What Happened on January 13?

January 13 is National Rubber Ducky Day! It's also the day explorers founded the National Geographic Society and writer Emile Zola published his brave 'J'accuse' letter.

• 1888 — 33 explorers meet to found the National Geographic Society

  On a foggy Friday night at Washington's Cosmos Club, 33 scientists and explorers agreed to create a society 'for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge.' Read the full story →

• 1898 — Emile Zola publishes 'J'accuse' defending Alfred Dreyfus

  On the front page of the newspaper L'Aurore, novelist Emile Zola accused the French government of wrongly jailing Captain Alfred Dreyfus — one of history's bravest letters. Read the full story →

• 1942 — Henry Ford receives a patent for his soybean car chassis

  Ford won patent 2,269,452 for a lightweight tubular car frame built to carry body panels made partly from soybean-based plastic — a farm-to-factory experiment ahead of its time. Read the full story →

Famous birthdays

Salmon P. Chase (1808–1873) · Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1961) · Orlando Bloom (1977)

Days & observances

National Rubber Ducky Day · Korean American Day · Stephen Foster Memorial Day