February 23

February 23 in recent years

2024 (Friday)

2023 (Thursday)

2022 (Wednesday)

2021 (Tuesday)

2020 (Sunday)

2019 (Saturday)

2018 (Friday)

2017 (Thursday)

2016 (Tuesday)

2015 (Monday)

February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 311 days remain until the end of the year (312 in leap years).

Events

• 1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.
• 1660 – Charles XI becomes King of Sweden.
• 1739 – Richard Palmer is identified at York Castle, by his former schoolteacher, as the outlaw Dick Turpin.
• 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 Battle of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
• 1846 – John Henry Newman leaves the Church of England and is received into the Roman Catholic Church.
• 1847 – Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista – In Mexico, American troops under General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
• 1848 – The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins.
• 1854 – The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.
• 1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1870 – In the United States, post-Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
• 1883 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
• 1886 – Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of man-made aluminum, after several years of intensive work. He was assisted in this project by his older sister Julia Brainerd Hall.
• 1887 – The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
• 1896 – The Tootsie Roll is invented.
• 1898 – Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse", a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
• 1900 – In South Africa, Boers and British troops fight in the Battle of Hart's Hill.
• 1903 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
• 1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.
• 1909 – The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
• 1917 – First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.
• 1918 – First victory of Red Army over the Kaiser's German troops near Narva and Pskov. In honor of this victory, the date is celebrated from 1923 onward as "Red Army Day"; it is renamed Defender of the Fatherland Day after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and is colloquially known as "Men's Day".
• 1927 – The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.
• 1927 – German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.
• 1934 – Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.
• 1941 – Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
• 1942 – World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the California coastline near Santa Barbara.
• 1943 – A fire breaks out at St. Joseph's Orphanage, County Cavan, Ireland, killing 36 people (35 of whom are children).
• 1944 – The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.
• 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a commonly forgotten U.S. Navy Corpsman, reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.
• 1945 – World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free the captives of the Los Baños internment camp.
• 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. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.
• 1945 – World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed in a raid by 379 British bombers.
• 1947 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
• 1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
• 1955 – First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
• 1958 – Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
• 1966 – In Syria, Baath party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin Hafiz, also a Baathist.
• 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
• 1980 – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
• 1981 – In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
• 1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
• 1987 – Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
• 1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.
• 1991 – In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
• 1997 – A small fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.
• 1998 – In the United States, 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"; the latter term is commonly interpreted to refer to the people of Europe and the United States.
• 1999 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
• 1999 – An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.
• 2005 – The controversial French law on colonialism is passed, requiring teachers to teach the "positive values of colonialism". After public outcry, it is repealed at the beginning of 2006.
• 2007 – A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 22. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.
• 2008 – A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit crashes on Guam. It is the first operational loss of a B-2.
• 2010 – Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in Northern Italy, causing an environmental disaster.

