What happened on January 6 ?

664 - Amr ibn al-A'as, Muslim general

1088 - Berengar of Tours, French theologian

1448 - Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (b. 1418)

1537 - Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence (b. 1510)

1537 - Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (b. 1481)

1616 - Philip Henslowe, English theatrical entrepreneur

1689 - Bishop Seth Ward, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1671)

1711 - Philipp van Almonde, Dutch admiral (b. 1646)

1718 - Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian writer and jurist (b. 1664)

1718 - Richard Hoare, English goldsmith and banker (b. 1648)

1724 - Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Japanese dramatist (b. 1653)

1731 - ÿtienne François Geoffroy, French chemist (b. 1672)

1734 - John Dennis, English critic and dramatist (b. 1657)

1813 - Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers, French general (b. 1764)

1840 - Fanny Burney, English novelist and diarist (b. 1752)

1852 - Louis Braille, French teacher of the blind (b. 1809)

1855 - Giacomo Beltrami, Italian explorer (b. 1779)

1884 - Gregor Johann Mendel, Austrian geneticist (b. 1822)

1885 - Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Norwegian writer and scientist (b. 1812)

1913 - Frederick Hitch, English Victoria Cross Winner

1918 - Georg Cantor, German mathematician (b. 1845)

1919 - Max Heindel, Danish astrologer and mystic (b. 1865)

1919 - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1858)

1928 - Alvin Kraenzlein, American athlete (b. 1876)

1937 - André Besette, Canadian religious figure (b. 1845)

1942 - Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian International Olympic Committee president (b. 1876)

1945 - Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian mineralogist (b. 1863)

1949 - Victor Fleming, American director (b. 1883)

1972 - Chen Yi, Chinese communist military commander and politician (b. 1901)

1981 - A.J. Cronin, Scottish writer (b. 1896)

1981 - Karl Dönitz, WWII German U-boat Commander, WWII German Navy Commander and Grand Admiral, Third Reich President (b. 1891)

1990 - Ian Charleson, Scottish actor (b. 1949)

1990 - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)

1992 - Dizzy Gillespie, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1917)

1993 - Rudolf Nureyev, Russian ballet dancer (b. 1938)

1995 - Joe Slovo, South African politician (b. 1926)

1996 - Yahya Ayyash, Palestinian leader (b. 1966)

1997 - Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (b. 1912)

2000 - Don Martin, American cartoonist (b. 1931)

2004 - Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (b. 1954)

2004 - Charles Dumas, American athlete (b. 1937)

2004 - Francesco Scavullo, American photographer (b. 1921)

2005 - Lois Hole, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (b. 1933)

2005 - Louis Robichaud, Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1925)

2006 - Lou Rawls, American singer (b. 1933)

2006 - Hugh Thompson, Jr. U.S. Army hero (b. 1943)