Famous people born on January 4 — and what else happened that day
If your birthday is January 4, you share it with Isaac Newton, Louis Braille, Michael Stipe — and you were born under Capricorn, the sign of the ambitious, disciplined, and built for the long game.
Birthday basics for January 4
Capricorn ♑
Zodiac sign
Garnet
Birthstone
Carnation
Birth flower
4th
Day of the year
January 4 is the 4th day of the year, with 361 days still to come.
Famous people born on January 4
Isaac Newton — English physicist and mathematician who formulated the laws of motion and gravity (born 1643).
Louis Braille — French educator who invented the Braille reading system for the blind (born 1809).
Michael Stipe — Lead singer of the rock band R.E.M. (born 1960).
Also sharing the day:
Jacob Grimm (b. 1785) — German scholar who, with his brother Wilhelm, collected the famous Grimm fairy tales.
Floyd Patterson (b. 1935) — American boxer who became the youngest world heavyweight champion of his era.
Julia Ormond (b. 1965) — English actress known for Legends of the Fall and Sabrina.
January 4 in history
1896 — Utah was admitted to the Union as the 45th U.S. state.
1958 — Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, fell back to Earth after nearly three months in orbit.
2004 — NASA's rover Spirit landed successfully on Mars.
1948 — Burma (now Myanmar) gained its independence from Britain.
2007 — Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
2010 — The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building, officially opened.
January 4 birthday questions
What zodiac sign is January 4?
Anyone born on January 4 is a Capricorn — ambitious, disciplined, and built for the long game.
What is the birthstone for January 4?
The birthstone for a January 4 birthday is Garnet, and the birth flower is the Carnation.
Who is the most famous person born on January 4?
Isaac Newton is among the best known — English physicist and mathematician who formulated the laws of motion and gravity (born 1643).
What happened on January 4?
In 1896, Utah was admitted to the Union as the 45th U.S. state.
What day of the year is January 4?
January 4 is the 4th day of the year, with 361 days still to come.
Make their day unforgettable
Know someone born on January 4? See the full story of their exact birthday — the headlines, the #1 song, what things cost — and turn it into a personalized front-page newspaper they can keep.