This Day in History January 27 1822 Niels Christian Jensen Block, Mr. Seeley’s great- great-grandfather who immigrated to America in 1868, is born in Alborg, Denmark 1888 The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C., for the “increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge” 1944 During World War II, Soviet forces permanently break the Leningrad siege line, ending the almost 900-day German-enforced containment of the city, which cost hundreds of thousands of civilian lives 1945 In the closing months of World War II, Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz (in Poland), the largest Nazi death camp 1956 21-year-old Elvis Presley releases the single “Heartbreak Hotel”—it became his first #1 hit 1962 Gillian Gilbert, keyboardist for the English new wave band New Order, is born in Manchester, England 1967 A launch pad fire during the Apollo program tests at cape Canaveral, Florida, kills astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chafee 1969 The Beatles record their hit single “Get Back,” which would be featured on the band’s final album, Let It Be 1973 The United States, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam sign the Paris Peace accords, officially ending the Vietnam War 1973 Stevie Wonder’s hit single “Superstition” hits #1 on the Billboard charts 1980 Australian rock band AC/DC plays its final show with original lead singer Bon Scott, who died less than a month later after a night of excessive drinking 1984 During the filming of an ad for Pepsi in Los Angeles, things go horribly wrong when some stray pyrotechnics set pop star Michael Jackson’s hair on fire, causing 2nd- and 3rd- degree burns 2020 SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, Florida 2020 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issue a level 3 warning, urging U.S. travelers to avoid all nonessential travel to China due to the coronavirus outbreak 2021 January is now officially the deadliest month of the coronavirus pandemic for the U.S. with over 79,000 deaths, exceeding December 2020’s total of 77,124—April 2020 is the 3rd-deadliest month with 58,960 2021 President Biden announced yesterday that the U.S. has agreed to purchase an additional 200 million coronavirus vaccine doses, which means the country will have enough supply to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of the summer or beginning of fall 2021 Baseball legend Hank Aaron, who broke Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1974 and died on Friday at 86, will be buried today in Atlanta’s historic South- View Cemetery, the resting place of civil rights icons John Lewis, Julian Bond, and Martin Luther King Jr. 2021 A tornado ripped through Alabama yesterday, demolishing homes, injuring dozens, and killing one person