September 23
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September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 99 days remain until the end of the year.
It is frequently the first day of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and the first day of the spring season in the Southern Hemisphere.
Events
- 1122 - Concordat of Worms.
- 1459 - Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, is fought at Blore Heath in Staffordshire.
- 1529 - The Siege of Vienna begins as Suleiman I begins his attack on the city.
- 1642 - First commencement exercises occur at Harvard College.
- 1779 - American Revolution; USS Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, wins a fight against the British ships of war HMS Serapis and HMS Countess of Scarborough off the coast of England.
- 1780 - American Revolution; British Major John André arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's treason.
- 1803 - Second Anglo-Maratha War: Battle of Assaye.
- 1806 - Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis, after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
- 1818 - Border demarcation markers for Moresnet formally installed.
- 1845 - The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York.
- 1846 - Discovery of Neptune by French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams; verified by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.
- 1848 - First commercial production of chewing gum by John Curtis on a stove at his home in Bangor, Maine in the United States and marketed as 'The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum'.
- 1868 - Grito de Lares (Lares Revolt) occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.
- 1875 - William Bonney ("Billy the Kid") is arrested for the first time.
- 1884 - Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical tabulating machine.
- 1889 - Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
- 1905 - Norway and Sweden sign the "Karlstad treaty", peacefully dissolving the Union between the two countries.
- 1912 - First Mack Sennett "Keystone Comedy" is released.
- 1922 - Gdynia Seaport Construction Act passed by the Polish parliament.
- 1932 - The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd is renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- 1941 - The first gas murder experiments are conducted at Auschwitz.
- 1942 - First day of the September Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps forces attack Imperial Japanese Army units along the Matanikau River.
- 1952 - Rocky Marciano knocked Jersey Joe Walcott out in the thirteenth round, becoming the new Heavyweight Champion.
- 1952 - Richard Nixon makes his "Checkers speech".
- 1959 The M/S Princess of Tasmania Australia’s first passenger RO/RO diesel ferry makes maiden voyage across Bass Strait.
- 1962 - The Jetsons aired for the first time.
- 1962 - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City opens with the first building completed, Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) home of the New York Philharmonic.
- 1969 - The Chicago Eight trial opens in Chicago.
- 1972 - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announces over television and radio the implementation of martial law and signs General Order No. 1 which orders the arrest of opposition leaders, media censorship, banning travel to other countries except for diplomatic missions, abolishing the Philippine Congress, establishing dictatorial government, take-over or sequestering of public and private corporations and suspension of classes for one week in the Philippines.
- 1973 - Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina.
- 1980 - Bob Marley's last concert.
- 1980 - The premiere of Brian Friel's play Translations in Derry, Northern Ireland.
- 1983 - Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.
- 1983 - Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa becomes the first African boxing world heavyweight champion.
- 1988 - Jose Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first member of the 40-40 club.
- 1999 - NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
- 1999 - Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm. While some passengers only received minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas's history to date.
- 2002 - The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.
- 2004 - At least 1,070 in Haiti reported killed by floods due to Hurricane Jeanne
- 2005 - FBI killing of Filiberto Ojeda on Plan Bonito Hormigueros, Puerto Rico.
