Monday, 23rd February 2026 in Lisbon

Welcome to your daily snapshot of Lissabon! Explore 66 historical events, birthdays, deaths, and milestones that shaped this day in Lissabon. From remarkable moments in local and world history to the people who left their mark — find out what makes today special. Today's weather in Lissabon brings cloudy with temperatures between 9°C and 20°C. Tonight's moon is in its waning gibbous phase, and the zodiac sign of the day is Pisces. If you're curious about the history of a day — this page brings together everything worth knowing about this Monday, 23rd February in Lissabon, PT.

Lisbon
Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL – CC BY-SA 2.0Wikimedia Commons

Lisbon, Portugal's capital, is positioned on the northern bank of the Tagus estuary and is known for its historic districts and distinctive hilltop neighbourhoods. On Monday, 23 February 2026, the city will experience cloudy conditions. Astrologically, this date falls under the zodiac sign of Pisces, whilst the moon will be in its waning gibbous phase.

On this day

On 23 February 1945, American photographer Joe Rosenthal captured one of the most iconic images of the Second World War during the Battle of Iwo Jima. His photograph of soldiers raising the flag became a Pulitzer Prize winner and was later reproduced on the Marine Corps War Memorial, cementing its place in history. That same day, an Allied bombing run on Pforzheim, Germany, devastated the city with brutal efficiency, destroying approximately 83 percent of its buildings and killing roughly 31 percent of its population in a single operation.

Nearly two centuries earlier, on 23 February 1778, Prussian military officer Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrived at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania to volunteer his services to the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. His arrival marked a turning point in the conflict, as his military expertise and discipline would prove invaluable to the struggling American forces.

DayAtlas provides detailed weather information, historical events, and notable births and deaths for any selected date and location, enabling users to explore what occurred and the conditions present on any day in history.

Find out what's happening today in Lissabon.

What the Weather Had in Store for Lissabon on 23rd February 2026

Cloudy

Sunrise 07:17
Sunset 18:22
Sunshine duration 10:16 hours
Daylight duration 11:05 hours

Maximum temperature 20.2°C
Minimum temperature 9.5°C

Wind speed 10.2km/h from NE
Precipitation 0mm

Words are tools—their sharpness depends on the hand.

Fortune of the Day

23rd February in the Stars – Star Sign Pisces

Today, the zodiac sign Pisces celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality People born on February 23rd blend Pisces' gentle empathy with Pluto's transformative power, creating intuitive depth uncommon in their sign. These individuals are drawn to uncovering hidden truths and psychological mysteries, both internally and in others. Their dreams aren't escapes but catalysts for profound personal change.

Strengths & Weaknesses Their greatest strength is intuitive wisdom and emotional healing ability that impacts others deeply. However, they risk sinking into melancholy or becoming manipulative when Pluto's intensity dominates. Balancing surrender with necessary transformation remains their ongoing work.

Love In relationships, they seek transformative, soul-level connections rather than light romance. They love intensely and expect partners to grow emotionally alongside them. Partners value their loyalty but must embrace their need for psychological depth and honesty.

Caree & Finance These individuals thrive in careers blending creativity with depth psychology—therapy, art, research, or spirituality. Financially generous and sometimes naive, they need clear boundaries and practical systems. Structured planning prevents financial drift despite their visionary instincts.

Health Their sensitivity demands emotional balance through water, creative expression, or meditation. Stress manifests psychosomatically; regular inner cleansing prevents energy stagnation. Grounding practices—nature, routine, body awareness—anchor them to reality.


That night, the moon was in its waning gibbous phase.


Chinese year of the Horse (Fire).

Fun Facts About 23rd February

Name Days in Your Language: Boswell, Gloria, Gloriana, Glory, Reilley, Riley, Rylan, Rylee, Ryleigh, Ryley, Rylie


Someone born on this day would be just 104 days old today — roughly 2,515 hours, 150,959 minutes, or 9,057,582 seconds spent on Earth so far.


It's the 54. day of the year. In 2026, 23rd February falls on a Monday.


There are 311 days still to come.


We’re currently in Week 9 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 22nd February

On this day, 149 notable people were born on 22nd February — spanning from 1133 to 2002. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

23/02/2002

Alice Litman, English transgender woman

Alice Litman was an English transgender woman. Her suicide, following 1,023 days on the waiting list for her first appointment with the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), led to an inquest, which found numerous failures in her care. She has been mourned at numerous events including the benefit concert Trans Mission.


23/02/2000

Femke Bol, Dutch hurdler and sprinter

Femke Bol is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in sprinting, middle-distance running, and hurdling. Up to 2025, she specialized in the 400 metres hurdles, where she is the 2023 and 2025 World Champion, and in the 400 metres, where she is the 2024 World Indoor Champion and the short track world record holder. Since 2026, she specializes in the 800 metres. In the 4 × 400 metres relay, she is the 2023 World Champion and the 2024 World Indoor Champion with the Dutch women's team and the 2024 Olympic Champion with the Dutch mixed team.


23/02/1997

Jamal Murray, Canadian basketball player

Jamal Murray is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one season of college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. Murray was selected by the Nuggets as the seventh overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft and was a key contributor to the team's first NBA championship run in 2023, becoming the ninth Canadian to win an NBA title. In 2026, Murray was named an NBA All-Star. He is also a member of the Canadian national team.


23/02/1996

D'Angelo Russell, American basketball player

D'Angelo Russell, nicknamed "DLo", is an American professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected as a McDonald's All-American in 2014 and played college basketball for the Ohio State Buckeyes before being selected second overall in the 2015 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.


23/02/1995

Andrew Wiggins, Canadian basketball player

Andrew Christian Wiggins is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected with the first overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers after one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks.


23/02/1994

Triptii Dimri, Indian actress

Triptii Dimri is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, she is known for portraying emotionally nuanced and resilient women in both mainstream and independent films. Her accolades include a Filmfare OTT Award. She was featured in Forbes India's 30 Under 30 list in 2021.


Neviana Vladinova, Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast

Neviana Stanimirova Vladinova is a retired Bulgarian individual rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2017 World bronze medalist with ball, and was seventh in the all-around at the Rio 2016 Olympics.


23/02/1992

Casemiro, Brazilian footballer

Carlos Henrique Casimiro, also known mononymously as Casemiro, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United and the Brazil national team.


Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Greek footballer

Kyriakos Papadopoulos is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for non-league club Svoronos Katerinis. He last played, at a professional level, for Greek Super League club Levadiakos.


23/02/1990

Kevin Connauton, Canadian ice hockey player

Kevin Connauton is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman for the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Utah Mammoth of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 83rd overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2009 NHL entry draft. Connauton has also played for the Dallas Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, and Philadelphia Flyers.


Marco Scandella, Canadian ice hockey player

Marco Scandella is an Italian-Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Minnesota Wild, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, and St. Louis Blues. Scandella played major junior hockey in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for the Val d'Or Foreurs prior to being selected by the Wild in the second-round, 55th overall, in the 2008 NHL entry draft.


23/02/1989

Evan Bates, American ice dancer

Evan Bates is an American ice dancer. With his wife and skating partner, Madison Chock, he is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the team event, the 2026 Winter Olympics silver medalist, a three-time World champion, three-time Grand Prix Final champion, a three-time Four Continents champion, a twenty-two-time ISU Grand Prix medalist, ten-time ISU Challenger Series medalist, and a seven-time U.S. national champion. The two represented the United States at the 2014, 2018, 2022, and 2026 Winter Olympics. He served as flag bearer for the United States during the closing ceremony for the 2026 Winter Olympics.


Jérémy Pied, French footballer

Jérémy Victor Pied is a French former professional footballer who played as a right-back.


Wilin Rosario, Dominican baseball player

Wilin Arismendy Rosario Hernández is a Dominican former professional baseball catcher and first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies, the KBO League for the Hanwha Eagles, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hanshin Tigers, and the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the Uni-President Lions.


23/02/1988

Nicolás Gaitán, Argentine footballer

Osvaldo Nicolás Fabián "Nico" Gaitán is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger.


23/02/1987

Ab-Soul, American rapper

Herbert Anthony Stevens IV, better known by his stage name Ab-Soul, is an American rapper. Raised in Carson, California, he signed with the indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) in 2007, where he formed the West Coast hip-hop group Black Hippy alongside fellow California-based rappers Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q. His third album, These Days... (2014), peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200. He is Black Hippy's sole member to remain an independent artist.


Malik Hairston, American basketball player

Malik Samory Hairston is an American former professional basketball player. A shooting guard-small forward from the University of Oregon's Ducks, he was chosen in the 2008 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns, who then traded him to the San Antonio Spurs. Hairston has also played with the San Antonio Spurs, the Austin Toros, Montepaschi Siena and Olimpia Milano of the Italian League, and Galatasaray of the Turkish League. He was born in Detroit, Michigan.


Theophilus London, Trinidadian-American singer-songwriter and producer

Theophilus Musa London is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. He is best known for his guest appearance alongside Allan Kingdom and Paul McCartney on Kanye West's 2015 single "All Day", which peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received two Grammy Award nominations. London has also worked on several iterations of West's eleventh album Donda 2 (2022), as well as several of his unreleased projects.


23/02/1986

Emerson Conceição, Brazilian footballer

Emerson da Conceição, known as Emerson, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a left back.


Skylar Grey, American singer-songwriter

Holly Brook Hafermann, known professionally as Skylar Grey, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. In 2004, Grey signed a publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group and a recording contract with Linkin Park's Machine Shop Recordings under the name Holly Brook. Her debut studio album, Like Blood Like Honey (2006), served as her only release with the label.


Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor

Kazuya Kamenashi is a Japanese singer, actor, host, producer and magazine model. Born and raised in Edogawa, Tokyo. He joined the Japanese talent agency, Johnny & Associates at the age of 12. Former member of KAT-TUN under Starto Entertainment.


Jerod Mayo, American football player and coach

Jerod Andrew Mayo Sr. is an American former professional football coach and former linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons with the New England Patriots. He served as the head coach of the Patriots in 2024. Mayo played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, receiving first-team All-SEC honors in 2007, and was selected by the Patriots 10th overall in the 2008 NFL draft.


Ola Svensson, Swedish singer-songwriter

Ola Nils Håkan Svensson is a Swedish artist and songwriter, known professionally by the mononym Ola until 2014, and as Brother Leo from 2018 to present. Born in Lund, Skåne, his career began in 2005, when he finished eighth on season two of Swedish Idol. Since then, Ola has released four studio albums. Eleven of his singles have reached the top five on the Swedish singles chart, with six achieving number one, and nine attaining gold and platinum certifications. After being signed to Universal Music for many years, Ola founded his own record label Oliniho Records for the Swedish market, keeping distribution arrangements with Sony Music in Europe and internationally. Following a four-year break, he returned in 2018, recording under the stage name Brother Leo for Columbia Records.


23/02/1983

Mido, Egyptian footballer, manager and sportscaster

Ahmed Hossam Hussein Abdel Hamid Wasfi, publicly known as Mido, is an Egyptian football manager and former player who played as a striker.


Dijon Thompson, American basketball player

Dijon Lynn Thompson is an American former professional basketball player who played briefly in the National Basketball Association (NBA). While he played mainly at the shooting guard position in his early career, he also played as a small forward during his European years. He is now a high school basketball coach at Valley Christian Athletics.


23/02/1982

Jia Perkins, American basketball player and coach

Jia Dorene Perkins is an American retired professional basketball player currently working as an assistant coach for the Salt Lake City Stars of the NBA G League. She announced her retirement after the 2017 season when the Lynx won the WNBA championship. She was born in Newburgh, New York. She moved to Granbury, Texas, where she attended Granbury High School.


Karan Singh Grover, Indian actor

Karan Singh Grover is an Indian model and actor known for his work in television series such as Dill Mill Gayye and Qubool Hai. He has also starred in Hindi films like Alone and Hate Story 3.


23/02/1981

Gareth Barry, English footballer

Gareth Barry is an English former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He made a total of 653 Premier League appearances for Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton, and West Bromwich Albion, the second most appearances in Premier League history. He also represented England at international level.


Charles Tillman, American football player

Charles Anthony Tillman, nicknamed "Peanut", is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns, and was selected by the Chicago Bears in the second round of the 2003 NFL draft.


