September 23

September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 99 days remaining until the end of the year.

It is frequently the day of the Autumnal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, and the day of the Vernal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.

Events

• 1122 – Concordat of Worms.
• 1409 – Battle of Kherlen, the second significant victory over Ming China by the Mongols since 1368.
• 1459 – Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, is fought at Blore Heath in Staffordshire.
• 1529 – The Siege of Vienna begins when Suleiman I attacks the city.
• 1641 – The Merchant Royal, carrying a treasure worth over a billion USD, is lost at sea off Land's End.
• 1642 – First commencement exercises occur at Harvard College.
• 1779 – American Revolution: a squadron commanded by John Paul Jones on board the USS Bonhomme Richard wins the Battle of Flamborough Head, off the coast of England, against two British warships.
• 1780 – American Revolution: British Major John André is arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's change of sides.
• 1803 – Second Anglo-Maratha War: Battle of Assaye between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India.
• 1806 – Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
• 1821 – Tripolitsa, Greece, falls and 30,000 Turks are massacred.
• 1845 – The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York.
• 1846 – Neptune is discovered by French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams; the discovery is verified by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.
• 1857 – The Russian warship Lefort capsized and sank during a storm in the Gulf of Finland, killing all 826 aboard.
• 1868 – Grito de Lares ("Lares Revolt") occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.
• 1889 – Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) is founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
• 1905 – Norway and Sweden sign the "Karlstad treaty", peacefully dissolving the Union between the two countries.
• 1908 – University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada, is founded.
• 1909 – The Phantom of the Opera (original title: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra), a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux, was first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois.
• 1922 – In Washington D. C., Charles Evans Hughes signs the Hughes-Peynado agreement, that ends the occupation of Dominican Republic by the United States.
• 1922 – Gdynia Seaport Construction Act is passed by the Polish parliament.
• 1932 – The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd is renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• 1938 – Mobilization of the Czechoslovak army in response to the Munich Crisis.
• 1941 – World War II: The first gas chamber experiments are conducted at Auschwitz.
• 1942 – World War II: First day of the September Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps forces attack Imperial Japanese Army units along the Matanikau River.
• 1943 – World War II: The so-called Salò Republic is born.
• 1952 – Richard Nixon makes his "Checkers speech".
• 1959 – Iowa farmer Roswell Garst hosts Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.
• 1959 – The MS Princess of Tasmania, Australia’s first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across Bass Strait.
• 1962 – The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City opens with the completion of the first building, the Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) home of the New York Philharmonic.
• 1969 – The Chicago Eight trial opens in Chicago.
• 1972 – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announces over television and radio the implementation of martial law.
• 1973 – Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina.
• 1983 – Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.
• 1983 – Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa becomes the first African boxing world heavyweight champion.
• 1983 – Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board.
• 1986 – Jim Deshaies of the Houston Astros sets the major-league record by striking out the first eight batters of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• 1988 – José Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first member of the 40-40 club.
• 1992 – A large Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb destroys the forensic laboratories in Belfast.
• 1999 – NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
• 1999 – Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm. While some passengers only receive minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas's history since 1960.
• 2002 – The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.
• 2004 – Hurricane Jeanne: At least 1,070 in Haiti are reported killed by floods.
• 2008 – Kauhajoki school shooting: Matti Saari kills 10 people before committing suicide.

