Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index August 23 is the 235th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (236th in leap years), with 130 days remaining. Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances Events 1328 - Battle of Kassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers 1566 - Calvinists are granted rights in the Netherlands 1614 - The University of Groningen is established 1617 - In London, the first one-way street is established 1784 - Eastern Tennessee declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; the step is rejected by Congress one year later 1821 - Mexico gains its independence from Spain 1833 - Slavery abolished in the British colonies 1839 - The UK captures Hong Kong 1864 - The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico 1866 - Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague 1889 - First wireless message from a ship to the shore received 1904 - The automobile tire chain is patented 1914 - Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China 1923 - Edgar F. Codd, founder of theory of relational databases 1924 - The distance between Earth and Mars is the smallest since the 10th century 1927 - Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed 1939 - Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, Poland is divided between the two nations 1940 - The Germans start bombing London 1942 - Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad 1943 - Kharkov liberated 1944 - Marseilles liberated 1944 - The Romanian pro-Nazi government is dismissed. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies 1944 - United States Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashed and hit a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people 1948 - World Council of Churches is formed 1952 - The Arab League goes into effect 1960 - In Equatorial Guinea, the world's largest frog (3.3 kg) is caught 1962 - First live television connection between the United States and Europe, via the Telstar satellite 1966 - Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon 1973 - The Intelsat communication satellite is launched 1975 - Successful Communist coup in Laos 1976 - A major earthquake in China kills thousands of people 1979 - Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States 1985 - Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany 1987 - Heavy rains and floods in Bangladesh kill hundreds of victims 1988 - Singing Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stood on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands 1990 - Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages to try to prevent the Gulf War) 1990 - Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union 1990 - West Germany and East Germany announce that they will unite on October 3 2000 - A Gulf Air Airbus A320 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain killing 143 Births 1754 - King Louis XVI of France († 1792) 1769 - Georges Cuvier, biologist, statesman 1783 - William Tierney Clark, civil engineer († 1852) 1785 - Oliver Hazard Perry, US naval officer (Battle of Lake Erie) 1829 - Moritz Cantor, mathematician 1852 - Arnold Toynbee, economist, social reformer 1864 - Eleftherios Venizalos, prime minister of Greece (1910-1915, 1928-1932) 1869 - Edgar Lee Masters, author († 1950) 1875 - William Eccles, radio pioneer 1883 - US General Jonathan Wainwright, Medal of Honor recipient 1900 - Ernst Krenek, composer († 1991) 1901 - John Sherman Cooper, Senator from Kentucky († 1991) 1905 - Constant Lambert, composer († 1951) 1912 - Gene Kelly, dancer, actor († 1996) 1914 - Harold Truscott, composer († 1992) 1917 - Tex Williams, singer 1921 - Eadie Del Rubio († 1996), Elena Del Rubio († 2001), and Milly Del Rubio, the Del Rubio Triplets, singers, musicians, actresses 1922 - George Kell, baseball player 1924 - Ephraim Kishon, Israeli writer 1927 - Dick Bruna, illustrator 1927 - Houari Boumendienne, president of Algeria (1965-1978) 1929 - Peter Thompson, golfer 1929 - Vera Miles, actress 1930 - Michel Rocard, Prime Minister of France 1932 - Mark Russell, comedian, musician, political commentator 1933 - Pete Wilson, governor of California 1934 - Barbara Eden, actress 1934 - Sonny Jurgensen, professional football player 1936 - Henry Lee Lucas, serial killer(† 2001) 1943 - Nelson DeMille, novelist 1947 - Keith Moon, singer, drummer (The Who) († 1978) 1949 - Rick Springfield, singer, actor 1949 - Shelley Long, actress 1951 - Queen Noor of Jordan 1952 - Vicky Leandros, singer 1970 - River Phoenix, actor († 1993) 1970 - Jay Mohr, actor, comedian Deaths 634 - Abu Bakr, Muslim Caliph 1806 - Charles Augustin de Coulomb, physicist 1813 - Alexander Wilson, ornithologist 1926 - Rudolph Valentino, actor 1927 - Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, murderers 1937 - Albert Roussel, composer 1960 - Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist 1962 - Hoot Gibson, actor 1965 - John Bata, shoe manufacturer 1966 - Francis X. Bushman, actor 1977 - Sebastian Cabot, actor 1982 - Stanford Moore, biochemist 2001 - Peter Maas, novelist Holidays and observances Romania: Liberation Day (1944) Swaziland: Umhlanga Day Roman Empire: Vulcanalia See Also: August 22 - August 24 - July 23 - September 23 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December\n This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.