February 23
is the 54th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar
. There are 311 days remaining until the end of the year (312 in
leap years
).
- 1455
? Traditional date for the publication of the
Gutenberg Bible
, the first Western
book
printed from
movable type
.
- 1554
- In present-day
Chile
,
Mapuche
forces under leadership of
Lautaro
, score a victory over the Spanish at the
Battle of Mairihueno
.
- 1574
? The 5th
holy war
against the
Huguenots
begins in
France
.
- 1660
?
Charles XI
becomes
King of Sweden
.
- 1732
? First performance of
George Frideric Handel
's
Orlando
, in
London
.
- 1778
?
American Revolution
:
Baron von Steuben
arrives at
Valley Forge
,
Pennsylvania
to help to train the
Continental Army
.
- 1820
?
Cato Street Conspiracy
: A plot to murder all the
British
cabinet ministers is exposed.
- 1836
? The
Siege of the Alamo
begins in
San Antonio, Texas
.
- 1847
?
Mexican-American War
:
Battle of Buena Vista
? In
Mexico
, American troops defeat Mexican general
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
.
- 1861
? President-elect
Abraham Lincoln
arrives secretly in
Washington, DC
after an
assassination
attempt in
Baltimore, Maryland
.
- 1870
? Military control of
Mississippi
ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
- 1874
?
Walter Winfield
patents a game called "sphairistike" which is more commonly called
lawn tennis
.
- 1883
?
Alabama
becomes the first
U.S. state
to enact an
antitrust law
.
- 1886
-
Charles Martin Hall
produces the first samples of man-made
aluminium
.
- 1887
? The
French Riviera
is hit by a large
earthquake
, killing around 2,000.
- 1893
?
Rudolf Diesel
receives a patent for the
diesel engine
.
- 1898
?
Emile Zola
is imprisoned in
France
after writing "
J'accuse
", a letter accusing the French government of
anti-Semitism
and wrongfully placing Captain
Alfred Dreyfus
in jail.
- 1900
?
Battle of Hart's Hill
: In
South Africa
the
Boers
and
British
troops battle.
- 1903
?
Cuba
leases
Guantanamo Bay
to the
United States
"in perpetuity".
- 1904
? For $10 million the
United States
gains control of the
Panama Canal
Zone.
- 1905
?
Chicago, Illinois
attorney
Paul Harris
and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the
Rotary Club
, the world's first
service club
.
- 1909
? The
Silver Dart
makes the first powered flight in
Canada
and the
British Empire
.
- 1917
- Beginning of the February
Revolution
in
Saint Petersburg
,
Russia
.
- 1918
- The last
monarch
of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
,
Adolphus Frederick IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
, commits
suicide
.
- 1918
- The
Red Army
recruits its first
soldiers
.
- 1919
?
Benito Mussolini
forms the
Fascist Party
in
Italy
.
- 1927
? The
Federal Radio Commission
(later renamed the
Federal Communications Commission
) begins to regulate the use of
radio
frequencies.
- 1927
- German theoretical
physicist
Werner Heisenberg
writes a letter to fellow
physicist
Wolfgang Pauli
, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.
- 1934
?
Leopold III
becomes King of
Belgium
.
- 1940
?
World War II
:
Soviet Union
troops conquer
Lasi Island
.
- 1940
? The animated
movie
Pinocchio
is released.
- 1941
-
Plutonium
is first produced and isolated by
Glenn T. Seaborg
.
- 1942
-
World War II
: Japanese
submarines
fire
artillery
shells at the
California
coast
near
Santa Barbara
.
- 1943
-
Fire
breaks out in St. Joseph's
Orphanage
in
County Cavan
,
Ireland
, killing 35 children and one adult.
- 1944
- The
Soviet Union
begins the forced
deportation
of the
Chechen
and
Ingush
people from the north
Caucasus
to
Central Asia
.
