May 23 facts for kids
May 23 is the 143rd day of the year (144th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 222 days remain until the end of the year.
Contents
Events
Up to 1900
- 1430 - Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while loading an army to relieve Compiegne.
- 1498 - Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.
- 1533 - The marriage between King Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
- 1555 - Giovanni Pietro Carafa becomes Pope Paul VI.
- 1568 - The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.
- 1568 - Dutch rebels, lead by Louis of Nassau, brother of William I of Orange, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Arenberg and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, starting the Eighty Years' War.
- 1609 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.
- 1618 - The Second Defenestration of Prague leads to the start of the Thirty Years' War.
- 1706 - Battle of Ramillies: John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough defeats a French army under Marshal Francois de Neufville, duc de Villeroi.
- 1788 - South Carolina becomes the 8th State of the US.
- 1793 - Battle of Famars during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
- 1805 - Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned King of Italy in Milan Cathedral.
- 1829 - A patent for the accordion is granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austria.
- 1844 - Declaration of the Bab: A merchant from Shiraz, Persia, announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that is later crushed by the Persian government. This movement is considered to be a forerunner of the Baha'i faith, in which this date is celebrated as a holy day.
- 1846 - Mexican-American War: President of Mexico Mariano Paredes unofficially declares war on the United States.
- 1873 - The Canadian government creates the North-West Mounted Police force. This is a forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police force.
1901 – 2000
- 1911 - The New York Public Library is opened.
- 1915 - World War I: Italy joins the Allies against Austria-Hungary.
- 1932 - In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a protest against the country's leader Getulio Vargas in São Paulo.
- 1934 – The outlaws Bonnie and Clyde are shot dead by law officers in the Texas–Louisiana border region.
- 1939 - The United States Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off New Hampshire.
- 1945 - SS leader Heinrich Himmler commits suicide.
- 1945 - The Flensburg Government under Karl Doenitz is dissolved when its members are arrested by British forces in the city of Flensburg in Northern Germany, next to the border with Denmark.
- 1949 – The Federal Republic of Germany is founded.
- 1951 - Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with China.
- 1958 - Space probe Explorer 1 ceases (ends) transmission.
- 1960 – Israel announces the capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who was hiding in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1967 - Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran and blockades the port of Eilat, Israel, at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea, to Israeli shipping.
- 1992 - Italian anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, along with his wife and three bodyguards, is killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily.
- 1993 - Cambodia holds its first free elections in over 20 years.
- 1994 - Roman Herzog is elected President of Germany.
- 1997 - Mohammad Khatami is elected President of Iran.
- 1998 - Voters in Northern Ireland approve the Good Friday Agreement in a referendum.
- 1999 - Johannes Rau is elected President of Germany.
From 2001
- 2002 - Iceland ratifies the Kyoto protocol.
- 2004 – Horst Köhler is chosen as the new German President, to succeed Johannes Rau.
- 2004 - Part of the roof of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport's Terminal 2E collapses, killing 4 people.
- 2006 - Alaskan volcano Mount Cleveland erupts.
- 2008 - The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) is founded.
- 2009 - Former President of South Korea Roh Moo-hyun commits suicide, while facing a corruption investigation.
- 2009 - Horst Koehler is elected to a second term as President of Germany. However, he resigns just over a year later, on May 31, 2010.
- 2014 - The Glasgow School of Art, one of the most famous buildings in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, is heavily damaged by fire.
- 2015 - Mans Zelmerlow of Sweden wins the 60th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria. Special guest Australia, represented by Guy Sebastian, finishes 5th out of 27. Host nation Austria finishes joint-bottom with Germany on 0 points, making it the worst performance of a host nation in the contest's history.
- 2016 - Bomb attacks in western Syria result in the deaths of more than 100 people.
- 2019 - Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party wins India's general election, giving it a big parliamentary majority.
- 2019 - The 2019 election to the European Parliament begin.
