On this day in History - Jan. 23

• 0638 -Start of Islamic calendar.
• 1002 - Otto III, dies, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980) .
• 1516 - Ferdinand II, King of Aragon / Sicily, dies at 63.
• 1556 -The deadliest earthquake on record killed 830,000 in Shaanxi, China.
• 1570 - The assassination of regent James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray throws Scotland into civil war.
• 1571 - The Royal Exchange opens in London.
• 1579 - The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.
• 1639 -Francisco Maldonado da Silva Solis, Peruvian poet, was burned at stake.
• 1648 -Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla, Spanish Poet (Del Rey Abajo), dies at 40.
• 1668 -England, Netherlands & Sweden signs Triple Alliance against French .
• 1719 -John Landen was born, (d. 15 Jan 1790). British mathematician who made important contributions on elliptic integrals.
• 1719 - The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1745 - William Jessop, was born, canal engineer (d. 1814) .
• 1769 - Decreto que cria, em Pombal, uma fábrica de chapéus finos de propriedade régia.
• 1783 - Stendhal [Marie Henri Beyle], was born (d.1842); French novelist (Le Rouge et Le Noir) (d. 1842) .
• 1786 - Auguste de Montferrand, was born, architect (d. 1858).
• 1789 - Georgetown College becomes the first Catholic college in the United Stat (Washington, DC).
• 1789 - John Cleland, dies, novelist (b. 1709).
• 1796 -Karl Karlovich Klaus was born (d. 24 Mar 1864). Russian chemist and biologist (of German origin) who discovered the ruthenium (1844).
• 1800 - Edward Rutledge, dies, U.S. statesman (b. 1749) .
• 1805 - Claude Chappe, died, (b. 25.Dec.1763) French engineer, telecommunications pioneer (semaphores)
• 1806 - William Pitt, primeiro-ministro da Grã-Bretanha falece aos 46 anos. Aos 24 anos de idade, ele havia se tornado o mais jovem primeiro-ministro na história do país.
• 1808 - Chegada de Dom João VI e a Família Real Portuguesa à Bahia.
• 1810 - Los franceses avanzan fácilmente por Andalucía y en este día se apoderan de Jaén y Córdoba.
• 1813 - Camilla Collett was born, novelist, essayist, and literary critic .
• 1814 -Sir Alexander Cunningham, was born, ( d. 28 Nov 1893). British army officer and archaeologist who excavated many sites in India, including Sarnath and Sanchi.
• 1832 - Edouard Manet, was born in Paris, artist and impressionist painter (d. 30. Apr. 1883). His 'Dejeuner sur l'herbe/Picnic on the grass' 1863 and Olympia 1865 (both Musee d'Orsay, Paris) offended conservative tastes in their matter-of-fact treatment of the nude body.
• 1837 - John Field, died this day, composer (b. 1782) .
• 1840 - Ernst Abbe Germany, was born [d. 14 Jan. 1905] physicist (Carl Zeiss Optics Company) who made theoretical and technical innovations in optical theory.
• 1849 -Patent granted for an envelope-making machine .
• 1849 - Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her MD by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, thus becoming the United States' first woman doctor.
• 1851 - The flip of a coin determines whether a new city in Oregon is named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning.
• 1857 - Andrija Mohorovičić, was born (d. 18 Dec. 1936), Croatian metereologist and geophysicist who discovered the boundary between the Earth's crust and mantle, a boundary now named the Mohorovicic discontinuity.
• 1862 - David Hilbert, was born, (d. 14 Feb 1943) German Mathematicianwho reduced geometry to a series of axioms and contributed substantially to the establishment of the formalistic foundations of mathematics ("Foundations of Geometry").
• 1864 - Johann Lukas Schönlein dies, (b. 30 Nov 1793) German physician whose attempts to establish medicine as a natural science helped create modern methods for the teaching and practice of clinical medicine.
• 1864 - Michele Puccini, composer, dies at 50 .
• 1870 - Marias Massacre ( United States government and the American Indians).
• 1872 - Paul Langevin was born (d. 19 Dec 1946). French physicist who was the first scientist to explain the effects of paramagnetism and diamagnetism (the weak attraction or repulsion of substances in a magnetic field), in 1905, using statistical mechanics.
• 1872 - Goce Delchev, was born, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1903) .
• 1872 - Joze Plečnik, was born, architect (d. 1957) .
• 1875 - Charles Kingsley dies, English writer (b. 1819) .
• 1876 - Otto Diels was born (d. 7 Mar 1954); German organic chemist who with Kurt Alder was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1950 for their joint work in developing a method of preparing cyclic organic compounds.
• 1878 - Oton Župančič, was born, Slovenian poet (d. 1949).