23/02/1978

Dan Snyder, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2003)

Daniel Joseph Snyder was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played as a centre in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Atlanta Thrashers. Following a single-vehicle accident in which he was a passenger, Snyder was injured and fell into a coma as a result. He died six days later of septic shock.


23/02/1977

Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, Estonian skier

Kristina Šmigun-Vähi is a former Estonian female cross-country skier and politician. She is the most successful Estonian female cross-country skier with two Olympic gold medals. Since 2019, Šmigun-Vähi, a member of the Reform Party, has served as a member of the Estonian Parliament.


23/02/1976

Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress

Kelly Macdonald is a Scottish actress. Known for her performances on film and television, she has received various accolades including a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.


23/02/1975

Michael Cornacchia, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Michael Cornacchia is an American actor.


23/02/1974

Herschelle Gibbs, South African cricketer

Herschelle Herman Gibbs is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer, who played all formats of the game for fourteen years. A right-handed batsman, who mostly opened the batting, Gibbs became the first player to hit six consecutive sixes in one over in One Day International (ODI) cricket, doing so against the Netherlands in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.


Robbi Kempson, South African rugby player

Robert Bruce Kempson is a South African former rugby union footballer, and the Director of High Performance and interim head coach of the Southern Kings in Pro14.


23/02/1973

Jeff Nordgaard, American-Polish basketball player

Jeff Wallace Nordgaard is an American-born naturalized Polish former professional basketball player who played briefly in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as well several top-level European leagues, during his 13-year career. He played college basketball for the Green Bay Phoenix.


23/02/1972

Alessandro Sturba, Italian footballer

Alessandro Sturba is a former Italian footballer.


Rondell White, American baseball player

Rondell Bernard White is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder and designated hitter. In addition to being a solid defensive player, White also had a batting average of .300 or higher for four consecutive seasons from 1998 to 2001.


23/02/1971

Carin Koch, Swedish golfer

Anna Carin Pernilla Hjalmarsson Koch is a Swedish professional golfer who previously played on the Ladies European Tour and on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She was captain of the 2015 European Solheim Cup team.


Melinda Messenger, English model and television host

Melinda Jane Messenger is an English television presenter and former glamour model and Page Three girl. She presented the magazine programme Live from Studio Five and was formerly the co-presenter of the reality show Cowboy Builders.


Joe-Max Moore, American soccer player

Joe-Max Moore is a former American professional soccer player who played as a forward for various clubs in Germany and England in addition to two separate tenures at Major League Soccer side New England Revolution, where he retired.


23/02/1969

Michael Campbell, New Zealand golfer

Michael Shane Campbell is a New Zealand professional golfer who is best known for having won the 2005 U.S. Open and, at the time, the richest prize in golf, the £1,000,000 HSBC World Match Play Championship, in the same year. He played on the European Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia.


Martine Croxall, English journalist and television news presenter

Martine Sarah Croxall is a British television journalist. She is one of the main news presenters on BBC News. She began her career working for the BBC in 1991 and joined the BBC News team in 2001. Croxall has presented various news programmes, including World News Today, BBC Weekend News, Dateline London and BBC News at One.


Bhagyashree, Indian actress

Bhagyashree Dassani, known mononymously as Bhagyashree, is an Indian actress. Her breakthrough came with starring in Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), earning national recognition and the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Afterwards, she decreased her workload to focus on her marriage and two children.


23/02/1967

Steve Stricker, American golfer

Steven Charles Stricker is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has twelve victories on the PGA Tour, including the WGC-Match Play title in 2001 and two FedEx Cup playoff events. His most successful season on tour came at age 42 in 2009, with three victories and a runner-up finish on the money list. Stricker spent over 250 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, reaching a career-high world ranking of No. 2 in September 2009. Stricker served as U.S. Ryder Cup captain for the 2021 matches, winning at Whistling Straits in his home state of Wisconsin.


Chris Vrenna, American drummer, songwriter, and producer

Chris Vrenna is an American musician, producer, engineer, remixer, programmer, and founder of the electronic band Tweaker. Vrenna played drums for the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from 1988 until 1996, and was the keyboardist and drummer of the American rock band Marilyn Manson from 2004 until late 2011.


23/02/1965

Michael Dell, American businessman

Michael Saul Dell is an American billionaire businessman and investor. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Dell Technologies, one of the world's largest technology infrastructure companies.


Helena Suková, Czech-Monacan tennis player

Helena Suková is a Czech former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and No. 4 in singles. Suková won 14 major titles: nine in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. She is also a two-time Olympic silver medalist in doubles, a four-time major singles runner-up, and won a total of ten singles titles and 69 doubles titles.


23/02/1964

John Norum, Norwegian guitarist and songwriter

John Terry Norum is a Norwegian-born Swedish guitarist and one of the founders of the rock band Europe. Concurrent to his role with Europe, he also maintains a career as a solo artist.


23/02/1963

Bobby Bonilla, American baseball player

Roberto Martin Antonio Bonilla is an American former professional baseball third baseman and outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 to 2001.


Radosław Sikorski, Polish journalist and politician, 11th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland

Radosław Tomasz "Radek" Sikorski is a Polish politician, journalist and statesman who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2023, previously holding the office between 2007 and 2014, since 2025 also serving as Deputy Prime Minister. He was a Member of the European Parliament between 2019 and 2023. Earlier he was Marshal of the Sejm from 2014 to 2015. He previously served as Deputy Minister of National Defence in 1992 in Jan Olszewski's cabinet, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1998 and 2001 in Jerzy Buzek's cabinet and Minister of National Defence between 2005 and 2007 in the cabinets of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and Jarosław Kaczyński.


23/02/1959

Clayton Anderson, American engineer and astronaut

Clayton Conrad Anderson is a retired NASA astronaut. Launched on STS-117, he replaced Sunita Williams on June 10, 2007 as a member of the ISS Expedition 15 crew. He is currently an author, a motivational speaker, and a Professor of Practice at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. In 2022, he became the president and CEO of the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum.


Nick de Bois, English politician

Geoffrey Nicholas de Bois is a British broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician, who served as special adviser and chief of staff to Dominic Raab during his brief tenure as Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. He was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for Enfield North, defeating the Labour incumbent MP Joan Ryan. de Bois then went on to lose the seat to Ryan at the next general election, in May 2015.


Ian Liddell-Grainger, Scottish soldier and politician

Ian Richard Peregrine Liddell-Grainger is a British former Conservative Party politician and former property developer. He was MP for Bridgwater from 2001 until 2010, and until 2024, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset. Through his mother, he is a great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria, third cousin of Charles III and second cousin once removed of Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.


Linda Nolan, Irish singer and actress (died 2025)

Linda Mary Hudson was an Irish singer, actress, and television personality.


23/02/1958

David Sylvian, English singer-songwriter

David Sylvian is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan.


23/02/1957

Charlie Brandt, American serial killer (died 2004)

Carl Eric "Charlie" Brandt was an American serial killer who murdered at least four women: his mother in Indiana and a homeless woman, his wife, and his niece in Florida. Growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Brandt shot his parents in their family home on the night of January 3, 1971, when he was 13, killing his pregnant mother and wounding his father. He spent one year at a psychiatric hospital before being released and was never criminally charged. On September 13, 2004, Brandt stabbed his wife and niece to death and then hanged himself in his niece's garage in Maitland, Florida.


23/02/1956

Sandra Osborne, Scottish politician

Sandra Currie Osborne is a Scottish Labour politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock from the 2005 to 2015 general elections. She was first elected as MP for the Ayr constituency in 1997, and resigned from a government job in 2003 over the Iraq War. She was a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010 and again from 2013. She was a member of the Defence Select Committee 2010-13 and was a member of the Council of Europe.


23/02/1955

Flip Saunders, American basketball player and coach (died 2015)

Philip Daniel "Flip" Saunders was an American basketball player and coach. During his career, he coached the La Crosse Catbirds, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Wizards.


Francesca Simon, American-British author

Francesca Isabella Simon is an American-born British author. She is most famous for writing the Horrid Henry series of children's books.


23/02/1954

Rajini Thiranagama, Sri Lankan physician and academic (died 1989)

Rajani Thiranagama was a Sri Lankan Tamil human rights activist and feminist who was assassinated by the LTTE cadres after she had criticised them for their atrocities. At the time of her assassination, she was the head of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Jaffna and an active member and one of the founders of University Teachers for Human Rights, Jaffna.


23/02/1953

Kenny Bee, Hong Kong singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

Chung Chun-to, also known as Kenny Bee, is a Hong Kong singer and actor. He rose to fame as the frontman of the Wynners, with whom he won the Golden Needle Award, the highest honor in Hong Kong music, in 1989. He received the award again in 2016 as a solo artist.


Satoru Nakajima, Japanese racing driver

Satoru Nakajima is a Japanese former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1987 to 1991.


23/02/1951

Eddie Dibbs, American tennis player

Eddie Dibbs is a retired American tennis player also nicknamed "Fast Eddie". He attained a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 1978, winning 22 titles and being a runner-up another 20 times.


Debbie Friedman, American singer-songwriter of Jewish melodies (died 2011)

Deborah Lynn Friedman was an American singer-songwriter of religious Jewish music. She was an early pioneer of gender-sensitive language: using the feminine forms of the Divine or altering masculine-only text references in the Jewish Liturgy to include feminine language.


23/02/1950

Rebecca Goldstein, American philosopher and author

Rebecca Goldstein is an American philosopher and novelist. She has written ten books, both fiction and nonfiction. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University, and is sometimes grouped with novelists such as Richard Powers and Alan Lightman, who create fiction that is knowledgeable of, and sympathetic toward, science.


John Greaves, Welsh bass guitarist and composer

John Greaves is a Welsh bass guitarist, pianist and composer who was a member of Henry Cow and has collaborated with Peter Blegvad. He was also a member of progressive rock band National Health and jazz-rock supergroup Soft Heap, and has recorded several solo albums, including Accident (1982), Parrot Fashions (1984), The Caretaker (2001) and Greaves Verlaine (2008).


23/02/1949

César Aira, Argentine author and translator

César Aira is an Argentine writer and translator, and an exponent of contemporary Argentine literature. He has published over a hundred short books of stories, novels and essays. He has lectured at the University of Buenos Aires, on Copi and Arthur Rimbaud, and at the University of Rosario on Constructivism and Stéphane Mallarmé, and has translated and edited books from France, England, Italy, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, and Venezuela.


Marc Garneau, Canadian engineer, astronaut, and politician (died 2025)

Joseph Jean-Pierre Marc Garneau was a Canadian Armed Forces officer, astronaut and politician. Garneau served as a naval officer before being selected as an astronaut as part of the 1983 NRC Group. He became the first Canadian in space on October 5, 1984, and flew on three Space Shuttle missions. From 2001 to 2005, Garneau was president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Garneau entered politics and was elected to the House of Commons in 2008, serving as a Montreal-area member of Parliament (MP) until 2023. A member of the Liberal Party, Garneau served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from January to October in 2021 and as Minister of Transport from 2015 to 2021.


23/02/1948

Bill Alexander, English director and producer

William Alexander Paterson known professionally as Bill Alexander is a British theatre director who is best known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and as artistic director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He currently works as a freelance, internationally as a theatre director and most recently as a director of BBC Radio 4 drama.


Trevor Cherry, English footballer (died 2020)

Trevor John Cherry was an English footballer who notably captained both England and Leeds United. A defender, Cherry also played for Huddersfield Town and Bradford City, and managed the latter club.


Steve Priest, English singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2020)

Stephen Norman Priest was an English musician who was the bassist of the glam rock band The Sweet.


23/02/1947

Pia Kjærsgaard, Danish politician, Speaker of the Danish Parliament

Pia Merete Kjærsgaard is a Danish politician who was Speaker of the Danish Parliament from 2015 to 2019, and former leader of the Danish People's Party.


Anton Mosimann, Swiss chef and author

Anton Mosimann is a Swiss chef and restaurateur who was Maitre Chef des Cuisines at the Dorchester Hotel for thirteen years, during which time its restaurant achieved a rating of two stars in the Michelin Guide. After leaving The Dorchester Mosimann took over a private dining club called The Belfrey and created Mosimann's, a cookery school, and other enterprises in the hospitality industry. He has also presented television programmes in the UK and Switzerland. In 2016 a museum dedicated to his life and culinary arts was opened in the campus of Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland, located on the shores of Lake Geneva, in the town of Le Bouveret.