Births
Up to 1850
- 635 - K'inich Kan B'alam II, Mayan King (d. 702)
- 1052 – King Philip I of France (d. 1108)
- 1100 – Emperor Quinzong of China (d. 1161)
- 1606 - Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish philosopher, mathematician and writer (d. 1682)
- 1617 - Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (d. 1692)
- 1696 - Johann Caspar Vogler, German organist and composer (d. 1763)
- 1707 – Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish biologist (d. 1778)
- 1718 – William Hunter, Scottish anatomist (d. 1783)
- 1729 - Giuseppe Parini, Italian writer (d. 1799)
- 1734 – Franz Anton Mesmer, Austrian physician (d. 1815)
- 1741 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer (d. 1815)
- 1754 - Andrea Appiani, Italian painter (d. 1817)
- 1790 – Jules Dumont D'Urville, French explorer (d. 1842)
- 1794 - Ignaz Moscheles, Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso (d. 1870)
- 1795 - Charles Barry, English architect (d. 1860)
- 1810 – Margaret Fuller, American journalist and feminist (d. 1850)
- 1820 - James Buchanan Eads, American engineer and inventor (d. 1887)
- 1824 – Ambrose Burnside, American general (d. 1881)
- 1827 - Milton Latham, 6th Governor of California (d. 1882)
- 1834 - Carl Bloch, Danish painter (d. 1890)
- 1837 - Anatole Mallet, Swiss engineer (d. 1919)
- 1840 - George Throssell, Irish-Australian politician, 30th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1910)
- 1842 - Maria Konopnicka, Polish writer (d. 1910)
- 1844 – Abdu'l Baha, leading member of the Baha'i faith (d. 1921)
- 1848 – Otto Lilienthal, German aviator (d. 1896)
1851 – 1900
- 1865 – Epitacio Pessoa, President of Brazil (d. 1942)
- 1872 - Julio Acosta Garcia, President of Peru (d. 1954)
- 1883 - Ferenc Talanyi, Slovenian writer, journalist and painter (d. 1959)
- 1883 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor (d. 1939)
- 1884 - Corrado Gini, Italian sociologist (d. 1965)
- 1887 – Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1963)
- 1888 - Zack Wheat, American baseball player (d. 1972)
- 1889 - Ernst Niekisch, German politician (d. 1967)
- 1890 – Herbert Marshall, English actor (d. 1969)
- 1891 – Par Lagerkvist, Swedish writer (d. 1974)
- 1892 - Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, British nobleman (d. 1975)
- 1892 – Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, Spanish footballer (d. 1922)
- 1896 - Felix Martin Julius Steiner, German SS officer (d. 1966)
- 1898 - Georgios Grivas, Greek-Cypriot political activist (d. 1974)
- 1898 - Scott O'Dell, American writer (d. 1989)
- 1898 – Josef Terboven, Nazi Reichskommissar in occupied Norway (d. 1945)
- 1899 - Jeralean Talley, American supercentenarian (d. 2015)
- 1900 – Hans Frank, Nazi official (d. 1946)
1901 – 1950
- 1905 - Ramiro Ledesma Ramos, Spanish writer, journalist and politician (d. 1936)
- 1908 – John Bardeen, American physicist (d. 1991)
- 1908 - Hélène Boucher, French pilot (d. 1934)
- 1908 - Max Abramovitz, American architect (d. 2004)
- 1910 – Scatman Crothers, American musician (d. 1986)
- 1910 – Artie Shaw, American musician (d. 2004)
- 1911 – Paul Mayer, German cardinal (d. 2010)
- 1911 - Betty Nuthall, English tennis player (d. 1983)
- 1912 - Jean Françaix, French composer, pianist and orchestrator (d. 1997)
- 1912 - John Payne, American movie actor (d. 1989)
- 1917 - Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (d. 2008)
- 1918 - Denis Compton, English cricketer (d. 1997)
- 1919 – Betty Garrett, American actress (d. 2011)
- 1921 – Humphrey Lyttelton, British musician (d. 2008)
- 1921 - James Blish, American science fiction writer (d. 1975)
- 1923 – Alicia de Larrocha, Spanish pianist (d. 2009)
- 1924 – Karlheinz Deschner, German writer and humanist (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Joshua Lederberg, American biologist (d. 2008)
- 1926 - Joe Slovo, Lithuanian-South African politician (d. 1995)
- 1927 - Dieter Hildebrandt, German entertainer (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)
- 1928 – Nigel Davenport, British actor (d. 2013)
- 1929 - Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish actress (d. 1982)
- 1933 – Joan Collins, British actress
- 1933 - Ove Fundin, Swedish motorcycle racer
