Today is Thursday, Jan. 27, the 27th day of 2011. There are 338 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight

in History

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan greeted the 52 former American hostages released by Iran at the White House.

On this date

In 1756, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.

In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.

In 1901, opera composer Giuseppe Verdi died in Milan, Italy, at age 87.

In 1943, some 50 bombers struck Wilhelmshaven in the first all-American air raid against Germany during World War II.

In 1944, the Soviet Union announced the complete end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.

In 1945, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

In 1951, an era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flat.

In 1967, astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft. More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons.

In 1973, the Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.

In 1977, the Vatican issued a declaration reaffirming the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on female priests.

Ten years ago

Two Darmouth College professors, Half and Susanne Zantop, were murdered at their home in Hanover, N.H., by two teenagers. (Robert Tulloch later pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy and is serving a sentence of life without parole; James Parker pleaded guilty to being an accomplice to second-degree murder and is serving a sentence of 25 years to life.) Ten people were killed when a plane that was bringing people home from Oklahoma State University’s basketball game against Colorado crashed in a field outside Denver. Lynn Swann and Ron Yary were both elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in their 14th year of eligibility.

Five years ago

Salzburg, Austria, held an exuberant 250th birthday party for its native son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Western Union delivered its last telegram. The first inhalable version of insulin, Exubera, won federal approval.

One year ago

Acknowledging that “change has not come fast enough,” President Barack Obama vowed in his State of the Union address to get jobless millions back to work while fighting for ambitious overhauls of health care, energy and education. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet computer during a presentation in San Francisco. J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” died in Cornish, N.H., at age 91. Actress Zelda Rubinstein died in Los Angeles at age 76.

Today’s Birthdays

Singer Bobby “Blue” Bland is 81. Actor James Cromwell is 71. Actor John Witherspoon is 69. Rock musician Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) is 66. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nedra Talley (The Ronettes) is 65. Ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov is 63. Chief U.S. Justice John Roberts is 56. Country singer Cheryl White is 56. Country singer-musician Richard Young (The Kentucky Headhunters) is 56. Actress Mimi Rogers is 55. Rock musician Janick Gers (Iron Maiden) is 54. Commentator Keith Olbermann is 52. Rock singer Margo Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) is 50. Rock musician Gillian Gilbert is 50. Actress Bridget Fonda is 47. Actor Alan Cumming is 46. Country singer Tracy Lawrence is 43. Rock singer Mike Patton is 43. Rapper Tricky is 43. Rock musician Michael Kulas (James) is 42. Actor-comedian Patton Oswalt is 42. Actor Josh Randall is 39. Country singer Kevin Denney is 35.

Thought for Today

“When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.”

— Jonathan Swift,

Anglo-Irish satirist (1667-1745)