- 1945
? Early in the
Battle of Iwo Jima
, a group of
United States Marines
reach the top of
Mount Surabachi
on the island and are
photographed raising the American flag
. The photo would later win a
Pulitzer Prize
.
- 1945
? World War II: The capital of the
Philippines
,
Manila
, is liberated by
American
forces.
- 1945
? World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in
Pozna?
, city is liberated by
Soviet
and
Polish
forces.
- 1945
? World War II: The German town of
Pforzheim
is completely destroyed by a raid of 379 British bombers.
- 1947
?
International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) is founded.
- 1954
? The first mass vaccination of children against
polio
begins in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
.
- 1955
? First meeting of the
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
(SEATO).
- 1955
?
Edgar Faure
becomes Prime Minister of
France
- 1956
?
Nikita Khrushchev
attacks the veneration of
Joseph Stalin
as a "
cult of personality
".
- 1957
? The founding congress of the
Senegalese Popular Bloc
is opened in
Dakar
.
- 1958
?
Cuban
rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion
Juan Manuel Fangio
.
- 1966
? A military
coup
in
Syria
replaces the previous government.
- 1970
?
Forbes Burnham
declares
Guyana
a republic, severing ties to the British crown.
- 1974
? The
Symbionese Liberation Army
demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim
Patty Hearst
.
- 1975
? In response to the
energy crisis
,
daylight saving time
commences nearly two months early in the
United States
.
- 1980
?
Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini
states that
Iran
's parliament would decide the fate of the American
embassy
hostages.
- 1981
?
23-F
,
Antonio Tejero
attempts a
coup d'etat
by capturing the
Spanish Congress of Deputies
.
- 1982
- In a referendum in
Greenland
, most voters choose to leave the
European Economic Community
.
- 1983
? The Spanish
Socialist
government of
Felipe Gonzalez
and
Miguel Boyer
nationalizes
Rumasa
, a holding of
Jose Maria Ruiz Mateos
.
- 1983
? The
Environmental Protection Agency
announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the
dioxin
-contaminated community of
Times Beach, Missouri
.
- 1987
? A
supernova
is seen in the
Large Magellanic Cloud
(see
Supernova 1987a
).
- 1991
?
Gulf War
: Ground troops cross the
Saudi Arabia
border and enter
Iraq
, thus starting the ground-phase of the war.
- 1991
?
Thailand
: General
Sunthorn Kongsompong
leads a bloodless
coup d'etat
, deposing Prime Minister
Chatichai Choonhavan
.
- 1992
? The
Socialist Labour Party
is founded in
Georgia
.
- 1993
?
Gary Coleman
wins a $1,280,000
lawsuit
against his parents.
- 1995
? The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
gains 30.28 to close at 4,003.33, closing above 4,000 for the
first time
.
- 1997
? A large fire occurs in the
Russian
Space station
,
Mir
, though it is extinguished after 14 minutes, without anyone on board coming to harm.
- 1997
- A
fire
disaster in
Orissa
,
India
kills over 100 people.
- 1998
?
Tornadoes
in central
Florida
destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
- 1998
?
Osama bin Laden
publishes a
fatwa
declaring
jihad
against all
Jews
and
Crusaders
.
- 1998
?
Netscape Communications Corporation
announces the foundation of
mozilla.org
, to co-ordinate the development of the
open source
Mozilla
web browser
.
- 1999
?
Kurdish
rebel leader
Abdullah Ocalan
is charged with
treason
in
Ankara
,
Turkey
.
- 1999
?
White supremacist
John William King
is found guilty of kidnapping and killing
African American
James Byrd Jr
by dragging him behind a truck for two miles.
- 1999
? An
avalanche
destroys the
Austrian
village of Galtur, killing 31.
- 2002
- In
Colombia
,
Ingrid Betancourt
is kidnapped by
FARC
guerrillas
.
- 2005
- In
France
, a
controversial
law
on the teaching of French
colonialism
is passed. After protests, the law is abandoned about a year later.
