On this day in History - Dec. 23

• 0619 - Boniface V becomes Pope.
• 0679 - Dagobert II was murdered. King of Austria (676-679).
• 1482 - Peace of Atrecht.
• 1513 - Thomas Smith was born (d. 1577). English diplomat and scholar.
• 1537 - John III of Sweden, was born, King of Sweden (d. 1592).
• 1582 - Severo Bonini, was born , composer.
• 1597 - Martin Opitz, was born, German Poet "Father of Modern German Poetry".
• 1620 - Construction of Plymouth Colony begins.
• 1646 - François Maynard dies (b. 1582). French poet.
• 1653 - João Pinto Delgado dies (b. 1580). Portuguese poet. See more about João Pinto Delgado in Rua da Judiaria.
• 1667 - A Inquisição condena o padre humanista Antônio Vieira à reclusão e ao silêncio.
• 1672 - French astronomer, Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, the fifth major satellite of Saturn.
• 1722 - Axel Fredrik Cronstedt was born [d. 1765] ;Swedish mineralogist and chemist who
• as the first to isolate nickel (1751).
• 1728 - Prussian Emperor Karel VI sign Treaty of Berlin .
• 1734 - Filinto Elísio Filinto Elísio, (Padre Francisco Manuel do Nascimento) nasce em Lisboa; um dos mais importantes poetas do Neoclassicismo português. ( was born in Lisbon, one of the most important neoclassic portuguese poets ).
• 1736 - Ocorre o último ato de Inquisição no Peru. Dona Ana de Castro é acusada de propagar o judaísmo e é queimada na fornalha.
• 1748 - D. João, rei de Portugal, e seus sucessores recebem do Papa Bento XIV o título de "Fidelíssimo".
• 1777 - Aleksandr I. P. Romanov, Alexander I of Russia was born (d. 1825). Tsar of Russia (1801-25).
• 1783 - George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army.
• 1788 - Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the District of Columbia.
• 1790 - Jean François Champollion, was born (d. 1832). French Egyptologist , deciphered the Rosetta Stone
• 1805 - Joseph Smith, Jr. was born (d. 1844). Founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement
• 1812 - Samuel Smiles was born (d. 16 Apr 1904). Scottish author. He was best known for "Self-Help," (1859) which enshrined the Victorian values associated with the "gospel of work."
• 1823 - The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" ("'Twas the night before Christmas"), written by either Clement C. Moore or Maj. Henry Livingston, Jr., was published in the Troy Sentinel of New York.
• 1834 - Thomas Malthus, dies, [b. 1766]English demographer and economist.
• 1834 - English architect, Joseph Hansom, patents his 'safety cab' known as the 'Hansom' cab.
• 1860 - Harriet Monroe was born (d. 1936) . American editor and poet. She founded and edited "Poetry: A magazine of Verse," 1912-36 which championed modern, new verse, poetry.
• 1876 - Turkey's first constitution was proclaimed.
• 1888 - After brandishing a razor at his friend Paul Gauguin in Victor Hugo Plaza at Arles, France, Vincent van Gogh returned home and cut his left ear off.
• 1893 - the Engelbert Humperdinck opera "Haensel und Gretel" was first performed, in Weimar, Germany.
• 1894 - Debussy's ballet L'aprés-midi d'un faune premiered in Paris.
• 1909 - Albert I of Belgium becomes King .
• 1911 - Niels Kaj Jerne was born. British-Danish immunologist who (with César Milstein and Georges Köhler) received the 1984 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
• 1913 - The Federal Reserve Act becomes law.
• 1916 - World War I: In the Battle of Magdhaba, Allied forces capture a Turkish garrison on the Sinai peninsula .
• 1918 - José de Sousa Barbosa sucede a Sidónio Pais como Presidente da República Portuguesa.
• 1918 - José Greco was born (d. 31 Dec 2000). Flamenco dancer, actor: Ship of Fools, The Proud and the Damned;
• 1918 - Helmut Schmidt, was born, Chancellor of Germany (1974-1982 ).
