From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 99 days remaining until the end of the year.
It is frequently the day of the Autumnal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, and the day of the Vernal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.
[edit] Events
- 1122 – Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V agree to the Concordat of Worms to put an end to the Investiture Controversy.
- 1409 – Battle of Kherlen, the second significant victory over Ming China by the Mongols since 1368.
- 1459 – Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, is fought at Blore Heath in Staffordshire.
- 1641 – The Merchant Royal, carrying a treasure worth over a billion US dollars, is lost at sea off Land's End.
- 1642 – First commencement exercises occur at Harvard College.
- 1779 – American Revolution: a squadron commanded by John Paul Jones on board the USS Bonhomme Richard wins the Battle of Flamborough Head, off the coast of England, against two British warships.
- 1780 – American Revolution: British Major John André is arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's change of sides.
- 1803 – Second Anglo-Maratha War: Battle of Assaye between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India.
- 1806 – Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
- 1821 – Tripolitsa, Greece, falls and 30,000 Turks are massacred during the Greek War of Independence.
- 1845 – The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York.
- 1846 – Neptune is discovered by French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams; the discovery is verified by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.
- 1857 – The Russian warship Lefort capsizes and sinks during a storm in the Gulf of Finland, killing all 826 aboard.
- 1868 – Grito de Lares ("Lares Revolt") occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.
- 1889 – Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) is founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
- 1905 – Norway and Sweden sign the "Karlstad treaty", peacefully dissolving the Union between the two countries.
- 1908 – University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada, is founded.
- 1909 – The Phantom of the Opera (original title: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra), a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux, is first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois.
- 1932 – The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd is renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- 1936 – First ascent of Siniolchu by a German team.
- 1938 – Mobilization of the Czechoslovak army in response to the Munich Crisis.
- 1941 – World War II: The first gas chamber experiments are conducted at Auschwitz.
- 1942 – World War II: First day of the September Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps forces attack Imperial Japanese Army units along the Matanikau River.
- 1943 – World War II: The Nazi puppet state the Italian Social Republic is founded.
- 1952 – Richard Nixon makes his "Checkers speech".
- 1959 – Iowa farmer and corn breeder Roswell Garst hosts Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.
- 1959 – The MS Princess of Tasmania, Australia’s first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across Bass Strait.
- 1962 – The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City opens with the completion of the first building, the Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) home of the New York Philharmonic.
- 1969 – The Chicago Eight trial opens in Chicago.
- 1972 – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announces over television and radio the implementation of martial law.
- 1973 – Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina.
- 1983 – Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.
- 1983 – Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa becomes the first African boxing world heavyweight champion.
- 1983 – Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board.
- 1986 – Jim Deshaies of the Houston Astros sets the major-league record by striking out the first eight batters of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- 1988 – José Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first member of the 40-40 club.
- 1992 – A large Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb destroys forensic laboratories in Belfast.
- 1999 – Celebrate Bisexuality Day was first observed in the United States.
- 1999 – NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
- 1999 – Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm. Although some passengers only receive minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas's history since 1960.
- 2002 – The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.
- 2004 – Hurricane Jeanne: At least 1,070 in Haiti are reported to have been killed by floods.
- 2008 – Kauhajoki school shooting: Matti Saari kills 10 people before committing suicide.