- 2005
?
Slovakia Summit 2005
begins, marking the first occasion when a sitting
American President
visits
Slovakia
;
Bush
and
Putin
are in attendance.
- 2007
? A passenger train crashes near Grayrigg,
Cumbria
, killing 1 person and injuring 22.
- 2010
- Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million
liters
of
diesel
oil
and other
hydrocarbons
into the River Lambro in Northern
Italy
, sparking an environmental disaster.
- 2014
- The
2014 Winter Olympics
in
Sochi
, Southern
Russia
, end. The host nation,
Russia
, ends the games with the most
gold
medals, making it the second
Winter Olympics
in a row in which the host country achieves this (after
Canada
in
2010
).
- 2018
- One of the biggest surprises occurs in Olympic sport occurs, when
Germany
defeats
Canada
4-3 in their men's
ice hockey
semi-final at the
2018 Winter Olympics
in
Pyeongchang
,
South Korea
.
- 1417
?
Pope Paul II
(d.
1471
)
- 1443
?
Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
(d.
1490
)
- 1583
-
Jean-Baptiste Morin
, French
mathematician
, astrologer and
astronomer
(d.
1656
)
- 1633
?
Samuel Pepys
, English naval officer and diarist (d.
1703
)
- 1646
?
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi
, Japanese
shogun
(d.
1709
)
- 1649
-
John Blow
, English composer (d.
1708
)
- 1664
?
Georg Dietrich Leyding
, German composer and organist (d.
1710
)
- 1680
-
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville
, French
Governor
of
Louisiana
(d.
1767
)
- 1685
?
Georg Friedrich Handel
, German/British
Baroque
composer
(d.
1759
)
- 1723
-
Richard Price
, Welsh
philosopher
(d.
1791
)
- 1729
-
Josiah Hornblower
, American
statesman
(d.
1809
)
- 1730
-
Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti
, Austrian composer (d.
1793
)
- 1744
-
Mayer Amschel Rothschild
, German-born banker (d.
1812
)
- 1751
-
Henry Dearborn
, American
statesman
(d.
1829
)
- 1792
?
Jose Joaquin de Herrera
,
President
of
Mexico
(d.
1854
)
- 1803
?
John Sutter
, Swiss pioneer in
California
(d.
1880
)
- 1809
-
William Sprague
, American minister and politician (d.
1868
)
- 1817
?
George Frederic Watts
, British
painter
(d.
1904
)
- 1821
-
Amos T. Akerman
,
United States Secretary of the Treasury
(d.
1880
)
- 1842
?
Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann
, German
philosopher
(d.
1906
)
- 1846
-
Luigi Denza
, Italian composer (d.
1922
)
- 1850
?
Cesar Ritz
, Swiss hotelier (d.
1918
)
- 1852
?
Duc Duc
,
Emperor
of
Vietnam
(d.
1883
)
- 1868
-
Anna Hoffman-Uddgren
, Swedish director and actress (d.
1947
)
- 1868
?
W. E. B. Du Bois
, American academic, writer and social activist (d.
1963
)
- 1873
?
Liang Qichao
, Chinese scholar (d.
1929
)
- 1874
?
Konstantin Pats
, President of
Estonia
(d.
1956
)
- 1879
?
Kazimir Malevich
, Russian painter (d.
1935
)
- 1883
?
Karl Jaspers
, German
psychiatrist
and
philosopher
(d.
1969
)
- 1884
-
Casimir Funk
, Polish
biochemist
(d.
1967
)
- 1889
?
Victor Fleming
, American
movie director
(d.
1949
)
- 1889
-
John Gilbert Winant
, 60th
Governor
of
New Hampshire
(d.
1949
)
- 1889
-
Musidora
, French actress and singer (d.
1957
)
- 1893
-
Charles Merz
, American journalist (d.
1977
)
- 1899
?
Erich Kaestner
, German writer (d.