Births

• 480 BC – Euripides, Greek playwright (d. 406 BC)
• 63 BC – Augustus Caesar, Roman Emperor (d. 14)
• 1158 – Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1186)
• 1161 – Emperor Takakura of Japan (d. 1181)
• 1215 – Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1294)
• 1434 – Yolande of Valois, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1478)
• 1598 – Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1655)
• 1647 – Joseph Dudley, American statesman (d. 1720)
• 1650 – Jeremy Collier, English bishop (d. 1726)
• 1713 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain (d. 1759)
• 1740 – Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1813)
• 1759 – Clothilde of France, Queen of Piedmont-Sardinia (d. 1802)
• 1771 – Emperor Kokaku of Japan (d. 1840)
• 1781 – Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1860)
• 1791 – Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer (d. 1865)
• 1819 – Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist (d. 1896)
• 1838 – Victoria Woodhull, American suffragist (d. 1927)
• 1852 – William Stewart Halsted, American surgeon (d. 1922)
• 1861 – Robert Bosch, German inventor and industrialist (d. 1942)
• 1863 – Mary Eliza Church Terrell, American writer (d. 1954)
• 1864 – Draga Mašin, Queen of Serbia (d. 1903)
• 1865 – Emmuska Orczy, British novelist (d. 1947)
• 1869 – Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, first carrier of typhoid (d. 1938)
• 1876 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and Talmudic scholar, and Israel Prize recipient (d. 1968)
• 1880 – John Boyd Orr, Scottish physician, Nobel Laureate (d. 1971)
• 1889 – Walter Lippmann, American journalist (d. 1974)
• 1890 – Friedrich Paulus, German general (d. 1957)
• 1895 – Miron Merzhanov, Soviet architect (d. 1975)
• 1895 – Johnny Mokan, American baseball player (d. 1985)
• 1897 – Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (d. 1984)
• 1899 – Tom C. Clark, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1977)
• 1900 – Louise Nevelson, American sculptor (d. 1988)
• 1900 – Bill Stone, British serviceman who served during World War I (d. 2009)
• 1901 – Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1986)
• 1902 – Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (d. 2003)
• 1907 – Dominique Aury, French novelist (d. 1998)
• 1907 – Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (d. 1976)
• 1911 – Frank Moss, United States Senator from Utah (d. 2003)
• 1912 – Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Pakistani researcher, critic and linguist (d. 2005)
• 1912 – Tony Smith, American sculptor (d. 1980)
• 1913 – Carl-Henning Pedersen, Danish artist, member of the CoBrA movement (d. 2007)
• 1914 – Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (d. 1986)
• 1915 – Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel Laureate (d. 2001)
• 1916 – Aldo Moro, Italian politician (d. 1978)
• 1920 – Mickey Rooney, American actor
• 1924 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan newspaper editor (d. 1978)
• 1924 – Heinrich Schultz, Estonian cultural functionary
• 1925 – Denis Twitchett, Cambridge scholar, and Chinese historian (d. 2006)
• 1925 – Eleonora Rossi Drago, Italian actress (d. 2007)
• 1926 – John Coltrane, American saxophonist (d. 1967)
• 1929 – Wally Whyton, English musician (d. 1997)
• 1930 – Ray Charles, American musician (d. 2004)
• 1930 – Sehba Akhtar, Pakistani poet (d. 1996)
• 1930 – Colin Blakely, British actor (d. 1987)
• 1931 – Gerald Stairs Merrithew, Canadian educator (d. 2004)
• 1934 – Ahmad Shah Khan, Crown Prince of Afghanistan
• 1936 – Valentín Paniagua, Peruvian politician
• 1936 – Dr. Tareq Suheimat , Jordanian physician , nephrologist.
• 1938 – Tom Lester, American actor
• 1938 – Romy Schneider, French actress (d. 1982)
• 1939 – Henry Blofeld, English cricket commentator
• 1939 – Roy Buchanan, American guitarist (d. 1988)
• 1939 – Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
• 1939 – Sonny Vaccaro, American former sports executive
• 1941 – Simon Nolet, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1941 – George Jackson, American civil-rights activist (d. 1971)
• 1942 – Sila María Calderón, Puerto Rican politician
• 1943 – Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer
• 1943 – Marty Schottenheimer, American football coach
• 1943 – Tanuja, Indian actress
• 1944 – Eric Bogle, British/Australian singer and songwriter
• 1945 – Paul Petersen, American actor
• 1945 – Igor Ivanov, Russian politician
• 1946 – Franz Fischler, Austrian politician
• 1947 – Mary Kay Place, American actress
• 1947 – Neal Smith, American musician (Alice Cooper)
• 1949 – Bruce Springsteen, American singer and songwriter
• 1952 – Jim Morrison (baseball), American baseball player
• 1954 – Charlie Barnett, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1954 – Cherie Blair, lawyer and politician, wife of ex-British PM
• 1956 – Paolo Rossi, Italian footballer
• 1956 – Peter David, American writer
• 1957 – Rosalind Chao, American actress
• 1957 – Tony Fossas, Cuban baseball player
• 1957 – Kumar Sanu, Indian playback singer
• 1958 – Danielle Dax, British musician
• 1958 – Marvin Lewis, American football coach
• 1958 – Larry Mize, American golfer
• 1959 – Jason Alexander, American actor
• 1959 – Martin Page, English singer and songwriter
• 1961 – Chi McBride, American actor
• 1961 – Willie McCool, American astronaut (d. 2003)
• 1961 – Elizabeth Peña, American actress
• 1964 – Clayton Blackmore, Welsh footballer
• 1964 – Koshi Inaba, Japanese singer (B'z)
• 1964 – Larry Krystkowiak, American basketball player and head coach
• 1964 – Bill Phillips, American author
• 1966 – Pete Harnisch, American baseball player
• 1966 – LisaRaye, American actress
• 1968 – Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
• 1969 – Patrick Fiori, French singer
• 1969 – Tapio Laukkanen, Finnish rally driver
• 1969 – Donald Audette, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1969 – Michelle Thomas, American actress (d. 1998)
• 1970 – Ani DiFranco, American musician
• 1970 – Georgios Koltsidas, Greek footballer
• 1971 – Moin Khan, Pakistani cricketer
• 1971 – Lee Mi-yeon, South Korean actress
• 1971 – Eric Montross, American basketball player
• 1972 – Ana Marie Cox, American blogger and author
• 1972 – Jermaine Dupri, American music producer and rapper
• 1972 – Karl Pilkington, British radio personality
• 1972 – Shim Eun-ha, South Korean actress
• 1972 – Sarah Bettens, Belgian singer (K's Choice)
• 1973 – Ingrid Fliter, Argentinian pianist
• 1973 – Artim Šakiri, Macedonian football player
• 1974 – Matt Hardy, American professional wrestler
• 1974 – Harumi Inoue, Japanese actress and model
• 1975 – Jaime Bergman, American model and actress
• 1975 – Layzie Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
• 1975 – Chris Hawkins, British radio personality
• 1975 – Kim Dong-moon, South Korean badminton player
• 1975 – Eric Miller, Irish rugby player
• 1976 – Faune A. Chambers, American actress
• 1976 – Kip Pardue, American actor and model
• 1976 – Wladimir Sidorenko, Ukrainian boxer
• 1977 – Matthieu Descoteaux, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1977 – Rachael Yamagata, American singer and songwriter
• 1977 – Fabio Ongaro, Italian rugby player
• 1977 – Susan Tamim, Lebanese singer and actress (d. 2008)
• 1978 – Worm Miller, American filmmaker
• 1978 – Keri Lynn Pratt, American actress
• 1979 – Ricky Davis, American basketball player
• 1979 – Lote Tuqiri, Fijian/Australian Rugby League and Rugby Union Player
• 1980 – Cameron Litvack, American television producer
• 1980 – Matt White, American singer
• 1981 – Robert Doornbos, Dutch racing driver
• 1981 – Natalie Horler, German singer (Cascada)
• 1981 – Misti Traya, American actress
• 1982 – Mait Künnap, Estonian tennis player
• 1982 – Shyla Stylez, Canadian pornographic actress
• 1983 – Märt Israel, Estonian discus thrower
• 1983 – Joffery Lupul, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1984 – Anneliese van der Pol, American actress
• 1984 – Matt Kemp, American baseball player
• 1985 – Brian Brohm, American football player
• 1985 – Joba Chamberlain, American baseball player
• 1985 – Maki Goto, Japanese pop singer
• 1985 – Hossein Ka'abi, Iranian footballer
• 1985 – Lukáš Kašpar, Czech ice hockey player
• 1986 – Martin Cranie, English footballer
• 1988 – Juan Martín del Potro, Argentinian tennis player
• 1989 – Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
• 1990 – Agustin Sierra, Argentine actor
• 1991 – Melanie Oudin, American tennis player

