History of the Day for:
January 24
- 1639: The Connecticut colony was organized under Fundamental Orders.
- 1742: Charles VII, king of Germany, was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire during the War of the Austrian Succession.
- 1848: James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of 1849.
- 1899: Humphrey O'Sullivan patented the rubber heel.
- 1908: The first Boy Scout troop was organized in England by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, a general in the British Army.
- 1922: Christian K. Nelson of Onawa, Iowa, patented the Eskimo Pie.
- 1924: The Russian city of St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in honor of the late revolutionary leader.
- 1935: The first canned beer, "Krueger Cream Ale," was sold by the Kruger Brewing Company in Richmond, Va.
- 1936: Benny Goodman and his orchestra recorded "Stompin' at the Savoy" on Victor Records.
- 1943: World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
- 1947: The NFL revised its rules, adding a fifth official (back judge) and allowing sudden death in playoffs.
- 1958: After warming to 100 million degrees, two light atoms were bashed together to create a heavier atom, resulting in the first man-made nuclear fusion.
- 1961: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. One weapon nearly detonates; its uranium core is still lost.
- 1962: Jackie Robinson became the first black player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame; the Beatles signed a management contract with Brian Epstein.
- 1964: The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect and states voting rights could not be denied due to failure to pay taxes.
- 1965: Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.
- 1978: Soviet satellite Cosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor onboard, burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.
- 1984: Apple Computer Inc. unveiled its Macintosh personal computer.
- 1989: Confessed serial killer Theodore Bundy was put to death in Florida's electric chair for the 1978 kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach.
- 1986: Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 km (50,680 miles) of Uranus.
- 1993: Turkish journalist and writer Ugur Mumcu is assassinated by a car bomb in Ankara.
- 1996: Polish Premier Jozef Oleksy resigns amid charges that he spied for Moscow.
- 2002: American journalist Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan.
- 2003: The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.