What happened on September 23? There are more than 302 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About September 23
September 23 is the 267th day of the year 2024. There are 99 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday. This day falls under the 39th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Middleton, Idaho 83644 sunrise occured at 07:34 AM and sunset occured at 07:42 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Virgo. The modern birthstone for this month is Sapphire while the mystical birthstone is Agate.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 128 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Are you looking for a day of the week calculator? Try it on any date like anniversaries, birthday of someone you know, or any other date that is special to you. You can even try it on historical dates. For example: November 24
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September 23: A Day In History
It is frequently the day of the Autumnal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the day of the Vernal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.
Historical Events For September 23
- 1122Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V agree to the Concordat of Worms to put an end to the Investiture Controversy.
- 1409Battle of Kherlen, the second significant victory over Ming China by the Mongols since 1368.
- 1459Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, is fought at Blore Heath in Staffordshire.
- 1641The Merchant Royal, carrying a treasure worth over a billion US dollars, is lost at sea off Land’s End.
- 1642First commencement exercises occur at Harvard College.
- 1779American 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.
- 1780American Revolution: British Major John André is arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold’s change of sides.
- 1803Second Anglo-Maratha War: Battle of Assaye between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India.
- 1806Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
- 1821Tripolitsa, Greece, falls and 30,000 Turks are massacred during the Greek War of Independence.
- 1845The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York.
- 1846Neptune 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.
- 1857The Russian warship Lefort capsizes and sinks during a storm in the Gulf of Finland, killing all 826 aboard.
- 1868Grito de Lares (“Lares Revolt”) occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.
- 1889Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) is founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
- 1905Norway and Sweden sign the “Karlstad treaty”, peacefully dissolving the Union between the two countries.
- 1908University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada, is founded.
- 1909The Phantom of the Opera (original title: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra), a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux, is first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois.
- 1932The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd is renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- 1936First ascent of Siniolchu by a German team.
- 1938Mobilization of the Czechoslovak army in response to the Munich Crisis.
- 1941World War II: The first gas chamber experiments are conducted at Auschwitz.
- 1942World 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.
- 1943World War II: The Nazi puppet state the Italian Social Republic is founded.
- 1952Richard Nixon makes his “Checkers speech”.
- 1959Iowa farmer and corn breeder Roswell Garst hosts Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.
- 1959The MS Princess of Tasmania, Australia’s first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across Bass Strait.
- 1962The 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.
- 1969The Chicago Eight trial opens in Chicago.
- 1972Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announces over television and radio the implementation of martial law.
- 1973Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina.
- 1983Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa becomes the first African boxing world heavyweight champion.
- 1983Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board.
- 1983Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.
- 1986Jim 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.
- 1988José Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first member of the 40-40 club.
- 1992A large Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb destroys forensic laboratories in Belfast.
- 1999Celebrate Bisexuality Day was first observed in the United States.
- 1999NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
- 1999Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm. Although some passengers only receive minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas’s history since 1960.
- 2002The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox (“Phoenix 0.1”) is released.
- 2004Hurricane Jeanne: At least 1,070 in Haiti are reported to have been killed by floods.
- 2008Kauhajoki school shooting: Matti Saari kills 10 people before committing suicide.
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Who Were Born On September 23?
