On this day in History - Fev. 23

• 1418 - Pope Paul II (d. 1471) was born.
• 1447 - Humphrey, Duque de Gloucester dies .
• 1447 - Pope Eugenius IV dies (b.1383).
• 1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.
• 1535 - Tomás de Berlanga, obispo de Castilla del Oro descubre las islas Galápagos.
• 1574 - The 5th holy war against the Huguenots begins in France.
• 1601 - Muere el pintor y grabador italiano Agostino Carraci.
• 1603 - Andrea Cesalpino dies (b. 6 Jun 1519). Italian physician, philosopher, and botanist who sought a philosophical and theoretical approach to plant classification based on unified and coherent principles rather than on alphabetical sequence or medicinal properties .
• 1633 - Samuel Pepys, was born, diarist (d. 1703).
• 1660 - Charles XI becomes king of Sweden.
• 1685 - Georg Friederich Händel, was born in Halle, Germany (d. 1759). German-English Composer. Handel was one of the greatest masters of baroque music, most widely celebrated for his majestic oratorio The Messiah.
• 1730 - Pope Benedict XIII dies, (b. 1649).
• 1732- First performance of George Frideric Handel's Orlando, in London.
• 1743 - Mayer Amschel Rothschild, was born, banker (d. 1812).
• 1765 - El químico y físico inglés Henry Cavendish descubre el hidrógeno, al que llamó "aire inflamable".
• 1766 - Com a morte de Estanislau Lesczcynski, duque de Lorena, este território é incorporado na França.
• 1766 - Stanislaw Leszczynski dies, King of Poland (b. 1677).
• 1778 - American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
• 1792 - Joshua Reynolds dies, English painter.
• 1812 - Étienne-Louis Malus dies (b. 23 June 1775). French physicist who discovered that light, when reflected, becomes partially plane polarized; i.e., its rays vibrate in the same plane.
• 1813 - Cotton mill - The first cotton mill in the world in which the whole process of cotton manufacturing from spinning to weaving was carried on by power was incorporated in Waltham, Mass., U.S. with a capital of $100,000 as the Boston Manufacturing Company .
• 1820 - Buenos Aires, Santa Fe y Entre Ríos firman el Tratado del Pilar.
• 1820 - Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
• 1821- The Philadelphia College of Apothecaries founds the first pharmacy college.
• 1821 - John Keats, English Romantic poet, dies (b. 1795).
• 1823 - Rebelião contra-revolucionária do general conde de Amarante, e de outros oficiais afastados do poder em finais de 1820 (Portugal).
• 1836 - Mexican general Santa Anna began the Siege of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas - only six people survived.
• 1840 - Carl Menger, was born, economist (d. 1921).
• 1841 - The Chemical Society of London held its first organizational meeting. It was the first association for chemists that lasted 100 years.
• 1847 - En su lucha por la posesión de Texas, EE.UU. vence a México en la batalla de Buena Vista
• 1850 - Nace el hotelero César Ritz.
• 1847 - Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista - In Mexico, American troops defeat Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna.
• 1848 - John Quincy Adams dies , 6th President of the United States (b. 1767) .
• 1855 - Carl Friedrich Gauss dies, (b. 30 Apr 1777). German mathematician, astronomer, physicist .
• 1861 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1868 - W.E.B. DuBois, was born, civil rights leader and author(d. 1963) .
• 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.
• 1879 - Agnes Arber was born (d. 22 Mar 1960). (née Robertson) British botanist noted chiefly for her studies in comparative anatomy of plants, especially monocotyledons.
• 1882 - B. Traven, was born (allegedly) writer (d. 1969).
• 1883 - Victor Fleming, was born, director (d. 1949) .
• 1883 - Karl Jaspers, was born, philosopher (d. 1969).
• 1883 - Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
• 1884 - Casimir Funk was born (d. 20 Nov 1967). Polish-American biochemist who coined the term "vitamine" .
• 1886 - El "London Times" publica el primer aviso clasificado.
• 1886 - Aluminium isolated : Charles M. Hall, a young U.S. chemist, completed his electrolytic process for the separation of aluminum from its ore, a mere eight months since he graduated from college.
• 1887 - The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
• 1889 - É abolida a escravatura em todo o território Português.
• 1892 - Hugh Burgess dies (b. c. 1825). British-born American inventor who, with Charles Watt, developed the soda process used to turn wood pulp into paper.
