Historical Events on February 23
- ️Fri Feb 23 2001
Events 1 - 200 of 205
- 1349 Jews are expelled from Zurich, Switzerland, on suspicion of poisoning wells
Watt's Rotative Steam Engine
1782 Engineer James Watt's patent for a rotary motion for the steam engine (his sun-and-planet gear) is granted
- 1792 Humane Society of Massachusetts incorporates to establish life-saving stations for distressed mariners
- 1813 First US raw cotton-to-cloth mill is founded in Waltham, Massachusetts
- 1820 Cato Street conspiracy uncovered, attempt to murder British Prime Minister Earl of Liverpool and Government Ministers
- 1821 College of Apothecaries organized in Philadephia; 1st US pharmacy college
- 1822 Boston is incorporated as a city, receiving the first city charter in Massachusetts [1]
- 1846 Polish revolutionaries march on Kraków, but are defeated
Battle of Buena Vista
1847 Battle of Buena Vista, Mexico; Zachary Taylor leads mostly volunteer troops against larger Mexican Army force; Mexico retreats, both sides claim victory
- 1854 Great Britain & Orange Free state sign Convention of Bloemfontein
- 1861 Dutch Prime Minister Floris van Hall resigns
- 1869 Louisiana governor signs public accommodations law
- 1870 Mississippi is readmitted to US after the Civil War
- 1874 Major Walter Clopton Wingfield patents a game he calls "sphairistike," now known as lawn tennis
- 1883 Alabama becomes 1st US state to enact an antitrust law
- 1883 American Anti-Vivisection Society organized (Philadelphia)
- 1886 Aluminum manufacturing process developed
- 1886 The Times of London newspaper publishes the world's first classified ad
- 1887 French/Italian Riviera struck by Earthquake; 2,000 die
- 1887 US Congress grants Seal Rocks to San Francisco
- 1892 1st college student government forms at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
- 1895 William Heard, AME minister and educator, named American minister to Liberia
- 1896 Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield
J'Accuse...!
1898 Emile Zola is imprisoned in France for writing his "J'accuse" letter which accused the government of anti-Semitism and of wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus
- 1900 Battle at Hart's Hill, South Africa (Boers vs British army)
- 1900 Steamer "Rio de Janeiro" sinks in San Francisco Bay
- 1903 The Sultan agrees to an Austro-Russian plan to reform the government of Macedonia in yet another effort to stifle the rising disorder among the rival Bulgarian
- 1903 The US and Cuba sign an agreement by which Cuba releases Guantanamo and Bahia Hondo to the US for naval stations
- 1904 Fiordland National Park in New Zealand created, home to the Milford Track and at 4,600 square miles (12,000 square km), one of the world's largest
- 1904 Having occupied Korea, Japan signs a treaty with Korea under which it becomes a Japanese protectorate in return for Japanese protection from other powers
- 1904 United States acquires control of the Panama Canal Zone for $10 million
- 1905 First Rotary Club formed by 4 men in the Unity Building, Chicago
Boxing Title Fight
1906 Tommy Burns beats Marvin Hart in 20 for heavyweight boxing title
- 1910 1st radio contest held (Philadelphia)
- 1934 Coronation of King Leopold III of Belgium
- 1936 1st rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake, NY
Boxing Title Fight
1938 Joe Louis retains his world heavyweight boxing title by knocking out Nathan Mann in round 3 at Madison Square Garden, New York; second defense by Louis
Pro Wrestling
1939 Lou Thesz beats Everett Marshall in St Louis, to win the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight C'ship for a 2nd time
- 1940 Russian troops conquer Lasi Island
- 1940 Walt Disney's animated movie "Pinocchio" released
- 1941 Plutonium first produced and isolated by American chemist Glenn T. Seaborg at Berkeley
- 1942 Japanese submarine fires on oil refinery in Ellwood, California
- 1943 German troops pull back through Kasserine-pass Tunisia
- 1943 Major General Omar Bradley arrives in Dakar & Marrakesh
Battle of Eniwetok
1944 Battle of Eniwetok ends as US forces complete the capture of Parry Island from the Japanese 1st Amphibious Brigade
- 1944 Forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people to Central Asia.