- 63 BCAugustus Caesar, Roman Emperor (d. 14)
- 480 BCEuripides, Greek playwright (d. 406 BC)
- 1158Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1186)
- 1161Emperor Takakura of Japan (d. 1181)
- 1215Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1294)
- 1434Yolande of Valois, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1478)
- 1598Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1655)
- 1647Joseph Dudley, American statesman (d. 1720)
- 1650Jeremy Collier, English bishop (d. 1726)
- 1713King Ferdinand VI of Spain (d. 1759)
- 1740Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1813)
- 1759Clothilde of France, Queen of Piedmont-Sardinia (d. 1802)
- 1771Emperor Kokaku of Japan (d. 1840)
- 1778Mariano Moreno, secretary of war of the Primera Junta (d. 1811)
- 1781Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1860)
- 1791Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer (d. 1865)
- 1800William Holmes McGuffey, American educator and textbook author (d. 1873)
- 1819Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist (d. 1896)
- 1838Victoria Woodhull, American suffragist (d. 1927)
- 1852William Stewart Halsted, American surgeon (d. 1922)
- 1853Princess Marie Elisabeth of Saxe-Meiningen, Princess of Saxe Meiningen (d. 1923)
- 1861Robert Bosch, German inventor and industrialist (d. 1942)
- 1863Mary Eliza Church Terrell, American writer (d. 1954)
- 1864Draga Mašin, Queen of Serbia (d. 1903)
- 1865Emmuska Orczy, British novelist (d. 1947)
- 1869Mary Mallon, also known as Typhoid Mary, first carrier of typhoid (d. 1938)
- 1876Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and Talmudic scholar, and Israel Prize recipient (d. 1968)
- 1880John Boyd Orr, Scottish physician, Nobel Laureate (d. 1971)
- 1889Walter Lippmann, American journalist (d. 1974)
- 1890Friedrich Paulus, German general (d. 1957)
- 1895Johnny Mokan, American baseball player (d. 1985)
- 1895Miron Merzhanov, Soviet architect (d. 1975)
- 1897Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (d. 1984)
- 1898Les Haylen, Australian politician and novelist (d. 1977)
- 1899Tom C. Clark, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1977)
- 1900William Frederick “Bill” Stone, British serviceman who served during World War I (d. 2009)
- 1901Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1986)
- 1902Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (d. 2003)
- 1905Tiny Bradshaw, American jazz and rhythm and blues bandleader, singer, composer, pianist, and drummer (d. 1958)
- 1906Bardu Ali, American jazz and rhythm and blues singer and guitarist, and musical promoter(d. 1995)
- 1906Charles Ritchie, Canadian diplomat (d. 1995)
- 1907Albert Ammons, American boogie-woogie pianist (d. 1949)
- 1907Dominique Aury, French novelist (d. 1998)
- 1907Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (d. 1976)
- 1909Lorenc Antoni, Kosovo Albanian composer (d. 1991)
- 1911Frank Moss, United States Senator from Utah (d. 2003)
- 1912Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Pakistani researcher, critic and linguist (d. 2005)
- 1912Tony Smith, American sculptor (d. 1980)
- 1913Carl-Henning Pedersen, Danish artist, member of the CoBrA movement (d. 2007)
- 1914Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (d. 1986)
- 1915Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel Laureate (d. 2001)
- 1916Aldo Moro, Italian politician (d. 1978)
- 1920Mickey Rooney, American actor
- 1924Heinrich Schultz, Estonian cultural functionary
- 1924Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan newspaper editor (d. 1978)
- 1925Denis Twitchett, Cambridge scholar, and Chinese historian (d. 2006)
- 1925Eleonora Rossi Drago, Italian actress (d. 2007)
- 1926Jimmy Woode, jazz bassist (d. 2005)
- 1926John Coltrane, American saxophonist (d. 1967)
- 1927Mighty Joe Young, American Chicago blues guitarist (d. 1992)
- 1928Frank Foster, American tenor and soprano saxophonist, flautist, arranger, and composer (d. 2011)
- 1929Wally Whyton, English musician (d. 1997)
- 1930Colin Blakely, British actor (d. 1987)
- 1930Ray Charles, American musician (d. 2004)
- 1930Sehba Akhtar, Pakistani poet (d. 1996)
- 1931Gerald Stairs Merrithew, Canadian educator (d. 2004)
- 1931Hilly Kristal, American club owner (CBGB) and musician (d. 2007)
- 1934Ahmad Shah Khan, Crown Prince of Afghanistan
- 1935Les McCann, American soul jazz piano player and vocalist
- 1935Prem Chopra, Indian actor
- 1936Dr. Tareq Suheimat, Jordanian physician, nephrologist
- 1936Sylvain Saudan, Swiss extreme skier
- 1936Valentín Paniagua Corazao, Peruvian politician
- 1937Jacques Poulin, Canadian novelist
- 1938Romy Schneider, French actress (d. 1982)
- 1938Tom Lester, American actor
- 1939Henry Blofeld, English cricket commentator
- 1939Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
- 1939Roy Buchanan, American guitarist (d. 1988)
- 1939Sonny Vaccaro, American former sports executive
- 1940Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Iranian traditional-music singer, songwriter, multi-instument player
- 1940Tim Rose, American singer-songwriter, who had more success in Europe than in his native country (d. 2002)
- 1941George Jackson, American civil-rights activist (d. 1971)
