February 23

February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 311 days remaining until the end of the year (312 in leap years).

Events

• 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
• 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I orders the building of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia.
• 1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.
• 1554 – Mapuche forces, under the leadership of Lautaro, score a victory over the Spanish at the Battle of Marihueñu in Chile.
• 1739 – Richard Palmer is identified at York Castle, by his former schoolteacher, as the outlaw Dick Turpin.
• 1778 – American Revolutionary War: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
• 1820 – Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
• 1836 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
• 1847 – Mexican–American War: Battle of Buena Vista – In Mexico, American troops under future president General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
• 1854 – The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.
• 1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1870 – Reconstruction Era: Post-U.S. Civil War military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.
• 1883 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an anti-trust law.
• 1885 – Sino-French War: French Army gains an important victory in the Battle of Đồng Đăng in the Tonkin region of Vietnam.
• 1886 – Charles Martin Hall produced the first samples of man-made aluminum, after several years of intensive work. He was assisted in this project by his older sister Julia Brainerd Hall.
• 1887 – The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.
• 1896 – The Tootsie Roll is invented.
• 1898 – Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse", a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
• 1900 – Second Boer War: Boers and British troops fight in the Battle of Hart's Hill.
• 1903 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
• 1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.
• 1909 – The AEA Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.
• 1917 – First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.
• 1918 – Last monarch of Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz commits suicide.
• 1927 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill by Congress establishing the Federal Radio Commission (later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission) which was to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the United States.
• 1927 – German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg writes a letter to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli, in which he describes his uncertainty principle for the first time.
• 1934 – Leopold III becomes King of Belgium.
• 1941 – Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
• 1942 – World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the California coastline near Santa Barbara.
• 1943 – A fire breaks out at St. Joseph's Orphanage, County Cavan, Ireland, killing 36 people (35 of whom are children).
• 1943 – Greek Resistance: The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth is founded is Greece.
• 1944 – The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.
• 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a U.S. Navy Corpsman, reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.
• 1945 – World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free the captives of the Los Baños internment camp.
• 1945 – World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces.
• 1945 – World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.
• 1945 – World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is annihilated in a raid by 379 British bombers.
• 1947 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
• 1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
• 1955 – First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
• 1958 – Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world F1 champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
• 1966 – In Syria, Ba'ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin al-Hafiz, also a Baathist.
• 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
• 1980 – Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
• 1981 – In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
• 1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
• 1987 – Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
• 1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.
• 1991 – In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
• 1998 – In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.
• 1999 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
• 1999 – An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.
• 2005 – The controversial French law on colonialism is passed, requiring teachers to teach the "positive values of colonialism". After public outcry, it is repealed at the beginning of 2006.
• 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.
• 2008 – A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam. It is the first operational loss of a B-2.
• 2010 – Unknown criminals pour more than 2.5 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in northern Italy, sparking an environmental disaster.
• 2012 – A series of attacks across Iraq leave at least 83 killed and more than 250 injured.

