"The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching."
On this day: January 7
January 7: Christmas (Eastern Christianity; Julian calendar); Victory over Genocide Day in Cambodia; Laba Festival in China (2025)
- 1797 – The Italian tricolour was first adopted as an official flag by the government of the Cispadane Republic.
- 1904 – The Marconi International Marine Communication Company specified CQD (audio featured) as the distress signal to be used by its operators.
- 1939 – French physicist Marguerite Perey identified francium, the last element to be discovered in nature rather than by synthesis.
- 1979 – The People's Army of Vietnam captured Phnom Penh, marking the end of large-scale fighting in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
- 2020 – After 253 days without an operational government, a second round of investiture votes produced Spain's first coalition government since the Second Republic.
- Francis Poulenc (b. 1899)
- Melly Goeslaw (b. 1974)
- Richard Hamming (d. 1998)
- Run Run Shaw (d. 2014)