23/02/1946

Rusty Young, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2021)

Norman Russell Young was an American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, best known as one of the frontmen in the influential country rock and Americana band Poco.


23/02/1945

Allan Boesak, South African cleric and politician

Allan Aubrey Boesak is a South African Dutch Reformed Church cleric, politician and anti-apartheid activist. He was sentenced to prison for fraud in 1999 but was subsequently granted an official pardon and reinstated as a cleric in late 2004.


23/02/1944

Bernard Cornwell, English author and educator

Bernard Cornwell is an English author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo campaign. He is best known for his long-running series of novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written The Saxon Stories, a series of thirteen novels about the unification of England.


Florian Fricke, German keyboard player and composer (died 2001)

Florian Fricke was a German musician who started his professional career with electronic music, using the Moog synthesizer, and was a founding member of the Krautrock band Popol Vuh.


Johnny Winter, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2014)

John Dawson Winter III was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums, live performances, and slide guitar playing from the late 1960s into the early 2000s. He also produced three Grammy Award–winning albums for blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. After his time with Waters, Winter recorded several Grammy-nominated blues albums. In 1988, he was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and in 2003, he was ranked 63rd in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".


23/02/1943

Bobby Mitchell, American golfer (died 2018)

Bobby Wayne Mitchell was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour.


23/02/1941

Ron Hunt, American baseball player

Ronald Kenneth (Ron) Hunt is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1963 to 1974 for the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Montreal Expos and St. Louis Cardinals. He batted and threw right-handed.


23/02/1940

Jackie Smith, American football player

Jackie Larue Smith is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL) for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Northwestern State Demons. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994.


23/02/1939

Lee Shaffer, American basketball player

Lee Philip Shaffer II is an American former professional basketball player.


23/02/1938

Sylvia Chase, American broadcast journalist (died 2019)

Sylvia Belle Chase was an American broadcast journalist. She was a correspondent for ABC's 20/20 from its inception until 1985, when she left to become a news anchor at KRON-TV in San Francisco; in 1990 she returned to ABC News in New York.


Paul Morrissey, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2024)

Paul Joseph Morrissey was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was best known for his long association with Andy Warhol and the Factory scene during the 1960s and early 1970s.


Diane Varsi, American actress (died 1992)

Diane Marie Antonia Varsi was an American film actress best known for her performances in Peyton Place – her film debut, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award – and the cult film Wild in the Streets. She left Hollywood to pursue personal and artistic aims, notably at Bennington College in Vermont, where she studied poetry with poet and translator Ben Belitt.


23/02/1932

Majel Barrett, American actress and producer (died 2008)

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was an American actress. She was best known for her roles as various characters in the Star Trek franchise: Nurse Christine Chapel, Number One, Lwaxana Troi, and the voice of most onboard computer interfaces throughout the series from 1966 to 2008.


23/02/1931

Tom Wesselmann, American painter and sculptor (died 2004)

Thomas K. Wesselmann was an American artist associated with the pop art movement who worked in painting, collage and sculpture.


23/02/1930

Paul West, English-American author, poet, and academic (died 2015)

Paul Noden West was a British-born American novelist, poet, and essayist. He was born in Eckington, Derbyshire in England to Alfred and Mildred (Noden) West. Before his death, he resided in Ithaca, New York, with his wife Diane Ackerman, a writer, poet, and naturalist. West is the author of more than 50 books.


23/02/1929

Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow (died 2008)

Patriarch Alexy II was the 15th Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.


Elston Howard, American baseball player and coach (died 1980)

Elston Gene Howard was an American professional baseball player who was a catcher and a left fielder. During a 14-year baseball career, he played in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1948 through 1968, primarily for the New York Yankees. A 12-time All-Star, he also played for the Kansas City Monarchs and the Boston Red Sox. Howard served on the Yankees' coaching staff from 1969 to 1979.


23/02/1928

Hans Herrmann, German racing driver (died 2026)

Hans Herrmann was a German Formula One and sports car racing driver from Stuttgart.


Vasily Lazarev, Russian colonel, physician, and astronaut (died 1990)

Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 12 spaceflight as well as the abortive Soyuz 18a launch on 5 April 1975.


23/02/1927

Régine Crespin, French soprano and actress (died 2007)

Régine Crespin was a French soprano who had a major international career in opera and on the concert stage between 1950 and 1989. She started her career singing roles in the dramatic soprano and spinto soprano repertoire, drawing particular acclaim singing Wagner and Strauss heroines. She went on to sing a wider repertoire that embraced Italian, French, German, and Russian opera from a variety of musical periods. In the early 1970s Crespin began experiencing vocal difficulties for the first time and ultimately began performing roles from the mezzo-soprano repertoire. Throughout her career she was widely admired for the elegance, warmth and subtlety of her singing, especially in the French and German operatic repertories.


Jessica Huntley, Guyanese activist and publisher (died 2013)

Jessica Elleisse Huntley was a Guyanese-British political reformer and prominent race equality campaigner. She was a publisher of black and Asian literature, and a women's and community rights activist. She is notable as the founder in 1969 of Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications in London.


Mirtha Legrand, Argentine actress and television presenter

Rosa María Juana Martínez Suárez, known by her stage name Mirtha Legrand, is an Argentine actress and television presenter. With an 80-year career, Legrand is one of the most recognized entertainment figures in Argentina. Legrand made her leading role debut in Los martes, orquídeas (1941) at only age 14, during the Golden Age of Argentine cinema, with starring roles in the 1940s and 1950s. Legrand appeared in the interview television programme Almorzando con las estrellas, which first aired in 1968 on Alejandro Romay's Channel 9. The show was later renamed Almorzando con Mirtha Legrand.


23/02/1925

Louis Stokes, American lawyer and politician (died 2015)

Louis Stokes was an American attorney, civil rights pioneer and politician. He served 15 terms in the United States House of Representatives – representing the east side of Cleveland – and was the first African American congressman elected in the state of Ohio. He was one of the Cold War era chairmen of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, headed the Congressional Black Caucus, and was the first African American on the United States House Committee on Appropriations.


23/02/1924

Allan McLeod Cormack, South-African-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998)

Allan MacLeod Cormack was a South African and American physicist, academic, and Nobel Laureate. He was Professor of Physics at Tufts University and won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on X-ray computed tomography (CT), a significant and unusual achievement since Cormack did not hold a doctoral degree in any scientific field.


23/02/1923

Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (died 2014)

Rafael Addiego Bruno was a Uruguayan jurist and political figure.


Harry Clarke, English footballer (died 2000)

Henry Alfred Clarke was a professional footballer who spent his entire senior career at Tottenham Hotspur. He also represented England on one occasion.


Ioannis Grivas, Greek judge and politician, 176th Prime Minister of Greece (died 2016)

Ioannis Grivas was a Greek judge, who served as President of the Court of Cassation and served as the Prime Minister of Greece at the head of a non-party caretaker government in 1989.


Dante Lavelli, American football player (died 2009)

Dante Bert Joseph Lavelli, nicknamed "Gluefingers", was an American professional football player. An end, he played for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1956. Starring alongside quarterback Otto Graham, fullback Marion Motley, kicker Lou Groza and fellow receiver Mac Speedie, Lavelli was an integral part of a Browns team that won seven championships during his 11-season career. Lavelli was known for his sure hands and improvisations on the field. He was also renowned for making catches in critical situations, earning the nickname "Mr. Clutch". Browns head coach Paul Brown once said of him: "Lavelli had one of the strongest pairs of hands I've ever seen, when he went up for a pass with a defender, you could almost always count on him coming back down with the ball."


Clarence D. Lester, American fighter pilot (died 1986)

Clarence D. "Lucky" Lester was an American fighter pilot who served in the 332nd Fighter Group, commonly known as the Tuskegee Airmen, during World War II. He was one of the first African-American military aviators in the United States Army Air Corps, the United States Army Air Forces and later the United States Air Force.


Mary Francis Shura, American author (died 1991)

Mary Francis Shura Craig was an American writer of over 50 novels from 1960 to 1990. She wrote children's adventures and young adult romances as Mary Francis Shura, M. F. Craig, and Meredith Hill; gothic novels as Mary Craig; romance novels as Alexis Hill, Mary Shura Craig and Mary S. Craig; and suspense novels as M. S. Craig.


23/02/1922

Johnny Franz, English record producer (died 1977)

John Charles Franz was an English record producer and A&R man at the Philips label. He was one of Britain's most successful producers in the 1950s and 1960s. While his recordings encompassed several forms of mainstream popular music, his most enduring contributions were to British pop music of the mid-1960s on records by Dusty Springfield, the Walker Brothers, and the early solo recordings of Scott Walker. From 1973, he was responsible for the production of Peters & Lee recordings, which included their No. 1 chart hit "Welcome Home".


23/02/1920

Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Canadian lawyer and politician (died 2018)

Paul Gérin-Lajoie, was a Canadian lawyer, philanthropist, and a former member of the National Assembly of Quebec and Cabinet Minister.


23/02/1919

Johnny Carey, Irish footballer and manager (died 1995)

John Joseph Carey was an Irish professional footballer and manager. As a player, Carey spent most of his career at Manchester United, where he was team captain from 1946 until he retired as a player in 1953. He was also a dual internationalist, playing for and captaining both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI. In 1947 he also captained a Europe XI which played a Great Britain XI at Hampden Park. In 1949 he was voted the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year and in the same year captained the FAI XI that defeated England 2–0 at Goodison Park, becoming the first non-UK team to beat England at home. Carey was also the first non-UK player and the first Irishman to captain a winning team in both an FA Cup Final and the First Division. Like his contemporary Con Martin, Carey was an extremely versatile footballer and played in nine different positions throughout his career. He even played in goal for United on one occasion.


23/02/1915

Jon Hall, American actor and director (died 1979)

Jon Hall was an American film actor known for playing a variety of adventurous roles, as in 1937's The Hurricane, and later when contracted to Universal Pictures, including Invisible Agent, The Invisible Man's Revenge, and six films with Maria Montez. He was also the creator and star of the Ramar of the Jungle television series that ran from 1952 to 1954. Hall directed and starred in two 1960s science fiction films in his later years, The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965) and The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966).


23/02/1908

William McMahon, Australian lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1988)

Sir William McMahon was an Australian politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Australia from 1971 to 1972. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, and previously held various ministerial positions from 1951 to 1971, the longest continuous service in Australian history.


23/02/1904

Terence Fisher, English director and screenwriter (died 1980)

Terence Fisher was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Films.


23/02/1899

Erich Kästner, German author and poet (died 1974)

Emil Erich Kästner was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including Emil and the Detectives and Lisa and Lottie. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1960 for his autobiography When I Was a Little Boy. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in eight separate years.


Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (died 1981)

Norman Rae Taurog was an American film director and screenwriter. From 1920 to 1968, Taurog directed 180 films. At the age of 32, he received the Academy Award for Best Director for Skippy (1931), becoming the youngest person to win the award for eight and a half decades. He was later nominated for Best Director for the film Boys Town (1938). He directed some of the best-known actors of the twentieth century, including his nephew Jackie Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Deborah Kerr, Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley and Vincent Price. Taurog directed six Martin and Lewis films, and nine Elvis Presley films, more than any other director.


23/02/1894

Harold Horder, Australian rugby league player and coach (died 1978)

Harold Norman Horder was an Australian rugby league footballer. He was a national and state representative player whose club career was with South Sydney and North Sydney between 1912 and 1924. Regarded as one of the greatest wingers to play the game, from 1924 until 1969 his 152 career tries was the NSWRFL record.


23/02/1892

Kathleen Harrison, English actress (died 1995)

Kathleen Harrison was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett in a trio of British post-war comedies about a working-class family's misadventures, The Huggetts. She later played the charwoman Mrs. Dilber opposite Alastair Sim in the 1951 film Scrooge and a Cockney charwoman who inherits a fortune in the television series Mrs Thursday (1966–67).


Agnes Smedley, American journalist and writer (died 1950)

Agnes Smedley was an American journalist, writer and activist who supported the Indian Independence Movement and the Chinese Communist Revolution. Raised in a poverty-stricken miner's family in Missouri and Colorado, she dramatized the formation of her feminist and socialist consciousness in the autobiographical novel Daughter of Earth (1929).


