May 23
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May 23 is the 143rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (144th in leap years). There are 222 days remaining.
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Events
- 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.
- 1568 - Netherlands declared independence from Spain.
- 1568 - Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, brother of William I of Orange, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Aremberg and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years' War.
- 1609 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.
- 1618 - The Second Defenstration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years' War.
- 1701 - After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
- 1788 - South Carolina becomes the 8th U.S. state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1805 - Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned King of Italy with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in the Cathedral of Milan.
- 1813 - South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador ("The Liberator").
- 1865 - A parade is held in Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, to celebrate the end of the American Civil War.
- 1873 - The Canadian Parliament establishes the North West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- 1900 - American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney becomes the first African American to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner.
- 1906 - Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".
- 1911 - Dedication ceremony for the New York Public Library.
- 1915 - World War I: Italy joins the Allies after they declare war on Austria-Hungary.
- 1923 - Launch of Belgium's SABENA airline.
- 1929 - The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse, The Karnival Kid, was released.
- 1934 - Near their hideout in Black Lake, Louisiana, bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are ambushed and shot dead by police.
- 1939 - The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 26 sailors. The remaining 32 crewmen and one passenger are rescued the following day.
- 1945 - Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
- 1949 - The Federal Republic of Germany is established, and the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany proclaimed.
- 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 Metro commences.
- 1967 - Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran and blockades the port of Eilat at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, laying the foundations for the Six Day War.
- 1969 - Rock band The Who release Tommy, the first rock opera.
- 1977 - Two terrorist actions unfold in The Netherlands: Several dozen hostages are taken onboard a train, and about 100 others (mostly children) are held at a Dutch school. The train siege lasts until June 11.
- 1985 - U.S. engineer 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, Oklahoma, what remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is imploded.
- 1997 - Mohammad Khatami is elected as President of Iran.
- 1998 - The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum, with a high margin of three-fourth 'yes' votes to Northern Ireland.
- 1999 - In Kansas City, Missouri, Owen Hart (playing The Blue Blazer) falls 90 feet to his death while being lowered into a World Wrestling Federation ring.
- 2002 - The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
- 2003 - For the first time, the euro exceeds its initial trading value as it hits $1.18 for the first time since its introduction in 1999.
- 2003 - 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 - Part of Paris Charles De Gaulle International Airport Terminal 2E collapses, killing five people and injuring three others.
Births
- 1052 - King Philip I of France (d. 1108)
- 1707 - Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (d. 1778)
- 1718 - William Hunter, anatomist (d.1783)
- 1729 - Giuseppe Parini (d.1799)
- 1790 - Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (d. 1842)
- 1795 - Charles Barry , English architect
- 1810 - Margaret Fuller, journalist and feminist (d. 1850)
- 1824 - Ambrose Burnside, American Civil War general (d. 1881)
- 1834 - Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (d. 1890)
- 1844 - `Abdu'l-Bahá, Persian founder of the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1921)
- 1848 - Otto Lilienthal, aviation pioneer (d. 1896)
- 1875 - Alfred P. Sloan, American business professor
- 1879 - Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman (d. 1966)
- 1883 - Douglas Fairbanks, actor (d. 1939)
- 1887 - Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician
- 1888 - Zack Wheat, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1972)
- 1890 - Herbert Marshall, actor (d. 1966)
- 1891 - Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
- 1898 - Scott O'Dell, author (d. 1989)
- 1908 - John Bardeen, physicist (d. 1991)
- 1910 - Margaret Wise Brown, children's author (d. 1952)
- 1910 - Sir Hugh Casson, architect and painter (d. 1999)
- 1910 - Scatman Crothers, actor and musician (d. 1986)
- 1910 - Artie Shaw, clarinetist, bandleader (d. 2004)
- 1912 - Jean Françaix, French composer (d. 1997)
- 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, British jazz musician
- 1927 - Dieter Hildebrandt, cabaret artist
- 1928 - Rosemary Clooney, singer and 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
- 1936 - Charles Kimbrough, American actor
- 1939 - Reinhard Hauff, film director
- 1943 - John Newcombe, tennis player
- 1945 - Padmarajan, Indian film director (d. 1991)
- 1946 - David Graham, golfer
- 1946 - Frederik de Groot, Dutch actor
- 1951 - Anatoly Karpov, chess player
- 1951 - Judy Rodman, country music singer
- 1952 - Marvelous Marvin Hagler, boxer
- 1956 - Buck Showalter, baseball player and manager
- 1956 - Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician
- 1958 - Mitch Albom, American writer
- 1958 - Drew Carey, American actor and comedian
- 1961 - Karen Duffy, actress
- 1967 - Phil Selway, musician
- 1972 - Brian McComas, country music singer
- 1972 - Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian race car driver
- 1974 - Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! champion
- 1974 - Jewel, singer
- 1977 - Ilia Kulik, figure skatinger
- 1982 - Malene Mortensen, Danish singer
- 1984 - Adam Wylie, actor
Deaths
- 1125 - Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1081)
- 1304 - Jehan de Lescurel, poet and composer
- 1498 - Girolamo Savonarola, priest and ruler of Florence (b. 1452)
- 1523 - Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shogun (b. 1466)
- 1670 - Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1610)
- 1701 - Captain Kidd, Scottish pirate (b. 1645)
- 1783 - James Otis, American lawyer and patriot (b. 1725)
- 1841 - Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1765)
- 1855 - Charles Robert Malden, English explorer (b. 1797)
- 1868 - Kit Carson, American trapper, scout, and Indian agent (b. 1809)
- 1886 - Leopold von Ranke, German historian (b. 1795)
- 1906 - Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer (b. 1828)
- 1933 - Clyde Barrow, American outlaw (b. 1909)
- 1933 - Bonnie Parker, American outlaw (b. 1910)
- 1937 - John D. Rockefeller, American entrepreneur (b. 1839)
- 1945 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official (b. 1900)
- 1965 - Earl Webb, baseball player (b. 1897)
- 1975 - Moms Mabley, American comedienne
- 1986 - Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
- 1989 - Karl Koch, German Hacker (b. 1965)
- 1991 - Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (b. 1895)
- 1992 - Giovanni Falcone, Italian judge (b. 1939)
- 1999 - Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1965)
- 2002 - Sam Snead, American golfer (b. 1912)
Holidays and observances
- Bahá'í Faith: Declaration of the Báb
- World Turtle Day
External links
- BBC: On This Day (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/23)
May 22 - May 24 - April 23 - June 23 – listing of all days
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