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Important events of history that took place in India and elsewhere on today’s date.

13 January

🇮🇳 In India

1849 The Battle of Chillianwala was fought during the Second Anglo-Sikh War in the Chillianwala region of Punjab (Mandi Bahauddin), now part of modern-day Pakistan. The battle was one of the bloodiest fought by the British East India Company and was a strategic check to immediate British ambitions in India.

1938 Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, music composer and santoor player from the state of Jammu and Kashmir, was born.

1949 Rakesh Sharma, Air Force pilot who flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme, was born. He is the only Indian citizen to travel in space, although there have been other astronauts with an Indian background who were not Indian citizens.

1964 Hindu-Muslim rioting breaks out in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

1976 Ustad Ahmed Jan Khan "Thirakwa", tabla player, commonly considered the pre-eminent soloist among tabla players of the 20th century, died. He was one of the most influential percussionists in the history of Indian Classical Music.

🌎 Elsewhere

1404 The Act of Multipliers is passed by the English Parliament forbidding alchemists to use their knowledge to create precious metals (it was feared that if any alchemist should succeed it would bring ruin upon the state).

1610 Galileo Galilei discovers Callisto, fourth satellite of Jupiter.

1910 The first public radio broadcast takes place; a live performance operas is sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

1927 A woman takes a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, breaking the all-male tradition.

1930 Mickey Mouse comic strip first appears.

1941 Irish novelist James Joyce, author of Ulysses (1922), died in Zurich.

1943 Adolf Hitler declares "Total War" against the Allies.

1958 9,000 scientists of 43 nations petition UN for nuclear test ban.

1980 The United States offers Pakistan a two-year aid plan to counter the Soviet threat in Afghanistan.

1989 Computers across Britain hit by a virus called "Friday the 13th", also known as Jerusalem virus.

2000 Microsoft chairman Bill Gates steps aside as chief executive and promotes company president Steve Ballmer to the position.

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