23/02/1889

Musidora, French actress and director (died 1957)

Jeanne Roques, known professionally as Musidora, was a French actress, film director, screenwriter, playwright and novelist. A major figure of French silent cinema, she became internationally known for portraying Irma Vep in Louis Feuillade's serial Les Vampires (1915–1916), and Diana Monti in Judex (1917).


Cyril Delevanti, English-American actor (died 1975)

Harry Cyril Delevanti was an English character actor, with a long career in American films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He appeared in some 170 productions, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for his performance in John Huston's The Night of the Iguana (1964).


Victor Fleming, American director, cinematographer, and producer (died 1949)

Victor Lonzo Fleming was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were the historical drama Gone with the Wind, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director, and the fantasy film The Wizard of Oz. Fleming has those same two films listed in the top 10 of the American Film Institute's 2007 AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list.


John Gilbert Winant, American captain, pilot, and politician, 60th Governor of New Hampshire (died 1947)

John Gilbert Winant was an American diplomat and politician with the Republican party after a brief career as a teacher in Concord, New Hampshire. John Winant held positions in New Hampshire, national, and international politics. He was the 60th governor of New Hampshire from 1925 to 1927 and 1931 to 1935. Winant also served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom during most of World War II. Depressed by career disappointments, a failed marriage and heavy debt, he killed himself in 1947.


23/02/1884

Casimir Funk, Polish biochemist (died 1967)

Casimir Funk was a Polish biochemist generally credited with being among the first to formulate the concept of vitamins after publishing a landmark medical writing in 1912. He highlighted these "vital amines" as critical in fighting significant diseases such as pellagra and rickets, and his analysis influenced a major shift in scientific thinking. His scientific work involved research in Poland, France and the United Kingdom. In 1920, he became a citizen of the United States where he continued his work.


23/02/1883

Karl Jaspers, German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher (died 1969)

Karl Theodor Jaspers was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy. His 1913 work General Psychopathology influenced many later diagnostic criteria, and argued for a distinction between "primary" and "secondary" delusions.


Guy C. Wiggins, American painter (died 1962)

Guy Carleton Wiggins NA was an American impressionist painter. He was the president of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, and a member of the Old Lyme Art Colony. He did many paintings of New York City's snowy streets, landmarks and towering skyscrapers during winter.


23/02/1878

Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian painter and theorist (died 1935)

Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was a Russian avant-garde artist and art theorist, whose work and writings pioneered the development of abstract painting in the 20th century. He is best known as the founder of Suprematism, a radically non-objective form of painting he introduced in 1915.


23/02/1874

Konstantin Päts, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Estonia (died 1956)

Konstantin Päts was an Estonian statesman and the country's president from 1938 to 1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades prior to World War II he also served five times as the country's State Elder. After the 16–17 June 1940 Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia, Päts remained formally in office for over a month, until he was forced to resign, imprisoned by the new Stalinist regime, and deported to the USSR, where he died in 1956.


23/02/1873

Liang Qichao, Chinese journalist, philosopher, and scholar (died 1929)

Liang Qichao was a Chinese politician, social and political activist, journalist, and intellectual. His thought had a significant influence on the political reformation of modern China. He inspired Chinese scholars and activists with his writings and reform movements. His translations of Western and Japanese books into Chinese further introduced new theories and ideas and inspired young activists. Liang was of Taishanese descent.


23/02/1868

W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (died 1963)

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American sociologist, writer, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. He completed graduate work at Harvard University, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate. He was a professor at Atlanta University and over the course of his life wrote many books and articles. He spent the last years of his life in Ghana and died in Accra on August 27, 1963.


Anna Hofman-Uddgren, Swedish actress, singer, and director (died 1947)

Anna Maria Viktoria Hofman-Uddgren née Hammarström; also known as Hoffman and Hofmann, was a Swedish actress, cabaret singer, music hall and revue artist, theatre director, and film director. Until 2016, she was referred to as the first woman to become a film director in Sweden.


23/02/1850

César Ritz, Swiss businessman, founded The Ritz Hotel, London and Hôtel Ritz Paris (died 1918)

César Ritz was a Swiss businessman, hotelier and pioneer of the travel industry. He most notably founded several hotels most famously the Hôtel Ritz in Paris and the Ritz and Carlton Hotels in London.


23/02/1842

Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher and author (died 1906)

Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann was a German philosopher, independent scholar and writer. He was the author of the influential Philosophy of the Unconscious (1869). von Hartmann's notable ideas include the theory of the Unconscious and a pessimistic interpretation of the "best of all possible worlds" concept in metaphysics.


23/02/1831

Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Dutch painter (died 1915)

Hendrik Willem Mesdag was a Dutch marine painter.


23/02/1830

Magdalene Osenbroch, Norwegian actress (died 1854)

Magdalene Henrikke Dedichen Osenbroch was a Norwegian actress who mainly performed at the Det norske Theater in Bergen.


23/02/1805

Johan Jakob Nervander, Finnish poet, physicist and meteorologist (died 1848)

Johan Jakob Nervander was a Finnish poet, physicist, and meteorologist.


23/02/1792

José Joaquín de Herrera, Mexican politician and general (died 1854)

José Joaquín Antonio Florencio de Herrera y Ricardos was a Mexican statesman who served as president of Mexico three times, and as a general in the Mexican Army during the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848.


23/02/1744

Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German banker and businessman (died 1812)

Mayer Amschel Rothschild was a German Jewish banker and the founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty, which dominated international finance in Europe between the 1820s and the 1870s. Referred to as a "founding father of international finance", Rothschild was ranked seventh on the Forbes magazine list of "The Twenty Most Influential Businessmen of All Time" in 2005.


23/02/1723

Richard Price, Welsh-English minister and philosopher (died 1791)

Richard Price was a British moral philosopher, Nonconformist minister and mathematician. He was also a political reformer and pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the French and American Revolutions. He was well-connected and fostered communication between many people, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, Mirabeau and the Marquis de Condorcet. According to the historian John Davies, Price was "the greatest Welsh thinker of all time".


23/02/1685

George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer (died 1759)

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti.


23/02/1680

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, Canadian politician, 2nd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (died 1767)

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, also known as Sieur de Bienville, was a French-Canadian colonial administrator in New France. Born in Montreal, he was an early governor of French Louisiana, appointed four separate times during 1701–1743. He was the younger brother of explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.


23/02/1646

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shōgun (died 1709)

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was a Japanese samurai, daimyo and the fifth shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu.


23/02/1633

Samuel Pepys, English diarist and politician (died 1703)

Samuel Pepys was an English writer and Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament, but is now most renowned for the diary he kept for almost a decade, first published in the 19th century and one of the most important primary sources of the Stuart Restoration.


23/02/1606

George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, officer in the Dutch Army (died 1674)

Prince George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, German: Georg Friedrich Prinz von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: Prinz von Nassau, Graf zu Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez, Herr zu Beilstein, was a count from the House of Nassau-Siegen, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau. In 1664 he was elevated to the rank and title of prince. He served as an officer in the Dutch States Army, and was successively commander of Rheinberg and governor of Bergen op Zoom.


23/02/1592

Balthazar Gerbier, Dutch painter (died 1663)

Sir Balthazar Gerbier was an Anglo-Dutch courtier, diplomat, art advisor, miniaturist and architectural designer, in his own words fluent in "several languages" with "a good hand in writing, skill in sciences as mathematics, architecture, drawing, painting, contriving of scenes, masques, shows and entertainments for great Princes... as likewise for making of engines useful in war."


23/02/1583

Jean-Baptiste Morin, French mathematician, astrologer, and astronomer (died 1656)

Jean-Baptiste Morin, also known by the Latinized name as Morinus, was a French mathematician, astrologer, and astronomer.


23/02/1539

Henry XI of Legnica, thrice Duke of Legnica (died 1588)

Henry XI of Legnica, was thrice Duke of Legnica: 1551–1556, 1559–1576 and 1580–1581.


Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire (died 1612)

Salima Sultan Begum was the third wife and chief consort of the Mughal emperor Akbar, and a granddaughter of Babur.


23/02/1529

Onofrio Panvinio, Italian historian (died 1568)

Onofrio Panvinio was an Italian Augustinian friar, historian and antiquary who was the librarian to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.


23/02/1443

Matthias Corvinus, Hungarian king (died 1490)

Matthias Corvinus was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and adopted the title Duke of Austria in 1487. He was the son of John Hunyadi, Regent of Hungary, who died in 1456. In 1457, Matthias was imprisoned along with his older brother, Ladislaus Hunyadi, on the orders of King Ladislaus the Posthumous. Ladislaus Hunyadi was executed, causing a rebellion that forced King Ladislaus to flee Hungary. After the King died unexpectedly, Matthias's uncle Michael Szilágyi persuaded the Estates to unanimously proclaim the 14-year-old Matthias as king on 24 January 1458. He began his rule under his uncle's guardianship, but he took effective control of government within two weeks.


23/02/1417

Pope Paul II (died 1471)

Pope Paul II, born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 August 1464 to his death in 1471. When his maternal uncle became Pope Eugene IV, Barbo switched from training to be a merchant to religious studies. His rise in the Church was relatively rapid. Elected pope in 1464, Paul amassed a great collection of art and antiquities.


Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria (died 1479)

Louis IX was Duke of Bavaria-Landshut from 1450. He was a son of Henry XVI the Rich and Margaret of Austria. Louis was the founder of the University of Ingolstadt.


23/02/1133

Al-Zafir, Fatimid caliph (died 1154)

Abū Manṣūr Ismāʿīl ibn al-Ḥāfiẓ, better known by his regnal name al-Ẓāfir bi-Amr Allāh or al-Ẓāfir bi-Aʿdāʾ Allāh, was the twelfth Fatimid caliph, reigning in Egypt from 1149 to 1154, and the 22nd imam of the Hafizi Isma'ili branch of Shia Islam.


Lives Remembered on 22nd February

On 22nd February, 88 remarkable people passed away — from 715 to 2025. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

23/02/2025

Larry Dolan, American attorney (born 1931)

Lawrence John Dolan was an American attorney who was the principal owner of the Cleveland Guardians of the Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2000 until his death in 2025 and the founder of SportsTime Ohio.


Chris Jasper, American singer, composer and producer (born 1951)

Christopher Howard Jasper was an American singer, composer and producer. Jasper was a member of the Isley Brothers from 1973 to 1983, and Isley-Jasper-Isley from 1984 to 1987. He was also a successful solo musician and record producer, recording over 17 of his own solo albums, including four urban contemporary gospel albums, all written, produced and performed, both vocally and instrumentally, by Jasper.


Al Trautwig, American sports commentator (born 1956)

Alan Trautwig was an American sports commentator who worked with MSG Network, ABC, NBC, NBC Sports Network, and USA Network. He later did pre-game and post-game shows for the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, as well as fill-in play-by-play for both teams.


23/02/2024

Flaco, Eurasian eagle-owl (born 2010)

Flaco was a male Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped his long-time enclosure at Central Park Zoo in New York City after someone cut the protective netting in February 2023. Flaco subsequently resided in and around Central Park. His escape attracted significant public and press attention, especially as he was of a species not native to North America. There were concerns for his ability to feed himself after being captive for so long, since he had not previously needed to fly or hunt, but he was seen successfully catching and eating rats a week after his escape. Attempts to recapture Flaco failed, and a petition circulated advocating that he remain free. Zoo officials ceased attempts to recapture him once it became clear he was eating on a regular basis and his flying skills improved.


23/02/2023

Tony Earl, American politician, 40th Governor of Wisconsin (born 1936)

Anthony Scully Earl was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who served as the 41st governor of Wisconsin from 1983 until 1987. Prior to his election as governor, he served as secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Administration and secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in the administration of Governor Patrick Lucey. He also served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Marathon County.


John Motson, English football commentator (born 1945)

John Walker Motson was an English football commentator. Beginning as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Motson was the dominant football commentary figure at the BBC, apart from a brief spell in the mid-1990s.


23/02/2021

Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabian politician (born 1930)

Ahmed Zaki Yamani was a Saudi Arabian politician who served as Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources under four Saudi monarchs from 1962 to 1986, and a minister in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for 25 years.


23/02/2019

Katherine Helmond, American actress (born 1929)

Katherine Marie Helmond was an American actress. Over an acting career spanning six decades, she was best known for her starring role as Jessica Tate on the sitcom Soap (1977–1981) and her co-starring role as Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss? (1984–1992). Helmond also played Doris Sherman on Coach (1995–1997) and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2004). She also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety shows.