• 1879 - Anglo-Zulu War of 1879: Rorke's DriftFollowing an overnight battle at Rorke's Drift, 150 British and Imperial soldiers successfully defended this isolated station against a force of more than 3,000 Zulu warriors, at a cost of 15 dead and ten wounded. Hailed as heroes across the British Empire, 11 of the defenders were awarded the Victoria Cross. (It was only in 1999 that a memorial was finally constructed to the brave Zulu warriors who fought for their beleaguered nation.)
• 1884 - Ralph DePalma, was born, race car driver (d. 1956) .
• 1893 - Jose Zorrilla y Moral, Spanish Poet (Granada), dies at 75.
• 1897 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, was born, architect (d. 2000) .
• 1898 - Sergei Eisenstein, was born film director (d. 1948) .
• 1899 - Humphrey (DeForest) Bogart,was born (d. 14. Jan. 1957);Academy Award-winning actor, (The African Queen [1951], The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Caine Mutiny, The Barefoot Contessa, Tokyo Joe, Key Largo, Action in the North Atlantic, High Sierra [over 50 films]).
• 1903 - Colonel Arthur Alfred Lynch is found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death for leading the "Irish Commando" against British forces in the Anglo-Boer War.
• 1903 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, was born , Colombian politician .
• 1903 - Randolph Scott, was born, actor (d. 02-Mar-1987) (Last of the Mohicans, The Nevadan, Ride the High Country, To the Shores of Tripoli, Man in the Saddle, Go West Young Man, Bombardier) .
• 1904 - Ålesund Fire: Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless. German Kaiser Wilhelm helps rebuild the town in Jugendstil architecture.
• 1905 - Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, reputado ceramista, faleceu neste dia.
• 1907 - Charles Curtis from Kansas, becomes the first Native American US Senator.
• 1907 - Dan Duryea, was born, actor (d. 1968) .
• 1907 - Hideki Yukawa, was born (d. 08 Sept 1981); Japanese physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1949 for research in the theory of elementary particles.
• 1910 - Django Reinhardt, was born, guitarist (d. 1953) .
• 1915 - Potter Stewart was born, Associate Justice .
• 1915 - Arthur Lewis, was born, Premio Nobel de Economía 1979.
• 1918 - Gertrude Belle Elion was born (d. 21 Feb 1999.) American pharmacologist who, along with George H. Hitchings and Sir James W. Black, received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1988 for their development of drugs used to treat several major diseases.
• 1919 - Hans Hass,was born, zoologist and underwater scientist .
• 1919 - Ernie Kovacs, was born, comedian (d. 1962) .
• 1920 - Ray Abrams, was born, tenor saxophonist .
• 1920 - Gottfried Böhm, was born, architect .
• 1920 - The Netherlands refuses to surrender ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
• 1923 - Walter M. Miller Jr., was born, science fiction writer (d. 1996) .
• 1923 - Max Nordau, dies, author, philosopher and Zionist leader (b. 1849) .
• 1928- Jeanne Moreau was born ,French actress (Going Places, Jules & Jim) .
• 1929 - John C. Polanyi was born; Chemist and educator who, with Dudley R. Herschbach and Yuan T. Lee, received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1986 for his contribution to the field of chemical-reaction dynamics.
• 1930 - Derek Walcott was born, dramatist and poet ( Nobel 1992) .
• 1931 - Espanha e Portugal fazem um acordo e é abolido a necessidade de passaporte entre os dois países.
• 1931 - Anna Pavlova, dies, ballerina (b. 1881) .
• 1932 -El Salvador army kills 4,000 protesting farmers .
• 1933 - Chita Rivera, was born, actress, dancer .
• 1933 - Joãosinho Trinta, nascimento de, coreógrafo e carnavalesco brasileiro.
• 1935 - French colonial troops are massacred by Abyssinian tribesmen in Somaliland .
• 1936 - Jerry Kramer, American football star .
• 1937- In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime and assassinate its leaders.
• 1938 - Georg Baselitz, painter and sculptor.
• 1940 -Pianist Ignaz Paderewski becomes Premier of Polish government in exile .
• 1941 - Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
• 1941 - João Ubaldo Ribeiro, nasceu neste dia, escritor brasileiro.
• 1943 - World War II: British forces capture Tripoli from the Nazis.
• 1943 - World War II: Australian and American forces finally defeat the Japanese army in Papua. This turning point in the Pacific War marks the beginning of the end of Japanese aggression.
• 1943 - Duke Ellington plays at New York City's Carnegie Hall for the first time.
• 1943 - Gil Gerard, was born, actor (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Sidekicks, Hooch, Soldier’s Fortune).
• 1943 - After nine days of talks in Casablanca, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to put an invasion of Italy ahead of opening a second front in northwestern Europe.
• 1944 - Edvard Munch, dies, Norwegian painter (The Scream).
