History of the Day for:
January 7
- 1610: Galileo Galilei discovered the first 4 Jupiter satellites, Io, Europa and Ganymede.
- 1714: The typewriter was patented by Englishman Henry Mill.
- 1782: The first commercial bank in the United States, the Bank of North America, opened in Philadelphia.
- 1785: Dr. John Jeffers and Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first balloon flight across the English Channel, crossing from Dover, England to Calais, France.
- 1789: The first U.S. presidential election was held. Americans voted for electors who, one month later, chose George Washington to be the nation's first president.
- 1830: The world's first railway station was opened at Mount Clare in Baltimore.
- 1894: One of the earliest motion picture experiments took place at the Thomas Edison studio in West Orange, N.J., as comedian Fred Ott was filmed sneezing.
- 1913: William M. Burton patented a process to "crack" petroleum, converting oil to produce gasoline.
- 1927: Commercial transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated between New York and London.
- 1927: The Harlem Globetrotters played their first game in Hinckley, Ill.
- 1929: "Buck Rogers," the first science fiction comic strip, premiered, as did "Tarzan," one of the first adventure comic strips.
- 1942: The World War II siege of Bataan began.
- 1944: The Air Force announced the production of the first U.S. jet fighter, the Bell P-59 Airacomet.
- 1949: The first photograph of genes was taken at the University of Southern California by Dr. Daniel Chapin Pease and Dr. Richard Freligh Baker.
- 1953: President Truman announced in his State of the Union address that the United States had developed a hydrogen bomb.
- 1959: The United States recognized Fidel Castro's new government in Cuba.
- 1970: Neighboring farmers sued Max Yasgur for $35,000 in damages caused by Woodstock.
- 1975: Led Zeppelin fans rioted before a Boston concert, causing $30,000 worth of damage and the cancellation of the concert.
- 1979: Vietnamese forces captured the capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.
- 1990: The Leaning Tower of Pisa, officially listed a public danger, was closed to tourists for the first time in its 800-year history for restoration work.
- 1993: The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President.
- 1999: The impeachment of President Bill Clinton begins.