- 2007 - 2 days before Halo 3
Births
- 480 BC - Euripides, Greek playwright (d. 406 BC)
- 63 BC - Augustus Caesar, Roman Emperor (d. 14)
- 1158 - Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1186)
- 1161 - Emperor Takakura of Japan (d. 1181)
- 1215 - Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1294)
- 1598 - Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1655)
- 1647 - Joseph Dudley, American statesman (d. 1720)
- 1650 - Jeremy Collier, English bishop (d. 1726)
- 1713 - King Ferdinand VI of Spain (d. 1759)
- 1740 - Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1813)
- 1771 - Emperor Kokaku of Japan (d. 1840)
- 1791 - Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer (d. 1865)
- 1819 - Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist (d. 1896)
- 1838 - Victoria Woodhull, American suffragist (d. 1927)
- 1852 - William Stewart Halsted, American surgeon (d. 1922)
- 1861 - Robert Bosch, German inventor and industrialist (d. 1942)
- 1863 - Mary Eliza Church Terrell, American writer (d. 1954)
- 1864 - Draga Mašin, Queen of Serbia (d. 1903)
- 1865 - Emmuska Orczy, British novelist (d. 1947)
- 1869 - Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, first carrier of typhoid
- 1880 - John Boyd Orr, Scottish physician, Nobel Laureate (d. 1971)
- 1889 - Walter Lippmann, American journalist (d. 1974)
- 1890 - Friedrich Paulus, German general (d. 1957)
- 1895 - Johnny Mokan, American baseball player (d. 1985)
- 1897 - Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (d. 1984)
- 1899 - Tom C. Clark, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1977)
- 1900 - Louise Nevelson, American sculptor (d. 1988)
- 1901 - Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1986)
- 1907 - Dominique Aury, French novelist (d. 1998)
- 1907 - Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (d. 1976)
- 1911 - Frank Moss, United States Senator from Utah (d. 2003)
- 1912 - Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Pakistani researcher, critic and linguist (d. 2005)
- 1912 - Tony Smith, American sculptor (d. 1980)
- 1914 - Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (d. 1986)
- 1915 - Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel Laureate (d. 2001)
- 1916 - Aldo Moro, Italian politician (d. 1978)
- 1920 - Mickey Rooney, American actor
- 1924 - Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan newspaper editor (d. 1978)
- 1925 - Denis Twitchett, Cambridge scholar, and Chinese historian (d. 2006)
- 1925 - Eleonora Rossi Drago, Italian actress
- 1926 - John Coltrane, American saxophonist (d. 1967)
- 1930 - Ray Charles, American musician (d. 2004)
- 1930 - Colin Blakely, British actor (d. 1987)
- 1931 - Gerald Stairs Merrithew, Canadian educator (d. 2004)
- 1934 - Ahmad Shah Khan, Crown Prince of Afghanistan
- 1936 - Valentín Paniagua, Peruvian politician
- 1938 - Tom Lester, American actor
- 1938 - Romy Schneider, Austrian actress (d. 1982)
- 1939 - Henry Blofeld, English cricket commentator
- 1939 - Roy Buchanan, American guitarist (d. 1988)
- 1939 - Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
- 1941 - Simon Nolet, French Canadian ice hockey player
- 1942 - Sila María Calderón, Puerto Rican politician
- 1943 - Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer
- 1943 - Marty Schottenheimer, American football coach
- 1945 - Paul Petersen, American actor
- 1945 - Igor Ivanov, Russian politician
- 1946 - Franz Fischler, Austrian politician
- 1947 - Mary Kay Place, American actress
- 1947 - Jerry Corbetta, American singer and musician (Sugarloaf)
- 1947 - Neal Smith, American drummer for Alice Cooper
- 1949 - Bruce Springsteen, American singer and songwriter
- 1954 - Charlie Barnett, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1956 - Paolo Rossi, Italian footballer
- 1956 - Peter David, American writer
- 1957 - Rosalind Chao, American actress
- 1957 - Tony Fossas, Cuban baseball player
- 1958 - Danielle Dax, British musician
- 1958 - Marvin Lewis, American football coach
- 1958 - Larry Mize, American golfer
- 1959 - Jason Alexander, American actor
- 1959 - Elizabeth Peña, American actress
- 1960 - Jason Carter, British actor
- 1960 - Jeff Groteboer, American writer (d. 2003)
- 1961 - Willie McCool, American astronaut (d. 2003)
- 1964 - Koshi Inaba, Japanese singer (B'z)
- 1966 - LisaRaye, American actress
- 1968 - Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
- 1969 - Michelle Thomas, American actress (d. 1998)
- 1969 - Patrick Fiori, French singer
- 1969 - Tapio Laukkanen, Finnish rally driver
- 1969 - Donald Audette, National Hockey League player
- 1970 - Ani DiFranco, American musician
- 1970 - Georgios Koltsidas, Greek footballer
- 1972 - Karl Pilkington, British radio personality
- 1972 - Jermaine Dupri, American music producer and rapper
- 1974 - Matt Hardy, American professional wrestler
- 1974 - Harumi Inoue, Japanese actress and model
- 1975 - Jaime Bergman, American model and actress
- 1975 - Chris Hawkins, British radio personality
- 1975 - Layzie Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
- 1976 - Jeremy Jackson American writer, poet and inventor
