USCGC Blackthorn (WLB-391) collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa Florida and capsizes killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
1981 - "5 O'Clock Girl" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 12 performances
1981 - William J Casey becomes 13th director of CIA (until 1987)
1981 - Olympic Glory tanker at Galveston Bay, Texas, spills 1 million gallons of oil in a ship collision
1982 - US Gen Dozier freed from Red Brigade of Padua Italy
1982 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1984 - 41th Golden Globes: Thornbirds wins
1984 - LA Kings stop Wayne Gretzky 51 game scoring streak
1984 - Mr Glynn Wolfe marries for non-bigamous record 26th time, Las Vegas
1984 - Record 295,000 dominoes toppled, Fuerth, W Germany
1985 - 12th American Music Award
1986 - "Uptown... It's Hot!" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 24 perfs
1986 - 25th Space Shuttle (51L)-Challenger 10 explodes 73 sec after liftoff
1986 - Angolan Unity Leader Jonas Savimbi visits Washington, DC
1987 - US Foreign minister George Shultz meets ANC-leader Oliver Tambo
1987 - Wrestler Jim Neidhart indicted for assaulting a flight attendant
1988 - "Saratina!" opens at Cort Theater NYC for 597 performances
1988 - Canada's Supreme court declares anti-abortion law unconstitutional
1989 - 46th Golden Globes: Rainman, Working Girl
1989 - 63rd Australian Womens Tennis: Steffi Graf beats Helena Sukova (64 64)
1989 - Boon completes 7th Test century, 149 v WI at SCG
1990 - "Independent on Sunday" begins publishing in London
1990 - 78th Australian Mens Tennis: Ivan Lendl beats S Edberg (46 76 52-ret)
1990 - Superbowl XXIV: SF 49ers beat Denver Broncos, 55-10 in New Orleans Superbowl MVP: Joe Montana, San Francisco, QB
1991 - "A Closer Look" with Faith Daniels premieres on NBC-TV
1991 - 18th American Music Award: M C Hammer & Janet Jackson
1991 - Boon completes ninth Test century, 121 v England at Adelaide
1991 - Dictator Siad Barre flees Somalia ending 22 year rule
1992 - Boon completes twelfth Test century, 135 v India at Adelaide
1992 - Stan Hansen beats Jumbo Tsuruta to win All Japan Triple Crown
1994 - Actress Lorraine Bracco (39) weds actor Edward James Olmos (46)
1994 - Helicopter crashes into office building in San Jose Calif, 1 dead
1994 - Inna Lassovskaja jumps ladies world record (14.78m)
1995 - 69th Australian Women's Tennis Open: Mary Pierce beats Vicario (63 62)
1995 - 83rd Australian Mens Tennis: Andre Agassi beats Sampras (46 61 76 64)
1995 - Memphis Mad Dogs granted CFL's 13th franchise
1996 - "Hello Dolly!" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC after 118 perfs
1996 - 84th Australian Mens Tennis: Boris Becker beats M Chang (62 64 26 62)
1996 - Superbowl XXX: Dallas Cowboys beat Pitts Steelers, 27-17 in Tempe Superbowl MVP:
1998 - Michelangelo, "Christ & the Woman of Samaria," sold for $7.4 million
2002 - TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia killing 92.

