The Almanac, Celebrity Birthdays, Today in History, January 6 Today is Friday, Jan. 6, the sixth day of 2012 with 360 to follow. They include Joan of Arc in 1412; Frenchman Jacques Montgolfier, who, with his brother, invented the hot air balloon, in 1745; archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the ruins of ancient Troy, in 1822; poet Carl Sandburg in 1878; silent movie cowboy star Tom Mix in 1880; former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Sam Rayburn, D-Texas, in 1882; Lebanese writer Khalil Gibran in 1883; actors Danny Thomas in 1912 and Loretta Young in 1913; crossword puzzle constructor and editor Eugene Maleska in 1916; pollster Louis Harris in 1921 (age 91); bluegrass musician Earl Scruggs in 1924 (age 88); auto executive John DeLorean in 1925; author E.L. Doctorow in 1931 (age 81); U.S. football coach and broadcaster Lou Holtz in 1937 (age 75); hall of fame golfer Nancy Lopez in 1957 (age 55); hall of fame football player, actor and broadcaster Howie Long in 1960 (age 52); rock musician Syd Barrett in 1946; actors Bonnie Franklin in 1944 (age 68) and Rowan Atkinson in 1955 (age 57); and filmmaker John Singleton in 1968 (age 44). In 1759, George Washington married widow Martha Dandridge Custis. In 1838, in Morristown, N.J., Samuel F.B. Morse and his partner, Alfred Vail, publicly demonstrated their new invention, the telegraph, for the first time. In 1912, New Mexico joined the United States as the 47th state. In 1919, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, died at the age of 60. In 1925, Paavo Nurmi, known as the "Flying Finn" and regarded as the greatest runner of his day, set world records in the mile run and 5,000-meter run within the space of 1 hour in his first U.S. appearance, an indoor meet at New York City's new Madison Square Garden. In 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined the "Four Freedoms" in the State of the Union address. In 1942, a Pan American Airways plane arrived in New York, completing the first around-the-world flight by a commercial airliner. In 1950, Britain formally recognized the communist government of China. In 1984, the first test-tube quadruplets, all boys, were born in Melbourne, Australia. In 1993, dancer and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev died at age 54 of cardiac complications. His doctor later confirmed Nureyev had AIDS. Also in 1993, jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie died of cancer at age 75. And in 1993, it was announced that Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito would marry a 29-year-old Foreign Ministry official, a commoner. In 1994, American skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right knee in an attack that forced her out of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The assault was traced to four men with links to her leading rival, Tonya Harding. In 1998, some 300 people were reported to have been massacred in Algeria's civil war. In 1999, an agreement ended the six-month player lockout by owners of National Basketball Association teams. In 2005, a Texas appeals court overturned the murder conviction of Andrea Yates, the Houston-area woman who drowned her five children in their bathtub. The court, which ordered a new trial, cited judicial error. In 2006, rescuers worked through the night in an effort to reach Muslim pilgrims trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. At least 53 people were killed. In 2007, Iraqi military officials said at least 30 people died in a fight between soldiers and Sunni insurgents at a fake military checkpoint in Baghdad. In 2008, Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili won re-election with 52 percent of the vote in early balloting to calm massive protests. Demonstrators had accused him of abusing power and stifling dissent. In 2009, one of the most controversial attacks in Israel's assault on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip involved Israeli shelling near a U.N.-run school at a refugee camp, killing a reported 35 people. In 2010, a Nigerian man suspected of trying to destroy a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day was indicted on six counts by a Detroit grand jury. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder and other charges. Also in 2010, Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only officially recognized survivor of both the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that led to the Japanese surrender in World War II, died of stomach cancer at age 93. In 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama named William Daley, a Wall Street executive, to be his new chief of staff, succeeding Rahm Emanuel, who resigned to make a run for mayor of Chicago, a job held by Daley's father and brother. A thought for the day: "Problems are only opportunities in work clothes," Henry Kaiser once said.