# January 23

**January 23** is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 342 days remaining until the end of the year (343 in leap years).

## Events

### Up to 1900

* 393 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I announces that his eight–year–old son Honorius will be co–Emperor.
* 1556 – A magnitude 9.0 earthquake hits Shaanxi and Kansu, China. It is estimated that up to 830,000 people are killed in the quake.
* 1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent for James VI of Scotland, is murdered by a firearm, the first–recorded murder by gunshot.
* 1571 – The Royal Exchange opens in Moscow.
* 1579 – The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant Republic in the Netherlands.
* 1656 – Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his *Lettres Provinciales*.
* 1719 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.
* 1772 – French seafarer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresnet and his second–in–command Jules Crozet discover the Crozet Islands in the Indian Ocean.
* 1790 – The ship HMS *Bounty* is set on fire by mutineers.
* 1793 – Second Partition of Poland.
* 1812 – A strong earthquake hits New Madrid, Missouri.
* 1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first female American doctor.
* 1855 – The first bridge crossing the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is called the Hennepin Bridge.
* 1855 – At a magnitude estimated to have been 8.2, the Wairarapa earthquake strikes Wellington, New Zealand.
* 1870 – In Montana, US cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in the Marias massacre.
* 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: The Battle of Rorke's Drift ends.
* 1896 – Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X-rays.
* 1899 – Emilio Aguinaldo becomes President of the Philippines.
* 1900 – Second Boer War: Battle of Spion Kop, South African forces defeat British forces.

### 1901 – 2000

* 1904 – The coastal town of Alesund in Norway is destroyed by fire.
* 1909 – An earthquake in Iran kills around 5,000 people.
* 1909 – The ship RMS *Republic* collides with the SS *Florida* off Massachusetts, sinking the next day, killing 6 people.
* 1912 – International Opium Convention is signed.
* 1913 – Enver Pasha takes over the Ottoman Empire in a military coup.
* 1920 – The Netherlands refuses to give ex–Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
* 1937 – In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial accused of taking part in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime.
* 1942 – World War II: Rabaul on the Papua New Guinea island of New Britain is captured by Japanese forces.
* 1943 – World War II: British forces capture Tripoli, Libya.
* 1943 – Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York for the first time.
* 1950 – The Knesset (Israeli parliament) passes a resolution making Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
* 1957 – On his 37th birthday, American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights of his "Flying disc" to the Wham–O toy company, who later rename it Frisbee.
* 1958 – In Venezuela, Marcos Perez Jimenez is deposed in a two–day strike.
* 1960 – The Bathyscaphe *Trieste*, with Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh on board, sets a new depth record by travelling 10,911 metres in the Pacific Ocean, at the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.
* 1963 – The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence starts.
* 1967 – The Soviet Union and the Ivory Coast start diplomatic relations with each other.
* 1973 – A volcanic eruption hits the South Icelandic island of Heimaey.
* 1973 – Richard Nixon announces a peace accord with Vietnam.
* 1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gets its first members – Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
* 1996 – Waltraud Klasnic becomes Premier of Styria, making her the first woman to get this role in an Austrian state.
* 1997 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first female United States Secretary of State.
* 2000 – The remains of the *Star Dust* airplane, which disappeared over the Chilean Andes over 50 years earlier, are found. The plane is known for the mysterious final message it sent.

### From 2001

* 2002 – The reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan.
* 2002 – "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returns to the United States in FBI custody.
* 2003 – Final communication with the Pioneer 12 spacecraft.
* 2005 – Viktor Yushchenko becomes President of Ukraine.
* 2006 – Stephen Harper is elected Prime Minister of Canada.
* 2009 – A stabbing attack occurs at a nursery in Dendermonde, Belgium.
* 2012 – The EU adopts an embargo against Iran over its uranium enrichment.
* 2015 – King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia dies aged 90, having reigned since August 2005. The crown passes to his 79–year–old half–brother, Salman of Saudi Arabia.
* 2016 – Major snowstorm hits the Northeastern United States. It set records for New York City.