23/02/2016

Peter Lustig, German television host and author (born 1937)

Peter Fritz Willi Lustig was a German television presenter, voice actor and author of children's books who has become especially well known as leading actor in the weekly children's television show Löwenzahn, which he hosted from 1979 up until 2006. During its first year the show was called Pusteblume. He also hosted the show Mittendrin (1987–95), narrated the film Gordos Reise ans Ende der Welt (2007) and provided the German voice for the computer game character Gary Gadget.


Jacqueline Mattson, American baseball player (born 1928)

Jacqueline "Jackie" Mattson was an American baseball player who played in the catcher position. She played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) in 1950 and 1951, batting and throwing right-handed. She measured in at 5 foot 5 inches, weighing 100 pounds.


23/02/2015

James Aldridge, Australian-English journalist and author (born 1918)

Harold Edward James Aldridge was an Australian-British writer and journalist. His World War II despatches were published worldwide and he was the author of over 30 books, both fiction and non-fiction works, including war and adventure novels and books for children.


Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan (born 1942)

Rana Bhagwandas was a Pakistani jurist who served as a judge and acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (CJP). He enjoyed extremely high reputation as a judge. He remained the acting CJP during the 2007 judicial crisis in Pakistan, and also briefly became the acting Chief Justice of Pakistan when the incumbent Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry went on foreign tours in 2005 and 2006, and thus became the first Hindu and the second non-Muslim to serve as chief of the highest court in Pakistan. Rana Bhagwandas also worked as the Chairman of Federal Public Service Commission of Pakistan. He headed the interview panel for the selection of the federal civil servants in 2009.


W. E. "Bill" Dykes, American soldier and politician (born 1925)

William E. "Bill" Dykes was a Democratic former state senator from his native St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, who represented his state's 11th District from 1972 to 1984. Prior to his legislative service, he had been mayor of Montpelier, Louisiana.


23/02/2014

Alice Herz-Sommer, Czech-English Holocaust survivor, pianist and educator (born 1903)

Alice Herz-Sommer, was a Czech-born Israeli classical pianist, music teacher, and supercentenarian who survived Theresienstadt concentration camp. She lived for 40 years in Israel, before emigrating to London in 1986, where she resided until her death, and at the age of 110 was the world's oldest known Holocaust survivor until Yisrael Kristal was recognized as such.


Roger Hilsman, American soldier, academic, and politician (born 1919)

Roger Hilsman Jr. was an American soldier, government official, political scientist, and author. He saw action in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II, first with Merrill's Marauders, getting wounded in combat, and then as a guerilla leader for the Office of Strategic Services. He later became an aide and adviser to President John F. Kennedy, and briefly to President Lyndon B. Johnson, in the U.S. State Department while he served as Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research in 1961 to 1963 and Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs in 1963 to 1964.


23/02/2013

Eugene Bookhammer, American soldier and politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Delaware (born 1918)

Eugene Donald Bookhammer was an American politician who served as the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Delaware, as a Republican, from 1969 to 1977. He served under Governors Russell W. Peterson and Sherman W. Tribbitt. Before his election as lieutenant governor, he had served in the Delaware State Senate since 1962.


Joseph Friedenson, Holocaust survivor, Holocaust historian, Yiddish writer, lecturer and editor (born 1922)

Joseph Friedenson was a Holocaust survivor, Holocaust historian, Yiddish writer, lecturer, and editor of Dos Yiddishe Vort.


Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (born 1920)

Julien Ries was a Belgian religious historian, titular archbishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church. Prior to his death, Ries was described as "the greatest living religious scholar".


Lotika Sarkar, Indian lawyer and academic (born 1945)

Lotika Sarkar was a noted Indian feminist, social worker, educator and lawyer, who was a pioneer in the field of women's studies and women's rights in India. She was a founding member of Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS), Delhi, established in 1980, and also Indian Association for Women Studies, established in 1982. Starting in 1951, she taught law at Faculty of Law, University of Delhi till 1983, and also remained the head of the law faculty; thereafter she taught at Indian Law Institute. She was the first Indian woman to graduate from Cambridge University, and later in 1951 she also became the first woman to receive a PhD degree in law from the university.


23/02/2012

William Raggio, American lawyer and politician (born 1926)

William Raggio was an American politician and a former Republican member of the Nevada Senate. He represented Washoe County's 3rd district from 1972 until his retirement in 2011. He is the longest-serving member in the history of the State Senate.


David Sayre, American physicist and mathematician (born 1924)

David Sayre was an American scientist, credited with the early development of direct methods for protein crystallography and of diffraction microscopy. While working at IBM he was part of the initial team of ten programmers who created FORTRAN, and later suggested the use of electron beam lithography for the fabrication of X-ray Fresnel zone plates.


Kazimierz Żygulski, Polish sociologist and activist (born 1919)

Kazimierz Żygulski was a Polish sociologist, political activist and Minister of Culture.


23/02/2011

Nirmala Srivastava, Indian religious leader, founded Sahaja Yoga (born 1923)

Nirmala Srivastava, also known as Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, was the founder and guru of Sahaja Yoga, a new religious movement. She claimed to have been born fully realised and spent her life working for peace by developing and promoting a simple technique through which people can achieve their self-realization.


23/02/2010

Orlando Zapata, Cuban plumber and activist (born 1967)

Orlando Zapata Tamayo was a Cuban political activist and a political prisoner who died after hunger striking for 85 days. His death received international attention, and was viewed as a significant setback in Cuba's relationship with the U.S. the EU and the rest of the world.


23/02/2008

Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian economist and politician, 2nd President of Slovenia (born 1950)

Janez Drnovšek was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia and President of Slovenia (2002–2007).


Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver and journalist (born 1917)

Paul Frère was a racing driver and journalist from Belgium. He participated in eleven World Championship Formula One Grands Prix debuting on 22 June 1952 and achieving one podium finish with a total of eleven championship points. He drove in several non-Championship Formula One races, winning the 1952 Grand Prix des Frontières and 1960 VI South African Grand Prix.


23/02/2007

Hanna Barysiewicz, the oldest female resident of Belarus not registered by the Guinness Book of Records (born 1888)

Hanna Adamauna Barysiewicz, Belarusian: Ганна Адамаўна Барысевiч, Russian: Анна Адамовна Борисевич was the oldest female resident of Belarus not registered by the Guinness Book of Records. Until her death, she was reputedly the oldest resident in the country and, according to the media, in the world. She lived to the claimed age of 118 years and 281 days.


John Ritchie, English footballer (born 1941)

John Henry Ritchie was an English footballer. He is Stoke City's all-time record goalscorer.


23/02/2006

Muhammad Shamsul Huq, Bangladeshi academic and former Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1912)

Muhammad Shamsul Huq was a Bangladeshi politician and educator. He served as an education minister in erstwhile East Pakistan, and became the minister of foreign affairs six years after the independence of Bangladesh. Shamsul Huq also served as vice-chancellor in both the University of Dhaka and University of Rajshahi. He was awarded the Ekushey Padak in 2003 by the government of Bangladesh.


Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (born 1921)

Pedro Telmo Zarraonandía Montoya, known as Telmo Zarra, was a Spanish football forward. He spent the majority of his career at Athletic Bilbao, from 1940 to 1955, for whom he remains the top scorer in competitive matches with 335 goals.


23/02/2004

Vijay Anand, Indian director, producer, screenwriter, and actor (born 1934)

Vijay Anand, also known as Goldie Anand, was an Indian filmmaker, producer, screenwriter, editor and actor, who is known for acclaimed films such as Guide (1965), Teesri Manzil (1966), Jewel Thief (1967) and Johny Mera Naam (1970). He made most of his films for the in-house banner Navketan Films and was part of the Anand family.


Sikander Bakht, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (born 1918)

Sikander Bakht was an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who served as the 15th governor of Kerala from 2002 until his death. He was elected as the Vice President of the BJP, served as its leader in the Rajya Sabha, and as a cabinet minister in the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In 2000, he was awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour of the Government of India.


23/02/2003

Howie Epstein, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (born 1955)

Howard Norman Epstein was an American musician best known as a bassist with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.


Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and academic (born 1910)

Robert King Merton was an American sociologist who is considered a founding father of modern sociology, and a major contributor to the subfield of criminology. He served as the 47th president of the American Sociological Association. He spent most of his career teaching at Columbia University, where he attained the rank of University Professor. In 1994 he was awarded the National Medal of Science for his contributions to the field and for having founded the sociology of science.


23/02/2000

Ofra Haza, Israeli singer-songwriter and actress (born 1957)

Ofra Haza was an Israeli singer, songwriter, and actress, commonly known in the Western world as "the Madonna of the East", or "the Israeli Madonna". Her voice has been described as a "tender" mezzo-soprano. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked her at number 186 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.


Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (born 1915)

Sir Stanley Matthews was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest English players, he is the only player to have been knighted while still playing football, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards. His nicknames included "The Wizard of Dribble" and "The Magician".


23/02/1999

The Renegade, American wrestler (born 1965)

Richard L. Wilson was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenure in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the ring name The Renegade, where he was a one-time WCW World Television Champion.


23/02/1998

Philip Abbott, American actor and director (born 1924)

Philip Abbott was an American character actor. He appeared in several films and numerous television series, including a lead role as Arthur Ward in the crime series The F.B.I.


23/02/1997

Tony Williams, American drummer, composer, and producer (born 1945)

Anthony Tillmon Williams was an American jazz drummer. Williams first gained fame as a member of Miles Davis's "Second Great Quintet", and later pioneered jazz fusion with Davis's group and his own combo, The Tony Williams Lifetime. In 1970, music critic Robert Christgau described him as "probably the best drummer in the world". Williams was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1997.


23/02/1995

James Herriot, English veterinarian and author (born 1916)

James Alfred Wight, better known by his pen name James Herriot, was a British veterinary surgeon and author.


23/02/1990

José Napoleón Duarte, Salvadoran engineer and politician, President of El Salvador (born 1925)

José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes was a Salvadoran politician who served as the 36th President of El Salvador from 1984 to 1989 during the Salvadoran Civil War. He was mayor of San Salvador before running for president in 1972. He lost, but the election is widely viewed as fraudulent. Following a coup d'état in 1979, Duarte led the subsequent civil-military Junta from 1980 to 1982. He was then elected president in 1984, defeating ARENA party leader Roberto D'Aubuisson.


23/02/1983

Herbert Howells, English organist and composer (born 1892)

Herbert Norman Howells was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.


23/02/1979

W. A. C. Bennett, Canadian businessman and politician, 25th Premier of British Columbia (born 1900)

William Andrew Cecil Bennett was a Canadian politician who served as the 25th premier of British Columbia from 1952 to 1972. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett remains the longest-serving premier in British Columbia history. He was a member of the Social Credit Party (Socreds).


23/02/1976

L. S. Lowry, English painter (born 1887)

Laurence Stephen Lowry was an English artist. His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Lancashire as well as Salford and its vicinity.


23/02/1974

Harry Ruby, American composer and screenwriter (born 1895)

Harry Rubenstein, known professionally as Harry Ruby, was an American pianist, composer, songwriter and screenwriter, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. He was married to silent film actress Eileen Percy.


23/02/1973

Dickinson W. Richards, American physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1895)

Dickinson Woodruff Richards Jr. was an American physician and physiologist. He was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1956 with André Cournand and Werner Forssmann for the development of cardiac catheterization and the characterisation of a number of cardiac diseases.


23/02/1969

Madhubala, Indian actress and producer (born 1933)

Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi, known professionally as Madhubala, was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films. She is regarded to have been one of the greatest and finest actresses in the history of Indian cinema. One of the country's highest-paid stars in the 1950s, Madhubala appeared in over 70 films—ranging from slapstick comedies to historical dramas—in a two decade-long career. Long after her death, she remains a Bollywood icon, particularly noted for her beauty and unconventional screen persona. Media outlets often refer to her as "The Venus of Indian cinema".


Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 2nd King of Saudi Arabia (born 1902)

Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 9 November 1953 until his abdication on 2 November 1964. During his reign, he served as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to 1954 and from 1960 to 1962. Prior to his accession, Saud was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 11 May 1933 to 9 November 1953. He was the second son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia.


23/02/1965

Stan Laurel, English actor and comedian (born 1890)

Stan Laurel was an English actor, comedian, director and writer who was in the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 short films, feature films and cameo roles.