- 1933 - Alberto Natusch, Bolivian military leader (d. 1994)
- 1934 – Robert Moog, American inventor (d. 2005)
- 1935 - Susan Cooper, British writer
- 1936 - Ingeborg Hallstein, German soprano and actress
- 1936 - Charles Kimbrough, American actor
- 1938 - Johnny Ball, British television personality
- 1938 - Peter Preston, British journalist and newspaper editor (d. 2018)
- 1939 - Michel Colombier, French-American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
- 1940 - Levan Mesashvili, Georgian basketball player and coach
- 1942 - Gabriel Liiceanu, Romanian philosopher
- 1942 - José Omar Pastoriza, Argentine footballer
- 1943 - Peter Kenilorea, 1st Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (d. 2016)
- 1944 - John Newcombe, Australian tennis player
- 1944 – Lena Nyman, Swedish actress (d. 2011)
- 1945 - Lauren Chapin, American actress
- 1948 - Myriam Boyer, French actress, director and producer
- 1949 – Alan García, former President of Peru (d. 2019)
- 1950 – Martin McGuinness, Northern Irish politician (d. 2017)
1951 – 1975
- 1951 – Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess player
- 1951 – Antonis Samaras, Greek politician, former Prime Minister of Greece
- 1952 - Anne-Marie David, French singer
- 1954 - Hans Kruize, Dutch field hockey player
- 1956 - Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician
- 1957 - Craig Brown, English journalist and critic
- 1958 - Mitch Albom, American journalist, author and screenwriter
- 1958 - Drew Carey, American actor, comedian and game show host
- 1958 - Thomas Reiter, German astronaut
- 1959 – Ryuta Kawashima, Japanese neuroscientist, creator of Brain Training
- 1959 – Bob Mortimer, English comedian
- 1960 - Michel Roux Jr., French-English chef
- 1965 - Manuel Sanchis Hontiyuelo, Spanish footballer
- 1965 - Melissa McBride, American actress
- 1967 – Phil Selway, American drummer (Radiohead)
- 1967 - Carlos Mercenario, Mexican race walker
- 1970 - Matt Flynn, American drummer and producer (Maroon 5)
- 1970 – Yigal Amir, assassin of Yitzhak Rabin
- 1971 – George Osborne, British politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer
- 1972 – Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian Formula One racecar driver
- 1973 - Maxwell, American singer-songwriter, musician and producer
- 1974 - Manuela Schwesig, German politician
- 1974 – Ken Jennings, American gameshow contestant
- 1974 – Jewel, American singer
From 1976
- 1976 – Ricardinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1977 - Richard Ayoade, English actor, writer, comedian and presenter
- 1978 - Mike Gonzalez, American baseball player
- 1980 – Theofanis Gekas, Greek footballer
- 1981 - Tim Robinson, American comedian
- 1983 – Heidi Range, British singer (The Sugababes)
- 1984 – Hugo Almeida, Portuguese footballer
- 1984 - Adam Wylie, American actor
- 1985 – Ross Wallace, Scottish footballer
- 1985 - Sebastian Fernandez, Uruguayan footballer
- 1985 - Wim Stroetinga, Dutch cyclist
- 1988 - Lorenzo De Silvestri, Italian footballer
- 1988 – Morgan Pressel, American golfer
- 1990 - Ricardo dos Santos, Brazilian surfer (d. 2015)
- 1991 – Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer
- 1992 - Olesia Karmi, Finnish figure skater
- 1993 - Sargis Adamyan, Armenian footballer
Deaths
Up to 1900
- 230 - Pope Urban I
- 779 - Emperor Daizong of Tang, Chinese Emperor (b. 727)
- 1125 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1081)
- 1498 – Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious reformer and ruler of Florence (b. 1452)
- 1523 – Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shogun (b. 1466)
- 1524 – Ismail I, Shah of Persia (b. 1487)
- 1669 - Joris van der Haagen, Dutch painter (b. 1615)
- 1670 – Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1610)
- 1691 - Adrien Auzout, French astronomer (b. 1622)
- 1701 – William Kidd, Scottish pirate (b. 1645)
- 1754 - John Wood, the Elder, English architect (b. 1704)
- 1786 - Maurice Benyovszky, Hungarian count, explorer and writer (b. 1746)
- 1825 – Gugsa of Yejju, Regent of Ethiopia
- 1841 - Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1765)
- 1857 - Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (b. 1789)
- 1868 – Kit Carson, American Western figure (b. 1809)
