On this day in history

July 23

30 births · 20 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

2020 Summer Olympics

6 years ago

Born this day

1941

Sergio Mattarella

Turns 85

Photo (modified): Unknown author · Attribution

Oldest record

269th

Domenico Scarlatti

death anniversary

View profile

Famous births30

1856 · 170 yrs

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation:); 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), was an Indian nationalist and self-rule activist in the Indian independence movement. He was one third of the Lal Bal Pal triumvirate.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Internet Archive Book Images · No restrictions

1884 · 142 yrs

Emil Jannings

Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz; 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss-born German actor who was popular in Hollywood films in the 1920s. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for starring in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 142

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

1888 · 138 yrs

Raymond Chandler

Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at age 44, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 138

View profile Photo (modified): Photographer uncredited. Published by Alfred A. Knopf . · Public domain

1892 · 134 yrs

Haile Selassie I

Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or Lij Tafari; 23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (Enderase) under Empress Zewditu between 1916 and 1930.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 134

View profile Photo (modified): unknown; according to [1] and [2] an official portrait of which b/w copies were distributed by the Ethiopian government · Public domain

1899 · 127 yrs

Gustav Heinemann

Gustav Walter Heinemann (German:; 23 July 1899 – 7 July 1976) was a German politician who was President of West Germany from 1969 to 1974. He served as mayor of Essen from 1946 to 1949, West German Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, and Minister of Justice from 1966 to 1969.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 127

View profile Photo (modified): Bauer, Georg · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1906 · 120 yrs

Vladimir Prelog

Vladimir Prelog (23 July 1906 – 7 January 1998) was a Croatian-Swiss organic chemist who received the 1975 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his research into the stereochemistry of organic molecules and reactions. Prelog was born, and spent his infancy, in Sarajevo, and youth in Zagreb, Osijek and Prague.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 120

View profile Photo (modified): ETH Zürich · CC BY-SA 3.0

1920 · 106 yrs

Amália Rodrigues

Amália da Piedade Rodrigues (23 July 1920 – 6 October 1999) was a Portuguese fado singer (fadista). Dubbed Rainha do Fado ("Queen of Fado"), she was instrumental in popularising fado worldwide and travelled internationally throughout her career.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 106

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

1928 · 98 yrs

Vera Rubin

Vera Florence Cooper Rubin (July 23, 1928 – December 25, 2016) was an American astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 98

View profile Photo (modified): Photograph by Mark Godfrey, courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Gift of Vera Rubin · Attribution

1941 · 85 yrs

Pierre Agostini

Pierre Agostini (French pronunciation:; born 23 July 1941) is a French experimental physicist and Emeritus professor at the Ohio State University in the United States, known for his pioneering work in strong-field laser physics and attosecond science.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceAge 85

View profile Photo (modified): US Embassy Sweden · CC BY 2.0

1941 · 85 yrs

Sergio Mattarella

Sergio Mattarella (born 23 July 1941) is an Italian politician who has been serving as the president of Italy since 2015. He is the longest-serving president in the history of the Italian Republic.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsAge 85

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Attribution

1945 · 81 yrs

Edie McClurg

Edie McClurg (born July 23, 1945) is an American retired actress and comedian. She has played supporting roles in the films Carrie (1976), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), and Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) and bit parts in Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980), Mr.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TelevisionAge 81

View profile Photo (modified): John Mueller · CC BY 2.5

1952 · 74 yrs

Theo van Gogh

Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh (Dutch:; 23 July 1957 – 2 November 2004) was a Dutch film director. He directed Submission: Part 1, a short film written by Somali writer and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, which criticised the treatment of women in Islam in strong terms.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 74

View profile Photo (modified): Thomas Kist · GFDL 1.2

Showing 12 of 30

Famous deaths20

1757 · 269 yrs

Domenico Scarlatti

Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (26 October 1685 – 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 71

View profile Photo (modified): Domingo Antonio Velasco · Public domain

1875 · 151 yrs

Isaac Singer

Isaac Merritt Singer (October 27, 1811 – July 23, 1875) was an American inventor, actor, and businessman. He made important improvements in the design of the sewing machine and was the founder of what became one of the first American multi-national businesses, the Singer Sewing Machine Company.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

BusinessDied aged 63

View profile Photo (modified): Edward Harrison May · Public domain

1885 · 141 yrs

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877, and was the Commanding General of the Union Army, leading it to victory in the American Civil War in 1865.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 63

View profile Photo (modified): Brady-Handy Photograph Collection, Library of Congress · Public domain

1916 · 110 yrs

William Ramsay

Sir William Ramsay (2 October 1852 – 23 July 1916) was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air" along with his collaborator, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, who…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 63

View profile Photo (modified): Elliott & Fry · Public domain

1932 · 94 yrs

Alberto Santos-Dumont

Alberto Santos-Dumont (self-stylised as Alberto Santos=Dumont; 20 July 1873 – 23 July 1932) was a Brazilian aeronaut, sportsman, inventor, and one of the few people to have contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air aircraft.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 59

View profile Photo (modified): José Rosael/Hélio Nobre/Museu Paulista da USP · Public domain

1948 · 78 yrs

D. W. Griffith

David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the narrative film.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmDied aged 73

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

1951 · 75 yrs

Philippe Pétain

Henri Philippe Benoni Omar Joseph Pétain (French:; 24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), also known as Marshal Pétain (French: maréchal Pétain,), was a French military officer, dictator, and politician who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the Axis-collaborationist regime of Vichy France,…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryDied aged 95

View profile Photo (modified): Imprimerie Draeger à Montrouge en région parisienne · Public domain

1955 · 71 yrs

Cordell Hull

Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871 – July 23, 1955) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the United States secretary of state for nearly twelve years under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, from 1933 to 1944.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 83

View profile Photo (modified): Harris & Ewing, photographer · Public domain

1957 · 69 yrs

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Giuseppe Tomasi, 11th Prince of Lampedusa, 12th Duke of Palma, GE (23 December 1896 – 23 July 1957), known as Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (Italian pronunciation:), was a Sicilian writer, as well as the last generation of Tomasi Princes of Lampedusa before the family's and their titles' extinction (although his uncle…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 129

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

1966 · 60 yrs

Montgomery Clift

Edward Montgomery Clift (October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American actor. A four-time Academy Award nominee, he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men", according to The New York Times.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 106

View profile Photo (modified): The original uploader was Prew at English Wikipedia . · Public domain

1968 · 58 yrs

Henry Hallett Dale

Sir Henry Hallett Dale (9 June 1875 – 23 July 1968) was an English pharmacologist and physiologist. For his study of acetylcholine as agent in the chemical transmission of nerve pulses (neurotransmission) he shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Otto Loewi.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 93

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

1999 · 27 yrs

Hassan II

Hassan II (Hassan bin Mohammed Al Alaoui; 9 July 1929 – 23 July 1999) was King of Morocco from 1961 until his death in 1999. Hassan was born in Rabat during the reign of his father, Mohammed V, who would later lead Morocco to independence from French and Spanish rule.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyWould be 97

View profile Photo (modified): Christian Lambiotte · CC BY 4.0

Showing 12 of 20

Events5

1914 · 112 yrs

July Crisis

The July Crisis was a series of interrelated diplomatic and military escalations among the major powers of Europe in mid-1914, which led to the outbreak of World War I.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

1952 · 74 yrs

1952 Egyptian revolution

On 23 July 1952, a coup began in Egypt with the toppling of King Farouk in a coup d'état by the Free Officers Movement, a group of army officers led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1983 · 43 yrs

Sri Lankan civil war

The Sri Lankan civil war was fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009. Beginning on 23 July 1983, it was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers) led by Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2014 · 12 yrs

TransAsia Airways Flight 222

TransAsia Airways Flight 222 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by TransAsia Airways from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to Magong, Penghu Island. On 23 July 2014, the ATR 72-500 twin turboprop operating the route crashed into buildings during approach to land in bad weather at Magong Airport.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

2020 · 6 yrs

2020 Summer Olympics

The 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad and officially branded as Tokyo 2020, were an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021, in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

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