What happened on 4 January?

7 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1643 Born: Isaac Newton English physicist and mathematician; laws of motion and universal gravitation, co-inventor of calculus — the towering figure of the Scientific Revolution.
2. 1894 Road to World War I The alliance system, imperial crises and arms races that divided Europe into armed camps, from the Franco-Russian Alliance to the outbreak of war.
3. 2010 Burj Khalifa World's tallest building opens in Dubai at 828 metres.
4. 1642 Charles I tries to arrest the Five Members The king marches into the House of Commons with four hundred swordsmen to seize five opposition MPs — and finds them already fled downriver. 'I see the birds are flown.' No monarch
5. 1894 Franco-Russian Alliance France and Russia form a defensive alliance, completing the encirclement of Germany.
6. 1948 Burmese independence Burma wins independence from Britain shortly after the assassination of its independence hero Aung San.
7. 2004 Mars Exploration Rovers land NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers land on Mars, returning evidence of past water and operating for years beyond their missions.