January 23

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 Rontgen 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 Mohorovicic, 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 Plecnik, architect (d. 1957)
1876 - Otto Diels, German chemist (d. 1954)
1876 - Rupert Mayer, German Resistance activist (d. 1945)
1878 - Oton Zupancic, 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 Schutte-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 Eliecer Gaitan, 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 Suleymanoglu, 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 - Jose 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 Dore, 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 Dali, 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 Bose, 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)
Days of the year