• 1920 - Ireland divided into 2 parts, each with its own parliament.
• 1922 - Pope Pius XI pleas for peace: encyclical Ubi arcano .
• 1923 - Harold Masursky was born [d. 24 Aug 1990 ] American geologist and senior scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey's astrogeology branch supporting space exploration.
• 1926 - Robert Bly was born. American poet. "He was a leading figure in the revolt against rhetoric in poetry; wrote "The Light Around the Body," What Have I Ever Lost by Dying? , Iron John: A Book About Men
• 1928 - the National Broadcasting Company set up a permanent, coast-to-coast network.
• 1929 - [Alberto da] Costa Pereira was born. Portuguese footballer (goalkeeper of Benfica).
• 1930 - Bette Davis arrives in Hollywood under contract to Universal Studios .
• 1931 - No Vaticano, ocorre o desmoronamento da Sala Sistina e vários volumes de sua biblioteca são destruídos.
• 1933 - Emperor Akihito of Japan, was born.
• 1933 - The Pope condemned the Nazi sterilization program.
• 1933 - Train crash in Eastern Paris - 230 die.
• 1933 - Alleged Reichstag Arsonist Sentenced : The Dutchman Marinus van der Lubbe was sentenced to death for his role in the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933. He was executed in Leipzig in 1934.
• 1938 - Robert E. Kahn was born; American computer scientist who co-created the ARPANET and TCP/IP protocols that enable computers to exchange information on the Internet.
• 1939 - The first Canadian troops for WW II arrive in Britain.
• 1939 - Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker dies [b. 1890], Dutch-American airman and pioneer aircraft manufacturer who, during WW I, produced more than 40 types of airplanes (designed by Reinhold Platz) for the German High Command.
• 1941 - The Japanese occupied Hong Kong.
• 1941 - During World War II, American forces on Early in World War II, invading Japanese forces defeated U.S. troops at the Battle of Wake Island
• 1943 - Harry Shearer was born. Actor, voice actor (This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons).
• 1943 - Silvia Sommerlath, was born; Queen of Sweden , wife of King Carl XVI .
• 1943 - Mikhail Gromov, was born. Russian-born mathematician.
• 1945 - Frederick Astons "Cinderella" premieres in London.
• 1943 - Harry Sheareractor: The Return of Spinal Tap, The Fisher King, Portrait of a White Marriage, This is Spinal Tap, The Right Stuff, One Trick Pony, Saturday Night Live, voice of Smithers & Otto the Bus Driver: The Simpsons
• 1946 - Susan Lucci was born. Daytime Emmy Award-winning actress: All My Children [1999]; Dallas, French Silk, Lady Mobster, Mafia Princess, Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, Invitation to Hell, Secret Passions
• 1947 - The transistor was invented by American physicists John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley (they shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in physics for their work ) .
• 1948 - Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed for crimes of war.
• 1950 -Vincenzo Tommasini dies at 72. Composer.
• 1952 - Mário Botas was born. Portuguese painter.
• 1954 - The classic movie, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, was released. The film was one of Walt Disney’s most successful. Kirk Douglas and James Mason starred / O filme “20.000 Léguas Submarinas” estréia nos Estados Unidos e se torna um dos maiores sucessos dos estúdios Walt Disney.
• 1956 - Jubilation as allied troops leave Suez : Crowds of Egyptians have poured onto the streets of Port Said to celebrate the withdrawal of British and French forces from Egyptian soil (Source: BBC).
• 1956 - Michele Alboretto, was born, formula-1 racer (Ferrari) .
• 1956 - Dave Murray was born. English musician (Iron Maiden)
• 1958 - Victoria Williams, was born, singer .
• 1961 - Moïse Kapenda Tshombe leads the Congo province of Katanga into secession.
• 1961 - Train accident in Italy, 70 die .