• 1893 - Diesel engine patent. Rudolf Diesel received a German patent for the diesel engine. His engine burns fuel oil rather than gasoline, and uses high compressed of the gases in the cylinder rather than a spark to ignite the fuel.
• 1896 - The Tootsie Roll was introduced by Leo Hirshfield.
• 1898 - French novelist Emile Zola was convicted of libel and sentenced to jail for writing his "J'accuse" letter accusing the government of anti-Semitism and wrongly jailing Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
• 1899 - Erich Kästner, was born, lyricist and narrator (d. 1974).
• 1899 - Elisabeth Langgässer, was born, lyricist, narrator and novelist (d. 1950) .
• 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.
• 1904 - Leopold Trepper, was born, Soviet spy in WWII (d. 1982).
• 1905 - Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.
• 1907 - Nace el futbolista Roberto Cerro "Cherro", "Cabecita de Oro" hizo 100 goles en Boca.
• 1908 - Friedrich von Esmarch dies (b. 9 Jan 1823). German surgeon who was the first to introduce a first-aid kit and triage on the battlefield. He introduced first aid training for both military and civilian personnel.
• 1908 - William McMahon, was born, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988) .
• 1909- The Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
• 1911 - Os bispos portugueses tomam posição contra as medidas anticlericais do regime Republicano, como fossem a expulsão das congregações, a lei do divórcio e o fim do juramento religioso.
• 1914 - El Consejo de Konigsberg acuerda que los restos del filósofo Kant sean enterrados en un mausoleo de la catedral de esta ciudad.
• 1915 - Paul Tibbets, was born, pilot of the "Enola Gay", the plane which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan .
• 1917 - Jean-Gaston Darboux dies (b. 14 Aug 1842). French mathematician who made important contributions to geometry and analysis and after whom the Darboux integral is named.
• 1917 - O segundo contingente do Corpo expedicionário português parte para França. O primeiro contingente tinha partido em 30 de Janeiro.
• 1918 - Fundación del Ejército Rojo soviético.
• 1918 - O governo de Sidónio pais altera a Lei da Separação entre o Estado e a Igreja, restituindo ao clero parte dos seus poderes nas questões referentes ao culto.
• 1919- Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.
• 1922 - Ejecutan a Henri Landru.
• 1923 - Théophile Delcassé dies, French statesman (b. 1852) .
• 1924 -Allan MacLeod Cormack was born (d. 7 May 1998). South African-born American physicist who formulated the mathematical algorithms that made possible the development of a powerful new diagnostic technique, the cross-sectional X-ray imaging process known as computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanning. He was awarded a share of the 1979 Nobel Prize.
• 1926 - Charles Joseph Chamberlain is born (d. 5 Feb 1943). U.S. botanist whose major area of research was the cycad genera, palmlike, cone-bearing plants intermediate in appearance and structural features between tree ferns and palms .
• 1926 - Fallece el pintor Juan Llimona.
• 1927 - The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.
• 1928 - Vasili Lazarev, was born, cosmonaut (d. 1990) .
• 1930 - Estalla en Santiago (República Dominicana) un movimiento revolucionario dirigido por el general Rafael Trujillo.
• 1930 - Horst Wessel dies, Nazi ideologue, composer .
• 1932 - Majel Barrett, was born, actress .
• 1934 - Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.
• 1934 - Edward Elgar, dies, composer (b. 1857) .
• 1934 - Sophus Otto Müller dies (b. 24 May 1846). Danish paleontologist who, during the late 19th century, discovered the first of the Neolithic battle-ax cultures in Denmark.
• 1939 - Peter Fonda, was born, actor .
• 1940 - World War II: Soviet Union troops conquer Lasi Island.
• 1940 - The animated movie Pinocchio is released.
• 1942 - Muere el escritor Stefan Zweig.
• 1942 -The first Axis shelling of U.S. soil took place near Santa Barbara, Calif.
• 1944 - Leo Hendrik Baekeland dies (b. 14 Nov 1863). U.S. industrial chemist who helped found the modern plastics industry through his invention of Bakelite, the first thermosetting plastic (a plastic that does not soften when heated).
• 1944 - É criado o Secretariado Nacional de Informação, Cultura Popular e Turismo (SNI), que substitui o Secretariado da Propaganda Nacional (SPN). António Ferro, director do SPN, dirige a nova estrutura (Portugal).
• 1944 - Johnny Winter, was born, musician .