- 1945 2nd Dutch government in exile of Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy forms in London, London
- 1945 Canadian troops occupy Kalkar
- 1945 Operation Grenade: US Lieutenant General Simpson's 9th Army crosses Ruhr
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
1945 US Marines raise the flag of the United States on top of Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima. Pulitzer Prize-winning photo by Joe Rosenthal later becomes iconic, inspiring the Marine Corps War Memorial sculpture
Event of Interest
1947 US General Eisenhower opens drive to raise $170M in aid for European Jews
- 1952 Following his Nordic combined gold medal in St. Moritz (1948), Heikki Hasu takes his 2nd Olympic gold as part of Finland’s 4 x 10k cross country relay team at the Olso Winter Games
- 1952 Lydia Wideman of Finland becomes first female Olympic cross-country skiing champion; wins inaugural 10k event in Olso; Finnish medal sweep with minors to Mirja Hietamies and Siiri Rantanen
Polio
1954 First mass inoculation against polio with the Jonas Salk vaccine takes place at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- 1958 Arturo Frondizi elected President of Argentina
- 1958 Last Municipal arc light at Mission & 25th removed in San Francisco (installed 1913)
- 1958 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1959 KVIE TV channel 6 in Sacramento-Stockton, CA (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1960 Carol Heiss wins the women's figure skating gold medal at the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics; US takes the singles double after David Jenkins wins men's event
- 1960 Demolition begins on Brooklyn's Ebbets Field (opened in 1913)
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1964 Charlie Finley signs a 4 year lease to keep MLB A's in Kansas City
TV Show Appearance
1964 Third appearance by the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show", featuring 3 performances taped on February 9, prior to their live television debut
The Responsibility of Intellectuals
1967 Noam Chomsky's anti-Vietnam war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" is published by the New York Review of Books
- 1967 Ted Workman replaces Senator Keith Davey as CFL commissioner
- 1969 11th Daytona 500: LeeRoy Yarbrough driving for Junior Johnson, catches Charlie Glotzbach on final lap to win; first Daytona 500 won on a last lap pass
- 1969 Groundbreaking TV documentary series "Civilisation" presented by art historian Kenneth Clark premieres on BBC2 in the UK
- 1969 Nayif Hawatimah forms Dem People's Front for Liberation of Palestine
- 1969 WWVU (now WNPB) TV channel 24 in Morgantown, WV (PBS) 1st broadcast
- 1970 Guyana becomes a republic (National Day)
- 1970 Holy Eucharist given by women for 1st time in Roman Catholic service
- 1971 Boston Bruins begin 13 NHL game winning streak
Music History
1971 George Harrison is fined for speeding and his driving license is suspended for 1 year
- 1971 US army officer William Calley confesses & implicates Captain Medina during his trial for the My Lai Massacre
- 1973 Gold goes up $10 overnight to record $95 an ounce in London
- 1979 Frank Peterson Jr named 1st black general in Marine Corps
- 1979 George Harrison releases "George Harrison" album, featuring the single "Blow Away"
World Record
1980 American speed skater Eric Heiden wins Olympic 10,000m in world record 14:28.13; sweeps all 5 speed skating events at Lake Placid; only athlete to win 5 gold medals at one Winter Games
- 1980 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll
- 1980 Oil tanker explosion off Pilos, Greece, causes 37-mil-gallon spillage
- 1980 Olympic giant slalom champion Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein wins the women's slalom, her second gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Games
Olympic Gold
1980 Soviet cross-country skier Nikolay Zimyatov wins his 3rd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics when he takes out the 50k event; also wins 30k and relay gold
Coup d'état
1981 "Tejerazo" Spanish coup led by Civil Guard officer Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero Molina fails after televised speech by King Juan Carlos I
- 1981 People magazine features drug ordeal of Mackenzie & Papa John Phillips
- 1982 Michael Frayn's "Noises Off" premieres in London
- 1983 25th Grammy Awards: "Roxanna"and "Toto IV"; Men at Work win
- 1983 The Spanish Socialist government of Felipe González and Miguel Boyer nationalizes Rumasa, a holding of José María Ruiz Mateos
- 1983 The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri
- 1983 USFL New Jersey Generals sign Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker to a then massive 3 year, $5 million deal
Sports History
1985 Goaltender Patrick Roy makes his NHL debut for the Montreal Canadiens
- 1985 Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight throws a chair onto the court during a game
Event of Interest
1985 US Senate confirms Edwin Meese as the 75th Attorney General
Sports History
1986 Despite losing, Boston Red Sox Wade Boggs gets largest arbitration in MLB history, $1.35M
- 1990 Ian Smith 173* NZ v India, 136 balls, world record for no 9 bat
- 1990 “Hold On” single released by En Vogue (Billboard Song of the Year 1990)
- 1991 Greg Haugen scores a split decision over Hector "Macho" Camacho
- 1991 Military coup in Thailand, Premier Choonhaven arrested
- 1991 NC is 1st NCAA basketball team to win 1,500 games
Event of Interest
1991 US President George H. W. Bush gives Iraq a 24-hour deadline to withdraw from Kuwait or face a ground war
- 1992 Cricketer Andy Flower scores 115* on ODI debut as Zimbabwe lose to Sri Lanka
- 1992 The Socialist Labour Party is founded in the eastern European country of Georgia
- 1992 XVI Winter Olympic Games close in Albertville, France
- 1993 Gary Coleman wins $1,280,000 lawsuit against parents for high fees
- 1993 India complete a 3-0 series drubbing of England
- 1993 Sacramento Gold Miners admitted as CFL's 9th franchise (1st US team)
- 1994 Indians owner Richard Jacobs announces he will pay $10 million to name baseball field (Jacobs Field) at Gateway (becomes official 3/23)
- 1995 Antoine Nduwayo appointed Premier of Burundi
- 1995 Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 4,000 for 1st time (4,003.33)
- 1996 Mark Waugh scores 130 in World Cup vs Kenya, 207 w/brother Steve
- 1996 Rajindra Dhanraj takes 9-97 for Trinidad against Leeward Islands
- 1997 Ali Abu Kamal opens fire in Empire State Building & kills 1
Film & TV History
1997 NBC TV shows "Schindler's List" completely uncensored, and without commercial interruptions; 65M watch [1]
- 1998 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Charleston, South Carolina on WAVF 96.1 FM
Bin Laden's Fatwa
1998 Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders
- 1998 Tornadoes in Florida kills at least 31
- 1998 US Supreme Court lets Megan's Law (sex offenders information) stand
- 1999 An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31
- 1999 British TV drama "Queer as Folk" written by Russell T. Davies, starring Aidan Gillen, Craig Kelly and Charlie Hunnam premieres on Channel 4
The Slim Shady LP
1999 Hip Hop artist Eminem releases his first major record album "The Slim Shady LP" (Grammy 2000 - Rap album)
- 1999 Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey
Summit of Interest
2005 Slovakia Summit 2005 begins; George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend - 1st visit of a sitting US President to Slovakia
- 2005 Vote of the controversial French law on colonialism, repealed start of 2006
- 2006 Dubai Ports World agrees to postpone its plans to take over management of six U.S. ports after the proposal ignited harsh bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.
- 2007 A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 22. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents.
- 2007 Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.
- 2008 B-2 Spirit of the USAF crashes at Guam. Crew survives but aircraft written off, the most expensive air crash in human history (aircraft alone cost $1.2Bn). B-2 had a perfect safety record before the crash; not one B-2 ever crashed.
- 2010 Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million litres of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in Northern Italy, causing an environmental disaster.
- 2011 Venezuela's economy grew 0.6% in the last quarter of 2010, technically leaving the recession after six quarters, it is reported today
- 2012 A series of bomb attacks across 12 Iraqi cities kills 60 and injures 200
- 2013 51 people are killed and 62 are injured in conflict between rival tribes in Darfur, Sudan
- 2014 56th Daytona 500: Dale Earnhardt Jr. breaks a 55-race winless streak to win his 2nd Great American Race
- 2014 A pro-Euromaidan rally is held in Simferopol, Ukraine, while in Kerch, protesters attempt to replace the Ukrainian flag from city hall with a Russian flag
Olympic Gold
2014 Canada wins the Olympic ice hockey double with a 3-0 victory over Sweden in the men's gold medal game in Sochi; first team to finish the tournament undefeated since 1984
- 2014 Russia sweeps the medals in the men's 50k cross country skiing at the Sochi Winter Olympics; Alexander Legkov wins gold ahead of teammates Maxim Vylegzhanin and Ilia Chernousov
- 2014 XXII Winter Olympic Games close in Sochi, Russia
- 2018 Dutch speed skater Kjeld Nuis wins his second gold medal of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in the 1,000m; also 1,500m champion
- 2018 Russian figure skater Alina Zagitova wins the women's singles gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; earlier sets a new ISU best short program score of 82.92
- 2018 Study suggests earliest European Palaeolithic artwork in Spain made by Neanderthals not humans in "Science Journal"
Sports History
2019 Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi scores the 50th hat-trick of his career as Barcelona beats Sevilla, 4-2 in the Spanish La Liga
- 2019 Clashes on Venezuelan border kills two as its country's officials try to stop aid getting in
Election of Interest
2019 Nigerian presidential election: President Muhammadu Buhari wins re-election defeating Atiku Abubakar, amid violence and a delay, on turnout of 35.6%
- 2019 Roy Hodgson overtakes Sir Bobby Robson as the oldest man to manage a Premier League football club when at 71 years, 198 days his Crystal Palace beats Leicester City, 4-1
- 2019 Sri Lanka becomes first Asian cricket team to clinch a Test series in South Africa chasing down 197 in the 2nd Test in Port Elizabeth; Kusal Mendis 84no, Oshada Fernando 75no
Event of Interest
2019 Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir declares a national emergency, dismisses the federal government and sacks all state governors
- 2020 African American Ahmaud Arbery shot to death after being chased down by two white men in Brunswick, Georgia. Video of the killing emerges in May, prompting arrests.
- 2020 Fashion designer heavyweights Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons announce they will work alongside each other at Prada
- 2020 First major COVID-19 outbreak in Europe in Italy with 152 cases and three deaths, prompting emergency measures, locking down 10 towns in Lombardy
COVID-19 Pandemic
2020 President Moon Jae-in puts South Korea on high alert, empowering the government to lock down cities after 602 cases of COVID-19 reported with six deaths