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
• 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, writer 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)