## Births

### Up to 1900

* 1350 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1419)
* 1688 – Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (d. 1741)
* 1719 – John Landen, English mathematician (d. 1790)
* 1737 – John Hancock, American statesman (d. 1793)
* 1745 – William Jessop, canal engineer (d. 1814)
* 1752 – Muzio Clementi, Italian composer (d. 1832)
* 1783 – Stendhal, French writer (d. 1842)
* 1786 – Auguste de Montferrand, French architect (d. 1858)
* 1813 – Camilla Collett, Norwegian writer (d. 1895)
* 1828 – Saigo Takamori, Japanese samurai (d. 1877)
* 1832 – Edouard Manet, French artist (d. 1883)
* 1840 – Ernst Abbe, German physicist (d. 1905)
* 1846 – Hermann Clemenz, Estonian chess player (d. 1908)
* 1855 – John Browning, American inventor (d. 1926)
* 1857 – Andrija Mohorovičić, Croatian seismologist (d. 1936)
* 1862 – David Hilbert, German mathematician (d. 1943)
* 1870 – William G. Morgan, American sportsman, inventor of volleyball (d. 1942)
* 1872 – Goce Delchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1903)
* 1872 – Joze Plečnik, architect (d. 1957)
* 1876 – Otto Diels, German chemist (d. 1954)
* 1876 – Rupert Mayer, German Resistance activist (d. 1945)
* 1878 – Oton Župančič, Slovenian poet (d. 1949)
* 1881 – Luisa Casati, Italian model (d. 1957)
* 1884 – Ralph DePalma, race car driver (d. 1956)
* 1888 – Lead Belly, American musician (d. 1949)
* 1894 – Jyotirmoyee Devi, Indian writer (d. 1988)
* 1896 – Alf Hall, South African cricketer (d. 1964)
* 1896 – Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (d. 1985)
* 1897 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, architect (d. 2000)
* 1897 – Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian political activist (d. 1948)
* 1897 – William Stephenson, Canadian captain and spy (d. 1989)
* 1898 – Sergei Eisenstein, Russian movie director (d. 1948)
* 1898 – Randolph Scott, American actor (d. 1987)

### 1901 – 1950

* 1903 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (d. 1948)
* 1907 – Dan Duryea, actor (d. 1968)
* 1907 – Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist (d. 1981)
* 1910 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist (d. 1953)
* 1913 – Jean-Michel Atlan, French philosopher and painter (d. 1960)
* 1913 – Wally Parks, American racing executive (d. 2007)
* 1915 – W. Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian–British economist (d. 1991)
* 1915 – Potter Stewart, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1985)
* 1916 – David Douglas Duncan, American photographer and war reporter (d. 2018)
* 1918 – Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist (d. 1999)
* 1919 – Frances Bay, Canadian–American actress (d. 2011)
* 1919 – Hans Hass, Austrian zoologist and underwater scientist (d. 2013)
* 1919 – Ernie Kovacs, American comedian (d. 1962)
* 1919 – Bob Paisley, English footballer and manager (d. 1996)
* 1920 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American inventor (d. 2010)
* 1920 – Ray Abrams, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1992)
* 1920 – Henry Eriksson, Swedish runner (d. 2000)
* 1923 – Walter M. Miller Jr., American science fiction writer (d. 1996)
* 1924 – Frank Lautenberg, American politician and United States Senator for New Jersey (d. 2013)
* 1926 – Bal Thackeray, Indian politician (d. 2012)
* 1927 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish–American entrepreneur and explorer (d. 1994)
* 1928 – Chico Carrasquel, the first Latin American player to appear in a Major League Baseball All-Star Game (d. 2005)
* 1928 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress (d. 2017)
* 1929 – John Polanyi, German–born Canadian chemist, Nobel Prize winner
* 1930 – Derek Walcott, West Indies writer, Nobel Prize winner (d. 2017)
* 1930 – William R. Pogue, American astronaut (d. 2014)
* 1930 – Filaret, Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (d. 2026)
* 1930 – Mervyn Rose, Australian tennis player (d. 2017)
* 1933 – Bill Hayden, 21st Governor-General of Australia (d. 2023)
* 1933 – Chita Rivera, actress, dancer (d. 2024)
* 1936 – Brian Howe, Australian politician
* 1936 – Jerry Kramer, American football player
* 1938 – Shohei Baba, professional wrestler, founder of All-Japan Pro Wrestling (d. 1999)
* 1938 – Georg Baselitz, German painter and sculptor
* 1939 – Sonny Chiba, Japanese actor (d. 2021)
* 1939 – Arlene Golonka, American actress (d. 2021)
* 1940 – Johnny Russell, American country music singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
* 1940 – Alan Cheuse, American writer and critic (d. 2015)
* 1941 – Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro, Brazilian journalist, writer and academic (d. 2014)
* 1942 – Razzak, Bangladeshi actor and director
* 1943 – Gil Gerard, actor (d. 2025)
* 1943 – Gary Burton, American jazz musician
* 1944 – Sergei Belov, Russian basketball player (d. 2013)
* 1944 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor (d. 2019)
* 1945 – Richard Dearlove, former Head of MI6
* 1945 – Mike Harris, 22nd Premier of Ontario
* 1946 – Boris Berezovsky, Russian businessman (d. 2013)
* 1946 – Arnoldo Aleman, former President of Nicaragua
* 1947 – Megawati Sukarnoputri, 5th President of Indonesia
* 1947 – Tom Carper, 71st Governor of Delaware
* 1948 – Anita Pointer, American singer
* 1950 – Richard Dean Anderson, American actor
* 1950 – Danny Federici, American musician (Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band) (d. 2008)
* 1950 – John Greaves, English musician
* 1950 – Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentine musician (d. 2012)