Births

• 1417 – Pope Paul II (d. 1471)
• 1443 – Matthias Corvinus, Hungarian king (d. 1490)
• 1583 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French mathematician, astrologer, and astronomer (d. 1656)
• 1633 – Samuel Pepys, English soldier and politician (d. 1703)
• 1646 – Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shogun (d. 1709)
• 1648 – Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (d. 1730)
• 1664 – Georg Dietrich Leyding, German organist and composer (d. 1710)
• 1680 – Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, Canadian politician, 2nd Colonial Governor of Louisiana (d. 1767)
• 1685 – George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer (d. 1759)
• 1723 – Richard Price, Welsh-English minister and philosopher (d. 1791)
• 1744 – Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German banker (d. 1812)
• 1752 – Simon Knéfacz, Croatian monk and author (d. 1819)
• 1840 – Carl Menger, Austrian economist and educator (d. 1921)
• 1842 – Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher and author (d. 1906)
• 1850 – César Ritz, Swiss businessman, founded The Ritz London Hotel and Hôtel Ritz Paris (d. 1918)
• 1852 – Dục Đức, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1883)
• 1868 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (d. 1963)
• 1868 – Anna Hoffman-Uddgren, Swedish actress and director (d. 1947)
• 1873 – Liang Qichao, Chinese journalist, philosopher, and scholar (d. 1929)
• 1874 – Konstantin Päts, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Estonia (d. 1956)
• 1878 – Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian painter and theorist (d. 1935)
• 1883 – Karl Jaspers, German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher (d. 1969)
• 1886 – Antonio Alice, Argentinian painter (d. 1943)
• 1889 – Musidora, French actress and director (d. 1957)
• 1889 – Cyril Delevanti, English-American actor (d. 1975)
• 1889 – Victor Fleming, American director, cinematographer, and producer (d. 1949)
• 1889 – John Gilbert Winant, American captain, pilot, and politician, 60th Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1947)
• 1891 – Robert Barrington-Ward, English barrister and journalist (d. 1948)
• 1891 – Harold Horder, Australian rugby player and coach (d. 1978)
• 1892 – Kathleen Harrison, English actress (d. 1995)
• 1899 – Erich Kästner, German author and poet (d. 1974)
• 1899 – Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (d. 1981)
• 1904 – Terence Fisher, English director and screenwriter (d. 1980)
• 1904 – William L. Shirer, American journalist and historian (d. 1993)
• 1904 – Leopold Trepper, Polish-Austrian spy (d. 1982)
• 1907 – Lee Hyo-seok, South Korean author and poet (d. 1942)
• 1908 – William McMahon, Australian lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)
• 1914 – Theo Middelkamp, Dutch-Belgian cyclist (d. 2005)
• 1915 – Jon Hall, American actor and director (d. 1979)
• 1915 – Paul Tibbets, American general and pilot (d. 2007)
• 1918 – Richard Girnt Butler, American engineer, founded the Aryan Nations (d. 2004)
• 1919 – Johnny Carey, Irish footballer and manager (d. 1995)
• 1920 – Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Canadian lawyer and politician
• 1923 – Miljenko Smoje, Croatian journalist and screenwriter (d. 1995)
• 1923 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (d. 2014)
• 1923 – Ioannis Grivas, Greek judge and politician, 176th Prime Minister of Greece
• 1923 – Mary Francis Shura, American author (d. 1991)
• 1924 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South-African-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
• 1924 – Claude Sautet, French director, screenwriter, and author (d. 2000)
• 1925 – Louis Stokes, American lawyer and politician (d. 2015)
• 1926 – William R. Roy, American physician, journalist, and politician (d. 2014)
• 1927 – Régine Crespin, French soprano and actress (d. 2007)
• 1928 – Hans Herrmann, German race car driver
• 1928 – Vasily Lazarev, Russian colonel, physician, and astronaut (d. 1990)
• 1929 – Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow (d. 2008)
• 1929 – Jaan Einasto, Estonian astronomer and physicist
• 1929 – Elston Howard, American baseball player and coach (d. 1980)
• 1930 – Paul West, English-American author, poet, and academic (d. 2015)
• 1931 – Tom Wesselmann, American painter and sculptor (d. 2004)
• 1932 – Majel Barrett, American actress and producer (d. 2008)
• 1933 – Donna J. Stone, American poet and philanthropist (d. 1994)
• 1934 – Linda Cristal, Argentinian-American actress
• 1937 – Tom Osborne, American football player, coach, and politician
• 1938 – Paul Morrissey, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1938 – Diane Varsi, American actress (d. 1992)
• 1940 – Peter Fonda, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1940 – Jackie Smith, American football player
• 1940 – Kamer Genç, Turkish politician of Zaza origin (d. 2016)
• 1941 – Ron Hunt, American baseball player
• 1942 – Suha Arın, Turkish film director, writer, producer and educator (d. 2004)
• 1943 – Fred Biletnikoff, American football player and coach
• 1943 – Kin'ya Kitaōji, Japanese actor
• 1944 – Bernard Cornwell, English author and educator
• 1944 – Florian Fricke, German keyboard player (Popol Vuh and Gila)
• 1944 – John Sandford, American journalist and author
• 1944 – Johnny Winter, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2014)
• 1945 – Allan Boesak, South African cleric and politician
• 1945 – Svetlana Gerasimenko, Soviet Ukrainian and Tajikistani astronomer.
