January 7
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Featured Event
Dana Berry/SkyWorks Digital/NASA
On this day in 1972, scientists Louise Webster and Paul Murdin announced that they had confirmed the existence of a black hole for the first time. Using the Isaac Newton Telescope in East Sussex, England, the scientists measured the strangely powerful X-ray energy present in the northern constellation Cygnus. The scientists’ findings revealed that Cygnus X-1 (or Cyg X-1), which had previously been classified as one star, was actually a binary system made up of a star and a black hole that was slowly pulling that star into its depths. Cyg X-1 is believed to be one of the fastest spinning black holes discovered. [Read today’s edition of Today in History >>]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Universal History Archive/Shutterstock.com
Emperor Hirohito—the longest-reigning monarch in Japanese history, who was enthroned in 1926, ruled during World War II and in democratic postwar Japan, and died this day in 1989—was succeeded by his son Akihito.
Famous Birthdays
More on January 7
© Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times—MediaNews Group/Getty Images
2026
Renee Good was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Minneapolis during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation by the U.S. federal government. Good’s death resulted in protests in Minnesota and nationwide and heightened tensions over ICE’s actions in Minnesota.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2025
The Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires began. They burned tens of thousands of acres and were just a few of the wildfires that destroyed parts of the Los Angeles region in early 2025. [Explore a list of 10 of the world’s largest fires.]
© Geoffroy Van der Hasselt S—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
2015
Two gunmen connected to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemeni-based militant group, stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 people in retribution for the satirical magazine’s portrayals of the Prophet Muhammad; the attackers were later killed by police.
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2003
By presidential decree, Christmas—this day on the Coptic Orthodox calendar—was celebrated for the first time as a national holiday in Egypt, an almost entirely Muslim country. [Test your knowledge of Egyptian history.]
Eric Draper/The White House
2001
John Kufuor was inaugurated as president of Ghana in that country’s first peaceful transition from one elected government to another. [Take our quiz about African leaders.]
© Bettmann/Getty Images
1979
Vietnamese forces took control of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, ousting the Khmer Rouge and its leader, Pol Pot. [How much do you know about Asia?]
NASA/JSC
1968
Uncrewed U.S. space probe Surveyor 7 was launched and, a few days later, made a soft landing on the Moon. [Test your knowledge of the Moon.]
© Everett Collection/Shutterstock.com
1957
American broadcast journalist Katie Couric, who was the first solo female anchor of a major network (CBS) evening news program, was born. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about pop culture.]
Courtesy of RCA Records
1955
American contralto Marian Anderson first performed with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. [Discover how much you know about opera.]
Brown Brothers
1891
Zora Neale Hurston, an American folklorist and writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance who celebrated black culture of the rural South, was born. [Take our writers of the Harlem Renaissance quiz.]
© General Photographic Agency— Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1844
St. Bernadette, the French girl whose visions of the Virgin Mary led to the founding of the shrine of Lourdes, was born in that town. [Test your knowledge of saints.]
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
1800
Millard Fillmore, the 13th U.S. president, was born. [Take our presidents of the United States quiz.]