Software
Free
Download
Audio
Graphics
Utilities
Internet
Screen Savers
Games
Development Tools
Business
Audio
Home/Hobby
Education
|
December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). There are 8 days remaining.
Events
619 - Boniface V becomes Pope
1620 - Construction of Plymouth Colony begins
1823 - A Visit From St. Nicholas, attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, is first published
1909 - Albert I of Belgium becomes King
1913 - The Federal Reserve Act becomes law
1916 - World War I: In the Battle of Magdhaba, Allied forces capture a Turkish garrison on the Sinai peninsula
1947 - The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories
1954 - The first human organ transplant, of a kidney, was performed by Doctors Murray and Harrison at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston.
1972 - Terry Bradshaw throws the Immaculate Reception pass "to" Franco Harris
1973 - A Sobelair Caravelle passenger jet crashes in Morocco, killing 106
1979 - Soviet invasion of Afghanistan: Soviet military units occupy Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan
1982 - The Environmental Protection Agency recommends the evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri due to dangerous levels of dioxin contamination
1986 - The Scaled Composites Voyager aircraft completes the first non-stop flight around the world without refueling.
1990 - Republic of Slovenia votes to secede from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
2012 - The Mayan calendar comes to an end (may also be December 21). This day was predicted by the Mayans to be when life on Earth is going to end.
Births
1537 - John III of Sweden, King of Sweden (d. 1592)
1582 - Severo Bonini, composer (d. 1663)
1732 - Richard Arkwright, industrialist, and inventor of the Water Frame (d. 1792)
1790 - Jean François Champollion, egyptologist, deciphered the Rosetta Stone (d. 1832)
1805 - Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement (d. 1844)
1819 - Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch poet and clergyman (d. 1889)
1822 - Wilhelm Bauer, engineer (d. 1875)
1867 - Madame C. J. Walker, first African American millionaire.
1885 - Pierre Brissaud, French artist (d. 1964)
1891 - Alexandr Rodchenko, Russian painter/photographer (d. 1956)
1918 - Helmut Schmidt, German Bundeskanzler 1974-1982
1918 - José Greco, dancer (d. 2000)
1922 - Calder Willingham, writer (d. 1995)
1922 - Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician
1923 - Claudio Scimone, Italian conductor
1923 - James Stockdale, United States Navy admiral
1926 - Robert Bly, American poet
1933 - Akihito, Emperor of Japan
1935 - Paul Hornung, American football star
1936 - Frederic Forrest, American actor
1940 - Jorma Kaukonen, musician
1941 - Tim Hardin, musician
1943 - Mikhail Gromov, mathematician
1943 - Harry Shearer, actor, voice actor (This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons)
1943 - Silvia, Queen of Sweden
1944 - Wesley Clark, US General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander
1947 - Susan Lucci, soap opera actress
1948 - Jack Ham, American football star
1950 - Michael C. Burgess, American politician
1956 - Dave Murray, musician (Iron Maiden)
1958 - Victoria Williams, singer
1961 - Carol Smillie, British television personality
1963 - Jim Harbaugh, American football quarterback
1964 - Eddie Vedder, musician (Pearl Jam)
1969 - Martha Byrne, soap opera actress
1970 - Catriona LeMay Doan, Canadian speed skater
1971 - Corey Haim, actor
1971 - Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, British socialite
1977 - Alge Crumpler, American football player
1978 - Andra Davis, American football player
1978 - Víctor Martínez, Venezuelan baseball player
1978 - Estella Warren, actress
1981 - Beth, Spanish singer
Deaths
910 - Naum of Preslav, Bulgarian scholar
913 - Conrad of Franconia (b. c. 890)
1568 - Roger Ascham, Elizabeth I's tutor (b. c.1515)
1631 - Michael Drayton, English poet
1834 - Thomas Malthus, English demographer and economist (b. 1766)
1872 - Theophile Gautier, poet, novelist (b. 1811)
1939 - Anthony Fokker, aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)
1948 - Hideki Tojo (Prime Minister of Japan), hanged for war crimes (b. 1884)
1953 - Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (b. 1899)
1970 - Charles Ruggles, actor
1973 - Charles Atlas, bodybuilder
1973 - Irna Phillips, soap opera writer, director, producer
1979 - Peggy Guggenheim, art collector (b. 1898)
1982 - Jack Webb, actor, producer, director (b. 1920)
1992 - Eddie Hazel, guitarist, originally with Funkadelic (b. 1950)
1994 - Sebastian Shaw, actor (b. 1905)
2000 - Victor Borge, Danish/American humorist and pianist (b. 1909)
2000 - Billy Barty, actor
2004 - P. V. Narasimha Rao, ninth prime minister of India (b. 1921)
Holidays and observances
Japan - The Emperor's Birthday - Birthday of Akihito, the current Emperor of Japan
Sweden - Birthday of Queen Silvia, an official flag day
Roman Empire - Larentalia, a festival in honor of Larenta
Ancient Latvia - Ziemassvetki held
Fans of Seinfeld - Festivus held
Secular humanism (American) - HumanLight observed
----
December 22 - December 24 - November 23 - January 23 -- listing of all days
|