This Day In History : January 31

1961 United States

Ham the Chimp Travels into Outer Space in 1961

On January 31, 1961, Ham the Chimp became the first hominid to travel into outer space aboard the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission. His successful flight provided crucial data on the effects of space travel on living organisms, contributing to human space exploration efforts.

Also on This Day in History January 31

Discover what happened on January 31 with HISTORY's summaries of major events, anniversaries,
famous births and notable deaths.

Births on This Day, January 31
  • 1868 Theodore William Richards

    American analytical chemist who was awarded the 1914 Nobel Prize for Chemistry "in recognition of his accurate determinations of the atomic weight of a large number of chemical elements."

  • 1769 André-Jacques Garnerin

    French aeronaut who was the first person to use a parachute regularly and successfully.

  • 1881 Joseph Augustine Cushman

    U.S. paleontologist and geologist known for his work on paleoecology as shown by Foraminifera (marine protozoans).

  • 1929 Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer

    He was a German physicist best known for his 1957 discovery of 'recoilless nuclear resonance fluorescence', for which he was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics

  • 1881 Irving Langmuir

    American physical chemist whose studies of molecular films on solid and liquid surfaces opened new fields in colloid research and biochemistry and won him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1932.

Deaths on This Day, January 31
  • 1995 George Robert Stibitz

    U.S. mathematician who was regarded by many as the "father of the modern digital computer."

  • 1977 Lee Raymond Dice

    American zoologist, geneticist and ecologist who introduced biotic provinces to characterize areas of continuous ecological similarity in climate, soils, and topography.

  • 1942 Carl Gassner

    German physician and inventor who was an eyes and ears specialist, but is best known for inventing the first dry cell battery (1886).

  • 1632 Joost Bürgi

    Swiss watchmaker and mathematician who invented logarithms independently of the Scottish mathematician John Napier.

  • 1941 Charles V. Chapin

    American physician and epidemiologist who, with Gardner T. Swarts, established the first municipal bacteriological laboratory in the U.S. (1888) in Providence, Rhode Island.

1962

End of OSCAR 1

In 1962, OSCAR 1, the first Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio burnt up in the Earth's atmosphere.
1858

Steamship Great Eastern

In 1858, the Great Eastern steamship was launched sideways on iron rails into the River Thames.
1953

Truman Announces Development of Hydrogen Bomb

On January 31, 1953, U.S. President Harry S. Truman made a historic announcement confirming the successful development of the hydrogen bomb, a vastly more powerful nuclear weapon than the atomic bombs used during World War II. This announcement marked a significant advancement in nuclear technology and intensified global concerns about the escalating arms race during the Cold War era.
1972

US Launches HEOS A-2 for Interplanetary Observations

On January 31, 1972, the United States launched the HEOS A-2 satellite for interplanetary observations. This mission aimed to gather data on the space environment and perform scientific studies beyond Earth's orbit, contributing to our understanding of the solar system and interplanetary space.
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