Title: January 23 Content: ==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 * 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 * 1930 - Mervyn Rose, Australian tennis player (d. 2017) * 1933 - Bill Hayden, 21st Governor-General of Australia * 1933 – Chita Rivera, actress, dancer * 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 * 1939 – Arlene Golonka, American actress * 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, author and academic (d. 2014) * 1942 - Razzak, Bangladeshi actor and director * 1943 – Gil Gerard, actor * 1943 - Gary Burton, American jazz musician * 1944 - Sergei Belov, Russian basketball player (d. 2013) * 1944 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor * 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) Category:Days of the year