23/02/1955

Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (born 1868)

Paul Claudel was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He is most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism, and for institutionalizing his sister.


23/02/1948

John Robert Gregg, Irish-American publisher and educator (born 1866)

John Robert Gregg was an Irish-born American educator, publisher, and inventor, best known as the creator of the eponymous shorthand writing system, Gregg shorthand. Developed in the late 19th century and refined over several decades, Gregg shorthand became one of the most widely used systems of shorthand in the English-speaking world, particularly in business and educational settings during the 20th century.


23/02/1946

Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (born 1885)

Tomoyuki Yamashita was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Yamashita led Japanese forces during the invasion of Malaya and Battle of Singapore. His conquest of Malaya and Singapore in 70 days earned him the sobriquet "The Tiger of Malaya". He was assigned to defend the Philippines from the advancing Allies later in the war. Although he was unable to prevent the superior Allied forces from advancing, despite dwindling supplies and Allied guerrilla action, he was able to hold on to part of Luzon until after the formal surrender of Japan in August 1945.


23/02/1944

Leo Baekeland, Belgian-American chemist and engineer (born 1863)

Leo Hendrik Baekeland was a Belgian chemist. Educated in Belgium and Germany, he spent most of his career in the United States. He is best known for the inventions of Velox photographic paper in 1893, and Bakelite in 1907. He has been called "The Father of the Plastics Industry" for his invention of Bakelite, an inexpensive, non-flammable and versatile plastic, which marked the beginning of the modern plastics industry.


23/02/1934

Edward Elgar, English composer and academic (born 1857)

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924.


23/02/1932

Hadley Williams, Canadian surgeon and educator (born 1864)

Henry Thomas Hadley Williams was a British-born Canadian surgeon and medical teacher in London, Ontario. He was head of surgery at the University of Western Ontario, surgeon to Victoria Hospital, and a member of the staff of St Joseph's Hospital.


23/02/1931

Nellie Melba, Australian soprano and actress (born 1861)

Dame Nellie Melba was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early twentieth century, and was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town.


23/02/1930

Horst Wessel, German SA officer (born 1907)

Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel was a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, who became a propaganda symbol in Nazi Germany following his murder in 1930 by two members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). After his death, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels elevated him into a martyr for the Nazi Party.


23/02/1918

Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born 1882)

Adolphus Frederick VI was the last reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.


23/02/1908

Friedrich von Esmarch, German surgeon and academic (born 1823)

Johannes Friedrich August von Esmarch was a German surgeon. He developed the Esmarch bandage and founded the Deutscher Samariter-Verein, the predecessor of the Deutscher Samariter-Bund.


23/02/1900

Ernest Dowson, English poet, novelist, and short story writer (born 1867)

Ernest Christopher Dowson was an English poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Despite his short lifespan, he made a lasting impression on the literature of the English fin-de-siècle through his Decadent poetry.


23/02/1897

Woldemar Bargiel, German composer and educator (born 1828)

Woldemar Bargiel was a German composer and conductor of the Romantic period.


23/02/1879

Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and politician, 10th Minister President of Prussia (born 1803)

Albrecht Theodor Emil Graf von Roon was a Prussian soldier and statesman. As Minister of War from 1859 to 1873, Roon, along with Otto von Bismarck and Helmuth von Moltke, was a dominating figure in Prussia's government during the key decade of the 1860s, when a series of successful wars against Denmark, Austria, and France led to German unification under Prussia's leadership. A moderate conservative and supporter of executive monarchy, he was an avid modernizer who worked to improve the efficiency of the army.


23/02/1871

Amanda Cajander, Finnish medical reformer (born 1827)

Mathilda Fredrika "Amanda" Cajander, née Nygren, was a Finnish deaconess and a pioneer within medical care in Finland.


23/02/1859

Zygmunt Krasiński, Polish poet and playwright (born 1812)

Count Napoleon Stanisław Adam Feliks Zygmunt Krasiński was a Polish poet traditionally ranked after Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki as one of Poland's Three Bards – the Romantic poets who influenced national consciousness in the period of Partitions of Poland.


23/02/1855

Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (born 1777)

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science. His mathematical contributions spanned the branches of number theory, algebra, analysis, geometry, statistics, and probability. Gauss was director of the Göttingen Observatory in Germany and professor of astronomy from 1807 until his death in 1855.


23/02/1848

John Quincy Adams, American politician, 6th President of the United States (born 1767)

John Quincy Adams was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825; minister to Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia; and senator for Massachusetts. After his presidency, Adams uniquely returned to Congress as a member of the lower house, where he died in 1848. He was the eldest son of John Adams, the second president, and First Lady Abigail Adams. Among his children were Charles Francis Adams Sr. Initially a Federalist like his father, Adams spent his presidency as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, and later, in the mid-1830s, became affiliated with the Whig Party.


23/02/1844

Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada, Brazilian politician, twice Minister of Finance, brother of José Bonifácio and Antônio Carlos (born 1775)

Martim Francisco Ribeiro de Andrada was a Brazilian politician who played a leading role in the declaration of Brazil's independence and in the government the following years. He was twice Minister of Finance.


23/02/1821

John Keats, English poet (born 1795)

John Keats was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. They were indifferently received in his lifetime, but his fame grew rapidly after his death. By the end of the century, he was placed in the canon of English literature, strongly influencing many writers of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1888 described his "Ode to a Nightingale" as "one of the final masterpieces".


23/02/1792

Joshua Reynolds, English painter and academic (born 1723)

Sir Joshua Reynolds was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy Peltz says he was "the leading portrait artist of the 18th-century and arguably one of the greatest artists in the history of art." He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting, which depended on idealisation of the imperfect. He was a founder and first president of the Royal Academy of Arts and was knighted by George III in 1769. He has been referred to as the 'master who revolutionised British Art.'


23/02/1781

George Taylor, Founding Father of the United States (born 1716)

George Taylor was an American ironmaster and politician who was a Founding Father of the United States and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Pennsylvania. His former home, the George Taylor House in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, was named a National Historic Landmark in 1971.


23/02/1766

Stanisław Leszczyński, Polish king (born 1677)

Stanisław Leszczyński, also Anglicised and Latinised as Stanislaus, was twice King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and at various times Prince of Deux-Ponts, Duke of Bar and Duke of Lorraine.


23/02/1704

Georg Muffat, French organist and composer (born 1653)

Georg Muffat was a Baroque composer and organist. He is best known for the remarkably articulate and informative performance directions printed along with his collections of string pieces Florilegium Primum and Florilegium Secundum in 1695 and 1698.


23/02/1620

Nicholas Fuller, English politician (born 1543)

Sir Nicholas Fuller was an English barrister and Member of Parliament. After studying at Christ's College, Cambridge, Fuller became a barrister of Gray's Inn. His legal career there began prosperously—he was employed by the Privy Council to examine witnesses—but was hampered later by his representation of the Puritans, a religious tendency which did not conform with the established Church of England. Fuller was repeatedly in contention with the ecclesiastical courts, including the Star Chamber and Court of High Commission, and was once expelled for the zeal with which he defended his client. In 1593 he was returned as the Member of Parliament for St Mawes, where he campaigned against the extension of recusancy laws. Outside of Parliament, he successfully brought a patents case which not only undermined the right of the Crown to issue patents but accurately predicted the attitude taken by the Statute of Monopolies two decades later.


23/02/1603

Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (born 1519)

Andrea Cesalpino was a Florentine physician, philosopher and botanist.


Franciscus Vieta, French mathematician (born 1540)

François Viète, known in Latin as Franciscus Vieta, was a French mathematician whose work on new algebra was an important step towards modern algebra, due to his innovative use of letters as parameters in equations. Because of this, Viète is sometimes called "the father of modern algebraic notation". He was a lawyer by trade, and served as a privy councillor to both Henry III and Henry IV of France.


23/02/1554

Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire (born 1515)

Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, was an English courtier and nobleman of the Tudor period. He was the father of Lady Jane Grey, known as "the Nine Days Queen".


23/02/1526

Diego Colón, Spanish Viceroy of the Indies (born c. 1479)

Diego Columbus was a navigator and explorer under the kings of Castile and Aragón. He served as the 2nd admiral of the Indies, 2nd viceroy of the Indies and 4th governor of the Indies as a vassal to the kings of Castile and Aragón. He was the only child of Christopher Columbus by his wife Filipa Moniz Perestrelo.


23/02/1473

Arnold, Duke of Gelderland (born 1410)

Arnold of Egmond was Duke of Guelders, Count of Zutphen.


23/02/1464

Emperor Yingzong of Ming (born 1427)

Emperor Yingzong of Ming, personal name Zhu Qizhen, was the sixth and eighth emperor of the Ming dynasty. He ruled as the Zhengtong Emperor from 1435 to 1449, and as the Tianshun Emperor from 1457 to 1464.


23/02/1447

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (born 1390)

Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester was an English prince, soldier and literary patron. He was, and styled himself as, "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of Henry IV of England, the brother of Henry V, and the uncle of Henry VI. Gloucester fought in the Hundred Years' War and acted as Lord Protector of England during the minority of his nephew. He was a controversial political figure whose actions and policies generated both support and opposition among his contemporaries and later historians. Assessments of his career note his involvement in political conflicts as well as his engagement with intellectual circles, including his role as an early English patron of humanist scholarship, in the context of the Renaissance.


Pope Eugene IV (born 1383)

Pope Eugene IV was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 11 March 1431 to his death in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian and a nephew of Pope Gregory XII. In 1431, he was elected pope. He is the most recent pope to take the pontifical name "Eugene".


23/02/1270

Isabel of France (born 1225)

Isabelle of France was a French princess and daughter of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile. She was a younger sister of King Louis IX of France and of Alfonso, Count of Poitiers, and an older sister of King Charles I of Sicily. In 1256, she founded the nunnery of Longchamp in part of the Forest of Rouvray, west of Paris. Isabelle consecrated her virginity and her entire life to God alone. She is honored as a saint by the Franciscan Order. Her feast day is 26 February.


23/02/1100

Emperor Zhezong of Song (born 1076)

Emperor Zhezong of Song, personal name Zhao Xu, was the seventh emperor of the Song dynasty of China. His original personal name was Zhao Yong but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after his coronation. He reigned from 1085 until his death in 1100, and was succeeded by his younger half-brother, Emperor Huizong, because his son died prematurely.


23/02/1011

Willigis, German archbishop (born 940)

Willigis was Archbishop of Mainz from 975 until his death as well as archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire.


23/02/0943

Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, (born 884)

Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, Count of Meaux, and Count of Soissons. He was the first to exercise power over the territory that became the province of Champagne.


David I, prince of Tao-Klarjeti (Georgia)

David I was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti who ruled, with the title of mampali, in Adjara and Nigali from 889 and in Klarjeti from 900 until his abdication in 943.


23/02/0908

Li Keyong, Shatuo military governor during the Tang dynasty in China (born 856)

Li Keyong was a military general and politician of Shatuo Turk ethnicity, and from January 896 the Prince of Jin, which would become an independent state after the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907. Li served as a Jiedushi provincial military governor during the late Tang period and was an instrumental figure in the development of a Shatuo base of power in what is today's Shanxi Province of China. His son Li Cunxu, a child of his concubine Lady Cao, would succeed him as Prince of Jin and eventually become the founding emperor of the Later Tang dynasty in 923.


23/02/0715

Al-Walid I, Umayyad caliph (born 668)

Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, commonly known as al-Walid I, was the sixth Umayyad caliph, ruling from October 705 until his death in 715. He was the eldest son of his predecessor, Caliph Abd al-Malik. As a prince, he led annual raids against the Byzantines from 695 to 698 and built or restored fortifications along the Syrian Desert route to Mecca. He became heir apparent in c. 705, after the death of the designated successor, Abd al-Malik's brother Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan.


Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 22nd February

Christian feast day: Polycarp of Smyrna

Polycarp was a Christian bishop of Smyrna. According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, he died a martyr, bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to consume his body. Polycarp is regarded as a saint and Church Father in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism.


Christian feast day: Blessed Rafaela Ybarra de Vilallonga

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".


Christian feast day: Serenus the Gardener

Serenus the Gardener, also known as "Serenus of Billom", "Sirenatus", and, in French: Cerneuf is a 4th-century martyr who is venerated by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.


Christian feast day: Willigis

Willigis was Archbishop of Mainz from 975 until his death as well as archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire.


