Recorded history by calendar date
What happened on January 31?
Explore notable historical events, births, deaths, and observances connected with January 31. This page organizes a useful shortlist from recorded history so the date is easy to scan, cite, and explore further.
Looking for the weekday and calendar conversions too? View January 31, 2026 for the same month and day in the closest available year.
Events
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Births
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Deaths
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Observances
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On This Day in History
Major events, milestones, and turning points that happened on this date.
Curated highlights
The shortlist below is ordered to surface the most notable items first while keeping the page readable. When a holiday or observance is relevant, you’ll also see direct links into the related countdown pages.
Historical Events
1958
Explorer 1: first U.S. satellite
The United States launched its first satellite, which discovered the Van Allen radiation belts.
Births
No curated birth entries are in this shortlist for this date yet.
Deaths
No curated death entries are in this shortlist for this date yet.
Observances / Holidays
No observances are highlighted in the current shortlist for this date.
Why dates can carry multiple meanings
A single month-day can connect political milestones, scientific breakthroughs, notable lives, and annual observances. That is why Whatistheday groups this archive into events, births, deaths, and observances rather than mixing everything into one long timeline.
Some observances are fixed on the same Gregorian date every year, while others move because they follow lunar, lunisolar, or rule-based calendars. For calculation details, see the methodology page.
How long ago?
Curious how many days have passed since iconic moments in history? Browse our Days Since directory — live counters for the Moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11, and more.
Who was born on January 31?
See famous people born on this date — filterable by footballers, actors, musicians, scientists and more. View birthdays for January 31 →