History of 27th January

98 - Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva.
661 - Rashidun Caliphate ended with death of Ali.
672 - St Vitalian ends his reign as Catholic Pope
847 - Sergius II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1142 - Wrongful execution of noted Song Dynasty General Yue Fei.
1186 - Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, weds Constance of Sicily.
1302 - Dante becomes a Florentine political exile
1343 - Pope Clement VI issues the Bull Unigenitus.
1538 - States of Gelderland accepts Willem van Kleef as viceroy
1556 - Willem of Orange becomes knight of Guilder Flies
1593 - Vatican opens 7 year trial against scholar Giordano Bruno
1662 - 1st American lime kiln begins operation (Providence RI)
1671 - Pirate Henry Morgen lands at Panama City
1695 - Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa rules until his death in 1703.
1710 - Czar Peter the Great sets 1st Russian state budget
1736 - Abdication of Stanislas, last king of Poland
1778 - Piccinni's opera "Roland" premieres, Paris
1785 - 1st US state university chartered, Athens Georgia
1823 - Pres Monroe appoints 1st US ambassadors to South America
1825 - U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears."
1864 - Battle of Fair Gardens, TN
1864 - Civil War skirmish at Kelly's Ford, Va
1870 - 1st sorority (Kappa Alpha Theta) (DePauw U in Greencastle, Indiana)
1870 - After accepting 15th amendment, VA is readmitted to Union
1870 - Manitoba & Northwest Territories incorporated
1880 - Thomas Edison patents electric incandescent lamp
1886 - 1st British govt of Salisbury resigns
1888 - National Geographic Society organizes (Wash DC)
1891 - Mine explosion kills 109 at Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania
1894 - 1st college basketball game, U of Chicago beats Chicago YMCA 19-11
1894 - Midwinter Fair opens in Golden Gate Park
1896 - Tasmania bowl out Victoria for 65 for their 1st ever innings victory
1897 - British troops occupy Bida Gold Coast (Ghana)
1900 - Social Democrat Party of America (Debs' party) holds 1st convention
1902 - 5 workers killed on explosion during IRT subway construction (NYC)
1905 - Maurice Rouvier forms govt in France
1906 - Rudolf Gundersen skates world record 500m at 44.8 sec
1908 - Pasiphaë, a satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Melotte
1909 - The Young Left is founded in Norway.
1915 - US Marines occupy Haiti
1916 - Communist party "Spartacus Letters" 1st published in Berlin
1917 - Coen de Koning wins 2nd official 11 cities race (9:53) (record)
1918 - "Tarzan of the Apes," 1st Tarzan film, premieres at Broadway Theater
1918 - The first hostilities occurred in the Finnish Civil War.
1924 - Egyptian king Foead nominates Saad Zaghloel Pasja premier
1924 - Lenin placed in Mausoleum in Red Square
1926 - 1st public demonstration of television, John L Baird, London
1926 - US Senate agrees to join World Court
1933 - Otto Meisnner dines with British ambassador Rumbold
1934 - 27th Australian Men's Tennis Open: Fred Perry beat Crawford (63 75 61)
1934 - French govt of Chautemps falls (Stavisky Affair)
1934 - VARA refuses to hire after commemoration of Marinus Van de Lubbe
1939 - First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
1940 - -17°F (-27°C), CCC Camp F-16, Georgia (state record)
1941 - Peruvian agent Rivera-Schreiber warns of Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor
1942 - -19°F (-27.4°C), Netherland's coldest day since 1850
1943 - 1st US air attack on Germany (Wilhelmshafen)
1944 - Leningrad liberated from Germany in 880 days with 600,000 killed
1944 - Casey Stengel, manager of the Boston Braves since 1938, resigns Lou Perini, Guido Rugo, & Joseph Maney buy control of Boston Braves
1945 - Nazi occupiers forbid food transport to West (The Netherlands)
1945 - Russia liberates Auschwitz & Birkenau Concentration Camp (Poland)
1945 - S Romberg, H&D Fields' musical premieres in NYC
1945 - Wally van Hall, "banker in defiance," arrested
1948 - 1st locomotive to carry 1,000,000 pounds (450,000 kg) operates
1948 - 1st tape recorder sold
1949 - Chinese liner "Taiping" collides with a collier off south China
1950 - 2nd Emmy Awards: Ed Wynn Show & Texaco Star Theater win
1951 - "Peter Pan" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 320 performances
1951 - US begins 126 nuclear tests at Nevada Test Site
1953 - Netherlands end Marshall aid
1955 - "Plain & Fancy" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 476 perfs
1956 - NFL's NY Giants switches games from Polo Grounds to Yankee Stadium
1957 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Lake Worth Golf Open
1958 - Ferenc Munnich follows Kadar as premier of Hungary
1961 - "Sing Along with Mitch" [Miller] premieres on NBC TV
1962 - "Family Affair" opens at Billy Rose Theater NYC for 65 performances
1963 - Jevgeni Grishin skates world record 500m in 39.6 sec
1963 - Sam Rice, Eppa Rixey, Elmer Flick, & John Clarkson elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1964 - "Introducing the Beatles" album released in US
1964 - Barlow & Graeme Pollock complete 341 stand at Adelaide Oval
1964 - Margaret Chase Smith (Sen-R-Maine) tries for Republican Pres bid
1965 - 1st ground station-to-aircraft radio communication via satellite
1965 - Ground breaking for "Dragon Gateway" at Grant Avenue
1966 - Wisc State Circuit Court Judge Elmer W Roller rules either the Braves stay in Milwaukee or NL must promise Wisc an expansion team for 1966
1967 - Apollo 1 fire kills astronauts Grissom, White & Chaffee
1967 - Beatles sign a 9 year worldwide contract with EMI records
1967 - New Orleans Saints sign their 1st player (Paige Cothren-kicker)
1967 - Treaty banning military use of nuclear weapons in space, signed
1968 - "Darling of the Day" opens at George Abbott Theater NYC for 31 perfs
1969 - 14 spies hung in Baghdad
1969 - 9 Jews publically executed in Damascus Syria
1969 - Actress Thelma Ritter suffers a heart attack (she dies Feb 5th)
1969 - Noordiers vicar Ian Paisley sentenced to 3 years
1970 - Movie rating system modifies "M" rating to "PG"
1971 - Montgomery St Station, last link in BART, `holed thru'
1973 - UCLA's basketball team wins 61st consecutive game (NCAA record)
1973 - US & Vietnam sign cease-fire, ending longest US war & milt draft
1973 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Janet Lynn
1973 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Gordon McKellen Jr
1973 - William Rogers & Nguyen Duy Trinh sign US-N Vietnam treaty