Christian feast day: February 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

February 22 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - February 24


The Emperor's Birthday, birthday of Naruhito, the current Emperor of Japan (Japan)

Emperor's Birthday is an annual public holiday in Japan celebrating the birthday of the reigning emperor, which is currently 23 February as Emperor Naruhito was born on that day in 1960. It is enforced by the Emperor Abdication Law passed in 2017.


Mashramani-Republic Day (Guyana)

Mashramani, often abbreviated to "Mash", is an annual festival that celebrates Guyana becoming a Republic in 1970.


National Day (Brunei)

National Day or Independence Day is the national day of Brunei, commemorating the anniversary of Brunei's proclamation of independence. It was made a national holiday by government decree in 1985. Although Brunei formally proclaimed independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984, it did not celebrate its national day until 23 February.


Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics: Defender of the Fatherland Day (Russia)

Defender of the Fatherland Day is a holiday observed in Russia, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan honouring their countries' armed forces and commemorating the founding of the Red Army. It is celebrated on 23 February, except in Kazakhstan, where it is celebrated on 7 May. Ukraine abolished the holiday starting 1992 and, after the Revolution of Dignity, has instated the somewhat similar Defender of Ukraine Day on 1 October.


Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics: Defender of the Fatherland and Armed Forces day (Belarus)

National holidays in Belarus are classified into state holidays and other holidays and commemorative days, including religious holidays. Nine of them are non-working days.


Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics: Armed Forces Day (Tajikistan) (Tajikistan)

Armed Forces Day also known as Tajik National Army Day or Defender of the Fatherland Day is a national holiday celebrated annually on 23 February, commemorating the founding of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Tajikistan. The event is marked by military parades, fireworks and ceremonies around of the country.


What Happened on 22nd February?

66 significant events took place on Tuesday, 22nd February — stretching from 303 to 2025. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

23/02/2025

A snap election is held in Germany.

A federal election was held in Germany on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the 21st Bundestag, down from 736 in 2021 due to reforms in seat distribution. The 2025 election took place seven months ahead of schedule due to the 2024 collapse of the Scholz governing coalition. Following the loss of his majority, the chancellor called and intentionally lost a motion of confidence, which enabled the approval of a new election by the president. The 2025 election was the fourth snap election in post-war German history.


23/02/2021

Four simultaneous prison riots leave at least 62 people dead in Ecuador.

On 23 February 2021, 79 inmates were killed and several others were injured in riots that took place simultaneously in four Ecuadorian prisons. Authorities have cited gang rivalry in an overcrowded prison system as the cause. The violence happened in prisons located in the Guayas, Azuay, and Cotopaxi provinces, which contain nearly 70% of the total prison population in the country.


23/02/2020

Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old African-American citizen, is shot and murdered by three white men after visiting a house under construction while jogging at a neighborhood in Satilla Shores near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia.

On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was murdered during a racially motivated hate crime while jogging in Satilla Shores, a neighborhood near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia. Three white men, who later claimed to police that they assumed he was a burglar, pursued Arbery in their trucks for several minutes, using the vehicles to block his path as he tried to run away. Two of the men, Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, were armed in one vehicle. Their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, was in another vehicle. After overtaking Arbery, Travis exited his truck, pointing his weapon at Arbery. Arbery approached Travis and a physical altercation ensued, resulting in Travis fatally shooting Arbery. Bryan recorded this confrontation and Arbery's murder on his cell phone.


23/02/2019

Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767 freighter, crashes into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, killing all three people on board.

Atlas Air Flight 3591 was a scheduled domestic cargo flight between Miami International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. On February 23, 2019, the Boeing 767-375ER(BCF) operating this flight crashed into Trinity Bay during approach into Houston, killing the two crew members and single passenger on board. The accident occurred near Anahuac, Texas, east of Houston, shortly before 12:45 CST (18:45 UTC). This was the first fatal crash of a Boeing 767 freighter.


23/02/2018

Parliamentary elections are held in Djibouti.

Parliamentary elections were held in Djibouti on 23 February 2018. The election was boycotted by the main opposition parties, including some of the parties in the Union for National Salvation coalition, which had won 10 seats in the previous elections in 2013.


23/02/2017

The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captures Al-Bab from ISIL.

The Free Syrian Army was a big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defected from the Syrian Armed Forces. The officers announced that the immediate priority of the Free Syrian Army was to safeguard the lives of protestors and civilians from the deadly crackdown by Bashar al-Assad's security apparatus; with the ultimate goal of accomplishing the objectives of the Syrian revolution, namely, the end to the decades-long reign of the ruling al-Assad family. In late 2011, the FSA was the main Syrian military defectors group. Initially a formal military organization at its founding, its original command structure dissipated by 2016, and the FSA identity was later used by several different Syrian opposition groups.


23/02/2012

A series of attacks across Iraq leave at least 83 killed and more than 250 injured.

The 23 February 2012 Iraq attacks were the fifth simultaneous wave of bombings to hit Iraq during the insurgency and the first such major assault since the US withdrawal at the end of 2011. At least 83 people were killed and more than 250 wounded in highly coordinated attacks spread out in least 15 cities - including at least 10 explosions in the capital Baghdad that left 32 people dead. A number of shootings also took place, mostly aimed at police patrols and security installations around the city. The majority of the blasts appeared to specifically target Shiite areas.


23/02/2010

Unknown criminals pour more than 2+1⁄2 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in northern Italy, sparking an environmental disaster.

Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, fuel oil (historically), or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place as a result of compression of the inlet air and then injection of fuel without a spark. Therefore, diesel fuel needs good compression ignition characteristics.


23/02/2008

A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is a part of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and is one of the six armed forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the Air Force was established by transfer of personnel from the Army Air Forces with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.


The Japanese WINDS satellite is launched.

WINDS was a Japanese communication satellite.


23/02/2007

A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 88. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.

The Grayrigg derailment was a fatal railway accident that occurred at approximately 20:15 GMT on Friday 23 February 2007, just to the south of Grayrigg, Cumbria, in the North West England region of the United Kingdom. The accident investigation concluded that the derailment was caused by a faulty set of points on the Down Main running line, controlled from Lambrigg ground frame. The scheduled inspection on 18 February 2007 had not taken place and the faults had gone undetected.


23/02/2002

An Ariane 4 rocket is launched from the Guiana Space Centre carrying Intelsat 904.

The Ariane 4 was a European expendable launch vehicle, developed by the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was manufactured by ArianeGroup and marketed by Arianespace. Since its first flight on 15 June 1988 until the final flight on 15 February 2003, it attained 113 successful launches out of 116 total launches.


23/02/1999

Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.

Kurds, or the Kurdish people, are an Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syria. Consisting of 30–45 million people, the global Kurdish population is largely concentrated in Kurdistan, but significant communities of the Kurdish diaspora exist in parts of West Asia beyond Kurdistan and in parts of Europe, most notably including: Turkey's Central Anatolian Kurds, as well as Istanbul Kurds; Iran's Khorasani Kurds; the Caucasian Kurds, primarily in Azerbaijan and Armenia; and the Kurdish populations in various European countries, namely Germany, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands.


An avalanche buries the town of Galtür, Austria, killing 31.

An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, other animals, and earthquakes. Primarily composed of flowing snow and air, large avalanches have the capability to capture and move ice, rocks, and trees.


23/02/1998

In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42 people.

On February 21–23, 1998, a devastating tornado outbreak affected portions of the Southeastern United States, primarily the U.S. state of Florida. It was the deadliest tornado event in Florida history. In all, 15 tornadoes touched down, one of which was long lived and tracked for nearly 40 miles (64 km). Affecting mainly the Interstate 4 (I-4) corridor of Central Florida, including the Greater Orlando area, the tornadoes—among the strongest ever recorded in Florida—produced near-violent damage, killed 42 people, and caused 259 injuries. This outbreak is sometimes referred to as "The Night of the Tornadoes".


23/02/1991

In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.

Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, and formerly known as Siam until 1939, is a country located in Mainland Southeast Asia. It shares land borders with Myanmar to the west and northwest, Laos to the east and northeast, Cambodia to the southeast, and Malaysia to the south. Its maritime boundaries include the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, as well as maritime borders with Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. Thailand has a population of nearly 66 million people and covers an area of approximately 513,115 km2. The country's capital and largest city is Bangkok.


23/02/1988

Saddam Hussein begins the Anfal genocide against Kurds and Assyrians in northern Iraq.

The Anfal campaign was a counterinsurgency operation, described by many scholars and human rights groups as a genocide or ethnic cleansing, which was carried out by Ba'athist Iraq from February to September 1988 during the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict at the end of the Iran–Iraq War. The campaign targeted rural Kurds because its purpose was to eliminate Kurdish rebel groups and Arabize strategic parts of the Kirkuk Governorate. The Ba'athist regime committed atrocities on the local Kurdish population, mostly civilians. Although primarily targeting Kurds, other non-Arabs also fell victim to the Anfal campaign.


23/02/1987

Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

SN 1987A was a Type II supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It occurred approximately 51.4 kiloparsecs from Earth and was the closest observed supernova since Kepler's Supernova in 1604. Light and neutrinos from the explosion reached Earth on February 23, 1987, and it was designated "SN 1987A" as the first supernova discovered that year. Its brightness peaked in May of that year, with an apparent magnitude of about 3, brighter than the constellation's brightest star, Alpha Doradus.


23/02/1983

The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.


23/02/1981

In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

Antonio Tejero Molina was a Spanish lieutenant colonel of the Guardia Civil. He was the most prominent figure in the failed coup d'état against the newly democratic Spanish government on 23 February 1981 when he stormed the Congress of Deputies with 200 armed Civil Guards. For this reason, he was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment for the crime of consummated military rebellion, with the aggravating circumstance of recidivism; he had previously been arrested for his involvement in the failed coup attempt during Operation Galaxia in 1978.


23/02/1980

Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.

The Iran hostage crisis began on November 4, 1979, when 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran, with 52 of them being held until January 20, 1981. The incident occurred after the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line stormed and occupied the building in the months following the Iranian Revolution. With support from Ruhollah Khomeini, who had led the Iranian Revolution and would eventually establish the present-day Islamic Republic of Iran, the hostage-takers demanded that the United States extradite Iranian king Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had been granted asylum by the Carter administration for cancer treatment. Notable among the assailants were Hossein Dehghan, Mohammad Ali Jafari, and Mohammad Bagheri. The hostage crisis contributed to a dramatic decline in Iran–United States relations. After 444 days, it came to an end with the signing of the Algiers Accords between the Iranian and American governments; Pahlavi had died in Cairo, Egypt, on July 27, 1980.


23/02/1974

The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.

The United Federated Forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a small, American far-left militant organization active between 1973 and 1975; it claimed to be a vanguard movement. Six members died in a May 1974 shootout with police in Los Angeles. The three surviving fugitives recruited new members, but nearly all of them were apprehended in 1975 and prosecuted.


23/02/1971

Operation Lam Son 719: South Vietnamese General Do Cao Tri was killed in a helicopter crash en route to taking control of the faltering campaign.

Operation Lam Son 719 or 9th Route – Southern Laos Campaign was a limited-objective offensive campaign conducted in the southeastern portion of the Kingdom of Laos. The campaign was carried out by the armed forces of South Vietnam between 8 February and 25 March 1971, during the Vietnam War. The United States provided logistical, aerial and artillery support for the operation, but its ground forces were prohibited by law from entering Laotian territory. The objective of the campaign was the disruption of a possible future offensive by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), whose logistical system within Laos was known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail.


23/02/1966

In Syria, Ba'ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin al-Hafiz, also a Baathist.

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north and northwest, Iraq to the east and southeast, Jordan to the south, and Israel and Lebanon to the southwest. It is a republic under a provisional government and comprises 14 governorates. Damascus is the capital and largest city. With a population of 26 million across an area of 185,180 square kilometres (71,500 sq mi), it is the 56th-most populous and 87th-largest country.


23/02/1958

Five-time Argentine Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio is kidnapped by rebels involved in the Cuban Revolution, on the eve of the Cuban Grand Prix. He was released the following day after the race.

Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel, single-seater formula racing cars run by the Formula One Group and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the world's premier forms of motorsport since its inaugural running in 1950 and is often considered to be the pinnacle of motorsport. The word formula in the name refers to the set of rules all participant cars must follow. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix. Grands Prix take place in multiple countries and continents on either purpose-built circuits or closed roads, as street circuits.