• 1944 - Rutger Hauer, was born, actor Lady Hawke, Nighthawks, Blade Runner, Beyond Justice, Forbidden Choices).
• 1950 - Richard Dean Anderson, was born, actor .
• 1950 - The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
• 1950 - Luis Alberto Spinetta, nacimiento de músico y compositor argentino.
• 1955 - In a crash of the York-Bristol express train at Sutton Coldfield, England, 17 people were killed and 43 injured.
• 1957- Earl Falconer, was born, bassist UB40, 1983 UK No.1 and US 1988 US No.1 single Red Red Wine, Food for Thought, If It Happens Again, Don’t Break My Heart, Sing Our Own Song.
• 1957 - Princess Caroline of Monaco was born, daughter of Prince Ranier and Princess Grace of Monaco.
• 1958 - Dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez flees Venezuela, Larrazábal takes power .
• 1960 - The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record when it descends 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) in the Pacific Ocean - deepest point known to exist on earth, in the Marianas Trench near the island of Guam.
• 1961 -Wilhelm Koppers dies (b. 8 Feb 1886) Roman Catholic priest and cultural anthropologist.
• 1961- Venezuela adopts constitution .
• 1962 -Libya, Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia plan to form United Arab Maghreb.
• 1963 - Gail O'Grady, was born, actress .
• 1964 - The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified .
• 1964-The 24th Amendment to the Constitution, barring poll taxes, was ratified.
• 1964 - Mariska Hargitay, was born, actress.
• 1967 - Naim Suleymanoglu, was born, Bulgaria-born Turkish weightlifter .
• 1968 - North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated their territorial waters while spying.
• 1968 - Petr Korda was born in Prague Czechoslovakia, tennis star (1993 Doubles-Cincinnati OH) 1970 - The first Jumbo jet landed at London's Heathrow airport.
• 1973 - President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
• 1973 - George Foreman took the heavyweight boxing title away from ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica .
• 1973 -Jordan Air crash at Kano, Nigeria kills 176 Moslem pilgrims .
• 1974 - Tiffani - Amber Thiessen, was born in Long Beach CA, actress (Saved by Bell, Beverly Hills90210, Son in Law).
• 1975 - Barney Miller debuts on ABC.
• 1978 - Sweden becomes the first nation to ban aerosol sprays that are thought to damage earth's protective ozone layer.
• 1978 - Died this day, Terry Kath, member of the rock group Chicago, in Los Angeles, while trying to prove a gun was not loaded. He pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger, killing himself instantly.
• 1983 - George Cukor, dies, film director (b. 1899).
• 1983 -Bjorn Borg announces his retirement from tennis.
• 1983 - Soviet satellite Cosmos 1402 entered Earth's atmosphere and crashed into the Indian Ocean.
• 1985 - O. J. Simpson becomes the first Heisman Trophy winner elected to the Football Hall of Fame.
• 1986 - The first induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley)
• 1986 - Morrem 38 pessoas no incêndio de um hotel de luxo em Nova Delhi.
• 1988 - the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first nonstop, around the world flight without refueling. They landed it safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
• 1988 - 45th Golden Globes: Last Emperor, Sally Kirkland, Michael Douglas .
• 1989 - Salvador Dalí, dies, Spanish Surrealist painter, dies (b. 1904)
• 1990 - Mariano Rumor, Italy's PM (1968-70, 73-1974), dies.
• 1993 -50th Golden Globes: Scent of a Woman, wins.
• 1993 -The first African-American to sit on the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall, died.
• 1993 - Indian Airlines B737 crashes art Aurangabad, 61 die .
• 1994 - Worldwide Day for peace in Bosnia-Hercegovina .
• 1995 - Jacques Delors formally stepped down as European Commission president, handing over to Jacques Santer after 10 years of steering Europe towards closer union.
• 1997 - Mir Aimal Kasi receives the death sentence for a 1993 assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters that killed two and wounded three others.
• 1997 - Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
• 1998 - Pope John Paul II condemns US embargo against Cuba .
• 1998 - Hilla Limann President of Ghana in (1979-81), dies.
• 1998 - La Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol inaugura su nueva sede en Asunción.
• 1999 - " La Niña de tus ojos", de Fernando Trueba, é o filme ganhador da XIII edição dos Prêmios da Academia de Cinema.
• 1999 - Australian Christian missionary Graham Stewart Stains and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in eastern India.
• 2002 - "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returns to the United States under FBI custody.
• 2002 - Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and subsequently murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.
• 2002 -Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped by the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty.
• 2003 - R Kelly was arrested on new child pornography charges.
• 2004 - The European Space Agency claimed to have discovered evidence of water on the surface of the planet Mars.
• 2004 -Bob Keeshan, "Captain Kangaroo," died at age 76.