May 23 May 23 is the 143rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (144th in leap years). There are 222 days remaining. Events 1400-1899 1430 - Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne 1498 - Girolamo Savonarola is executed on the orders of Pope Alexander VI 1533 - The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void. 1541 - Jacques Cartier leaves St-Malo, France on his third voyage. 1555 - Paul IV becomes Pope. 1609 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia. 1618 - The Second Defenstration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years' War. 1701 - After being convicted of murdering William Moore and for piracy, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London. 1788 - South Carolina becomes the 8th U.S. state to ratify the United States Constitution. 1865 - A parade is held in Pennsylvania Ave in Washington, DC to celebrate the ending of the American Civil War. 1873 - The Canadian Parliament establishes the North West Mounted Police (which will be renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920). 1900-1999 1900 - Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (awarded for heroism in the Battle of Fort Wagner during the American Civil War). 1911 - Dedication ceremony for the New York Public Library. 1915 - World War I: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary. 1934 - Near their hide-out in Black Lake, Louisiana, bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are ambushed and shot dead by Texas Rangers. 1945 - Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Gestapo, commits suicide while in Allied custody. 1949 - The Federal Republic of Germany is established. 1958 - Explorer I ceases transmission. 1960 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured. 1962 - Drilling for the Montreal, Quebec subway commences. 1969 - Rock band The Who release Tommy, the first rock opera. 1985 - Thomas Patrick Cavanagh is sentenced to life in prison for attempting to sell stealth bomber secrets to the Soviet Union. 1995 - Official announcement of the Java programming language. 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: In Oklahoma City the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is imploded. 1999 - In Kansas City, Missouri, Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) falls 90 feet to his death while being lowered into a World Wrestling Federation ring. 2000-2099 2003 - Mountain climbing: 25-year-old Nepalese Sherpa, Pemba Dorjie Sherpa, makes the fastest ever ascent of Mount Everest, in 12 hours 45 minutes. This is broken by his rival Sherpa Lakpa Gelu only three days later. 2004 - Last day of the 4th European Festival of Youth Choirs (EJCF). 2004 - Part of Paris Charles De Gaulle International Airport Terminal 2E collapses, killing five people and injuring three others. Births 1000-1899 1052 - Philip I, King of France (d. 1108 1707 - Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (d. 1778) 1718 - William Hunter (anatomist) (d.1783) 1790 - Jules Dumont d'Urville, explorer (d. 1842) 1810 - Margaret Fuller, journalist, feminist (d. 1850) 1824 - Ambrose Burnside, American Civil War general (d. 1881) 1844 - Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'í central figure (d. 1921) 1848 - Otto Lilienthal, engineer (d. 1896) 1879 - Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman (d. 1966) 1883 - Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., actor, cofounder of United Artists (d. 1939) 1888 - Zack Wheat, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1972) 1890 - Herbert Marshall, actor (d. 1966) 1898 - Scott O'Dell, author (d. 1989) 1900-1999 1908 - John Bardeen, physicist (d. 1991) 1910 - Margaret Wise Brown, children's author (d. 1952) 1910 - Sir Hugh Casson, architect, painter (d. 1999) 1910 - Scatman Crothers, actor, musician (d. 1986) 1910 - Artie Shaw, clarinetist, bandleader 1912 - John Payne, actor (d. 1989) 1918 - Denis Compton, English cricketer (d. 1997) 1919 - Betty Garrett, actress, dancer 1920 - Helen O'Connell, singer (d. 1993) 1921 - James Blish, science fiction author (d. 1975) 1921 - Humphrey Lyttelton, jazz musician 1927 - Dieter Hildebrandt, cabaret artiste 1928 - Rosemary Clooney, singer, actress (d. 2002) 1928 - Nigel Davenport, actor 1929 - Julian Euell, jazz musician 1931 - Barbara Barrie, actress 1933 - Joan Collins, actress 1934 - Dr. Robert Moog, inventor of Moog synthesizer 1936 - Charles Kimbrough, American actor (Murphy Brown) 1939 - Reinhard Hauff, film director 1943 - John Newcombe, tennis player 1946 - David Graham, golf champion 1951 - Anatoly Karpov, chess world champion 1951 - Judy Rodman, country music singer 1952 - Marvelous Marvin Hagler, boxer 1956 - Buck Showalter, baseball player, manager 1956 - Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician 1958 - Mitch Albom, author (Tuesdays With Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven) 1958 - Drew Carey, actor (The Drew Carey Show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?) 1961 - Karen Duffy, actress 1967 - Phil Selway, musician 1972 - Brian McComas, country music singer 1974 - Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! champion 1974 - Jewel, singer 1977 - Ilia Kulik, figure skating champion 1982 - Laurent Faubert-Bouvier, Director 1982 - Malene Mortensen, Danish singer 1984 - Adam Wylie, actor Deaths 1100-1899 1125 - Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1081) 1498 - Girolamo Savonarola, priest, ruler of Florence (b. 1452) 1523 - Ashikaga Yoshitane, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1466) 1701 - Captain Kidd, pirate (b. 1645) 1841 - Franz Xaver von Baader, philosopher, theologian (b. 1765) 1855 - Charles Robert Malden, explorer (b. 1797) 1868 - Kit Carson, trapper, scout, Indian agent, soldier, legend (b. 1809) 1886 - Leopold von Ranke, German historian (b. 1795) 1900-1999 1933 - Clyde Barrow (b. 1909) and Bonnie Parker (b. 1910), outlaws 1937 - John D. Rockefeller, entrepreneur (b. 1839) 1945 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official (b. 1900) 1986 - Sterling Hayden, American actor 1991 - Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (b. 1895) 1992 - Giovanni Falcone, Italian judge (b. 1939) 1999 - Owen Hart, professional wrestler (b. 1965) 2000-2099 2002 - Sam Snead, golfer (b. 1912) Holidays and observances Bahá'í Faith: Declaration of the Báb May 22 - May 24 - April 23 - June 23 - listing of all days FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison 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/May_23