23/02/1954

The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.

Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe symptoms develop such as headache, neck stiffness, and paresthesia. These symptoms usually pass within one or two weeks. A less common symptom is permanent paralysis, and possible death in extreme cases. Years after recovery, post-polio syndrome may occur, with a slow development of muscle weakness similar to what the person had during the initial infection.


23/02/1950

General elections are held in the United Kingdom.

There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local elections, mayoral elections, and police and crime commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may also be by-elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday, and under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general elections can be held at the discretion of the prime minister during any five-year period. All other types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. The five electoral systems used are: the single member plurality system (first-past-the-post), the multi-member plurality, the single transferable vote, the additional member system, and the supplementary vote.


23/02/1947

International Organization for Standardization is founded.

The International Organization for Standardization is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries.


23/02/1945

World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.

The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the United States Marine Corps (USMC), United States Navy (USN), and United States Army (USA) landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II. The American invasion, designated Operation Detachment, had the goal of capturing the island with its two airfields: South Field and Central Field.


World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free all 2,147 captives of the Los Baños internment camp, in what General Colin Powell later would refer to as "the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies".

The 11th Airborne Division is a United States Army multirole infantry division made up of specialized light infantry and airborne infantry based in Alaska.


World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces.

The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands, with a total area of about 300,000 square kilometers, which are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. With a population of over 114 million, it is the world's twelfth-most-populous country.


World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.

Nazi Germany, officially the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and the German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945, after 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin, ending World War II in Europe.


World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is annihilated in a raid by 379 British bombers.

Pforzheim is a city of over 135,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany.


American Airlines Flight 009 crashes near Rural Retreat, Virginia, killing 17.

American Airlines Flight 009 was a flight from New York City to Los Angeles. On the morning of February 23, 1945, while flying over Rural Retreat, Virginia, on the Washington-Nashville leg, the Douglas DC-3 struck the wooded summit of Glade Mountain in the Appalachian Mountains, killing 17 of the 22 occupants on board.


23/02/1944

The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, the largest by area, and bordered twelve countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, with the largest and most populous being the Russian SFSR. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.


23/02/1943

The Cavan Orphanage fire kills thirty-five girls and an elderly cook.

The Cavan Orphanage fire occurred on the night of 23 February 1943 at St Joseph's Orphanage in Cavan, Ireland. 35 children and one adult employee died as a result. All of the lay teachers and nuns survived the fire. Much of the attention after the fire surrounded the role of the Poor Clares, the order of nuns who ran the orphanage, and the local fire service.


Greek Resistance: The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth is founded in Greece.

The Greek resistance involved armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II. The largest group was the Communist-dominated EAM-ELAS. The Greek Resistance is considered one of the strongest resistance movements in Nazi-occupied Europe, with partisans, men and women known as andartes and andartisses, controlling much of the countryside prior to the German withdrawal from Greece in late 1944.


23/02/1942

World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the coastline near Santa Barbara, California.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.


23/02/1941

Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.

Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume, which in turn flake off as a powder that is pyrophoric. It is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous.


23/02/1934

Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.

Leopold III was King of the Belgians from 23 February 1934 until his abdication on 16 July 1951. At the outbreak of World War II, Leopold tried to maintain Belgian neutrality, but after the German invasion in May 1940, he surrendered his country, earning him much hostility, both at home and abroad.


23/02/1927

U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.

Calvin Coolidge was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he had served as the 29th vice president from 1921 to 1923, under President Warren G. Harding, and as the 48th governor of Massachusetts from 1919 to 1921. Coolidge gained a reputation as a small-government conservative, with a taciturn personality and dry sense of humor that earned him the nickname "Silent Cal".


German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.

Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that uses mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to explain and predict natural phenomena. It is, in the broadest sense, the attempt to say why things happen the way they do, not merely to record that they do. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which tests and refines those explanations through direct measurement and observation. In practice, the two feed each other constantly: a theoretical prediction suggests an experiment, and an unexpected experimental result sends theorists back to the drawing board.


23/02/1917

First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution (March 8 in the Gregorian calendar).

Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd (Петроград) and later Leningrad (Ленинград), is the second-largest city in Russia, after Moscow, the nation's capital. Situated on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, its area of 1,439 square kilometers (556 sq mi) renders it the smallest administrative division of Russia by area. The city had a population of 5,601,911 residents as of 2021, with more than 6.4 million people living in the metropolitan area. Saint Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents. As the former capital of the Russian Empire, and a historically strategic Baltic port, it is governed as a federal city.


23/02/1909

The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.

The Silver Dart was a derivative of an early aircraft built by a Canadian/U.S. team, which after many successful flights in Hammondsport, New York, earlier in 1908, was dismantled and shipped to Baddeck, Nova Scotia. It was flown from the ice of Baddeck Bay, a sub-basin of Bras d'Or Lake, on 23 February 1909, making it the first controlled powered flight in Canada. The aircraft was piloted by one of its designers, Douglas McCurdy. The original Silver Dart was designed and built by the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), which had been formed under the guidance of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell.


23/02/1905

Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.

Paul Percy Harris was a Chicago, Illinois-based attorney. He founded the club that became the humanitarian organisation Rotary International in 1905.


23/02/1903

Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country in the Caribbean. It comprises the eponymous main island as well as 4,195 islands, islets, and cays. Situated at the convergence of the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean, Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula, south of both Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola, and north of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital. Cuba is the third-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti and Dominican Republic, with about 10 million inhabitants. It is the largest country in the Caribbean by area. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America.


23/02/1900

Second Boer War: During the Battle of the Tugela Heights, the first British attempt to take Hart's Hill fails.

The Second Boer War, also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the Boer republics over Britain's influence in Southern Africa.


23/02/1898

Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing J'Accuse...!, a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.

Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in his renowned newspaper opinion headlined J'Accuse...!  Zola was nominated for the first and second Nobel Prizes in Literature in 1901 and 1902.


23/02/1887

The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.

The French Riviera, known in French as the Côte d'Azur, is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending from the rock formation Massif de l'Esterel to Menton, at the France–Italy border, although some other sources place the western boundary further west around Saint-Tropez or Toulon. The coast is entirely within the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France. The Principality of Monaco is a semi-enclave within the region, surrounded on three sides by France and fronting the Mediterranean. The French Riviera contains the seaside resorts of Cap-d'Ail, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Cannes, and Théoule-sur-Mer.


23/02/1886

Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of aluminium from the electrolysis of aluminium oxide, after several years of intensive work. He was assisted in this project by his older sister, Julia Brainerd Hall.

Charles Martin Hall was an American inventor, businessman, and chemist. He is best known for his invention in 1886 of an inexpensive method for producing aluminium, which became the first metal to attain widespread use since the prehistoric discovery of iron. He was one of the founders of Alcoa, along with Alfred E. Hunt; Hunt's partner at the Pittsburgh Testing Laboratory, George Hubbard Clapp; Hunt's chief chemist, W. S. Sample; Howard Lash, head of the Carbon Steel Company; Millard Hunsiker, sales manager for the Carbon Steel Company; and Robert Scott, a mill superintendent for the Carnegie Steel Company. Together they raised $20,000 to launch the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, which was later renamed Aluminum Company of America and then shortened to Alcoa.


23/02/1885

Sino-French War: French Army gains an important victory in the Battle of Đồng Đăng in the Tonkin region of Vietnam.

The Sino-French or Franco-Chinese War, also known as the Tonkin War, was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 to April 1885 between the French Third Republic and the Qing dynasty for influence in Vietnam. There was no declaration of war.


23/02/1883

Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an anti-trust law.

Alabama is a state in the Southeastern and Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th largest by area, and the 24th-most populous of the 50 U.S. states.


23/02/1870

Reconstruction Era: Post-U.S. Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.

The Reconstruction era, often simply called Reconstruction, was a period in United States history that followed the American Civil War (1861–1865) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the abolition of slavery and federal control over, and reintegration of, the former Confederate States into the United States. Three amendments were added to the United States Constitution to grant citizenship and equal civil rights to the newly freed slaves. To circumvent these, former Confederate states imposed poll taxes and literacy tests and sought to intimidate and control the Black population and discourage or prevent them from voting.


23/02/1861

President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederacy and playing a major role in the abolition of slavery.


23/02/1854

The official independence of the Orange Free State, South Africa is declared.

The Orange Free State was a landlocked independent Boer republic in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province.


23/02/1847

Mexican–American War: Battle of Buena Vista: In Mexico, American troops under future president General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.

The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, was an invasion of Mexico by the United States. It followed the 1845 American annexation of Texas, which Mexico still considered its territory because it refused to recognize the Treaties of Velasco, signed by President Antonio López de Santa Anna after he was captured by the Texian Army during the 1836 Texas Revolution. The Republic of Texas was de facto an independent country, but most of its Anglo-American citizens who had moved from the United States to Texas after 1822 wanted to be annexed by the United States.


23/02/1836

Texas Revolution: The Siege of the Alamo (prelude to the Battle of the Alamo) begins in San Antonio, Texas.

The Texas Revolution was a rebellion by Anglo-American immigrants as well as Hispanic Texans against the centralist government of Mexico in the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. Although the uprising was part of a larger revolt that included other provinces opposed to the regime of President Miguel Barragán and General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican government believed the United States had instigated the Texas insurrection with the goal of annexation. The Mexican Congress passed the Tornel Decree, declaring that any foreigners fighting against Mexican troops "will be deemed pirates and dealt with as such, being citizens of no nation presently at war with the Republic and fighting under no recognized flag". Only the province of Texas succeeded in breaking with Mexico, establishing the Republic of Texas. It was eventually annexed by the United States about a decade later.


23/02/1820

Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed and the conspirators arrested.

The Cato Street Conspiracy was a plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in 1820. The name comes from the meeting place near Edgware Road in London. The police had an informer; the plotters fell into a police trap. Thirteen were arrested, while one policeman, Richard Smithers, was killed. Five conspirators were executed, and five others were transported to Australia.


23/02/1778

American Revolutionary War: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to help train the Continental Army.

The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence or simply the American Revolution, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war, but Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war. In 1783, in the Treaty of Paris, the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.


23/02/1763

Berbice slave uprising in Guyana: The first major slave revolt in South America.

The Berbice Rebellion was a slave rebellion in Berbice, Dutch Guiana, that began on 23 February 1763 and lasted to April 1764, with among them the famous rebel leader Cuffy. This was the first major slave revolt in South America, and it is seen as a major event in Guyana's anti-colonial struggles. When Guyana became an independent republic in 1970 the state declared the anniversary of Cuffy's slave rebellion on 23 February as the Republic Day, a day to commemorate the start of the Berbice slave revolt. Cuffy is a national hero commemorated in a large monument in the capital, Georgetown.


23/02/1725

J. S. Bach leads his Tafel-Music Shepherd Cantata for the birthday of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. He is known for his mastery of counterpoint, as heard in The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. Felix Mendelssohn precipitated the Bach Revival with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Ever since, Bach has been acclaimed as one of the greatest composers of classical music.


23/02/1455

Traditionally the date of publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.

The Gutenberg Bible, also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42, is the earliest major book printed in Europe using mass-produced metal movable type. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed books in the West. The book is valued and revered for its high aesthetic and artistic qualities and its historical significance.


23/02/0705

Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty.

Empress Wu, commonly known as Wu Zetian, personal name Wu Zhao, was the only undisputed female sovereign in the history of China. She had previously held power as the empress consort of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang dynasty from 660 to 683 and as empress dowager during the reigns of her sons, Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong, between 683 and 690. She was the sole ruler of the self-styled Zhou dynasty from 690 to 705.


23/02/0628

Khosrow II, Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire, is overthrown.

Khosrow II, commonly known as Khosrow Parviz, is considered to be the last great monarch of pre-Islamic Iran, ruling the Sasanian Empire from 590 to 628, including an interruption of one year.


23/02/0532

Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia.

The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title.


23/02/0303

Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.

The Roman emperor was the ruler and monarchical head of state of the Roman Empire, starting with the granting of the title augustus to Octavian in 27 BC. The title of imperator, originally a military honorific, was usually used alongside caesar, originally a cognomen. When a given Roman is described as becoming emperor in English, it generally reflects his accession as augustus, and later as basileus. Early emperors also used the title princeps alongside other Republican titles, notably consul and pontifex maximus.