January 22, 1889 - The Columbia Phonograph Company is formed in Washington, D.C..

January 22, 1903 - The rights to build the Panama Canal are given to the United States by Columbia.

January 22, 1939 - A uranium atom is split for the first time at Columbia University in New York. Scientists used the university's cyclotron. Subsequent events related to this include the Manhattan Project and the atom bomb.

January 22, 1946 - President Harry Truman issues a directive to establish the Central Intelligence Group, later renamed the Central Intelligence Agency.

January 22, 1968 - Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In premieres on network television. NBC ran the program for five years.

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January 22, 1973 - The U.S. Supreme Court, in the Roe v. Wade decision, rules that women can terminate a pregnancy during the first two trimesters.

January 22, 1997 - The first human to be hit by a piece of man-made space junk is American. Lottie Williams is hit by a six-inch metal piece from a Delta II rocket while taking a walk.

January 22, 1998 - Theodore Kaczynski pleads guilty and admits he is the Unabomber.

 

"Men fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate laws to take it away from themselves." - unknown