January 23 January 23 is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 342 days remaining, 343 in leap years. Events 1500-1899 1556 - The deadliest earthquake in history kills 830,000 people in Shanxi Province, China. 1570 - The assassination of regent James Stewart, 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. 1719 - The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire. 1789 - Georgetown College becomes the first Catholic college in the United States (Washington, DC). 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. 1900-1949 1904 - Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless. German Kaiser Wilhelm helps rebuild the town in Jugendstil architecture. 1907 - Charles Curtis from Kansas, becomes the first Native American US Senator. 1920 - The Netherlands refuses to surrender ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies. 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. 1941 - Charles Lindbergh testifies before the United States Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler. 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. 1950-1999 1950 - The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. 1960 - The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record when it descends 35,820 feet (10,750 meters) in the Pacific Ocean. 1964 - The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified. 1968 - North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated their territorial waters while spying. 1973 - President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam. 1975 - Barney Miller debuts on ABC. 1977 - The first segment of the Roots mini-series airs on ABC. 1978 - Sweden becomes the first nation to ban aerosol sprays that are thought to damage earth's protective ozone layer. 1983 - The A-Team debuts. 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) 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. 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. 2000-2099 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. Births 1700-1899 1737 - John Hancock, statesman and U.S. revolutionary (d. 1793) 1745 - William Jessop, canal engineer (d. 1814) 1783 - Stendhal, writer (d. 1842) 1786 - Auguste de Montferrand, architect (d. 1858) 1832 - Edouard Manet, impressionist artist (d. 1883) 1857 - Andrija Mohorovičić, Croatian seismologist (d. 1936) 1862 - David Hilbert, Mathematician (d. 1943) 1872 - Goce Delchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1903) 1872 - Joze Plečnik, architect (d. 1957) 1878 - Oton Župančič, Slovenian poet (d. 1949) 1884 - Ralph DePalma, race car driver (d. 1956) 1897 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, architect (d. 2000) 1898 - Sergei Eisenstein, director (d. 1948) 1900-1999 1903 - Randolph Scott, actor (d. 1987) 1907 - Dan Duryea, actor (d. 1968) 1907 - Hideki Yukawa, physicist (d. 1981) 1910 - Django Reinhardt, guitarist (d. 1953) 1919 - Hans Hass, zoologist and underwater scientist 1919 - Ernie Kovacs, comedian (d. 1962) 1920 - Ray Abrams, tenor saxophonist 1920 - Gottfried Böhm, architect 1923 - Walter M. Miller Jr., science fiction writer (d. 1996) 1928 - Jeanne Moreau, actress 1930 - Derek Walcott, author 1933 - Chita Rivera, actress, dancer 1936 - Jerry Kramer, American football star 1938 - Georg Baselitz, painter and sculptor 1943 - Gil Gerard, actor 1944 - Rutger Hauer, actor 1950 - Richard Dean Anderson, actor 1957 - Earl Falconer, bassist 1957 - Princess Caroline of Monaco 1963 - Gail O'Grady, actress 1964 - Mariska Hargitay, actress 1967 - Naim Suleymanoglu, Bulgaria-born Turkish weightlifter 1974 - Tiffani Thiessen, actress Deaths 1000-1899 1002 - Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980) 1570 - James Stewart, Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland (b. ca. 1531) 1789 - John Cleland, novelist (b. 1709) 1800 - Edward Rutledge, U.S. statesman (b. 1749) 1805 - Claude Chappe, telecommunications pioneer (semaphores) (b. 1763) 1837 - John Field, composer (b. 1782) 1875 - Charles Kingsley English writer (b. 1819) 1893 - Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, the only United States Supreme Court justice from Mississippi (b. 1825) 1900-1999 1923 - Max Nordau, author, philosopher and Zionist leader (b. 1849) 1931 - Anna Pavlova, ballerina (b. 1881) 1937 - Marie Prevost, actress (b. 1898) 1943 - Alexander Woollcott, actor, author, bon vivant (b. 1887) 1944 - Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter 1973 - Kid Ory, musician (b. 1886) 1976 - Paul Robeson, actor, singer, social activist (b. 1898) 1978 - Jack Oakie, actor (b. 1903) 1978 - Terry Kath, musician ("Chicago") (b. 1946) 1981 - Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910) 1983 - George Cukor, director (b. 1899) 1989 - Salvador Dalí, artist (b. 1904) 1991 - Northrop Frye, literary critic (b. 1912) 1992 - Freddie Bartholomew, actor (b. 1924) 1993 - Thomas Dorsey, gospel music singer (b. 1899) 1994 - Brian Redhead, journalist and broadcaster (b. 1929) 2000-2099 2002 - Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (b. 1930) 2002 - Robert Nozick, philosopher (b. 1938) 2003 - Nell Carter, singer, actress 2004 - Bob Keeshan, actor ("Captain Kangaroo") (b. 1927) 2004 - Helmut Newton, photographer (b. 1920) Holidays and observances ast:23 de xineru Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_23