1974 - "Lorelei" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 320 performances
1976 - "Laverne & Shirley" spinoff from "Happy Days" premieres on ABC TV
1976 - 9th ABA All-Star Game: Denver 144 beats ABA 138 at Denver
1976 - Morocco-Algeria battles in Westerly Sahara
1976 - Viv Richards scores his 1st Test century against Australia
1977 - 1st broadcast of "Roots" mini-series on ABC TV
1977 - Pres Carter pardons most Vietnam War draft evaders (10,000)
1979 - 36th Golden Globes: Midnight Express, Jon Voight & Jane Fonda
1979 - Islanders ends 23 undefeated games at home streak (15-0-8)
1980 - "Comin' Uptown" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 45 perfs
1980 - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 37-27
1982 - "Joseph & the Amazing Dreamcoat" opens at Royale NYC for 747 perfs
1982 - Mauno Koivisto installed as president of Finland
1982 - Phila trades Larry Bowa & Ryne Sandberg to Cubs for Ivan DeJesus
1982 - Roberto S Cordova installed as president of Honduras
1982 - West Indies beat Australia 3-1 to win World Series Cup
1983 - World's longest subaqueous tunnel (53.90 km) opens, Honshu-Hokkaid
1984 - John & Yoko release "Milk & Honey" album
1984 - LA Kings end Wayne Gretzky's NHL-record 51-game scoring streak
1984 - Michael Jackson is burned during filming for Pepsi commercial
1985 - "Doug Henning & His World..." closes at Lunt-Fontanne NY after 60 perf
1985 - 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 returns to Earth
1985 - Hollis Stacy wins LPGA Mazda Golf Classic
1985 - Mark Mckoy cycles world record 50m hurdles indoor (5.25)
1985 - NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 22-14
1986 - 13th American Music Award: Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis & C Gayle
1987 - Midnight Rockers beat Buddy Rose & Doug Somers for AWA World Tag Team
1988 - Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves nomination of Judge Anthony M Kennedy to US Supreme Court
1989 - German war criminals Fischer & Aus der Funten freed
1989 - Kevin Johnson (Phoenix) begins NBA free throw streak of 57 games
1989 - Okla's linebacker, Mark VanKeirsblilck assaults an Ok grad student
1990 - 64th Australian Women's Tennis Steffi Graf beats MJ Fernandez (63 64)
1991 - 79th Australian Mens Tennis: Boris Becker beats I Lendl (16 64 64 64)
1991 - Dutch PSP, Pacifist Socialistic Party, disbands
1991 - Nadine Strossen is 1st female president of the ACLU
1991 - Superbowl XXV: NY Giants beat Buffalo Bills, 20-19 in Tampa Superbowl MVP: Ottis Anderson, NY Giants, RB
1992 - "Crazy He Calls Me" opens at Walter Kerr Theater NYC for 7 perfs
1992 - 19th American Music Award: C & C Music Factory, Michael Bolton win
1992 - Jane Fonda undergoes arthroscopic surgery on her right knee
1992 - Mike Tyson goes on trial for rape (he is found guilty)
1992 - Pres candidate Bill Clinton (D) & Genifer Flowers accuse each other of lying over her assertion they had a 12-year affair
1993 - DC-3 crashes in Kinshasa, killing 12
1994 - "No Man's Land" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 61 performances
1994 - Carlos Reina succeeds pres Callejas in Honduras
1994 - Romanian social-democrats form government with anti-Semites
1995 - 69th Australian Womens Tennis: Mary Pierce beats A S Vicario (63 62)
1996 - 15 day old siamese twins separated-Sarah Morales survives, Sarahi dies
1996 - 70th Australian Womens Tennis: Monica Seles beats Anke Huber (64 61)
1996 - Catherine Roskam becomes the 1st NY female Episcopal bishop
1996 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1996 - Germany celebrates it's 1st Holocaust Rememberance Day
1996 - Monica Seles beats Anke Huber to win Australian Open
1996 - Shiv Chanderpaul scores 303* for Guyana v Jamaica at Kingston
1996 - Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup.
1997 - "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," opens at Gershwin NYC
1997 - 24th American Music Award: Toni Braxton & Alanis Morissette win
1998 - Crane crashes into Roosevelt Is (NYC) Tram, injuring 10
1998 - Roland Clarkson discovers 2^3021377-1 (37th known Mersenne prime)
1998 - WNBA begins filling rosters of Washington Mystics & Detroit Shock

