History of 30 January
- 1945 – World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 9,500 people.
- 1945 – World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: One hundred twenty-six American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied prisoners from the Japanese-controlled Cabanatuan POW camp.
- 1948 – Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist.
- 1948 – British South American Airways’ Tudor IV Star Tiger disappears over the Bermuda Triangle.
- 1956 – African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- 1959 – MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.
- 1960 – The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.
- 1964 – In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh’s military junta in South Vietnam.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.
- 1969 – The Beatles’ last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
- 1972 – The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British paratroopers open fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 people; another person later dies of injuries sustained.
- 1972 – Pakistan leaves the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of its recognition of breakaway Bangladesh.
- 1975 – The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.
- 1979 – A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
- 1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner”.
- 1989 – Closure of the American embassy in Kabul, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
- 1995 – Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
- 2000 – Off the coast of Ivory Coast, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.
- 2013 – Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.
Celebrating Birthday’s Today
- 1985 – Torrey Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Trae Williams, American football player
- 1986 – Nick Evans, American baseball player
- 1987 – Ben Cutting, Australian cricketer
- 1987 – Lance Franklin, Australian footballer
- 1987 – Phil Lester, English Internet celebrity
- 1987 – Becky Lynch, Irish wrestler
- 1987 – Renato Santos, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Arda Turan, Turkish footballer
- 1988 – Maksim Krychanov, Russian footballer
- 1988 – Rob Pinkston, American actor, and director
- 1989 – Tomás Mejías, Spanish footballer
- 1989 – Girish Kumar, Indian film actor
- 1990 – Yoon Bora, South Korean singer
- 1990 – Joe Colborne, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Andrew McCullough, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Nils Miatke, German footballer
- 1990 – Luca Sbisa, Swiss ice hockey player
- 1990 – Mitchell Starc, Australian cricketer
- 1990 – Phillip Supernaw, American football player
- 1991 – Stefan Elliott, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1993 – Katy Marchant, English track cyclist
- 1995 – Jack Laugher, English diver
- 1995 – Víctor Sánchez, Venezuelan baseball player