- 1941Norma Winstone, British jazz singer and lyricist
- 1941Simon Nolet, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1942Sila María Calderón, Puerto Rican politician
- 1943Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer
- 1943Marty Schottenheimer, American football coach
- 1943Tanuja, Indian actress
- 1944Eric Bogle, British/Australian singer and songwriter
- 1945Igor Ivanov, Russian politician
- 1945Paul Petersen, American actor
- 1946Franz Fischler, Austrian politician
- 1947Christian Bordeleau, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1947Mary Kay Place, American actress
- 1947Neal Smith, American musician (Alice Cooper’s drummer)
- 1948Don Grolnick, American jazz and pop pianist and composer
- 1949Bruce Springsteen, American singer and songwriter
- 1949Floella Benjamin(Baroness Benjamin), British actress, authour, television presenter, business woman and politician
- 1950George Garzone, saxophonist and jazz educator
- 1952Dennis Lamp, American baseball player
- 1952Jim Morrison, American baseball player
- 1952Mark Bego, American biographer
- 1954Charlie Barnett, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1954Cherie Blair, British lawyer and spouse of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair
- 1955Paolo Rossi, Italian footballer
- 1956Peter David, American writer
- 1957Kumar Sanu, Indian playback singer
- 1957Rosalind Chao, American actress
- 1957Tony Fossas, Cuban baseball player
- 1958Danielle Dax, British musician
- 1958Khaled El Sheikh, Bahraini singer, songwriter and composer
- 1958Larry Mize, American golfer
- 1958Marvin Lewis, American football coach
- 1959Jason Alexander, American actor
- 1959Martin Page, English singer and songwriter
- 1961Chi McBride, American actor
- 1961Elizabeth Peña, American actress
- 1961Willie McCool, American astronaut (d. 2003)
- 1963Anne-Marie Cadieux, Canadian actress
- 1964Bill Phillips, American author
- 1964Clayton Blackmore, Welsh footballer
- 1964Koshi Inaba, Japanese singer (B'z)
- 1964Larry Krystkowiak, American basketball player and head coach
- 1966LisaRaye, American actress
- 1966Pete Harnisch, American baseball player
- 1968Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
- 1969Donald Audette, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969Michelle Thomas, American actress (d. 1998)
- 1969Patrick Fiori, French singer
- 1969Tapio Laukkanen, Finnish rally driver
- 1970Ani DiFranco, American musician
- 1970Georgios Koltsidas, Greek footballer
- 1970Lucia Cifarelli, vocalist and occasional keyboardist for industrial music group KMFDM
- 1971Eric Montross, American basketball player
- 1971Lee Mi-yeon, South Korean actress
- 1971Moin Khan, Pakistani cricketer
- 1972Ana Marie Cox, American blogger and author
- 1972Jermaine Dupri, American music producer and rapper
- 1972Karl Pilkington, British radio personality
- 1972Sarah Bettens, Belgian singer (K’s Choice)
- 1972Shim Eun-ha, South Korean actress
- 1973Artim Šakiri, Macedonian football player
- 1973Ingrid Fliter, Argentinian pianist
- 1973Vangelis Krios, Greek footballer
- 1974Harumi Inoue, Japanese actress and model
- 1974Matt Hardy, American professional wrestler
- 1975Chris Hawkins, British radio personality
- 1975Eric Miller, Irish rugby player
- 1975Jaime Bergman, American model and actress
- 1975Kim Dong-moon, South Korean badminton player
- 1975Layzie Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
- 1976Faune A. Chambers, American actress
- 1976Kip Pardue, American actor and model
- 1976Rob James-Collier, British actor and model
- 1976Sarah Blasko, Australian singer-songwriter and musician
- 1976Wladimir Sidorenko, Ukrainian boxer
- 1977Fabio Ongaro, Italian rugby player
- 1977Matthieu Descoteaux, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1977Rachael Yamagata, American singer and songwriter
- 1977Suzanne Tamim, Lebanese singer and actress (d. 2008)
- 1978Keri Lynn Pratt, American actress
- 1978Worm Miller, American filmmaker
- 1979Lote Tuqiri, Fijian/Australian Rugby League and Rugby Union Player
- 1979Ricky Davis, American basketball player
- 1980Cameron Litvack, American television producer
- 1980Matt White, American singer
- 1981Misti Traya, American actress
- 1981Natalie Horler, German singer (Cascada)
- 1981Robert Doornbos, Dutch racing driver
- 1982Mait Künnap, Estonian tennis player
- 1982Shyla Stylez, Canadian pornographic actress
- 1983Joffery Lupul, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983Märt Israel, Estonian discus thrower
- 1984Anneliese van der Pol, American actress
- 1984Kate French, American actress
- 1984Matt Kemp, American baseball player
- 1985Brian Brohm, American football player
- 1985Hossein Ka'abi, Iranian footballer
- 1985Joba Chamberlain, American baseball player
- 1985Lukáš Kašpar, Czech ice hockey player
- 1985Maki Goto, Japanese pop singer
- 1986Martin Cranie, English footballer
- 1988Juan Martín del Potro, Argentinian tennis player
- 1988Yannick Weber, Swiss ice hockey player
- 1989Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
- 1990Agustin Sierra, Argentine actor
- 1991Key, Korean pop singer (Shinee)
- 1991Melanie Oudin, American tennis player
- 1993Sophie Borja, Welsh actress
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Who Died On September 23?