### 1951 – 1975

* 1951 – David Patrick Kelly, American actor and musician
* 1951 – Chesley Sullenberger, American pilot
* 1952 – Omar Henry, South African cricketer
* 1953 – Robin Zander, American singer
* 1953 – Pavlo Lazarenko, Ukrainian politician
* 1953 – Alister McGrath, Northern Irish priest and academic
* 1953 – Antonio Villaraigosa, former Mayor of Los Angeles, California
* 1954 – Franco De Vita, singer/songwriter
* 1954 – Richard Finch, American bassist (KC & the Sunshine Band)
* 1957 – Princess Caroline of Monaco
* 1960 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer (d. 1998)
* 1960 – Max Keiser, German journalist and filmmaker
* 1961 – Yelena Sinchukova, Russian long jumper
* 1962 – David Arnold, British movie score composer
* 1963 – Gail O'Grady, actress
* 1964 – Mariska Hargitay, American actress
* 1964 – Bharrat Jagdeo, former President of Guyana
* 1964 – Mario Roberge, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1966 – Oleg Sakirkin, Kazakhstani triple jumper
* 1967 – Naim Süleymanoğlu, Bulgaria–born Turkish weightlifter
* 1968 – Petr Korda, Czech tennis player
* 1969 – Ariadna Gil, Spanish actress
* 1970 – Moreno Torricelli, Italian footballer
* 1970 – Oleg Ovsyannikov, Russian ice dancer
* 1970 – Ewen Bremner, Scottish actor
* 1972 – Lisa Snowdon, English actress and model
* 1973 – Dee Caffari, English sailor
* 1973 – Youddiph, Russian singer
* 1974 – Sampsa Astala, Finnish musician (Lordi)
* 1974 – Tiffani Thiessen, American actress

### From 1976

* 1976 – Tony Lucca, American singer-songwriter, producer and actor
* 1979 – Larry Hughes, American basketball player
* 1979 – Dawn Porter, British television presenter
* 1981 – Julia Jones, American actress
* 1981 – Rob Friend, Canadian footballer
* 1982 – Patrick Levis, American actor
* 1984 – Arjen Robben, Dutch footballer
* 1985 – Dong Fangzhuo, Chinese footballer
* 1985 – Doutzen Kroes, Dutch model
* 1986 – José Enrique Sanchez, Spanish footballer
* 1986 – Steven Taylor, English footballer
* 1986 – Pablo Andujar, Spanish tennis player
* 1989 – April Pearson, British actress
* 1990 – Artjom Abramov, Estonian ice hockey player
* 1996 – Chachi Gonzales, American dancer

## Deaths

### Up to 1900

* 440 – Hanzei, Emperor of Japan
* 1002 – Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980)
* 1199 – Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur (b. 1160)
* 1516 – King Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1452)
* 1548 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian composer (b. 1490)
* 1549 – Johannes Honter, Transylvanian Saxon humanist and theologian (b. 1498)
* 1567 – Jiajing, Emperor of China
* 1570 – James Stewart, Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland
* 1622 – William Baffin, English explorer and navigator
* 1744 – Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher and historian (b. 1668)
* 1789 – John Cleland, novelist (b. 1709)
* 1800 – Edward Rutledge, U.S. statesman (b. 1749)
* 1803 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer (b. 1752)
* 1805 – Claude Chappe, French telecommunications pioneer (b. 1763)
* 1806 – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
* 1810 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist and physicist (b. 1776)
* 1820 – Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (b. 1767)
* 1837 – John Field, Irish composer (b. 1782)
* 1875 – Charles Kingsley English writer (b. 1819)
* 1883 – Gustave Doré, French artist, engraver, and illustrator (b. 1832)
* 1893 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, United States Supreme Court (b. 1825)
* 1894 – Lebengula, King of Matabeleland (in what is now Zimbabwe) (b. 1833)