- 1886 - Leopold von Ranke, German historian (b. 1795)
- 1893 – Anton von Schmerling, Austrian statesman (b. 1805)
- 1895 - Franz Ernst Neumann, German mineralogist and physicist (b. 1798)
1901 – 2000
- 1906 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer and playwright (b. 1828)
- 1914 - William O'Connell Bradley, American politician, Governor of Kentucky (b. 1847)
- 1917 – Ranavalona III, Queen of Madagascar (b. 1861)
- 1921 - August Nilsson, Swedish athlete (b. 1872)
- 1934 – Bonnie and Clyde, American outlaws (b. 1909 and 1910)
- 1937 – John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1839)
- 1944 - Thomas Curtis, American hurdler (b. 1870)
- 1945 – Heinrich Himmler, Nazi official (b. 1900)
- 1947 - Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, Swiss writer (b. 1878)
- 1955 - Roy E. Ayers, American politician, Governor of Montana (b. 1882)
- 1960 - Georges Claude, French engineer and inventor (b. 1870)
- 1965 - Earl Webb, American baseball player (b. 1897)
- 1966 – Demchugdongrub, Mongolian politician (b. 1902)
- 1967 - Ernst Niekisch, German politician (b. 1889)
- 1981 - George Jessel, American actor, singer and producer (b. 1898)
- 1986 - Sterling Hayden, American actor and writer (b. 1916)
- 1989 - Karl Koch, German computer hacker (b. 1965)
- 1991 - Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (b. 1895)
- 1991 - Jean Van Houtte, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1907)
- 1992 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian magistrate and anti-Mafia judge (b. 1939)
- 1992 - Atahualpa Yupanqui, Argentine singer, songwriter, guitarist and songwriter (b. 1908)
- 1996 - Bernhard Klodt, German footballer (b. 1926)
- 1999 – Owen Hart, professional wrestler (b. 1965)
From 2001
- 2002 – Sam Snead, American golfer (b. 1912)
- 2003 – Jean Yanne, French actor, writer, director and composer (b. 1933)
- 2006 – Kazimierz Gorski, Polish footballer (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Lloyd Bentsen, American politician (b. 1921)
- 2008 – Heinz Kwiatkowski, German footballer (b. 1926)
- 2008 - Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter, poet and activist (b. 1935)
- 2009 – Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea (b. 1946)
- 2010 – Leonida Georgievna, Grand Duchess of Russia (b. 1914)
- 2011 – Nasser Hejazi, Iranian footballer (b. 1949)
- 2011 – Xavier Tondo, Spanish cyclist (b. 1978)
- 2012 - Paul Fussell, American historian, writer and educator (b. 1924)
- 2013 - Georges Moustaki, French singer and composer (b. 1934)
- 2013 - James Sisnett, Barbadian supercentenarian (b. 1900)
- 2014 - Joel Camargo, Brazilian footballer (b. 1946)
- 2014 - Walter Romberg, East German politician (b. 1928)
- 2014 - Mona Freeman, American actress (b. 1926)
- 2015 - Aleksey Mozgovoy, Ukrainian pro-Russian separatist (b. 1975)
- 2015 - John Forbes Nash Jr., American mathematician (b. 1928)
- 2015 - Anne Meara, American actress and comedienne (b. 1929)
- 2015 - Ali Raymi, Yemeni boxer (b. 1973)
- 2016 - John Brophy, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1933)
- 2016 - Joe Fleishaker, American actor (b. 1954)
- 2017 - Roger Moore, English actor (b. 1927)
- 2017 - Stefano Farina, Italian football referee (b. 1962)
- 2017 - Jerry Perenchio, American businessman (b. 1930)
- 2017 - William Carney, American politician (b. 1942)
- 2017 - Kaoru Yosano, Japanese politician (b. 1938)
- 2018 - Luis Posada Carriles, Cuban militant (b. 1928)
- 2018 - Antonio Horvath, Chilean civil servant and politician (b. 1950)
- 2018 - Richard Peck, American novelist (b. 1934)
- 2018 - Daniel Robin, French wrestler (b. 1943)
- 2019 - Dumiso Dabengwa, Zimbabwean politician (b. 1939)
- 2019 - Hosei Norota, Japanese politician (b. 1929)
- 2019 - Beaton Tulk, Canadian politician, 7th Premier of Newfoundland (b. 1944)
- 2019 - Anna Udvardy, Hungarian film producer (b. 1949)
Observances
- Gravity Day
- Birthday of Guru Amar Das (Sikhism)
- Declaration of the Bab (Baha'i faith)
- Labour Day (Jamaica)
- Students' Day (Mexico)
- World Turtle Day
See also
In Spanish: 23 de mayo para niños
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May 23 Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.