• 1946 – Rusty Young, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Poco)
• 1947 – Pia Kjærsgaard, Danish politician
• 1947 – Anton Mosimann, Swiss chef and author
• 1948 – Bill Alexander, English director and producer
• 1948 – Doug Moench, American author
• 1948 – Steve Priest, English singer-songwriter and bass player (Sweet)
• 1949 – César Aira, Argentine writer and translator
• 1949 – Marc Garneau, Canadian engineer, astronaut, and politician
• 1950 – Maxi, Irish singer, actor, and radio host
• 1951 – Ed "Too Tall" Jones, American football player and boxer
• 1951 – Patricia Richardson, American actress and producer
• 1951 – Shigefumi Mori, Japanese mathematician
• 1952 – Brad Whitford, American guitarist (Aerosmith and The Joe Perry Project)
• 1953 – Kenny Bee, Hong Kong singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (The Wynners)
• 1953 – Satoru Nakajima, Japanese race car driver
• 1953 – Walter Wick, American photographer and author
• 1954 – Louis Bertignac, French guitarist, vocalist and songwriter
• 1954 – Carlos Guirao, Spanish guitarist, keyboard player, and composer (Neuronium) (d. 2012)
• 1954 – Rajini Thiranagama, Sri Lankan physician and academic (d. 1989)
• 1954 – Viktor Yushchenko, Ukrainian captain and politician, 3rd President of Ukraine
• 1955 – Howard Jones, English singer-songwriter
• 1955 – Flip Saunders, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
• 1956 – Sandra Osborne, Scottish politician
• 1957 – Ria Brieffies, Dutch singer (Dolly Dots) (d. 2009)
• 1958 – Patrick Marriott, English general
• 1958 – David Sylvian, English singer-songwriter (Japan and Nine Horses)
• 1959 – Clayton Anderson, American engineer and astronaut
• 1959 – Nick de Bois, English politician
• 1959 – Ian Liddell-Grainger, Scottish soldier and politician
• 1959 – Linda Nolan, Irish singer (The Nolans)
• 1960 – Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan
• 1960 – Alan Griffin, Australian politician
• 1960 – Ivan Vdović, Serbian drummer (Suncokret, Šarlo Akrobata, Supernaut, and Ekatarina Velika) (d. 1992)
• 1962 – Michael Wilton, American guitarist (Queensrÿche and Soulbender)
• 1963 – Bobby Bonilla, American baseball player
• 1963 – Radosław Sikorski, Polish journalist and politician, 11th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland
• 1964 – John Norum, Norwegian guitarist and songwriter (Europe)
• 1965 – Michael Dell, American businessman, founded Dell
• 1965 – Ashok Kamte, Indian police officer (d. 2008)
• 1965 – Helena Suková, Czech-Monacan tennis player
• 1966 – Mark Abrahamian, American guitarist (Starship) (d. 2012)
• 1967 – Hélène Darroze, French chef
• 1967 – Chris Vrenna, American drummer, songwriter, and producer (Nine Inch Nails, Tweaker, Die Warzau, and Exotic Birds)
• 1969 – Michael Campbell, New Zealand-Australian golfer
• 1969 – Daymond John, American fashion designer, founded FUBU
• 1969 – Marc Wauters, Belgian cyclist
• 1970 – Shoko Aida, Japanese singer and actress
• 1970 – Marie-Josée Croze, Canadian actress
• 1970 – Niecy Nash, American actress and producer
• 1970 – Keanna Reeves, Filipino actress
• 1971 – Jung Chan, South Korean actor
• 1971 – Melinda Messenger, English model and television host
• 1971 – Joe-Max Moore, American soccer player
• 1971 – Ryohei Odai, Japanese actor and voice actor
• 1972 – Alessandro Sturba, Italian footballer
• 1972 – Rondell White, American baseball player
• 1973 – Arnold Dwarika, Trinidadian footballer
• 1973 – Jeff Nordgaard, American-Polish basketball player
• 1974 – Herschelle Gibbs, South African cricketer
• 1975 – Michael Cornacchia, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1975 – Robert Lopez, American composer
• 1976 – Scott Elarton, American baseball player
• 1976 – Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress
• 1976 – Jeff O'Neill, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
• 1976 – Satoshi Yoneyama, Japanese wrestler
• 1977 – Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, Estonian skier
• 1978 – Yuka Motohashi, Japanese actress
• 1978 – Residente, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter (Calle 13)
• 1978 – Dan Snyder, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2003)
• 1979 – S. E. Cupp, American journalist and author
• 1979 – Sascha Zacharias, Swedish actress
• 1981 – Gareth Barry, English footballer
• 1981 – Josh Gad, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1981 – Mai Nakahara, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1981 – Charles Tillman, American football player
• 1982 – Nick Dupree, American activist
• 1982 – Anna-Maria Galojan, Estonian politician
• 1982 – Adam Hann-Byrd, American actor and screenwriter
• 1982 – Malia Metella, French swimmer
• 1983 – Aziz Ansari, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1983 – Mirco Bergamasco, Italian rugby player
• 1983 – Emily Blunt, English actress
• 1986 – Emerson Conceição, Brazilian footballer
• 1986 – Skylar Grey, American singer-songwriter
• 1986 – Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor (KAT-TUN and Shūji to Akira)
• 1986 – Boipelo Makhothi, Lesotho swimmer
• 1986 – Jerod Mayo, American football player
• 1986 – Ola Svensson, Swedish singer-songwriter
• 1987 – Theophilus London, Trinidadian-American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1987 – Ab-Soul, American rapper
• 1988 – Nicolás Gaitán, Argentinian footballer
• 1989 – Amara Baby, French footballer
• 1989 – Evan Bates, American ice dancer
• 1990 – Kevin Cheung, Mauritian swimmer
• 1990 – Terry Hawkridge, English footballer
• 1992 – Casemiro, Brazilian footballer
• 1992 – Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
• 1992 – Samara Weaving, Australian actress and model
• 1993 – Kasumi Ishikawa, Japanese table tennis player
• 1994 – Dakota Fanning, American actress
• 1995 – Andrew Wiggins, Canadian basketball player

Deaths

• 572 – Chihor-Vishnasp, Armenian general and politician
• 715 – Al-Walid I, Arab caliph (b. 668)
• 943 – Herbert II, Count of Vermandois, (b. 884)
• 1011 – Willigis, German archbishop (b. 940)
• 1100 – Emperor Zhezong of Song (b. 1076)
• 1270 – Isabel of France (b. 1225)
• 1447 – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1390)
• 1447 – Pope Eugene IV (b. 1383)
• 1464 – Zhengtong Emperor of China (b. 1427)
• 1554 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire (b. 1515)
• 1572 – Pierre Certon, French composer (b. 1510)
• 1603 – Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (b. 1519)
• 1669 – Lieuwe van Aitzema, Dutch historian and diplomat (b. 1600)
• 1704 – Georg Muffat, French organist and composer (b. 1653)
• 1766 – Stanisław Leszczyński, Polish king (b. 1677)
• 1781 – George Taylor, Irish-American blacksmith and politician (b. 1716)
• 1792 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter (b. 1723)
• 1800 – Joseph Warton, English academic and critic (b. 1722)
• 1821 – John Keats, English poet (b. 1795)
• 1848 – John Quincy Adams, American politician, 6th President of the United States (b. 1767)
• 1855 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. 1777)
• 1859 – Zygmunt Krasiński, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1812)
• 1879 – Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and politician, 10th Minister President of Prussia (b. 1803)
• 1897 – Woldemar Bargiel, German composer and educator (b. 1828)
• 1908 – Friedrich von Esmarch, German surgeon and academic (b. 1823)
• 1918 – Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1882)
• 1922 – Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish mathematician and physicist (b. 1845)
• 1925 – Samuel Berger, American boxer (b. 1884)
• 1930 – Horst Wessel, German SA officer (b. 1907)
• 1931 – Nellie Melba, Australian soprano and actress (b. 1861)
• 1934 – Edward Elgar, English composer and academic (b. 1857)
• 1937 – Claude Buckenham, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1876)
• 1944 – Leo Baekeland, Belgian-American chemist and engineer (b. 1863)
• 1946 – Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (b. 1885)
• 1948 – John Robert Gregg, Irish-American publisher and educator (b. 1866)
• 1955 – Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (b. 1868)