1974
)
- 1899
?
Norman Taurog
, American movie director (d.
1981
)
- 1901
-
Ivar Lo-Johansson
, Swedish writer (d.
1990
)
- 1904
?
William L. Shirer
, American historian (d.
1993
)
- 1904
-
George Docking
,
Governor
of
Kansas
(d.
1964
)
- 1906
-
Samuel Joensen-Mikines
,
Faroese
painter (d.
1979
)
- 1908
?
William McMahon
, twentieth
Prime Minister of Australia
(d.
1988
)
- 1911
-
G. Mennen Williams
,
Governor
of
Michigan
(d.
1988
)
- 1914
-
Theofiel Middelkamp
, Dutch cyclist (d.
2005
)
- 1915
?
Paul Tibbets
, American Air Force pilot (d.
2007
)
- 1923
?
Yiannis Grevas
, 87th
Prime Minister
of
Greece
(d.
2016
)
- 1923
-
Rafael Addiego Bruno
,
Uruguayan
politician (d.
2014
)
- 1924
?
Allan McLeod Cormack
, South African physicist (d.
1998
)
- 1924
-
Claude Sautet
, French director (d.
2000
)
- 1925
-
Louis Stokes
, American
attorney
and
politician
(d.
2015
)
- 1927
?
Willie Ormond
, Scottish
footballer
(d.
1984
)
- 1928
?
Vasili Lazarev
, Soviet cosmonaut (d.
1990
)
- 1928
-
Hans Herrmann
, German racing driver
- 1929
?
Patriarch Alexius II
, Head of the Russian Orthodox Church (d.
2008
)
- 1929
-
Jaan Einasto
, Estonian
cosmologist
- 1929
-
Elston Howard
, American
baseball
player
- 1932
-
Majel Barrett
, American actress (d.
2008
)
- 1935
?
Diane Shalet
, American actress (d.
2006
)
- 1937
-
Tom Osborne
,
American football
player
- 1938
-
Paul Morrissey
, American movie director
- 1938
?
Diane Varsi
, American actress (d.
1992
)
- 1940
?
Peter Fonda
, American actor (d.
2019
)
- 1942
-
Dioncounda Traore
, Malian politician
- 1944
?
Johnny Winter
, American musician (d.
2014
)
- 1944
-
Bernard Cornwell
, British writer
- 1947
-
Pia Kjaersgaard
, Danish politician
- 1947
-
Boris Kuznetsov
, Russian boxer (d.
2006
)
- 1948
-
Steve Priest
, British musician
- 1949
-
Marc Garneau
, Canadian
astronaut
and
politician
- 1950
-
Rebecca Goldstein
, American writer and
philosopher
- 1952
?
Brad Whitford
, American musician (
Aerosmith
)
- 1953
-
Satoru Nakashima
, Japanese racing driver
- 1953
-
Adnan Polat
, Turkish
businessman
- 1954
?
Viktor Yushchenko
, former
President of Ukraine
- 1955
-
Flip Saunders
, American
basketball
player and coach (d.
2015
)
- 1955
-
Francesca Simon
, American writer
- 1956
-
Paul O'Neill
, American producer, composer and songwriter (d.
2017
)
- 1956
?
Reinhold Beckmann
, German journalist and television presenter
- 1957
-
Andreas Schockenhoff
, German politician (d.
2014
)
- 1958
-
David Sylvain
, English musician
- 1959
-
Clayton Anderson
, American
astronaut
- 1959
-
Ian Liddell-Grainger
, Scottish
soldier
and
politician
- 1959
-
Linda Nolan
, Irish singer
- 1959
-
Graeme Morrice
, Scottish politician
- 1960
?
Emperor Naruhito
of
Japan
- 1963
-
Radoslav Sikorski
, Polish journalist and politician, foreign minister
- 1964
?
