January 25

Berl Katznelson, an intellectual architect of Labor Zionism and founding editor of the newspaper Davar, was born in Babruysk.

At the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, Pope John XXIII told a gathering of cardinals of his intent to convene an ecumenical council.

Joseph-Louis Lagrange, a founder of analytical mechanics and a major figure in analysis and number theory, was born in Turin.

Alexander Graham Bell in New York spoke with Thomas Watson in San Francisco in the ceremonial opening of the first telephone line spanning the United States.