January 27th
1756
Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.
1880
Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
1901
Opera ccomposer Guseppe Verdi died in Milan, Italy at age 87.
1943
Some 50 bombers struck Wilhelmshaven in the first all-American air raid against Germany during World War Two.
1944
The Soviet Union announced the complete end of the deadly German seige of Leningrad, which had lasted more than two years.
1945
Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concrentation camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.
1951
An era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flat.
1967
Astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft.
1967
More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons.
1973
The Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris, France.
1981
President Ronald Reagan greeted the 52 former American hostages released by Iran at the White House.
1985
A secret three day military satellite mission of the space shuttle Discovery ended with a smooth landing in Florida.
2007
Barry & Barbara Salzman of Arizona won the Powerball and took the cash option of $7,002,801.02.