North Magnetic Pole Moving Due to Core Flux

Blue lines show Earth's northern magnetic field and the magnetic north pole in an artist's rendering.


Earth's north magnetic pole is racing toward Russia at almost 40 miles (64 kilometers) a year due to magnetic changes in the planet's core, new research says.

The core is too deep for scientists to directly detect its magnetic field. But researchers can infer the field's movements by tracking how Earth's magnetic field has been changing at the surface and in space.

Now, newly analyzed data suggest that there's a region of rapidly changing magnetism on the core's surface, possibly being created by a mysterious "plume" of magnetism arising from deeper in the core.

And it's this region that could be pulling the magnetic pole away from its long-time location in northern Canada, said Arnaud Chulliat, a geophysicist at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France.

Finding North

Magnetic north, which is the place where compass needles actually point, is near but not exactly in the same place as the geographic North Pole. Right now, magnetic north is close to Canada's Ellesmere Island.

Navigators have used magnetic north for centuries to orient themselves when they're far from recognizable landmarks.

Although global positioning systems have largely replaced such traditional techniques, many people still find compasses useful for getting around underwater and underground where GPS satellites can't communicate.

The magnetic north pole had moved little from the time scientists first located it in 1831. Then in 1904, the pole began shifting northeastward at a steady pace of about 9 miles (15 kilometers) a year.

In 1989 it sped up again, and in 2007 scientists confirmed that the pole is now galloping toward Siberia at 34 to 37 miles (55 to 60 kilometers) a year.

A rapidly shifting magnetic pole means that magnetic-field maps need to be updated more often to allow compass users to make the crucial adjustment from magnetic north to true North.

Wandering Pole

Geologists think Earth has a magnetic field because the core is made up of a solid iron center surrounded by rapidly spinning liquid metal. This creates a "dynamo" that drives our magnetic field.

(Get more facts about Earth's insides.)

Scientists had long suspected that, since the molten core is constantly moving, changes in its magnetism might be affecting the surface location of magnetic north.

Although the new research seems to back up this idea, Chulliat is not ready to say whether magnetic north will eventually cross into Russia.

"It's too difficult to forecast," Chulliat said.

Also, nobody knows when another change in the core might pop up elsewhere, sending magnetic north wandering in a new direction.
Courtesy: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091224-north-pole-magnetic-russia-earth-core.html