February 23

2024 Calendar

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).

Events

Up to 1900

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)

1901 – 1950

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 Traoré, 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

1951 – 2000

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'état 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 González and Miguel Boyer nationalizes Rumasa, a holding of José María 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'état, 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 Öcalan 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 Galtür, killing 31.

From 2001

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 Frère, 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)

Births

1951 – 1975

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

From 1976

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 Böhmermann, 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

Deaths

1901 – 2000

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 Schön, German football manager (b. 1915)
2000 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)

Observances

Republic Day (Guyana)
National Day (Brunei)
Defender of the Fatherland Day (Russia)