John Norum
, Norwegian
guitarist
- 1965
-
Michael Dell
, American
computer
manufacturer
- 1966
-
Alexandre Borges
, Brazilian actor
- 1969
-
Michael Campbell
, New Zealand
golfer
- 1971
?
Melinda Messenger
, British television presenter
- 1973
?
Lars-Olof Johansson
, Swedish musician
- 1975
-
Wilfred Kibet Kigen
,
Kenyan
marathon
runner
- 1975
-
Michael Cornacchia
, American
actor
,
director
,
producer
and
screenwriter
- 1976
?
Kelly Macdonald
, Scottish actress
- 1976
-
Satoshi Yoneyama
, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1978
-
Jo Joyner
, British actress
- 1978
-
Dan Snyder
, Canadian
ice hockey
player
- 1980
-
Kim Kyung-roul
, South Korean
billiards
player (d.
2015
)
- 1981
?
Gareth Barry
, English footballer
- 1981
-
Jan Bohmermann
, German
satirist
and
comedian
- 1982
-
Anna Chapman
, Russian agent
- 1982
-
Adam Hann-Byrd
, American
actor
and
screenwriter
- 1982
-
Karan Singh
, Indian politician
- 1983
?
Mido
, Egyptian footballer
- 1983
?
Mirco Bergamasco
, Italian
rugby
player
- 1983
?
Emily Blunt
, British actress
- 1983
-
Aziz Ansari
, American actor, comedian and writer
- 1984
-
Jeong Yu-mi
, South Korean
actress
- 1986
-
Skylar Grey
, American
singer-songwriter
- 1986
-
Ola Svensson
, Swedish pop singer
- 1988
-
Nicolas Gaitan
, Argentine
footballer
- 1989
-
Evan Bates
, American ice dancer
- 1989
-
Amara Baby
, French
footballer
- 1990
-
Kevin Cheung
,
Mauritian
swimmer
- 1992
-
Kyriakos Papadopoulos
, Greek
footballer
- 1993
-
Kasumi Ishikawa
, Japanese
table tennis
player
- 1994
?
Dakota Fanning
, American actress
- 1995
-
Andrew Wiggins
, Canadian
basketball
player
- 2012
?
Princess Estelle, Duchess of Ostergotland
, second-in-line to the throne of
Sweden
- 1011
-
Willigis
,
Archbishop
of
Mainz
(b.
940
)
- 1072
-
Peter Damian
,
theologian
(b.
1007
)
- 1100
?
Emperor Zhezong
of
China
(b.
1076
)
- 1270
-
Isabel of France
(b.
1225
)
- 1447
-
Pope Eugene IV
(b.
1383
)
- 1447
-
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
(b.
1390
)
- 1464
?
Zhengtong
, Emperor of
China
(b.
1427
)
- 1603
?
Andrea Cesalpino
, Italian philosopher, physician and
botanist
(b.
1519
)
- 1669
-
Leo Aitzema
, Dutch
historian
and
statesman
(b.
1600
)
- 1766
?
Stanislaw Leszczynski
,
King
of
Poland
(b.
1677
)
- 1781
-
George Taylor
, Irish-American signer of the
Declaration of Independence
(b.
1716
)
- 1792
?
Joshua Reynolds
, English painter (b.
1723
)
- 1821
?
John Keats
, English poet (b.
1795
)
- 1848
?
John Quincy Adams
, 6th
President of the United States
(b.
1767
)
- 1855
?
Carl Friedrich Gauss
, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b.
1777
)
- 1859
-
Zymunt Krasinski
, Polish-Roman
poet
(b.
1812
)
- 1879
?
Albrecht Graf von Roon
,
Prime Minister
of
Prussia
(b.
1803
)
- 1896
-
Justo Arosemena
, Colombian politician and writer (b.
1817
)
- 1897
-
Woldemar Bargiel
, German composer (b.
1828
)
- 1918
-
Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
(b.
1882
)
- 1925
-
Samuel Berger
, American heavyweight boxer (b.