• 1945 - Following the American victory at 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 Poznan, 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.
• 1945 -U.S. Marines raised the American flag on Iwo Jima.
• 1947 - International Organization for Standardization(ISO) is founded.
• 1948 - John Robert Gregg dies (b. 17 Jun 1867). Irish-born American inventor of a shorthand system named for him.
• 1951 - Shigefumi Mori was born (d. 23 Feb 1951). Japanese mathematician who has made important contributions to the field of algebraic geometry.
• 1951 - Patricia Richardson, was born, actress.
• 1954 - Viktor Yushchenko, was born, Ukraine, President .
• 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 .
• 1955 - Howard Jones, was born, musician .
• 1956 - Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality".
• 1957 - Dr. John F. Mahoney dies (b. 1 Aug 1889). American physician who developed penicillin treatment of syphilis. He established the Venereal Disease Research Center on Staten Island, N.Y. for the U.S. Public Health Service for laboratory and clinical studies of venereal disease.
• 1958 - David Sylvian, was born, musician .
• 1958 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
• 1958 - Arturo Frondizi gana las elecciones generales de Argentina.
• 1959 - Primera reunión del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos.
• 1960 - Nace Naruhito, Príncipe heredero de Japón.
• 1960 - Crown Prince Naruhito heir to the Japanese throne .
• 1961 - Ernesto Che Guevara é nomeado Ministro de Indústrias de Cuba. Ele, que lutou ao lado de Fidel Castro contra a ditadura de Fulgêncio Batista, virou cidadão cubano e já havia sido diretor do Banco Nacional. Deixaria o cargo mais tarde para lutar pela revolução na África.
• 1963 - Alaura O'Dell, aka Paula P-Orridge born in Westminster, London .
• 1965 - Stan Laurel, dies, actor, comedian (b. 1890) .
• 1965 - Michael Dell was born, entrepreneur .
• 1966 - A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.
• 1970 - Independencia de Guyana.
• 1973 - Dickinson Woodruff Richards dies (b. 30 Oct 1895). American physiologist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1956 with Werner Forssmann and André F. Cournand.
• 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
• 1974 - Harry Ruby, dies, composer, writer .
• 1974 - O general António de Spínola publicou a célebre obra "Portugal e o Futuro", livro que punha em causa a política ultramarina do governo.
• 1979 - W.A.C. Bennett, dies, British Columbia politician (b. 1900).
• 1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
• 1981- Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
• 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.
• 1986 - Muere Justo Arosemena, escritor y político panameño.
• 1987 - Morre Zeca Afonso, cantor, poeta, músico e resistente político português. Cantor de Grândola, Vila Morena, canção que simboliza o 25 de Abril de 1974.
• 1987 - A supernova is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud (see Supernova 1987a).
• 1990 - José Napoleón Duarte, dies, President of El Salvador .
• 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.
• 1993 - Gary Coleman wins a $1,280,000 lawsuit against his parents.
• 1994 - Dakota Fanning, was born, actress .
• 1995 - James Herriot,dies, writer (b. 1916).
• 1997- Scottish scientists announced the successful cloning of a sheep, Dolly.
• 1997 - La versión sin censuras de la película "La lista de Schindler", es vista por 65 millones de personas en la señal televisiva NBC de los Estados Unidos.
• 1998 - Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
• 1998 - Osama bin Laden publishes fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.
• 1998 - Netscape Communications Corporation announced 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 vilage of Galtür, killing 31.
• 1999 - Carlos Hathcock , dies, GySgt , USMC , Sniper (b. 1942).
• 2000 - Ofra Haza, dies, Israeli singer (b. 1957).
• 2003 - Robert K. Merton, dies, sociologist (b. 1910).
• 2003 - Marcel Prawy, dies, jurist.
• 2004 - Vijay Anand, dies, Bollywood film director and brother of Dev Anand.
• 2004 - Carl Anderson, American actor (Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar).
• 2004 - Sikander Bakht, dies, Governor of Kerala (b. 1918) .
• 2004 - William Coates, dies, asserted to be "oldest living American" .
• 2004 - Don Cornell, dies, popular singer of the 1940s and 1950s (b. 1919) .
• 2004 - Carl Liscombe, dies, Detroit Red Wings hockey player in the 1940s (b. 1915) .
• 2005 - Slovakia Summit 2005 begins, marking the first occasion when a sitting American President visits Slovakia; Bush and Putin are in attandance.