### 1901 – 2000

* 1921 – Mykola Leontovych, Ukrainian composer (b. 1877)
* 1922 – Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor (b. 1855)
* 1923 – Max Nordau, Austrian writer, philosopher, and Zionist leader (b. 1849)
* 1931 – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (b. 1881)
* 1937 – Marie Prevost, Canadian–American actress (b. 1896)
* 1939 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (b. 1903)
* 1943 – Alexander Woollcott, actor, writer, and bon vivant (b. 1887)
* 1944 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (b. 1863)
* 1944 – Viktor Gusev, Russian poet (b. 1899)
* 1956 – Alexander Korda, Hungarian director (b. 1893)
* 1971 – Fritz Feigl, Austrian–Brazilian chemist and academic (b. 1871)
* 1973 – Kid Ory, jazz trombonist (b. 1886)
* 1976 – Paul Robeson, actor, singer, social activist (b. 1898)
* 1976 – Paul Dupuis, French–Canadian movie and television actor (b. 1913)
* 1978 – Jack Oakie, actor (b. 1903)
* 1978 – Terry Kath, musician (Chicago) (b. 1946)
* 1980 – Giovanni Michelotti, Italian sports car designer (b. 1921)
* 1981 – Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
* 1983 – Fred Bakewell, English cricketer (b. 1908)
* 1986 – Joseph Beuys, German sculptor and performance artist (b. 1921)
* 1989 – Salvador Dalí, Catalan artist (b. 1904)
* 1990 – Allen Collins, American musician (b. 1952)
* 1991 – Northrop Frye, literary critic (b. 1912)
* 1992 – Freddie Bartholomew, actor (b. 1924)
* 1993 – Thomas Dorsey, gospel music singer (b. 1899)
* 1994 – Brian Redhead, journalist and broadcaster (b. 1929)
* 1994 – Nikolai Ogarkov, Russian marshal (b. 1917)
* 1997 – Richard Berry, American composer, musician (b. 1935)
* 1999 – Joe D'Amato, Italian director and cinematographer (b. 1936)
* 1999 – Jay Pritzker, American businessman (b. 1922)

### From 2001

* 2002 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (b. 1930)
* 2002 – Robert Nozick, philosopher (b. 1938)
* 2003 – Nell Carter, singer, actress (b. 1948)
* 2004 – Bob Keeshan, actor (b. 1927)
* 2004 – Helmut Newton, German–Australian photographer (b. 1920)
* 2005 – Johnny Carson, American television personality (b. 1925)
* 2005 – Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare, British politician (b. 1921)
* 2007 – Ryszard Kapuscinski, Polish journalist and writer (b. 1932)
* 2009 – Robert W. Scott, American politician and former Governor of South Carolina (b. 1929)
* 2010 – Earl Wild, American pianist (b. 1915)
* 2011 – Jack LaLanne, American fitness and nutrition expert (b. 1914)
* 2013 – Jozef Glemp, Polish cardinal (b. 1929)
* 2013 – Janice Knickrehm, American actress (b. 1925)
* 2014 – Riz Ortolani, Italian composer (b. 1926)
* 2015 – King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (b. 1924)
* 2015 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player (b. 1931)
* 2015 – Prosper Ego, Dutch activist (b. 1927)
* 2015 – Nol Heijerman, Dutch footballer (b. 1940)
* 2015 – Barrie Ingham, English actor (b. 1934)
* 2015 – Pedro Lemebel, Chilean writer (b. 1952)
* 2015 – Nick Koback, American baseball player (b. 1935)
* 2016 – A. C. Jose, Indian politician (b. 1937)
* 2016 – Barry Brickell, New Zealand ceramic artist (b. 1935)
* 2016 – Elisabeta Polihroniade, Romanian chess player (b. 1935)
* 2016 – Bobby Wanzer, American basketball player (b. 1921)
* 2017 – Dmytro Grabovskyy, Ukrainian–Israeli bicycle racer (b. 1985)
* 2017 – Gorden Kaye, English actor (b. 1941)
* 2017 – Ruth Samuelson, American politician (b. 1959)
* 2017 – Andrew Telegdi, Hungarian–Canadian politician (b. 1946)
* 2017 – Bimba Bosé, Italian–born Spanish model, designer and actress (b. 1975)
* 2017 – Ralph Guglielmi, American football player (b. 1933)
* 2017 – Erland Kolding Nielsen, Danish academic (b. 1947)
* 2017 – Leslie Koo, Taiwanese business executive (b. 1954)
* 2018 – Hugh Masekela, South African jazz trumpeter (b. 1939)
* 2018 – Nicanor Parra, Chilean poet (b. 1914)
* 2018 – Wyatt Tee Walker, American civil rights activist (b. 1928)
* 2018 – Lari White, American country singer–songwriter and actress (b. 1965)
* 2021 – Hal Holbrook, American actor (b. 1925)

## Observances

* National Pie Day (United States)
* Bounty Day (Pitcairn Island)