23 May

Events

• 1430 - Joan of Arc is captured by Burgundians at Compiegne and is later sold to the English.
• 1533 - The marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Catharine of Aragon is declared null and void.
• 1541 - Jacques Cartier departs 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 - Parade down 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 - 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 - World War II: Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Gestapo, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
• 1949 - The Federal Republic of Germany is established.
• 1960 - Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured.
• 1962 - Drilling for new Montreal, Quebec subway commences
• 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.
• 1998 - Explorer I ceases transmission.
• 1999 - In Kansas City, Missouri, Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) falls 90 feet to his death while being lowered into a World Wrestling Federation ring.
• 2003 - Mountain climbing: 25-year-old Nepalese Sherpa, Pemba Dorjie Sherpa, makes world's fastest ever ascent of Mount Everest, in 12 hours 45 minutes.
• 2004 - Last day of the 4th EJCF.

Births

• 1707 - Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (+ 1778)
• 1790 - Jules Dumont d'Urville, explorer (+ 1842)
• 1810 - Margaret Fuller, journalist, feminist (+ 1850)
• 1824 - Ambrose Burnside, American Civil War general (+ 1881)
• 1848 - Otto Lilienthal, engineer (+ 1896)
• 1879 - Dezső Lauber, Hungarian sportsman
• 1883 - Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., actor, cofounder of United Artists (+ 1939)
• 1888 - Zack Wheat, Baseball Hall of Famer (+ 1972)
• 1890 - Herbert Marshall, actor (+ 1966)
• 1898 - Scott O'Dell, author (+ 1989)
• 1908 - John Bardeen, physicist (+ 1991)
• 1910 - Scatman Crothers, actor, musician (+ 1986)
• 1910 - Artie Shaw, clarinetist, bandleader
• 1910 - Sir Hugh Casson, architect, painter (+ 1999)
• 1912 - John Payne, actor (+ 1989)
• 1919 - Betty Garrett, actress, dancer
• 1920 - Helen O'Connell, singer
• 1921 - James Blish, science fiction author (+ 1975)
• 1921 - Humphrey Lyttelton, jazz musician
• 1927 - Dieter Hildebrandt, cabaret artiste
• 1928 - Nigel Davenport, actor
• 1928 - Rosemary Clooney, singer, actress (+ 2002)
• 1929 - Julian Euell, jazz musician
• 1933 - Joan Collins, actress
• 1934 - Dr. Robert Moog, inventor of Moog synthesizer
• 1939 - Reinhard Hauff, film director
• 1943 - John Newcombe, tennis player
• 1946 - David Graham, golf champion
• 1951 - Anatoly Karpov, chess world champion
• 1952 - Marvelous Marvin Hagler, boxer
• 1958 - Drew Carey comedian, actor
• 1975 - Jewel, singer
• 1977 - Ilia Kulik, figure skating champion
• 1989 - Freddy Adu, soccer prodigy
• 2003 - Dewey, the first cloned deer

Deaths

• 1125 - Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1701 - Captain Kidd, pirate
• 1841 - Franz Xaver von Baader, philosopher, theologian
• 1855 - Charles Robert Malden explorer
• 1868 - Kit Carson, trapper, scout, Indian agent, soldier, legend
• 1886 - Leopold von Ranke. prominent 19th century German historian
• 1933 - Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, outlaws
• 1937 - John D. Rockefeller, entrepreneur
• 1945 - Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official
• 1975 - Moms Mabley, comedienne
• 1986 - Sterling Hayden
• 1992 - Giovanni Falcone, judge
• 2002 - Sam Snead, golfer

Holidays and Observances

• Bahá'í Faith: Declaration of the Báb

May 22 - May 24 - April 23 - June 23 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By