What Happened On This Day ? January 8
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1994
Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov begins his record spaceflight
Polyakov stayed aboard the Mir space station for a record-breaking 437 days and 18 hours.
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1959
Charles de Gaulle becomes president of France
His right-wing political ideology, Gaullism, still influences French politics today.
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1912
The African National Congress (ANC) is founded
The ANC, whose most famous member is Nelson Mandela, played an important role in the fight against the South African apartheid regime and it is now the country's governing political party.
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1889
Computer pioneer Herman Hollerith patents his punched card calculator
His invention paved the way for modern automatic computation.
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1790
George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address
The U.S. president typically uses this annual speech to outline his political agenda.
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1967
R. Kelly
American singer-songwriter, producer, actor
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1947
David Bowie
English singer-songwriter, producer, actor
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1942
Stephen Hawking
English physicist, author
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1935
Elvis Presley
American singer, guitarist, actor
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1934
Jacques Anquetil
French cyclist
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1996
Francois Mitterrand
French politician, 21st President of France
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1990
Terry-Thomas
British actor
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1976
Zhou Enlai
Chinese politician, 1st Premier of the People's Republic of China
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1942
Joseph Franklin Rutherford
American lawyer, religious leader
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1642
Galileo Galilei
Italian astronomer, physicist