1496 - References in Leonardo da Vinci notebooks suggested that he tested his flying machine. The test didn't succeed and he didn't try to fly again for several years.
1521 - Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther.
1777 - The Battle of Princeton took place in the War of Independence, in which George Washington defeated the British forces, led by Cornwallis.
1815 - By secret treaty, Austria, Britain, and France formed a defensive alliance against Prusso-Russian plans to solve the Saxon and Polish problems.
1823 - Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and began colonization in the region of the Brazos River in Texas.
1825 - The first engineering college in the U.S. , Rensselaer School, opened in Troy, NY It is now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
1833 - Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. About 150 years later, Argentina seized the islands from the British, but Britain took them back after a 74-day war.
1868 - The Shogunate was abolished in Japan and Meiji dynasty was restored
1888 - The drinking straw was patented by Marvin C. Stone.
1924 - English explorer Howard Carter discovered the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt.
1925 - In Italy, Mussolini announced that he would take dictatorial powers.
1938 - The March of Dimes was established by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The organization fights poliomyelitis. The original name of the organization was the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
1947 - US. Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time. Viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and New York City saw some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th Congress.
1957 - The Hamilton Watch Company introduced the first electric watch.
1959 - In the USA., ALASKA became the 49th state.
1961 - The US. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.
1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicated Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro.
1967 - Jack Ruby died in a Dallas, TX, hospital.
1980 - Conservationist Joy Adamson, author of "Born Free," was killed in northern Kenya by a servant.
1983 - Tony Dorsett (Dallas Cowboys) made the longest run from scrimmage in NFL history. Dorsett ran 99 yards in a game against the Minnesota Vikings.
1984 - A woman died at Disneyland after falling from a ride. She had apparently unfastened her seatbelt while on the Matterhorn bobsled.
1988 - Margaret Thatcher became the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th century.
1990 - Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission.
1991 - The British government announced that seven Iraqi diplomats, another embassy staff member and 67 other Iraqis were being expelled from Britain.
1993 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Moscow.
1995 - WHO reported that the cumulative total of officially reported cases of AIDS had risen to 1,025,073 in 192 countries as at the end of 1994.
2004 - NASA's Spirit rover landed on Mars. The craft was able to send back black and white images three hours after landing.