Births

• 1417 – Pope Paul II (d. 1471)
• 1443 – Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, King of Hungary and Croatia (d. 1490)
• 1583 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French scientist (d. 1656)
• 1633 – Samuel Pepys, English naval administrator and man of letters, posthumously famous as a diarist (d. 1703)
• 1646 – Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shogun (d. 1709)
• 1648 – Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (d. 1730)
• 1680 – Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, French colonizer and Governor of Louisiana (d. 1767)
• 1685 – George Frideric Handel, German/British Baroque composer (d. 1759)
• 1723 – Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (d. 1791)
• 1729 – Josiah Hornblower, American statesman (d. 1809)
• 1744 – Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German-born banker (d. 1812)
• 1809 – William Sprague, American minister and politician from Michigan (d. 1868)
• 1840 – Frederick Wicks, English author and inventor (d. 1910)
• 1842 – Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher (d. 1906)
• 1850 – César Ritz, Swiss hotelier (d. 1918)
• 1868 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American civil rights leader (d. 1963)
• 1873 – Liang Qichao, Chinese scholar (d. 1929)
• 1874 – Konstantin Päts, Estonian president (d. 1956)
• 1878 – Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian painter and art theorist (d. 1935)
• 1883 – Karl Jaspers, German philosopher (d. 1969)
• 1889 – Victor Fleming, American director (d. 1949)
• 1889 – Musidora, French actress and director (d. 1957)
• 1889 – John Gilbert Winant, American politician (d. 1947)
• 1891 – Harold Horder, Australian rugby league player (d. 1978)
• 1899 – Erich Kästner, German writer (d. 1974)
• 1899 – Norman Taurog, American film director (d. 1981)
• 1901 – Edgar Ende, German painter (d. 1965)
• 1904 – Terence Fisher, English film director (d. 1980)
• 1904 – William L. Shirer, American historian (d. 1993)
• 1904 – Leopold Trepper, Soviet spy (d. 1982)
• 1908 – William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
• 1914 – Theofiel Middelkamp, Dutch cyclist (d. 2005)
• 1915 – Jon Hall, American actor (d. 1979)
• 1915 – Paul Tibbets, US Air Force retired Brigadier General and pilot of B-29 "Enola Gay" over Hiroshima (d. 2007)
• 1918 – Richard G. Butler, founder of Aryan Nations (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Canadian politician
• 1923 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan politician
• 1923 – Yiannis Grivas, Greek judge, 87th Prime Minister of Greece
• 1924 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South-African born physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
• 1924 – Claude Sautet, French film director (d. 2000)
• 1927 – Régine Crespin, French operatic soprano (d. 2007)
• 1928 – Hans Herrmann, German race car driver
• 1928 – Vasili Lazarev, cosmonaut (d. 1990)
• 1929 – Elston Howard, American baseball player (d. 1980)
• 1931 – Tom Wesselmann, American collage artist (d. 2004)
• 1932 – Majel Barrett, American actress (d. 2008)
• 1933 – Donna J. Stone, American poet (d. 1994)
• 1937 – Tom Osborne, American football coach and politician
• 1938 – Paul Morrissey, American film director
• 1938 – Diane Varsi, American actress (d. 1992)
• 1940 – Peter Fonda, American actor
• 1941 – Ron Hunt, baseball player
• 1943 – Fred Biletnikoff, American football player and coach
• 1944 – Bernard Cornwell, English historical novelist
• 1944 – John Sandford, American novelist
• 1944 – Johnny Winter, American musician
• 1945 – Allan Boesak, South African activist
• 1946 – Rusty Young, American country-rock guitarist (Poco)
• 1947 – John McWethy, American journalist (d. 2008)