[edit] Births
- 480 BC – Euripides, Greek playwright (d. 406 BC)
- 63 BC – Augustus Caesar, Roman Emperor (d. 14)
- 1158 – Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1186)
- 1161 – Emperor Takakura of Japan (d. 1181)
- 1215 – Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1294)
- 1434 – Yolande of Valois, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1478)
- 1598 – Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1655)
- 1647 – Joseph Dudley, American statesman (d. 1720)
- 1650 – Jeremy Collier, English bishop (d. 1726)
- 1713 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain (d. 1759)
- 1740 – Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1813)
- 1759 – Clothilde of France, Queen of Piedmont-Sardinia (d. 1802)
- 1771 – Emperor Kokaku of Japan (d. 1840)
- 1778 – Mariano Moreno, secretary of war of the Primera Junta (d. 1811)
- 1781 – Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1860)
- 1791 – Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer (d. 1865)
- 1800 – William Holmes McGuffey, American educator and textbook author (d. 1873)
- 1819 – Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist (d. 1896)
- 1838 – Victoria Woodhull, American suffragist (d. 1927)
- 1852 – William Stewart Halsted, American surgeon (d. 1922)
- 1853 – Princess Marie Elisabeth of Saxe-Meiningen, Princess of Saxe Meiningen (d. 1923)
- 1861 – Robert Bosch, German inventor and industrialist (d. 1942)
- 1863 – Mary Eliza Church Terrell, American writer (d. 1954)
- 1864 – Draga Mašin, Queen of Serbia (d. 1903)
- 1865 – Emmuska Orczy, British novelist (d. 1947)
- 1869 – Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, first carrier of typhoid (d. 1938)
- 1876 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and Talmudic scholar, and Israel Prize recipient (d. 1968)
- 1880 – John Boyd Orr, Scottish physician, Nobel Laureate (d. 1971)
- 1889 – Walter Lippmann, American journalist (d. 1974)
- 1890 – Friedrich Paulus, German general (d. 1957)
- 1895 – Miron Merzhanov, Soviet architect (d. 1975)
- 1895 – Johnny Mokan, American baseball player (d. 1985)
- 1897 – Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (d. 1984)
- 1898 – Les Haylen, Australian politician and novelist (d. 1977)
- 1899 – Tom C. Clark, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1977)
- 1900 – William Frederick "Bill" Stone, British serviceman who served during World War I (d. 2009)
- 1901 – Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1986)
- 1902 – Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (d. 2003)
- 1905 – Tiny Bradshaw , American jazz and rhythm and blues bandleader, singer, composer, pianist, and drummer (d. 1958)
- 1906 – Charles Ritchie, Canadian diplomat (d. 1995)
- 1906 – Bardu Ali, American jazz and rhythm and blues singer and guitarist, and musical promoter(d. 1995)
- 1907 – Dominique Aury, French novelist (d. 1998)
- 1907 – Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (d. 1976)
- 1907 – Albert Ammons, American boogie-woogie pianist (d. 1949)
- 1909 – Lorenc Antoni, Kosovo Albanian composer (d. 1991)
- 1911 – Frank Moss, United States Senator from Utah (d. 2003)
- 1912 – Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Pakistani researcher, critic and linguist (d. 2005)
- 1912 – Tony Smith, American sculptor (d. 1980)
- 1913 – Carl-Henning Pedersen, Danish artist, member of the CoBrA movement (d. 2007)
- 1914 – Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (d. 1986)
- 1915 – Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel Laureate (d. 2001)
- 1916 – Aldo Moro, Italian politician (d. 1978)
- 1920 – Mickey Rooney, American actor
- 1924 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan newspaper editor (d. 1978)
- 1924 – Heinrich Schultz, Estonian cultural functionary
- 1925 – Eleonora Rossi Drago, Italian actress (d. 2007)
- 1925 – Denis Twitchett, Cambridge scholar, and Chinese historian (d. 2006)
