February 23
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February 23 is the 53rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 311 days remaining after February 23 until the end of the year (312 in leap years).
[change] Events
- 1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.
- 1574 – The 5th holy war against the Huguenots begins in France.
- 1660 – Charles XI becomes King of Sweden.
- 1732 – First performance of George Frideric Handel's Orlando, in London.
- 1778 – American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
- 1820 – Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
- 1836 – The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
- 1847 – Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista – In Mexico, American troops defeat Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna.
- 1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.
- 1870 – Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
- 1874 – Walter Winfield patents a game called "sphairistike" which is more commonly called lawn tennis.
- 1883 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
- 1887 – The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
- 1893 – Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine.
- 1898 – Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse", a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Captain Alfred Dreyfus in jail.
- 1900 – Battle of Hart's Hill: In South Africa the Boers and British troops battle.
- 1903 – Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
- 1904 – For $10 million the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
- 1905 – Chicago, Illinois attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.
- 1909 – The Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
- 1919 – Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.
- 1927 – The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.
- 1934 – Léopold III becomes King of Belgium.
- 1940 – World War II: Soviet Union troops conquer Lasi Island.
- 1940 – The animated movie Pinocchio is released.
- 1945 – Early in the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Surabachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize.
- 1945 – World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.
- 1945 – World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań, city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.
- 1945 – World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed by a raid of 379 British bombers.
- 1947 – International Organization for Standardization(ISO) is founded.
- 1954 – The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- 1955 – First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
- 1955 – Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1956 – Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality".
- 1957 – The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc is opened in Dakar.
- 1958 – Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
- 1966 – A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.
- 1970 – Forbes Burnham declares Guyana a republic, severing ties to the British crown.
- 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
- 1975 – In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.
- 1980 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
- 1981 – 23-F, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
- 1983 – The Spanish Socialist government of Felipe González and Miguel Boyer nationalizes Rumasa, a holding of José María Ruiz Mateos.
- 1983 – The Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
- 1987 – A supernova is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud (see Supernova 1987a).
- 1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground-phase of the war.
- 1991 – Thailand: General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
- 1992 – The Socialist Labour Party is founded in Georgia.
- 1993 – Gary Coleman wins a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.
- 1995 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 30.28 to close at 4,003.33, closing above 4,000 for the first time.
- 1997 – A large fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.
- 1998 – Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
- 1998 – Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.
- 1998 – Netscape Communications Corporation announces the foundation of mozilla.org, to co-ordinate the development of the open source Mozilla web browser.
- 1999 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
- 1999 – White supremacist John William King is found guilty of kidnapping and killing African American James Byrd Jr by dragging him behind a truck for two miles.
- 1999 – An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.
- 2005 – Slovakia Summit 2005 begins, marking the first occasion when a sitting American President visits Slovakia; Bush and Putin are in attendance.
- 2007 – A passenger train crashes near Grayrigg, Cumbria, killing 1 person and injuring 22.
[change] Births
- 1417 – Pope Paul II (d. 1471)
- 1443 – Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (d. 1490)
- 1633 – Samuel Pepys, English naval officer and diarist (d. 1703)
- 1646 – Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shogun (d. 1709)
- 1664 – Georg Dietrich Leyding, German composer and organist (d. 1710)
- 1685 – Georg Friedrich Handel, German/British Baroque composer (d. 1759)
- 1792 – Jose Joaquin de Herrera, President of Mexico (d. 1854)
- 1803 – John Sutter, Swiss pioneer in California (d. 1880)
- 1817 – George Frederic Watts, British painter (d. 1904)
- 1842 – Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher (d. 1906)
- 1850 – Cesar Ritz, Swiss hotelier (d. 1918)
- 1852 – Duc Duc, Emperor of Vietnam (d. 1883)
- 1868 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American academic, writer and social activist (d. 1963)
- 1873 – Liang Qichao, Chinese scholar (d. 1929)
- 1874 – Konstantin Pats, President of Estonia (d. 1956)
- 1879 – Kazimir Malevich, Russian painter (d. 1935)
- 1883 – Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist and philosopher (d. 1969)
- 1889 – Victor Fleming, American film director (d. 1949)
- 1899 – Erich Kaestner, German writer (d. 1974)
- 1899 – Norman Taurog, American film director (d. 1981)
- 1904 – William L. Shirer, American historian (d. 1993)
- 1908 – William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
- 1915 – Paul Tibbets, American Air Force pilot (d. 2007)
- 1923 – Yiannis Grevas, 87th Prime Minister of Greece
- 1924 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South African physicist (d. 1998)
- 1927 – Willie Ormond, Scottish footballer (d. 1984)
- 1928 – Vasili Lazarev, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1990)
- 1929 – Patriarch Alexius II, Head of the Russian Orthodox Church (d. 2008)
- 1935 – Diane Shalet, American actress (d. 2006)
- 1938 – Diane Varsi, American actress (d. 1992)
- 1940 – Peter Fonda, American actor
- 1944 – Johnny Winter, American musician
- 1952 – Brad Whitford, American musician (Aerosmith)
- 1954 – Viktor Yushchenko, former President of Ukraine
- 1956 – Reinhold Beckmann, German journalist and television presenter
- 1960 – Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan
- 1965 – John Norum, Norwegian guitarist
- 1967 – Tamsin Greig, British actress
- 1971 – Melinda Messenger, British television presenter
- 1973 – Lars-Olof Johansson, Swedish musician
- 1976 – Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress
- 1981 – Gareth Barry, English footballer
- 1983 – Mido, Egyptian footballer
- 1983 – Mirco Bergamasco, Italian rugby player
- 1983 – Emily Blunt, British actress
- 1994 – Dakota Fanning, American actress
- 2012 – Princess Estelle, Duchess of Ostergotland, second-in-line to the throne of Sweden
[change] Deaths
- 1100 – Emperor Zhezong of China (b. 1076)
- 1464 – Zhengtong, Emperor of China (b. 1427)
- 1603 – Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician and botanist (b. 1519)
- 1766 – Stanislaw Leszczynski, King of Poland (b. 1677)
- 1792 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter (b. 1723)
- 1821 – John Keats, English poet (b. 1795)
- 1848 – John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States (b. 1767)
- 1855 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. 1777)
- 1879 – Albrecht Graf von Roon, Prime Minister of Prussia (b. 1803)
- 1931 – Nellie Melba, Australian operatic soprano (b. 1861)
- 1934 – Edward Elgar, English composer (b. 1857)
- 1944 – Leo Hendrik Baekeland, Flemish-American chemist, inventor of Bakelite (b. 1863)
- 1955 – Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (b. 1868)
- 1965 – Stan Laurel, English actor and comedian (b. 1890)
- 1969 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (b. 1902)
- 1973 – Dickinson W. Richards, American physician (b. 1895)
- 1976 – L. S. Lowry, English painter (b. 1887)
- 1984 – Uwe Johnson, German writer (b. 1934)
- 1990 – Jose Napoleon Duarte, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
- 1996 – Helmut Schoen, German football manager (b. 1915)
- 2000 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)
- 2004 – Vijay Anand, Indian film director (b. 1934)
- 2006 – Diane Shalet, American actress (b. 1935)
- 2008 – Janez Drnovsek, Slovenian politician (b. 1950)
- 2009 – Sverre Fehn, Norwegian architect (b. 1924)
- 2010 – Orlando Zapata, Cuban dissident, died after hunger strike (b. 1967)