• 1947 – Pia Kjærsgaard, Danish politician
• 1948 – Doug Moench, American comic book writer
• 1949 – Marc Garneau, Canadian astronaut
• 1950 – Maxi, Irish singer and radio personality
• 1951 – Ed Jones, American football player
• 1951 – Patricia Richardson, American actress
• 1952 – Brad Whitford, American musician (Aerosmith)
• 1953 – Kenny Bee,Hong Kong actor,musician and singer
• 1953 – Satoru Nakajima, Japanese racing driver
• 1954 – Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
• 1955 – Tom Bodett, American voice actor, radio personality, and writer
• 1955 – Howard Jones, British pop singer
• 1955 – Flip Saunders, American basketball coach
• 1957 – Ria Brieffies, Dutch singer (d. 2009)
• 1958 – Tony Barrell, English writer and journalist
• 1958 – David Sylvian, English musician (Japan, Nine Horses)
• 1959 – Clayton Anderson, American astronaut
• 1959 – Richard Dodds, British field hockey player
• 1960 – Alan Griffin, Australian politician
• 1960 – Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan
• 1961 – Kelly Hansen, American drummer (Summer Lights)
• 1962 – Michael Wilton, American musician (Queensrÿche)
• 1963 – Bobby Bonilla, former baseball player
• 1963 – Radosław Sikorski, Polish politician
• 1964 – John Norum, Norwegian guitarist (Europe)
• 1965 – David E. Clemmer, American ion mobility-mass spectrometrist, 2006 recipient of Biemann Medal
• 1965 – Michael Dell, American computer manufacturer
• 1965 – Helena Suková, Czech former tennis player
• 1966 – Neal McDonough, American actor
• 1967 – Tamsin Greig, English actress
• 1967 – Chris Vrenna, American musician, producer and sound engineer Nine Inch Nails, Tweaker
• 1968 – Justin Bell, British racing driver
• 1969 – Marc Wauters, Belgian cyclist
• 1969 – Michael Campbell, New Zealand golfer
• 1970 – Marie-Josée Croze, Canadian actress
• 1970 – Niecy Nash, American actress
• 1971 – Jeong Chan, South Korean actor
• 1971 – Don Maxwell, Canadian cricketer
• 1971 – Melinda Messenger, English television presenter
• 1971 – Joe-Max Moore, American soccer player
• 1972 – Steve Holy, American country singer
• 1972 – Alessandro Sturba, Italian footballer
• 1972 – Rondell White, American baseball player
• 1973 – Jack Case, American artist
• 1973 – Lars-Olof Johansson, Swedish musician (The Cardigans)
• 1974 – Leko, American DJ
• 1974 – Herschelle Gibbs, South African cricketer
• 1975 – Michael Cornacchia, American actor
• 1975 – Robert Lopez, American composer
• 1975 – Natalia Verbeke, Argentine actress
• 1976 – Kelly Macdonald, British actress
• 1976 – Scott Elarton, American baseball player
• 1977 – Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, Estonian cross-country skier
• 1978 – René Pérez, Puerto Rican musician (Calle 13)
• 1978 – Dan Snyder, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2003)
• 1978 – Jo Joyner, English actress
• 1979 – S.E. Cupp, American author and political commentator
• 1981 – Gareth Barry, English footballer
• 1981 – Charles Tillman, American football player
• 1982 – Adam Hann-Byrd, American actor
• 1982 – Karan Singh, Indian actor
• 1982 – Malia Metella, French swimmer
• 1983 – Mirco Bergamasco, Italian rugby player
• 1983 – Mido, Egyptian footballer
• 1983 – Emily Blunt, British actress
• 1983 – Aziz Ansari, Indian-American comedian
• 1983 – Courtney Culkin, American Playboy Playmate
• 1986 – Ola Svensson, Swedish pop singer
• 1986 – Skylar Grey, American musician
• 1986 – Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese idol (KAT-TUN)
• 1986 – Jerod Mayo, American football player
• 1987 – Elysa Montfort, Gay rights activist
• 1989 – Evan Bates, American ice dancer
• 1992 – Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
• 1994 – Dakota Fanning, American actress

