Dashed left edge = started before January 2024 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond January 2024
Events in January 2024 23
1926 – 2024Norman Jewison (1926-2024)Died 20 January 2024, aged 97Canadian director whose films included In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof and Moonstruck.
1933 – 2024Chita Rivera (1933-2024)Died 30 January 2024, aged 91American dancer, singer and actress whose Broadway career ran from West Side Story to Chicago.
1933 – 2024Arno Penzias (1933-2024)Died 22 January 2024, aged 90German-American astrophysicist who shared the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physics for detecting the cosmic microwave background.
1934 – 2024N. Scott Momaday (1934-2024)Died 24 January 2024, aged 89The first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize, for House Made of Dawn.
1934 – 2024Niklaus Wirth (1934-2024)Died 1 January 2024, aged 89Swiss computer scientist who designed Pascal and won the 1984 Turing Award.
1935 – 2024Carl Andre (1935-2024)Died 24 January 2024, aged 88American sculptor associated with Minimalism, known for floor pieces of plain industrial units.
1940 – 2024Queen Margrethe IIThe Artist QueenA popular monarch and stage designer who reigned for 52 years before her surprise 2024 abdication.
1943 – 2024David Soul (1943-2024)Died 4 January 2024, aged 80American actor and musician best known for Starsky & Hutch, who also topped the charts with Don't Give Up on Us.
1944 – 2024Jose Agustin (1944-2024)Died 16 January 2024, aged 79Mexican novelist whose prolific work captured urban youth culture, violence and decay.
1945 – 2024Franz BeckenbauerDer KaiserInvented the modern sweeper role; won the World Cup as both a player (1974) and a manager (1990).
1948 – 2024Mary Weiss (1948-2024)Died 19 January 2024, aged 75American singer of the Shangri-Las, the girl group behind Leader of the Pack.
1972 – 2024Margrethe IIQueen of DenmarkMargrethe II became the first female Danish monarch in centuries and was widely respected for her long reign.
2024Australian Open 2024Men: Jannik Sinner · Women: Aryna SabalenkaSinner's first Grand Slam. Sabalenka defended.
20242024: Max VerstappenRed BullVerstappen won his fourth consecutive title despite a less dominant Red Bull, showing his abilities as a driver in a tighter championship battle with McLaren's Lando Norris.
2024New Infinity Mirror Room in LondonUnveiled a new Infinity Mirror Room — Beauty Described by a Spherical Heart — at the Victoria Miro Gallery in London, demonstrating that her creative powers remained undiminished at 95. Cyndi Lauper's farewell tour featured Kusama-designed sets and costumes.
2024Noto Peninsula earthquake strikes JapanA magnitude 7.5 quake on New Year's DayA magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on 1 January 2024, killing more than 400 people and destroying thousands of buildings.
2024Nvidia becomes most valuable companyAI chip demand drives $3 trillion valuationNvidia briefly surpassed Microsoft and Apple to become the world's most valuable company in June 2024, driven by extraordinary demand for its AI chips. Its market cap reached $3.3 trillion.
2024Collision at Haneda AirportA Japan Airlines A350 burns out with all 379 aboard evacuatedA Japan Airlines Airbus A350 collided with a coastguard aircraft on landing at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on 2 January 2024. All 379 people aboard the airliner escaped before it was destroyed by fire; five coastguard crew died.
2024Door plug blows out of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9A fuselage panel departs at 16,000 feetA door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 shortly after take-off on 5 January 2024. Nobody was seriously hurt, but the incident grounded the type and reopened scrutiny of Boeing's production quality.
2024Lai Ching-te wins Taiwan's presidential electionA third consecutive term for the DPPLai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party won Taiwan's presidential election on 13 January 2024, giving the party an unprecedented third consecutive term.
2024 – presentFrederik XKing of DenmarkFrederik X became king after the abdication of Queen Margrethe II.
2024Japan lands SLIM on the MoonThe fifth nation to achieve a soft lunar landingJapan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon touched down on 20 January 2024, making Japan the fifth country to land softly on the Moon. The craft came to rest tilted, limiting its power.
2024ICJ orders Israel to prevent acts of genocide in GazaAn interim ruling in South Africa's caseThe International Court of Justice ruled on 26 January 2024 that Israel must take all measures within its power to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, in interim orders on a case brought by South Africa.