On this day: September 23

Events on September 23

• 38 Drusilla, Caligula's sister who died in June, with whom the emperor is said to have an incestuous relationship, is deified. Wikipedia
• 1122 Pope Callixtus II and Holy Roman emperor Henry V agreed the Concordat of Worms, ending the Investiture Controversy. Wikipedia
• 1338 The Battle of Arnemuiden, in which a French force defeats the English, is the first naval battle of the Hundred Years' War and the first European naval battle in which gunpowder artillery is used. Wikipedia
• 1459 The Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, is won by the Yorkists. Wikipedia
• 1642 First English Civil War: The Battle of Powick Bridge, the first engagement between the primary field armies of the Royalists and the Parliamentarians, ended in a Royalist victory. Wikipedia
• 1723 The treaty of Saint Petersburg is signed, in which Imperial Russia gains Derbent, Baku, and the coastal areas in between as well as the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, and Astrabad from Safavid Persia while the Shah receives Russian soldiers for domestic peacekeeping. Wikipedia
• 1780 American Revolutionary War: British officer John André was captured by Patriot forces, thereby revealing a plot by Continental Army general Benedict Arnold to hand over West Point, New York. Wikipedia
• 1803 Maratha troops were defeated by forces of the British East India Company at the Battle of Assaye, one of the decisive battles of the Second Anglo-Maratha War. Wikipedia
• 1846 Astronomers Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams and Johann Gottfried Galle collaborate on the discovery of Neptune. Wikipedia
• 1884 The French steamship Arctique ran aground on the northern coast of Cape Virgenes in Argentina; gold was discovered during the rescue effort, triggering the Tierra del Fuego Gold Rush. Wikipedia
• 1905 Norway and Sweden sign the Karlstad Treaty, peacefully dissolving the Union between the two countries. Wikipedia
• 1913 The United Mine Workers of America began a strike against the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, sparking the Colorado Coalfield War. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Louisiana hurricane dissipated over Kansas after forcing around 4,500 people to evacuate and causing $1.45 million in damages. Wikipedia
• 1952 U.S. vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon delivered the Checkers speech, one of the first political uses of television to appeal directly to the populace. Wikipedia
• 1955 An all-white jury in Mississippi finds Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam not guilty in the torture-murder of 14-year-old African American boy Emmett Till. Wikipedia
• 1983 Flying from Pakistan, Gulf Air Flight 771 was bombed up by the Abu Nidal Organization while on approach over the United Arab Emirates (UAE), killing all 112 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1997 Irish rock band U2 performed in Sarajevo, the first major artist to hold a concert in the city since the end of the Bosnian War. Wikipedia
• 2002 The first version of the web browser Firefox was released by the Mozilla Organization. Wikipedia
• 2004 Over 3,000 people die in Haiti after Hurricane Jeanne produces massive flooding and mudslides. Wikipedia
• 2008 A gunman shot and killed ten students at the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences in Kauhajoki, Finland, before committing suicide. Wikipedia
• 2010 Teresa Lewis became the first woman to be executed by the U.S. state of Virginia since 1912, and the first woman in the state to be executed via lethal injection. Wikipedia
• 2016 Following a number of high-profile sexual assaults, major reforms were enacted to strengthen laws related to rape in Germany. Wikipedia
• 2019 The British travel company Thomas Cook Group ceased operations with immediate effect, leaving around 600,000 tourists stranded around the world. Wikipedia
• 2019 Twenty people die on the first of two days of rioting in Papua and West Papua over an alleged racist incident. Wikipedia
• 2022 Voting begins in the five-day sham annexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine, leading to Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. Wikipedia
• 2024 Israel launches airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, killing more than 490 people. Wikipedia

Born on September 23

• 63 BC Augustus, Roman emperor (died 14 AD) Wikipedia
• 1215 Kublai Khan, Mongolian emperor (died 1294) Wikipedia
• 1713 Ferdinand VI of Spain (died 1759) Wikipedia
• 1819 Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist and academic (died 1896) Wikipedia
• 1838 Victoria Woodhull, American journalist and activist (died 1927) Wikipedia
• 1889 Walter Lippmann, American journalist and publisher, co-founded The New Republic (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1890 Friedrich Paulus, German field marshal (died 1957) Wikipedia
• 1901 Jaroslav Seifert, Czech poet and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1915 Clifford Shull, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1916 Aldo Moro, Italian academic and politician, 39th Prime Minister of Italy (died 1978) Wikipedia
• 1917 Asima Chatterjee, Indian chemist (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1920 Mickey Rooney, American actor, singer, director, and producer (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1926 John William Coltrane, American jazz saxophonist and composer (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1930 Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1938 Romy Schneider, German-French actress (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1940 Michel Temer, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 25th Vice President of Brazil Wikipedia
• 1943 Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1949 Bruce Springsteen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Wikipedia
• 1956 Paolo Rossi, Italian footballer (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1959 Jason Alexander, American actor, singer, and voice artist Wikipedia
• 1978 Anthony Mackie, American actor Wikipedia
• 1988 Juan Martín del Potro, Argentinian tennis player Wikipedia

Died on September 23

• 1241 Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic historian, poet, and politician (born 1178) Wikipedia
• 1738 Herman Boerhaave, Dutch botanist and physician (born 1668) Wikipedia
• 1835 Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (born 1801) Wikipedia
• 1850 José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan general and politician (born 1764) Wikipedia
• 1870 Prosper Mérimée, French archaeologist and historian (born 1803) Wikipedia
• 1877 Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician and astronomer (born 1811) Wikipedia
• 1889 Wilkie Collins, English novelist, short story writer, and playwright (born 1824) Wikipedia
• 1929 Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-German chemist, physicist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1865) Wikipedia
• 1939 Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (born 1856) Wikipedia
• 1968 Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian priest and saint (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 1973 Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1987 Bob Fosse, American actor, dancer, choreographer, and director (born 1927) Wikipedia
• 2018 Charles Kuen Kao, Hong Kong-American-British electrical engineer and physicist (born 1933) Wikipedia
• 2020 Juliette Gréco, French singer and actress (born 1927) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Adomnán Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Bernardyna Maria Jabłońska Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cissa of Crowland (or of Northumbria) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Elena Duglioli Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Elisabeth and Zechariah Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Émilie Gamelin Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Francisco de Paula Victor Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Padre Pio Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Linus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sossius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Thecla (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Grito de Lares (Puerto Rico) Wikipedia
• Haifa Day (Israel) Wikipedia
• Holocaust Memorial Day (Lithuania) Wikipedia
• Kyrgyz Language Day (Kyrgyzstan) Wikipedia
• National Day (Saudi Arabia) Wikipedia
• Teachers' Day (Brunei) Wikipedia
• Celebrate Bisexuality Day (bisexual community) Wikipedia
• International Day of Sign Languages Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “September 23” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/September 23” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “September 23” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for September 23 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.