January 28

814 – Louis the Pious becomes King of the Franks on the death of his father Charlemagne

1521 – The Diet of Worms begins, with Martin Luther summoned to renounce or reaffirm his views that the Roman Catholic Church has declared to be heretical.

1547 – Edward VI becomes King of England on the death of his father Henry VIII

1851 – Northwestern University in Evanston, becomes the first chartered university in Illinois.

1902 – The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.

1909 – With the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, U.S. troops leave Cuba.

1915 – The U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and the U.S. Life Saving Service are merged to create the United States Coast Guard.

1922 – Washington, D.C. experiences its largest snowfall to date which causes the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre to collapse, killing over 100 people.

1956 – On CBS Stage Show, Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance.

1964 – An unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission, is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.

1980 – US Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa, Florida and capsizes, killing 23 of the 50 Coast Guard crewmembers aboard. Of special note, 20 years later, as a result of a review of reports, 18 year old Seaman Apprentice William “Billy” Flores is posthumously awarded the Coast Guard Medal, that service’s highest award for heroism in peacetime, due to him remaining at his post to issue life jackets, saving many of his crewmates lives at the ultimate loss of his own.

1982 – US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.

1986 – On mission STS-51-L, the external fuel tank of Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, disintegrating the craft and killing all 7 astronauts on board.

1991 – Over Iraq, USAF Captain Donald Watrous, flying a F-15, engages and shoots down an Iraqi MiG-23

2002 – TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727, crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia, killing all 94 passengers and crew aboard.

2021 – A nitrogen leak at a Foundation Food Group poultry processing facility in Gainesville, Georgia kills 6 workers.