- 1926 – John Coltrane, American saxophonist (d. 1967)
- 1926 – Jimmy Woode, jazz bassist (d. 2005)
- 1927 – Mighty Joe Young, American Chicago blues guitarist (d. 1992)
- 1928 – Frank Foster, American tenor and soprano saxophonist, flautist, arranger, and composer (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Wally Whyton, English musician (d. 1997)
- 1930 – Sehba Akhtar, Pakistani poet (d. 1996)
- 1930 – Colin Blakely, British actor (d. 1987)
- 1930 – Ray Charles, American musician (d. 2004)
- 1931 – Gerald Stairs Merrithew, Canadian educator (d. 2004)
- 1931 – Hilly Kristal, American club owner (CBGB) and musician (d. 2007)
- 1934 – Ahmad Shah Khan, Crown Prince of Afghanistan
- 1935 – Les McCann, American soul jazz piano player and vocalist
- 1935 – Prem Chopra, Indian actor
- 1936 – Valentín Paniagua Corazao, Peruvian politician
- 1936 – Sylvain Saudan, Swiss extreme skier
- 1936 – Dr. Tareq Suheimat, Jordanian physician, nephrologist
- 1937 – Jacques Poulin, Canadian novelist
- 1938 – Tom Lester, American actor
- 1938 – Romy Schneider, French actress (d. 1982)
- 1939 – Henry Blofeld, English cricket commentator
- 1939 – Roy Buchanan, American guitarist (d. 1988)
- 1939 – Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
- 1939 – Sonny Vaccaro, American former sports executive
- 1940 – Tim Rose, American singer-songwriter, who had more success in Europe than in his native country (d. 2002)
- 1940 – Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Iranian traditional-music singer, songwriter, multi-instument player
- 1941 – Simon Nolet, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1941 – George Jackson, American civil-rights activist (d. 1971)
- 1941 – Norma Winstone, British jazz singer and lyricist
- 1942 – Sila María Calderón, Puerto Rican politician
- 1943 – Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer
- 1943 – Marty Schottenheimer, American football coach
- 1943 – Tanuja, Indian actress
- 1944 – Eric Bogle, British/Australian singer and songwriter
- 1945 – Paul Petersen, American actor
- 1945 – Igor Ivanov, Russian politician
- 1946 – Franz Fischler, Austrian politician
- 1947 – Christian Bordeleau, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1947 – Mary Kay Place, American actress
- 1947 – Neal Smith, American musician (Alice Cooper's drummer)
- 1948 – Don Grolnick, American jazz and pop pianist and composer
- 1949 – Bruce Springsteen, American singer and songwriter
- 1950 – George Garzone, saxophonist and jazz educator
- 1952 – Mark Bego, American biographer
- 1952 – Jim Morrison, American baseball player
- 1954 – Charlie Barnett, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1954 – Cherie Blair, British lawyer and spouse of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair
- 1955 – Paolo Rossi, Italian footballer
- 1956 – Peter David, American writer
- 1957 – Rosalind Chao, American actress
- 1957 – Tony Fossas, Cuban baseball player
- 1957 – Kumar Sanu, Indian playback singer
- 1958 – Danielle Dax, British musician
- 1958 – Marvin Lewis, American football coach
- 1958 – Larry Mize, American golfer
- 1958 – Khaled El Sheikh, Bahraini singer, songwriter and composer
- 1959 – Jason Alexander, American actor
- 1959 – Martin Page, English singer and songwriter
- 1961 – Chi McBride, American actor
- 1961 – Willie McCool, American astronaut (d. 2003)
- 1961 – Elizabeth Peña, American actress
- 1963 – Anne-Marie Cadieux, Canadian actress
- 1964 – Clayton Blackmore, Welsh footballer
- 1964 – Koshi Inaba, Japanese singer (B'z)
- 1964 – Larry Krystkowiak, American basketball player and head coach
- 1964 – Bill Phillips, American author
- 1966 – Pete Harnisch, American baseball player
- 1966 – LisaRaye, American actress
- 1968 – Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
- 1969 – Donald Audette, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969 – Patrick Fiori, French singer
- 1969 – Tapio Laukkanen, Finnish rally driver