Deaths

• 155 – Polycarp, Christian bishop of Smyrna (b. 69)
• 943 – Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, (b. 884)
• 1011 – Willigis, Archbishop of Mainz (b. 940)
• 1072 – Peter Damian, theologian and Doctor of the Church (b. 1007)
• 1100 – Emperor Zhezong of China (b. 1076)
• 1270 – Saint Isabel of France, daughter of Louis VIII of France (b. 1225)
• 1447 – Pope Eugene IV (b. 1383)
• 1447 – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1390)
• 1464 – Zhengtong, Emperor of China (b. 1427)
• 1526 – Diego Colón, Spanish Viceroy of the Indies
• 1554 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English politician and nobelman (b. c.1515)
• 1572 – Pierre Certon, French composer
• 1603 – Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (b. 1519)
• 1669 – Leo Aitzema, Dutch historian and statesman (b. 1600)
• 1704 – Georg Muffat, French composer (b. 1653)
• 1766 – Stanislaw Leszczynski, King of Poland (b. 1677)
• 1781 – George Taylor, American signatory to the Declaration of Independence (b. c.1716)
• 1792 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter (b. 1723)
• 1800 – Joseph Warton, English literary critic (b. 1722)
• 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)
• 1859 – Zygmunt Krasiński, Polish Romantic poet (b. 1812)
• 1879 – Albrecht Graf von Roon, Prime Minister of Prussia (b. 1803)
• 1897 – Woldemar Bargiel, German composer (b. 1828)
• 1908 – Johannes Friedrich August von Esmarch, German surgeon (b. 1823)
• 1922 – Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish physicist (b. 1845)
• 1930 – Horst Wessel, Nazi ideologue and composer (b. 1907)
• 1931 – Nellie Melba, Australian opera soprano (b. 1861)
• 1934 – Edward Elgar, English composer (b. 1857)
• 1944 – Leo Hendrik Baekeland, Flemish-American chemist and inventor of the first synthetic plastic, Bakelite (b. 1863)
• 1946 – Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (hanged) (b. 1885)
• 1948 – John Robert Gregg, Irish-born publisher and inventor (b. 1866)
• 1955 – Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (b. 1868)
• 1957 – Marika Ninou, Greek singer (b. 1918)
• 1960 – Arthur Legat, Belgian racing driver (b. 1898)
• 1961 – Davey Crockett, American baseball player (b. 1875)
• 1965 – Stan Laurel, British actor and comedian (b. 1890)
• 1969 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (b. 1902)
• 1970 – Hirsch Jacobs, American thoroughbred horse trainer and owner (b. 1904)
• 1973 – Dickinson W. Richards, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
• 1974 – Harry Ruby, American composer and writer (b. 1895)
• 1976 – L. S. Lowry, English artist (b. 1887)
• 1979 – W.A.C. Bennett, Canadian politician (b. 1900)
• 1983 – Herbert Howells, English composer (b. 1892)
• 1990 – José Napoleón Duarte, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
• 1992 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek politician (b. 1906)
• 1995 – Melvin Franklin, American singer (The Temptations) (b. 1942)
• 1995 – James Herriot, English writer (b. 1916)
• 1996 – William Bonin, American serial killer and sex offender (b. 1947)
• 1997 – Tony Williams, American jazz drummer (b. 1945)
• 1999 – Carlos Hathcock, USMC sniper (b. 1942)
• 2000 – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer (b. 1957)
• 2000 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Robert Enrico, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
• 2003 – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist (b. 1910)
• 2003 – Howie Epstein, American bass guitarist (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) (b. 1955)
• 2003 – Titos Vandis, Greek actor (b. 1917)
• 2004 – Vijay Anand, Indian film director (b. 1934)
• 2004 – Neil Ardley, English jazz pianist and composer (b. 1937)
• 2004 – Carl Anderson, American singer (b. 1945)
• 2004 – Sikander Bakht, Governor of Kerala (b. 1918)
• 2004 – Don Cornell, American singer (b. 1919)
• 2004 – Carl Liscombe, Canadian hockey player (b. 1915)
• 2006 – Benno Besson, Swiss actor and film director (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Telmo Zarraonaindía, Spanish footballer (b. 1921)
• 2007 – Donnie Brooks, American singer (b. 1936)
• 2007 – John Ritchie, British footballer (b. 1941)
• 2008 – Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian prime minister and president (b. 1950)
• 2008 – Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and motorsport journalist (b. 1917)
• 2008 – Douglas Fraser, Scottish pilot (b. 1916)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Polycarp of Smyrna (Catholic Church)
  • Blessed Isabelle of France
  • Serenus the Gardener
  • February 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Mashramani-Republic Day (Guyana)
• National Day (Brunei)
• Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics:
  • Defender of the Fatherland Day (Russia)
• Terminalia held in honor of Terminus (Ancient Rome)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

---