On this day in history

February 23

27 births · 16 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

190

Battle of the Alamo

190 years ago

Born this day

1960

Naruhito

Turns 66

Photo (modified): Presidencia de Guatemala · Public domain

Oldest record

609th

Paul II

birth anniversary

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Famous births27

1417 · 609 yrs

Paul II

Pope Paul II (Latin: Paulus II; Italian: Paolo II; 23 February 1417 – 26 July 1471), born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 August 1464 to his death in 1471.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 54

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1443 · 583 yrs

Matthias Corvinus

Matthias Corvinus (Hungarian: Hunyadi Mátyás; Romanian: Matia/Matei Corvin; Croatian: Matija/Matijaš Korvin; Slovene: Matija Korvin/Kralj Matjaž; Slovak: Matej Korvín; Czech: Matyáš Korvín; 23 February 1443 – 6 April 1490) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 47

View profile Photo (modified): Andrea Mantegna · Public domain

1632 · 394 yrs

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys ( PEEPS; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tory politician.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 71

View profile Photo (modified): John Hayls · Public domain

1685 · 341 yrs

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( HAN-dəl; baptised Georg Friedrich Händel, German:; 5 March 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 74

View profile Photo (modified): Attributed to Balthasar Denner · Public domain

1837 · 189 yrs

Rosalía de Castro

María Rosalía Rita de Castro (Galician pronunciation:; 23 February 1837 – 15 July 1885) was a Galician poet and novelist, considered one of the most important figures of the 19th-century Spanish literature and modern lyricism.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 48

View profile Photo (modified): Luis Sellier · Public domain

1840 · 186 yrs

Carl Menger

Carl Menger von Wolfensgrün ( MENG-ghər; German:; 28 February 1840 – 26 February 1921) was an Austrian economist who contributed to the marginal theory of value. Menger is considered the founder of the Austrian school of economics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 81

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1868 · 158 yrs

W. E. B. Du Bois

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( doo-BOYSS; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) 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.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ActivismDied aged 95

View profile Photo (modified): James E. Purdy / Adam Cuerden · CC0

1875 · 151 yrs

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, recognized for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 75

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1883 · 143 yrs

Karl Jaspers

Karl Theodor Jaspers (German:; 23 February 1883 – 26 February 1969) was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy.

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PhilosophyWould be 143

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown (Mondadori Publishers) · Public domain

1884 · 142 yrs

Casimir Funk

Casimir Funk (born Kazimierz Funk; August 5, 1884 – November 19, 1967) was a Polish biochemist who formulated the definitive concept of vitamins and was the first to isolate a vitamin (vitamin B1) from rice bran in 1911.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 142

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown photographer · Public domain

1889 · 137 yrs

Victor Fleming

Victor Lonzo Fleming (February 23, 1889 – January 6, 1949) 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 (both 1939).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 137

View profile Photo (modified): Photographer unknown; work-for-hire on behalf of Paramount Pictures . · Public domain

1899 · 127 yrs

Erich Kästner

Emil Erich Kästner (German:; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) 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.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 127

View profile Photo (modified): Basch, [...] / Opdracht Anefo · CC0

Showing 12 of 27

Famous deaths16

1766 · 260 yrs

Stanisław Leszczyński

Stanisław I Leszczyński (Stanisław Bogusław; 20 October 1677 – 23 February 1766), 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.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 95

View profile Photo (modified): Jean-Baptiste van Loo · Public domain

1792 · 234 yrs

Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Joshua Reynolds · Public domain

1821 · 205 yrs

John Keats

John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) 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.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 25

View profile Photo (modified): William Hilton · Public domain

1848 · 178 yrs

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) 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.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): jklamo Cleaned and enhanced by Julielangford · Public domain

1855 · 171 yrs

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (German: Gauß; 30 April 1777 – 23 February 1855) was a German mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 77

View profile Photo (modified): Gottlieb Biermann / After Christian Albrecht Jensen · Public domain

1934 · 92 yrs

Edward Elgar

Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 76

View profile Photo (modified): not stated · Public domain

1944 · 82 yrs

Leo Baekeland

Leo Hendrik Baekeland ( BAYK-land; Dutch:; November 14, 1863 – February 23, 1944) was a Belgian chemist. Educated in Belgium and Germany, he spent most of his career in the United States.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1945 · 81 yrs

Aleksey Tolstoy

Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Алексей Николаевич Толстой; 10 January 1883 – 23 February 1945) was a Russian and Soviet writer whose works span across many genres, but mainly belonged to science fiction and historical fiction.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 143

View profile Photo (modified): ИППИ · Public domain

1955 · 71 yrs

Paul Claudel

Paul Claudel (French:; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) 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.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 86

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1965 · 61 yrs

Stan Laurel

Stan Laurel ( LORR-əl; born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) 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.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 136

View profile Photo (modified): US Department of Agriculture · Public domain

1969 · 57 yrs

Saud of Saudi Arabia

Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Arabic: سعود بن عبد العزيز آل سعود; 15 January 1902 – 23 February 1969) 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.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 124

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1973 · 53 yrs

Dickinson W. Richards

Dickinson Woodruff Richards Jr. (October 30, 1895 – February 23, 1973) was an American physician and physiologist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 130

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

Showing 12 of 16

Events5

1836 · 190 yrs

Battle of the Alamo

The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event and military engagement in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (now San Antonio).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1939 · 87 yrs

11th Academy Awards

The 11th Academy Awards were held on February 23, 1939, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California, and hosted by Frank Capra. Frank Capra became the first person to win three Best Director awards, to be followed by John Ford (who would go on to win four) and William Wyler.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

1981 · 45 yrs

1981 Spanish coup d'état attempt

A coup d'état was attempted in Spain in February 1981 by right-wing, Francoist elements of the Civil Guard and the Spanish military. The failure of the coup marked the last serious attempt to revert Spain to a Francoist state and served to consolidate Spain's democratization process.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2014 · 12 yrs

2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine

From the end of February 2014, in the aftermath of the Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity, which resulted in the ousting of Russian-leaning Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, demonstrations by Russian-backed, pro-Russian, and anti-government groups (as well as pro-government demonstrations) took place in…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2025 · 1 yrs

2025 German federal election

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.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

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