- 1969 – Michelle Thomas, American actress (d. 1998)
- 1970 – Ani DiFranco, American musician
- 1970 – Georgios Koltsidas, Greek footballer
- 1970 – Lucia Cifarelli, vocalist and occasional keyboardist for industrial music group KMFDM
- 1971 – Moin Khan, Pakistani cricketer
- 1971 – Lee Mi-yeon, South Korean actress
- 1971 – Eric Montross, American basketball player
- 1972 – Sarah Bettens, Belgian singer (K's Choice)
- 1972 – Ana Marie Cox, American blogger and author
- 1972 – Jermaine Dupri, American music producer and rapper
- 1972 – Karl Pilkington, British radio personality
- 1972 – Shim Eun-ha, South Korean actress
- 1973 – Ingrid Fliter, Argentinian pianist
- 1973 – Vangelis Krios, Greek footballer
- 1973 – Artim Šakiri, Macedonian football player
- 1974 – Matt Hardy, American professional wrestler
- 1974 – Harumi Inoue, Japanese actress and model
- 1975 – Jaime Bergman, American model and actress
- 1975 – Layzie Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
- 1975 – Chris Hawkins, British radio personality
- 1975 – Kim Dong-moon, South Korean badminton player
- 1975 – Eric Miller, Irish rugby player
- 1976 – Faune A. Chambers, American actress
- 1976 – Sarah Blasko, Australian singer-songwriter and musician
- 1976 – Kip Pardue, American actor and model
- 1976 – Rob James-Collier, British actor and model
- 1976 – Wladimir Sidorenko, Ukrainian boxer
- 1977 – Matthieu Descoteaux, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977 – Fabio Ongaro, Italian rugby player
- 1977 – Suzanne Tamim, Lebanese singer and actress (d. 2008)
- 1977 – Rachael Yamagata, American singer and songwriter
- 1978 – Worm Miller, American filmmaker
- 1978 – Keri Lynn Pratt, American actress
- 1979 – Ricky Davis, American basketball player
- 1979 – Lote Tuqiri, Fijian/Australian Rugby League and Rugby Union Player
- 1980 – Cameron Litvack, American television producer
- 1980 – Matt White, American singer
- 1981 – Robert Doornbos, Dutch racing driver
- 1981 – Natalie Horler, German singer (Cascada)
- 1981 – Misti Traya, American actress
- 1982 – Mait Künnap, Estonian tennis player
- 1982 – Shyla Stylez, Canadian pornographic actress
- 1983 – Märt Israel, Estonian discus thrower
- 1983 – Joffery Lupul, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Matt Kemp, American baseball player
- 1984 – Anneliese van der Pol, American actress
- 1984 – Kate French, American actress
- 1985 – Brian Brohm, American football player
- 1985 – Joba Chamberlain, American baseball player
- 1985 – Maki Goto, Japanese pop singer
- 1985 – Hossein Ka'abi, Iranian footballer
- 1985 – Lukáš Kašpar, Czech ice hockey player
- 1986 – Martin Cranie, English footballer
- 1988 – Juan Martín del Potro, Argentinian tennis player
- 1988 – Yannick Weber, Swiss ice hockey player
- 1989 – Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
- 1990 – Agustin Sierra, Argentine actor
- 1991 – Key, Korean pop singer (SHINee)
- 1991 – Melanie Oudin, American tennis player
- 1993 – Sophie Borja, Welsh actress
[edit] Deaths
- 79 – Pope Linus
- 1193 – Robert de Sablé, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
- 1241 – Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic historian, poet, and politician (b. 1178)
- 1390 – John I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1346)
- 1535 – Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1513)
- 1571 – John Jewel, English bishop (b. 1522)
- 1573 – Azai Hisamasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1524)
- 1605 – Pontus de Tyard, French poet
- 1675 – Valentin Conrart, founder of the Académie Française (b. 1603)
- 1728 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist (b. 1655)
- 1738 – Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (b. 1668)
- 1764 – Robert Dodsley, English writer (b. 1703)
- 1773 – Johann Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop and botanist (b. 1718)
- 1789 – John Rogers, American Continental Congressman (b. 1723)