1884
)
- 1931
?
Nellie Melba
, Australian operatic soprano (b.
1861
)
- 1934
?
Edward Elgar
, English composer (b.
1857
)
- 1944
?
Leo Hendrik Baekeland
, Flemish-American chemist, inventor of
Bakelite
(b.
1863
)
- 1946
-
Tomoyuki Yamashita
, Japanese general (b.
1885
)
- 1948
-
John Robert Gregg
, Irish-born publisher and inventor (b.
1866
)
- 1955
?
Paul Claudel
, French poet and playwright (b.
1868
)
- 1960
-
Arthur Legat
, British racing driver (b.
1898
)
- 1965
?
Stan Laurel
, English actor and comedian (b.
1890
)
- 1969
? King
Saud
of
Saudi Arabia
(b.
1902
)
- 1973
?
Dickinson W. Richards
, American physician (b.
1895
)
- 1974
-
Harry Ruby
, American composer and writer (b.
1895
)
- 1976
?
L. S. Lowry
, English painter (b.
1887
)
- 1979
-
W. A. C. Bennett
, 25th
Premier
of
British Columbia
(b.
1900
)
- 1983
-
Hubert Howells
, English composer (b.
1892
)
- 1984
?
Uwe Johnson
, German writer (b.
1934
)
- 1990
?
Jose Napoleon Duarte
,
President
of
El Salvador
(b.
1925
)
- 1995
-
James Herriot
, British writer (b.
1916
)
- 1995
-
Melvin Franklin
, American singer (b.
1942
)
- 1996
?
Helmut Schon
, German football manager (b.
1915
)
- 2000
?
Stanley Matthews
, English footballer (b.
1915
)
- 2001
-
Sergio Mantovani
, Italian racing driver (b.
1929
)
- 2003
-
Howie Epstein
, American musician (b.
1955
)
- 2004
?
Vijay Anand
, Indian movie director (b.
1934
)
- 2004
-
Sikander Bakht
, Indian politician,
Governor
of
Kerala
(b.
1918
)
- 2004
-
Neil Ardley
, English
jazz
pianist and composer (b.
1955
)
- 2004
-
Carl Liscombe
, Canadian
ice hockey
player (b.
1915
)
- 2006
?
Diane Shalet
, American actress (b.
1935
)
- 2008
?
Janez Drnovsek
, Slovenian politician (b.
1950
)
- 2008
-
Paul Frere
, Belgian racing driver (b.
1917
)
- 2009
?
Sverre Fehn
, Norwegian architect (b.
1924
)
- 2010
?
Orlando Zapata
, Cuban dissident, died after hunger strike (b.
1967
)
- 2011
-
Nirmala Srivastava
, Indian religious leader (b.
1923
)
- 2013
-
Julien Ries
, Belgian
cardinal
(b.
1920
)
- 2014
-
Alice Herz-Sommer
, Czech-born
pianist
,
Holocaust
survivor and
supercentenarian
(b.
1903
)
- 2015
-
John Rowlands
, Welsh writer and
novelist
(b.
1938
)
- 2016
-
Ramon Castro Ruz
, Cuban revolutionary (b.
1924
)
- 2016
-
Peter Lustig
, German sound engineer and television presenter (b.
1937
)
- 2016
-
Donald E. Williams
, American
astronaut
(b.
1932
)
- 2017
-
Alan Colmes
, American political commentator and
television
presenter (b.
1950
)
- 2017
-
Sabine Oberhauser
, Austrian
physician
and
politician
(b.
1963
)
- 2017
-
David Waddington, Baron Waddington
, British politician (b.
1929
)
- 2017
-
Leon Ware
, American musician, record producer and songwriter (b.
1940
)
- 2018
-
James Colby
, American actor (b.
1961
)
- 2018
-
James Laxer
, Canadian political economist (b.
1941
)
- 2018
-
Lewis Gilbert
, British film director (b.
1920
)