January 5

January 05, 2026

It's the 5th of January.

January the 5th it is.

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having a double-sided head. The month of January is named for Janus

Different depictions of Janus from Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures

It's National Bird Day

On this day in 1933 – Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.

In 1953 – The play "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett receives its première in Paris.

In 1969 – The Venera 5 space probe is launched

In 1972 – US President Richard Nixon announces the Space Shuttle program

In 2005 – The dwarf planet Eris is discovered by Palomar Observatory-based astronomers, later motivating the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term planet for the first time.

Artist's impression of Eris and it's moon Dysnomia

Birthdays

Francisco Suárez. According to Christopher Shields and Daniel Schwartz, "figures as distinct from one another in place, time, and philosophical orientation as Leibniz, Grotius, Pufendorf, Schopenhauer and Heidegger, all found reason to cite him as a source of inspiration and influence."

Paolo Lorenzani
"Motet for the Confessors"

Rudolf Eucken
- "The problem of human life as viewed by the great thinkers from Plato to the present time"

Nikolai Medtner

"Six Tales"

Humbert Wolfe

Pablo Gargollo
"Portrait of Picasso"