1610 – Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able to distinguish the last two until the following day.

1904 – The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS".

1920 – The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.

1927 – The first transatlantic telephone service is established from New York City to London.

1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.

1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system, is held in New York at the head office of IBM.

1955 – Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.

1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.

1968 – Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral.

1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.

1999 – The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins.

2015 – Two gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting twelve people execution style, and wounding eleven others.

…and if today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You! You share this special day with…

1800 – Millard Fillmore, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)

1891 – Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (d. 1960)

1899 – Al Bowlly, Mozambican-English singer-songwriter (d. 1941)

1899 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (d. 1963)

1910 – Orval Faubus, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994)

1911 – Butterfly McQueen, American actress and dancer (d. 1995)

1912 – Charles Addams, American cartoonist, created The Addams Family (d. 1988)

1922 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (d. 2000)

1925 – Gerald Durrell, Indian-English zookeeper, conservationist and author, founded Durrell Wildlife Park (d. 1995)

1928 – William Peter Blatty, American author and screenwriter (d. 2017)

1946 – Jann Wenner, American publisher, co-founded Rolling Stone

1948 – Kenny Loggins, American singer-songwriter

1950 – Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2016)

1957 – Katie Couric, American television journalist, anchor, and author

1963 – Rand Paul, American ophthalmologist and politician

1964 – Nicolas Cage, American actor

Almanac - Tuesday 1/7/20

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