1. On January 27, 1870, the Indiana legislature passed the "Descriptive Book Law," which required every Indiana resident to register their physical descriptions (such as height, weight, hair color, etc.) with the county clerk. This law was implemented to help identify criminals, but it was also used to discriminate against minority groups.

2. Indiana's first public health law was passed on January 27, 1881. This law required all school children to be vaccinated against smallpox, and it also provided for the formation of local boards of health.

3. The Indiana State Police was established on January 27, 1933. This law enforcement agency was initially created to combat rising crime rates during the Great Depression, and it has since become an integral part of Indiana's public safety infrastructure.

4. On January 27, 1967, a deadly fire broke out at the Apollo 1 spacecraft during a launch simulation. Three astronauts--Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee--were killed in the incident, which was later blamed on an electrical spark that ignited flammable materials in the cockpit.

5. Indiana's first professional basketball team, the Indianapolis Kautskys (later known as the Jets), played their inaugural game on January 27, 1937. The team was a founding member of the National Basketball League (NBL), which later merged with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to form the modern-day National Basketball Association (NBA).