- 79Pope Linus
- 1193Robert de Sablé, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
- 1241Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic historian, poet, and politician (b. 1178)
- 1390John I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1346)
- 1535Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1513)
- 1571John Jewel, English bishop (b. 1522)
- 1573Azai Hisamasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1524)
- 1605Pontus de Tyard, French poet
- 1675Valentin Conrart, founder of the Académie Française (b. 1603)
- 1728Christian Thomasius, German jurist (b. 1655)
- 1738Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (b. 1668)
- 1764Robert Dodsley, English writer (b. 1703)
- 1773Johann Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop and botanist (b. 1718)
- 1789John Rogers, American Continental Congressman (b. 1723)
- 1830Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, American First Lady (b. 1768)
- 1835Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (b. 1801)
- 1844Alexander von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman (b. 1783)
- 1846John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-born explorer of South Australia (b. 1818)
- 1850José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan soldier and statesman (b. 1764)
- 1851Émilie Gamelin, Canadian Catholic nun, founder of the Sisters of Providence (b. 1800)
- 1867Michael O'Laughlen, American conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1840)
- 1870Prosper Mérimée, French author (b. 1803)
- 1871Louis-Joseph Papineau, French Canadian politician (b. 1786)
- 1873Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (b. 1823)
- 1877Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician (b. 1811)
- 1889Wilkie Collins, British author (b. 1824)
- 1900William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist and university founder (b. 1816)
- 1917Werner Voss, German World War I pilot (b. 1897)
- 1929Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1865)
- 1939Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist, founder of Psychoanalysis (b. 1856)
- 1943Elinor Glyn, English author (b. 1864)
- 1944Jakob Schaffner, Swiss novelist (b. 1875)
- 1945Salvo D'Acquisto, Italian Carabiniere (b. 1920)
- 1950Sam Barry, American basketball player and coach (b. 1892)
- 1958Jacob Nicol, Canadian newspaper publisher and politician (b. 1876)
- 1968Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian Catholic saint (b. 1887)
- 1970Bourvil, French actor and singer (b. 1917)
- 1971Billy Gilbert, American actor (b. 1894)
- 1971J. W. Alexander, American mathematician (b. 1888)
- 1973Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel laureate (b. 1904)
- 1974Cliff Arquette, American comedian and actor (b. 1905)
- 1974Robbie McIntosh, Scottish musician (Average White Band) (b. 1950)
- 1978Lyman Bostock, American baseball player (murdered) (b. 1950)
- 1981Chief Dan George, Canadian actor (b. 1899)
- 1987Bob Fosse, American dancer, choreographer, and actor (b. 1927)
- 1988Tibor Sekelj, Jewish-Yugoslavian explorer (b. 1912)
- 1992James Van Fleet, U.S. Army general (b. 1892)
- 1994Jerry Barber, American golfer (b. 1916)
- 1994Madeleine Renaud, French theater and film actress (b. 1900)
- 1994Robert Bloch, American author (b. 1917)
- 1996Fujiko F. Fujio, Japanese cartoonist (b. 1933)
- 1998Mary Frann, American actress (b. 1943)
- 1998Ray Bowden, English footballer (b. 1909)
- 1999Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (b. 1910)
- 2000Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican Major League Baseball player (b. 1947)
- 2000Carl Rowan, American journalist (b. 1925)
- 2001Ron Hewitt, Welsh footballer (b. 1928)
- 2002Vernon Corea, Sri Lankan broadcaster (b. 1927)
- 2003Ronnie Dawson, American rockabilly musician (b. 1939)
- 2003Yuri Senkevich, Russian TV anchorman (b. 1937)
- 2004André Hazes, Dutch singer (b. 1951)
- 2004Billy Reay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1918)
- 2005Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Puerto Rican revolutionary (b. 1933)
- 2005Roger Brierley, English actor (b. 1935)
- 2006Etta Baker, American blues guitarist (b. 1913)
- 2006Sir Malcolm Arnold, English composer and professional trumpeter (b. 1921)
- 2008Loren Pope, American writer (b. 1910)
- 2008Peter Leonard, Australian journalist (b. 1942)
- 2009Paul B. Fay, American businessman and cabinet member in the Kennedy administration (b. 1918
- 2010Malcolm Douglas, Australian conservationist (b. 1941)
- 2010Teresa Lewis, American murderer (b. 1969)
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