Deaths

• 79 – Pope Linus
• 1193 – Robert de Sablé, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
• 1241 – Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic historian, poet, and politician (b. 1178)
• 1390 – John I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1346)
• 1535 – Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1513)
• 1571 – John Jewel, English bishop (b. 1522)
• 1573 – Azai Hisamasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1524)
• 1605 – Pontus de Tyard, French poet
• 1675 – Valentin Conrart, founder of the Académie Française (b. 1603)
• 1728 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist (b. 1655)
• 1738 – Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (b. 1668)
• 1764 – Robert Dodsley, English writer (b. 1703)
• 1773 – Johann Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop and botanist (b. 1718)
• 1789 – John Rogers, American Continental Congressman (b. 1723)
• 1830 – Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, American First Lady (b. 1768)
• 1835 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (b. 1801)
• 1844 – Alexander von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman (b. 1783)
• 1846 – John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-born explorer of South Australia (b. 1818)
• 1850 – José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan soldier and statesman (b. 1764)
• 1867 – Michael O'Laughlen, American conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1840)
• 1870 – Prosper Mérimée, French author (b. 1803)
• 1871 – Louis-Joseph Papineau, French Canadian politician (b. 1786)
• 1873 – Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (b. 1823)
• 1877 – Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician (b. 1811)
• 1889 – Wilkie Collins, British author (b. 1824)
• 1900 – William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist and university founder (b. 1816)
• 1917 – Werner Voss, German World War I pilot (b. 1897)
• 1929 – Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1865)
• 1939 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist, founder of Psychoanalysis (b. 1856)
• 1943 – Elinor Glyn, English author (b. 1864)
• 1944 – Jakob Schaffner, Swiss novelist (b. 1875)
• 1945 – Salvo D'Acquisto, Italian Carabiniere (b. 1920)
• 1950 – Sam Barry, American basketball player and coach (b. 1892)
• 1965 – Lionel Terray, French mountaineer (b. 1921)
• 1968 – Francesco Forgione, Italian Catholic saint (b. 1887)
• 1970 – Bourvil, French actor and singer (b. 1917)
• 1971 – J. W. Alexander, American mathematician (b. 1888)
• 1971 – Billy Gilbert, American actor (b. 1894)
• 1973 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel laureate (b. 1904)
• 1974 – Cliff Arquette, American comedian and actor (b. 1905)
• 1978 – Lyman Bostock, American baseball player (murdered) (b. 1950)
• 1981 – Chief Dan George, Canadian actor (b. 1899)
• 1987 – Bob Fosse, American dancer, choreographer, and actor (b. 1927)
• 1988 – Tibor Sekelj, Jewish-Yugoslavian explorer (b. 1912)
• 1992 – James Van Fleet, U.S. Army general (b. 1892)
• 1994 – Jerry Barber, American golfer (b. 1916)
• 1994 – Robert Bloch, American author (b. 1917)
• 1994 – Madeleine Renaud, French theater and film actress (b. 1900)
• 1996 – Fujiko F. Fujio, Japanese cartoonist (b. 1933)
• 1998 – Mary Frann, American actress (b. 1943)
• 1998 – Ray Bowden, English footballer (b. 1909)
• 1999 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (b. 1910)
• 2000 – Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican Major League Baseball player (b. 1947)
• 2000 – Carl Rowan, American journalist (b. 1925)
• 2001 – Ron Hewitt, Welsh footballer (b. 1928)
• 2002 – Vernon Corea, Sri Lankan broadcaster (b. 1927)
• 2003 – Ronnie Dawson, American rockabilly musician (b. 1939)
• 2003 – Yuri Senkevich, Russian TV anchorman (b. 1937)
• 2004 – André Hazes, Dutch singer (b. 1951)
• 2004 – Billy Reay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1918)
• 2004 – Bob Mason, English actor (b. 1952)
• 2005 – Filiberto Ojeda, Puerto Rican revolutionary (b. 1933)
• 2005 – Roger Brierley, English actor (b. 1935)
• 2006 – Sir Malcolm Arnold, English composer and professional trumpeter (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Etta Baker, American blues guitarist (b. 1913)
• 2008 – Peter Leonard, Australian journalist (b. 1942)
• 2009 – Paul B. Fay, American businessman and cabinet member in the Kennedy administration (b. 1918)

Holidays and observances

• Autumnal equinox related observances (see September 22):
  • Shūbun no Hi (Japan)
  • The second day of Miķeļi (ancient Latvia)
• Celebrate Bisexuality Day (Bisexual community)
• Christian Feast Day
  • Adomnán
  • Padre Pio
  • Thecla (Roman Catholic Church)
  • September 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics).
• National Day (Saudi Arabia)
• Traditional New Year's Day in Constantinople and Eastern Orthodox Churches; because of the birthday of Augustus, not because of the equinox.

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada