What are the important events that happened on January 31? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

January 31: Facts & Myths About This Day

January 31 is the 31^st day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 334 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is January 18, 2025 – a Friday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 482,856 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘triacontahenagon’ day.

Aquarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Garnet is the modern birthstone for this month. Emerald is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 382 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,424 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

January 31 Historical Events

• 1606 –
  Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
• 1814 –
  Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
• 1862 –
  Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5 in telescope now located at Northwestern University.
• 1867 –
  Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board a French ship bound for Algeria
• 1919 –
  The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.
• 1943 –
  German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of World War II’s fiercest battles.
• 1945 –
  World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.
• 1957 –
  Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
• 1966 –
  The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.
• 1995 –
  New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Wood Pig in Chinese astrology.

Who were born on January 31?

• 36 BC –
  Antonia Minor, daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor (d. 38 AD)
• 1884 –
  Theodor Heuss, German statesman (d. 1963)
• 1915 –
  Thomas Merton, American author and monk (d. 1968)
• 1927 –
  Norm Prescott, American animation producer (d. 2005)
• 1930 –
  Lynn Carlin, American actress
• 1939 –
  Claude Gauthier, Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1941 –
  Jessica Walter, American actress
• 1949 –
  Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and sports journalist
• 1967 –
  Jason Cooper, English musician (The Cure)
• 1980 –
  Tiffany Limos, American actress

Who died on January 31?

• 1794 –
  Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral (b. 1711)
• 1815 –
  José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan independentist leader (b. 1775)
• 1923 –
  Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish assassin of Gabriel Narutowicz (b. 1869)
• 1942 –
  Henry Larkin, American baseball player (b. 1860)
• 1955 –
  John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
• 1976 –
  Ernesto Miranda, American litigant (b. 1941)
• 1999 –
  Barış Manço, Turkish singer, composer, television producer and celebrity. (b. 1943)
• 2004 –
  Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (b. 1913)
• 2007 –
  Adelaide Tambo, South African activist, widow of Oliver Tambo (b. 1929)
• 2007 –
  Lee Bergere, American actor (b. 1924)