- 1830 – Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, American First Lady (b. 1768)
- 1835 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (b. 1801)
- 1851 – Émilie Gamelin, Canadian Catholic nun, founder of the Sisters of Providence (b. 1800)
- 1844 – Alexander von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman (b. 1783)
- 1846 – John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-born explorer of South Australia (b. 1818)
- 1850 – José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan soldier and statesman (b. 1764)
- 1867 – Michael O'Laughlen, American conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1840)
- 1870 – Prosper Mérimée, French author (b. 1803)
- 1871 – Louis-Joseph Papineau, French Canadian politician (b. 1786)
- 1873 – Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (b. 1823)
- 1877 – Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician (b. 1811)
- 1889 – Wilkie Collins, British author (b. 1824)
- 1900 – William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist and university founder (b. 1816)
- 1917 – Werner Voss, German World War I pilot (b. 1897)
- 1929 – Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1865)
- 1939 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist, founder of Psychoanalysis (b. 1856)
- 1943 – Elinor Glyn, English author (b. 1864)
- 1944 – Jakob Schaffner, Swiss novelist (b. 1875)
- 1945 – Salvo D'Acquisto, Italian Carabiniere (b. 1920)
- 1950 – Sam Barry, American basketball player and coach (b. 1892)
- 1958 – Jacob Nicol, Canadian newspaper publisher and politician (b. 1876)
- 1968 – Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian Catholic saint (b. 1887)
- 1970 – Bourvil, French actor and singer (b. 1917)
- 1971 – J. W. Alexander, American mathematician (b. 1888)
- 1971 – Billy Gilbert, American actor (b. 1894)
- 1973 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel laureate (b. 1904)
- 1974 – Cliff Arquette, American comedian and actor (b. 1905)
- 1974 – Robbie McIntosh, Scottish musician (Average White Band) (b. 1950)
- 1978 – Lyman Bostock, American baseball player (murdered) (b. 1950)
- 1981 – Chief Dan George, Canadian actor (b. 1899)
- 1987 – Bob Fosse, American dancer, choreographer, and actor (b. 1927)
- 1988 – Tibor Sekelj, Jewish-Yugoslavian explorer (b. 1912)
- 1992 – James Van Fleet, U.S. Army general (b. 1892)
- 1994 – Jerry Barber, American golfer (b. 1916)
- 1994 – Robert Bloch, American author (b. 1917)
- 1994 – Madeleine Renaud, French theater and film actress (b. 1900)
- 1996 – Fujiko F. Fujio, Japanese cartoonist (b. 1933)
- 1998 – Mary Frann, American actress (b. 1943)
- 1998 – Ray Bowden, English footballer (b. 1909)
- 1999 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (b. 1910)
- 2000 – Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican Major League Baseball player (b. 1947)
- 2000 – Carl Rowan, American journalist (b. 1925)
- 2001 – Ron Hewitt, Welsh footballer (b. 1928)
- 2002 – Vernon Corea, Sri Lankan broadcaster (b. 1927)
- 2003 – Ronnie Dawson, American rockabilly musician (b. 1939)
- 2003 – Yuri Senkevich, Russian TV anchorman (b. 1937)
- 2004 – André Hazes, Dutch singer (b. 1951)
- 2004 – Billy Reay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1918)
- 2005 – Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Puerto Rican revolutionary (b. 1933)
- 2005 – Roger Brierley, English actor (b. 1935)
- 2006 – Sir Malcolm Arnold, English composer and professional trumpeter (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Etta Baker, American blues guitarist (b. 1913)
- 2008 – Peter Leonard, Australian journalist (b. 1942)
- 2008 – Loren Pope, American writer (b. 1910)
- 2009 – Paul B. Fay, American businessman and cabinet member in the Kennedy administration (b. 1918
- 2010 – Malcolm Douglas, Australian conservationist (b. 1941)
- 2010 – Teresa Lewis, American murderer (b. 1969)
[edit] Holidays and observances
[edit] External links