- 1977 - Matthieu Descoteaux, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 - Worm Miller, American filmmaker
- 1979 - Ricky Davis, American basketball player
- 1981 - Misti Traya, American actress
- 1981 - Natalie Horler, German singer (Cascada)
- 1981 - Robert Doornbos, Dutch race car driver
- 1984 - Anneliese van der Pol, American actress
- 1984 - Louie Stephens, American musician, keyboardist for Rooney
- 1985 - Maki Goto, Japanese pop idol
- 1985 - Brian Brohm, American football player
- 1985 - Lukáš Kašpar, Czech ice hockey player
- 1985 - Hossein Ka'abi, Iranian footballer
- 1985 - Joba Chamberlain, American baseball player
- 1986 - Martin Cranie, English footballer
Deaths
- 79 - Pope Linus
- 1241 - Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic historian, poet, and politician (b. 1178)
- 1390 - John I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1346)
- 1535 - Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1513)
- 1571 - John Jewel, English bishop (b. 1522)
- 1573 - Azai Hisamasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1524)
- 1605 - Pontus de Tyard, French poet
- 1675 - Valentin Conrart, founder of the Académie Française (b. 1603)
- 1728 - Christian Thomasius, German jurist (b. 1655)
- 1738 - Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (b. 1668)
- 1764 - Robert Dodsley, English writer (b. 1703)
- 1773 - Johann Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop and botanist (b. 1718)
- 1789 - John Rogers, American Continental Congressman (b. 1723)
- 1835 - Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (b. 1801)
- 1844 - Alexander von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman (b. 1783)
- 1846 - John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-born explorer of South Australia (b. 1818)
- 1850 - José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan hero (b. 1764)
- 1870 - Prosper Mérimée, French author (b. 1803)
- 1871 - Louis-Joseph Papineau, French Canadian politician (b. 1786)
- 1873 - Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (b. 1823)
- 1877 - Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician (b. 1811)
- 1889 - Wilkie Collins, British author (b. 1824)
- 1900 - William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist and university founder (b. 1816)
- 1917 - Werner Voss German World War I pilot (b. 1897)
- 1929 - Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1935 - the first two victims of the Cleveland Torso Murderer
- 1939 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (b. 1856)
- 1943 - Elinor Glyn, English author (b. 1864)
- 1944 - Jakob Schaffner, Swiss novelist (b. 1875)
- 1950 - Sam Barry, American basketball player and coach (b. 1892)
- 1968 - Francesco Forgione, "Padre Pio", Catholic saint (b. 1887)
- 1970 - Bourvil, French actor and singer (b. 1917)
- 1971 - J. W. Alexander, American mathematician (b. 1888)
- 1971 - Billy Gilbert, American actor (b. 1894)
- 1973 - Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- 1974 - Cliff Arquette, American comedian and actor (b. 1905)
- 1978 - Lyman Bostock, American baseball player (murdered) (b. 1950)
- 1981 - Chief Dan George, Canadian actor (b. 1899)
- 1987 - Bob Fosse, American dancer, choreographer, and actor (b. 1927)
- 1988 - Tibor Sekelj, Croatian explorer (b. 1912)
- 1992 - James Van Fleet, U.S. Army general (b. 1892)
- 1994 - Jerry Barber, American golfer (b. 1916)
- 1994 - Robert Bloch, American author (b. 1917)
- 1994 - Madeleine Renaud, French theater and film actress (b. 1900)
- 1998 - Mary Frann, American actress (b. 1943)
- 2000 - Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican Major League Baseball player (b. 1947)
- 2000 - Carl Rowan, American journalist (b. 1925)
- 2002 - Vernon Corea, Sri Lankan broadcaster (b. 1927)
- 2003 - Yuri Senkevich, Russian TV anchorman (b. 1937)
- 2004 - André Hazes, Dutch singer (b. 1951)
- 2004 - Billy Reay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1918)
- 2005 - Filiberto Ojeda, Puerto Rican revolutionary (b. 1933)
- 2005 - Roger Brierley, English actor (b. 1935)
- 2006 - Sir Malcolm Arnold, English composer and professional trumpeter (b. 1921)
- 2006 - Etta Baker, American blues guitarist (b.1913)
Holidays and observances
- In 2006, Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) fell on this day, beginning at sunset the evening before.
- Astrology: Usually the first day of sun sign Libra in the tropical zodiac.
- In ancient Latvia, the second day of Mikeli.
- RC Saints - Feast day of Saint Adomnan of Iona, Saint Thecla.
- Also see September 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics).
- Traditional New Year's Day in Constantinople and Eastern Orthodox Churches — because of the birthday of Augustus, not because of the equinox.
- Japanese Autumnal equinox Day (秋分の日/Shūbun no hi).
- Saudi Arabia - National Day (unification 1932).
- French Republican Calendar - Safran (Saffron) Day, second day in the Month of Vendémiaire.
- Celebrate Bisexuality Day was first recognized in 1999 and is observed mainly in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia.