January 23 facts for kids

On January 23rd, many important events have happened throughout history. This day has seen the start of powerful empires, major scientific breakthroughs, and the birth of famous artists and thinkers. It's a day that reminds us how much the world has changed and how many amazing people have shaped our past.

Events

Ancient Times and Middle Ages

• 393 – The Roman emperor Theodosius I made his eight-year-old son, Honorius, a co-emperor. This meant they would rule together.
• 971 – In China, soldiers from the Song Dynasty used crossbows to bravely defeat an army of war elephants belonging to the Southern Han at a place called Shao.
• 1264 – King Louis IX of France made a decision called the Mise of Amiens. This decision favored King Henry III of England in his fight against rebellious nobles led by Simon de Montfort. This later led to a conflict known as the Second Barons' War.
• 1368 – Zhu Yuanzhang declared himself the Hongwu Emperor. This marked the beginning of the powerful Ming dynasty in China.
• 1556 – The most deadly earthquake ever recorded happened in Shaanxi province, China. It was called the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake. Sadly, as many as 830,000 people may have died.
• 1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, who was ruling Scotland for the young King James VI, was killed by a gun. This was the first time someone important was recorded being killed this way.
• 1571 – The Royal Exchange, an important trading center, opened in London.
• 1579 – The Union of Utrecht was formed. This created a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.

1600s to 1900s

• 1656 – The famous scientist Blaise Pascal published the first of his Lettres provinciales, which were letters discussing religious topics.
• 1719 – The small country of Liechtenstein was officially created within the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1789 – Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, was founded in Georgetown, Maryland.
• 1795 – In a very unusual event, French cavalry (soldiers on horseback) rode across the frozen Zuiderzee and captured 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns. This was a rare battle between horses and ships!
• 1846 – Slavery in Tunisia was officially ended.
• 1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell earned her medical degree from the Geneva Medical College in New York. She became the first female doctor in the United States.
• 1870 – In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen killed 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what became known as the Marias Massacre.
• 1879 – The Anglo-Zulu War ended with the Battle of Rorke's Drift.
• 1899 – The Malolos Constitution was put into effect, creating the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo became its first president.
• 1900 – During the Second Boer War, the Battle of Spion Kop ended with a defeat for the British forces.

1901 to Today

• 1904 – The Norwegian town of Ålesund was destroyed by a huge fire, leaving 10,000 people without homes. The German Kaiser Wilhelm II helped fund the rebuilding of the town in a beautiful Jugendstil style.
• 1909 – The passenger ship RMS Republic became the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after it crashed into another ship.
• 1920 – The Netherlands refused to hand over the exiled German Kaiser Wilhelm II to the Allies.
• 1942 – During World War II, the Battle of Rabaul began, marking Japan's invasion of Australia's Territory of New Guinea.
• 1943 – In World War II, British soldiers captured Tripoli in Libya from the German-Italian army.
• 1950 – The Knesset, Israel's parliament, decided that Jerusalem would be the capital of Israel.
• 1957 – American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sold the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company. They later renamed it the "Frisbee."
• 1958 – After a large uprising and protests, President Marcos Pérez Jiménez left Venezuela.
• 1960 – The bathyscaphe USS Trieste set a new depth record by diving 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) into the Pacific Ocean.
• 1964 – The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution was approved. This amendment made poll taxes illegal in national elections.
• 1967 – The city of Milton Keynes in England was officially founded as a new town.
• 1968 – The American ship USS Pueblo (AGER-2) was attacked and captured by the Korean People's Navy.
• 1982 – World Airways Flight 30 went past the end of the runway at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, and crashed into Boston Harbor. Two people were lost and believed to have died.
• 1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame welcomed its first members. These included music legends like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, and many others.
• 1997 – Madeleine Albright became the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
• 2003 – A very weak signal from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft was detected for the last time. This spacecraft had traveled far into space.
• 2018 – A strong 7.9 magnitude earthquake happened in the Gulf of Alaska. It was one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded in the United States, but luckily, there was no major damage or deaths.
• 2018 – The China–United States trade war began when President Donald Trump placed tariffs (special taxes) on Chinese solar panels and washing machines.
• 2022 – Soldiers in Burkina Faso, led by Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, removed and held President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré from power during widespread protests.

Births

Born Before 1900

• 1350 – Vincent Ferrer, a Spanish missionary and saint.
• 1585 – Mary Ward, an English Catholic Religious Sister.
• 1737 – John Hancock, an American general and politician, and the first Governor of Massachusetts.
• 1752 – Muzio Clementi, an Italian pianist, composer, and conductor.
• 1783 – Stendhal, a famous French novelist.
• 1832 – Édouard Manet, a well-known French painter.
• 1840 – Ernst Abbe, a German physicist and engineer.
• 1855 – John Browning, an American who designed many weapons and founded the Browning Arms Company.
• 1857 – Andrija Mohorovičić, a Croatian meteorologist and seismologist.
• 1862 – David Hilbert, a very important German mathematician.
• 1876 – Otto Diels, a German chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 1897 – Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian freedom fighter and politician.
• 1898 – Randolph Scott, an American actor.

Born After 1900

• 1907 – Hideki Yukawa, a Japanese physicist who won a Nobel Prize.
• 1910 – Django Reinhardt, a famous Belgian guitarist and composer.
• 1915 – W. Arthur Lewis, an economist from Saint Lucia and Barbados who won a Nobel Prize in Economics.
• 1918 – Gertrude B. Elion, an American biochemist who won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1919 – Ernie Kovacs, an American actor and game show host.
• 1919 – Bob Paisley, a successful English footballer and manager.
• 1920 – Walter Frederick Morrison, the American businessman who invented the Frisbee.
• 1928 – Jeanne Moreau, a French actress.
• 1929 – John Polanyi, a German-Canadian chemist who won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 1930 – Derek Walcott, a poet and playwright from Saint Lucia who won a Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1933 – Chita Rivera, an American actress, singer, and dancer.
• 1944 – Rutger Hauer, a Dutch actor.
• 1946 – Megawati Sukarnoputri, an Indonesian politician and former President of Indonesia.
• 1950 – Richard Dean Anderson, an American actor and producer, known for his roles in TV shows.
• 1951 – Chesley Sullenberger, an American airline pilot famous for landing a plane safely on the Hudson River.
• 1957 – Caroline, Princess of Hanover.
• 1964 – Mariska Hargitay, an American actress.
• 1964 – Bharrat Jagdeo, a Guyanese economist and former President of Guyana.
• 1984 – Arjen Robben, a famous Dutch footballer.
• 1985 – Doutzen Kroes, a Dutch model and actress.
• 1998 – XXXTentacion, an American rapper.

Deaths

Died Before 1900

• 1002 – Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1516 – Ferdinand II of Aragon, a Spanish king.
• 1567 – Jiajing Emperor of China.
• 1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, a Scottish politician.
• 1622 – William Baffin, an English explorer and navigator.
• 1744 – Giambattista Vico, an Italian historian and philosopher.
• 1803 – Arthur Guinness, an Irish brewer who founded Guinness.
• 1806 – William Pitt the Younger, a British politician and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1837 – John Field, an Irish pianist and composer.
• 1883 – Gustave Doré, a French engraver and illustrator.

Died After 1900

• 1931 – Anna Pavlova, a famous Russian-English ballerina.
• 1944 – Edvard Munch, a well-known Norwegian painter.
• 1947 – Pierre Bonnard, a French painter.
• 1956 – Alexander Korda, a Hungarian-English director and producer.
• 1976 – Paul Robeson, an American actor, singer, and activist.
• 1978 – Terry Kath, an American guitarist and songwriter.
• 1985 – James Beard, an American chef and cookbook author.
• 1986 – Joseph Beuys, a German sculptor and painter.
• 1989 – Salvador Dalí, a famous Spanish painter and sculptor.
• 2005 – Johnny Carson, a popular American talk show host.
• 2011 – Jack LaLanne, an American fitness instructor and TV host.
• 2015 – Ernie Banks, an American baseball player.
• 2015 – Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the former King of Saudi Arabia.
• 2018 – Hugh Masekela, a South African trumpeter, composer, and singer.
• 2021 – Larry King, a well-known American journalist and talk show host.
• 2024 – Larry King, a well-known American journalist and talk show host.
• 2024 – Melanie Safka, an American singer-songwriter.

Holidays and observances

• Bounty Day (Pitcairn Islands)
• Christian feast day:
  • Abakuh
  • Marianne of Molokai
  • Emerentiana
  • Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  • Ildefonsus of Toledo
  • Phillips Brooks (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • January 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Jayanti (Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal, India)
• World Freedom Day (Taiwan and South Korea)

See also

In Spanish: 23 de enero para niños