Sun · 27 SepMoon 99%Field Kp 4 · active Quote · Marcus Aurelius Riddle of the day Card of the dayHow today feels →

This day in history

This day in history: 23 July

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

Share

← Previous day22 Jul

Events62

Born on this day · Died on this day250 · 106

Next day →24 Jul

Key facts

418 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 23 July.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2018: A wildfire in East Attica kills at least 102 people. It is the deadliest wildfire in the history of Greece.

Holidays and observances

Birthday of Haile Selassie (Rastafari)

Children's Day (Indonesia)

Christian feast day: Blessed Basil Hopko

Christian feast day: Blessed Giovanna da Orvieto

Christian feast day: Bridget of Sweden

Christian feast day: Heiromartyr Phocas (Eastern Orthodox)

Christian feast day: John Cassian (Western Christianity)

Christian feast day: July 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Liborius of Le Mans

Christian feast day: Margarita María

Christian feast day: Martyrs of Daimiel

Christian feast day: Rasyphus and Ravennus

Events

2018A wildfire in East Attica kills at least 102 people. It is the deadliest wildfire in the history of Greece.

2015NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by the Kepler space telescope.

2014TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashes in Xixi village near Huxi, Penghu, during approach to Penghu Airport. Forty-eight of the 58 people on board are killed and five more people on the ground are injured.

2012The Solar storm of 2012 was an unusually large coronal mass ejection that was emitted by the Sun which barely missed the Earth by nine days. If it hit, it would have caused up to US$2.6 trillion in damages to electrical equipment worldwide.

2011A high-speed train rear-ends another on a viaduct on the Yongtaiwen railway line in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, resulting in 40 deaths.

2010The English-Irish boy band One Direction were formed while auditioning for the 2010 series of the British singing competition The X Factor.

2005Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people.

2001Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment.

1999ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo, Japan by Yuji Nishizawa.

1999Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

1997Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel.

1995Comet Hale–Bopp is discovered; it becomes visible to the naked eye on Earth nearly a year later.

1993China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119 crashes during takeoff from Yinchuan Xihuayuan Airport in Yinchuan, Ningxia, China, killing 55 people.

1992Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.

1992A Vatican commission, led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that limiting certain rights of homosexual people and non-married couples is not equivalent to discrimination on grounds of race or gender.

1988General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.

1983Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba.

1983Thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

1982Outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow and two children are killed when a helicopter crashes onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie.

1980Phạm Tuân becomes the first Vietnamese citizen and the first Asian in space when he flies aboard the Soyuz 37 mission as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut.

1974The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece's metapolitefsi era.

1972The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite.

1970Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernization programs and end to a decade long civil war.

1968Glenville shootout: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization and the Cleveland Police Department occurs. During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days.

1968The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, I

1967Detroit Riots: In Detroit, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city. It ultimately kills 43 people, injures 342 and burns about 1,400 buildings.

1962Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

1962Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite.

1962The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed.

1961The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua.

1952General Muhammad Naguib leads the Free Officers Movement (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouk of Egypt.

1945The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain, the former president of Vichy France begin.

1943The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurs in Rayleigh, Essex, England.

1943World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.

1942Bulgarian poet and communist activist Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad.

1942World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin on the Eastern Front.

1940The United States' Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

1936In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties.

1927The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay.

1926Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.

Born on this day

2003Alex Consani, Model and Influencer

2002Séléna Janicijevic, French tennis player

2001Lily Phillips, British pornographic actress

1998Deandre Ayton, Bahamian basketball player

1996Alexandra Andresen, Norwegian heiress and equestrian

1996Danielle Bradbery, American singer

1996David Dobrik, Slovak YouTube personality

1996Kasperi Kapanen, Finnish ice hockey player

1993Lili Simmons, American actress

1992Danny Ings, English footballer

1991Dmitry Orlov, Russian ice hockey player

1991Jarrod Wallace, Australian rugby league footballer

1991Lauren Mitchell, Australian gymnast

1990Kevin Reynolds, Canadian figure skater

1989Daniel Radcliffe, English actor

1989Donald Young, American tennis player

1989Harris English, American professional golfer

1987Alessio Cerci, Italian footballer

1987Felipe Dylon, Brazilian singer

1987Julien Ribaudo, Belgian politician

1987Serdar Kurtuluş, Turkish footballer

1986Aya Uchida, Japanese voice actress and singer

1986Nelson Philippe, French race car driver

1986Yelena Sokolova, Russian long jumper

1985Luis Ángel Landín, Mexican footballer

1985Tessa Bonhomme, Canadian ice hockey player and sports broadcaster

1984Brandon Roy, American basketball player

1984Celeste Thorson, American actress, producer, and screenwriter

1984Matthew Murphy, English singer and guitarist

1984Walter Gargano, Uruguayan footballer

1983Aaron Peirsol, American swimmer

1983Bec Hewitt, Australian actress

1983David Strettle, English rugby player

1982Gerald Wallace, American basketball player

1982Gökhan Ünal, Turkish footballer

1982Joe Mather, American baseball player

1982Ömer Aysan Barış, Turkish footballer

1982Paul Wesley, American actor, director, and producer

1982Pia Maria Wieninger, Austrian politician

1981Aleksandr Kulik, Estonian footballer

Died on this day

2024Robin Warren, Australian pathologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1937)

2022Kyaw Min Yu, Burmese political activist (born 1969)

2022Zayar Thaw, Burmese politician and rapper (born 1981)

2017John Kundla, American basketball coach (born 1916)

2015Don Oberdorfer, American journalist, author, and academic (born 1931)

2015Shigeko Kubota, Japanese-American sculptor and director (born 1937)

2015William Wakefield Baum, American cardinal (born 1926)

2014Ariano Suassuna, Brazilian author and playwright (born 1927)

2014Dora Bryan, English actress and restaurateur (born 1923)

2014Jordan Tabor, English footballer (born 1990)

2014Norman Leyden, American composer and conductor (born 1917)

2013Arthur J. Collingsworth, American diplomat (born 1944)

2013Djalma Santos, Brazilian footballer (born 1929)

2013Dominguinhos, Brazilian singer-songwriter and accordion player (born 1941)

2013Emile Griffith, American boxer and trainer (born 1938)

2013Kim Jong-hak, South Korean director and producer (born 1951)

2013Pauline Clarke, English author (born 1921)

2013Rona Anderson, Scottish actress (born 1926)

2012Esther Tusquets, Spanish publisher and author (born 1936)

2012José Luis Uribarri, Spanish television host and director (born 1936)

2012Lakshmi Sahgal, Indian soldier and politician (born 1914)

2012Margaret Mahy, New Zealand author (born 1936)

2012Sally Ride, American physicist and astronaut (born 1951)

2011Amy Winehouse, English singer-songwriter (born 1983)

2010Daniel Schorr, American journalist and author (born 1916)

2009E. Lynn Harris, American author and screenwriter (born 1955)

2008Kurt Furgler, Swiss lawyer and politician, 70th President of the Swiss Confederation (born 1924)

2007Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghan king (born 1914)

2007Ron Miller, American songwriter and producer (born 1933)

2006Jean-Paul Desbiens, Canadian journalist and academic (born 1927)

Quote of the day

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

Epictetus

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

This day in history

Every question has its own page

Journal

What you should know, before others do

Weekly insights. One article. One practice. No noise.

Cookies

We use essential cookies to run the platform. Analytics and marketing cookies are only turned on once you consent — you can change your choice at any time.