January 25
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Featured Event
© Index Open
Man killed by robot for the first time
On this day in 1979, a factory worker was killed by a robot. Robert Nicholas Williams climbed into a shelving unit to investigate an assembly-line malfunction, where he was struck in the head by an industrial robot and killed. The incident was the first recorded instance of a person being killed by a robot, and it broke science-fiction author Isaac Asimov’s first law of robotics: “a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.” [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
© Gerald B. Johnson/U.S. Department of Defense
Three years after her husband’s assassination, Corazon Aquino, born this day in 1933, was elected president of the Philippines in February 1986, restoring democracy after the long dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
Famous Birthdays
More on January 25
© Columbia Broadcasting System
2017
Mary Tyler Moore, who helped redefine the portrayal of women on TV with her roles in the comedies The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–66) and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–77), died. [See Mary Tyler Moore in an episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show.]
© Mohamed Elsayyed—Mohphoto/Dreamstime.com
2011
Demonstrators in Cairo and several other cities in Egypt clashed with police while protesting poverty, corruption, and political repression. The protests continued for several weeks and resulted in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president.
Bernard Gotfryd Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-gtfy-01801)
2005
Philip C. Johnson—who wielded great influence in American architectural design, playing a defining role in several 20th-century movements—died in Connecticut at age 98. [Test your knowledge of architecture and architects.]
AP/Shutterstock.com
1971
Charles Manson and three of his followers were convicted of a series of notorious murders; their crimes inspired the best-selling book Helter Skelter (1974) as well as many films and documentaries. [Read about this and nine other “trials of the century.”]
© The Walt Disney Company
1961
The animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians was released in the United States, and it became a Disney classic, especially noted for the villainous character Cruella De Vil. [Take our Disney quiz.]
© MISHELLA/Shutterstock.com
1949
The first Emmy Awards were presented; there were only six categories, and nominated shows were limited to those that aired in the Los Angeles area. [How much do you know about the Emmys?]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1945
In an effort to prevent tooth decay, Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first U.S. city to add fluoride to its water system. [Watch: Why is fluoride added to drinking water?]
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-USZ62-111438)
1882
Virginia Woolf, who exerted a major influence on the novel through her nonlinear approaches to narrative and was one of the most distinguished critics of her time, was born in London. [Can you match these opening lines to their works?]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-pga-02118)
1882
Charles J. Guiteau was found guilty of the murder of U.S. President James A. Garfield. [How many U.S. presidents have been assassinated?]
Michael Ochs Archives/Venice, Calif.
1874
W. Somerset Maugham, best known for the novels Of Human Bondage (1915), The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Cakes and Ale (1930), and The Razor’s Edge (1944), was born in Paris. [Take our quiz about authors of classic literature.]
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London
1759
Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland, was born in Alloway in Ayrshire. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about poetry.]
Caio do Valle
1554
Jesuit missionaries founded the city of São Paulo (now in Brazil) on the anniversary of the conversion of St. Paul. [Test your knowledge of South America.]
Daderot
1533
Henry VIII, king of England, married Anne Boleyn, the second of his six wives, in a secret ceremony. [Take our quiz about Henry VIII and his marriages.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
844
A Roman archdeacon named John was elected antipope against the nobility’s candidate, Pope Sergius II. [Can you identify the years every pope and antipope held his position?]
© FotoWorx/Fotolia
41 ce
Claudius I, who extended Roman rule in North Africa and made Britain a province of the Roman Empire, was affirmed as emperor, raised to the post one day after the murder of his nephew, Gaius Caesar (Caligula).