• 1962 - President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, a leading exponent of Pan-Africanism, orders the release of the last of his political prisoners, previously detained under the Preventive Detention Act of 1958.
• 1962 - Cuba starts returning US prisoners from Bay of Pigs invasion .
• 1963 - During a fire on the Greek ship Laconia, 128 people lost their lives.
• 1963 - Beach Boys 1st appearance on "Shindig" .
• 1964 - India and Ceylon were hit by a cyclone, an estimated 4,850 were killed.
• 1964 - Eddie Vedder, was born; Rock singer (Pearl Jam) is 40.
• 1966 - Cláudia Raia was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1968 - Missão na Órbita Lunar - Apollo 8 : a primeira missão com tripulação humana atinge a órbita lunar.
• 1968 - 82 crew members of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.
• 1972 - 6.25 Earthquake destroys central Managua Nicaragua, 10,000 die .
• 1972 - 16 plane crash survivors rescued after 70 days, survived by cannabalism .
• 1972 - Palmeiras sagra-se campeão brasileiro de futebol de 1972
• 1973 - A Sobelair Caravelle passenger jet crashes in Morocco, killing 106 .
• 1975 - Sky Lopez was born. American actress
• 1977 - Cat Stevens formally changed his name to Yusef Islam.
• 1977 - Born this day, Helen Mahmastol, Miss Universe-Estonia (1996 ).
• 1978 - Estella Warren was born. Canadian actress and model. See wallpaper Estella Warren
• 1979 - Soviet military units occupy Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
• 1980 - a state funeral was held in Moscow for former Premier Alexei N. Kosygin, who had died at age 76.
• 1982 - The Environmental Protection Agency recommends the evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri due to dangerous levels of dioxin contamination.
• 1986 - The Soviet Union's most prominent dissident, Andrei Sakharov, has returned to Moscow after almost seven years of internal exile.
• 1986 - the experimental airplane "Voyager," piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, non-refueled, round-the-world flight as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
• 1987 - Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, serving a life sentence for the attempted assassination of President Ford in 1975, escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison for Women in West Virginia. (She was recaptured two days later).
• 1990 - Republic of Slovenia votes to secede from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia .
• 1995 - Aleksander Kwasniewski inaugurated as Polish President after having narrowly defeated Lech Walesa, Poland's first postcommunist president.
• 1996 - 4 women ordained priests in Jamaica, 1st in 330-year Anglican history .
• 1997 - a jury in Denver convicted Terry Nichols of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing, declining to find him guilty of murder.
• 1997 - Woody Allen, 62 weds Soon-Yi Previn 27, adopted Daughter of Mia Farrow.
• 1997 - O México divulga o massacre de 45 índios, entre eles 21 mulheres e 15 crianças, ocorrido em Chiapas, no dia anterior.
• 1998 - Anatoly Rybakov, Russian writer, died in New York at age 87.
• 1999 - The Nasdaq composite index briefly crossed 4,000 and closed at a record high for the 58th time in 1999.
• 1999 - In Haiti violence began when a customer was killed trying to cash in a winning lottery ticket. 50 tin-roofed shacks were torched in Cite Soleil.
• 1999 - In Sri Lanka fighting broke out at Iyakachchi and at least 101 guerrillas and soldiers were later reported killed.
• 2000 - In Serbia elections the 18-party Kostunica coalition won 64.5% of the vote and over two-thirds of the seats of the 250-seat parliament. Zoran Djindjic (48) was projected to become prime minister.
• 2001 - Argentina announced the suspension of payments on its external debt—the biggest debt default in history to date.
• 2003 - The government announced the first suspected (later confirmed) case of mad cow disease in United States.
• 2004 - An earthquake measured 8.1 on the Richter scale hits Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean, one day before the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake.
• 2004 - P. V. Narasimha Rao dies (b. 1921). Ninth Prime Minister of India
• Japan - The Emperor's Birthday - Birthday of Akihito, the current Emperor of Japan
• Sweden - Birthday of Queen Silvia, an official flag day