• 1957 – Marika Ninou, Greek singer (b. 1918)
• 1965 – Stan Laurel, English actor and director (b. 1890)
• 1969 – Madhubala, Indian actress (b. 1933)
• 1973 – Dickinson W. Richards, American physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
• 1974 – Harry Ruby, American composer and screenwriter (b. 1895)
• 1976 – L. S. Lowry, English painter (b. 1887)
• 1979 – W. A. C. Bennett, Canadian businessman and politician, 25th Premier of British Columbia (b. 1900)
• 1983 – Herbert Howells, English organist and composer (b. 1892)
• 1984 – Jessamyn West, American author (b. 1902)
• 1990 – José Napoleón Duarte, Salvadoran engineer and politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
• 1995 – Melvin Franklin, American singer (The Temptations) (b. 1942)
• 1995 – James Herriot, English veterinarian and author (b. 1916)
• 1996 – Paul Saagpakk, Estonian linguist and lexicographer (b. 1910)
• 1997 – Tony Williams, American drummer, composer, and producer (The Tony Williams Lifetime) (b. 1945)
• 1999 – The Renegade, American wrestler (b. 1965)
• 2000 – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1957)
• 2000 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Robert Enrico, French director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
• 2003 – Howie Epstein, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) (b. 1955)
• 2003 – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and academic (b. 1910)
• 2004 – Vijay Anand, Indian director, producer, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1934)
• 2004 – Carl Anderson, American singer and actor (b. 1945)
• 2004 – Neil Ardley, English pianist and composer (b. 1937)
• 2004 – Sikander Bakht, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1918)
• 2006 – Benno Besson, Swiss actor and director (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (b. 1921)
• 2007 – Donnie Brooks, American singer (b. 1936)
• 2007 – John Ritchie, English footballer (b. 1941)
• 2008 – Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian economist and politician, 2nd President of Slovenia (b. 1950)
• 2008 – Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and journalist (b. 1917)
• 2010 – Orlando Zapata, Cuban plumber and activist (b. 1967)
• 2011 – Nirmala Srivastava, Indian religious leader, founded Sahaja Yoga (b. 1923)
• 2012 – William Gay, American author (b. 1941)
• 2012 – William Raggio, American lawyer and politician (b. 1926)
• 2012 – David Sayre, American physicist and mathematician (b. 1924)
• 2012 – Bruce Surtees, American cinematographer (b. 1937)
• 2012 – Kazimierz Żygulski, Polish sociologist and activist (b. 1919)
• 2013 – Eugene Bookhammer, American soldier and politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Delaware (b. 1918)
• 2013 – Joan Child, Australian politician, 19th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives (b. 1921)
• 2013 – Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (b. 1920)
• 2013 – Lotika Sarkar, Indian lawyer and academic (b. 1945)
• 2014 – K. Alison Clarke-Stewart, Canadian psychologist and academic (b. 1943)
• 2014 – Alice Herz-Sommer, Czech-English pianist and educator (b. 1903)
• 2014 – Roger Hilsman, American soldier, academic, and politician (b. 1919)
• 2015 – Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan (b. 1942)
• 2015 – W. E. "Bill" Dykes, American soldier and politician (b. 1925)
• 2015 – Jerry Lambert, American jockey (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Polycarp of Smyrna
  • Serenus the Gardener
  • February 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Mashramani-Republic Day (Guyana)
• National Day (Brunei)
• Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy in the former Soviet Union, also held in various former Soviet republics:
  • Defender of the Fatherland Day (Russia)
  • Defender of the Fatherland and Armed Forces day (Belarus)
• Terminalia held in honor of Terminus (Ancient Rome)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to February 23.

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