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
• 1918 World War I: British forces capture Haifa, Acre, and Es Salt from the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Louisiana hurricane dissipated over Kansas after forcing around 4,500 people to evacuate and causing $1.45 million in damages. Wikipedia
• 1920 The Louisiana hurricane dissipates over Kansas after forcing around 4,500 people to evacuate and causing $1.45 million in damages. Wikipedia
• 1932 Saudi National Day: Crown Prince (later king) Faisal of Saudi Arabia, on behalf of Ibn Saud, proclaims the unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the current iteration of the Third Saudi State. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: The Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins: U.S. Marines attack Japanese units along the Matanikau River. Wikipedia
• 1950 Korean War: The Battle of Hill 282 is the first US friendly-fire incident on British military personnel since World War II. 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
• 1952 After being accused of financial improprieties, Senator Richard Nixon delivers his "Checkers speech" nationwide on television and radio, defending his actions and successfully salvaging his nomination as the Republican candidate for Vice President. 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
• 1956 A tropical storm originating in the eastern Pacific Ocean passes into the Gulf of Mexico and is upgraded and named Hurricane Flossy just hours before striking the Gulf Coast and causing 15 deaths and an estimated US$24.8 million in damages. Wikipedia
• 1957 Little Rock schools integration crisis: President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, and federalizes the Arkansas National Guard, ordering both to support the integration of Little Rock Central High School. Wikipedia
• 1961 U.S. President John F. Kennedy nominates African American civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, although pro-segregation Southern senators manage to delay his confirmation until September 11, 1962. Wikipedia
• 1962 Flying Tiger Line Flight 923, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation registered as N6923C, ditches into the Atlantic Ocean killing 28 out the 76 occupants onboard. The remaining 48 were rescued six hours later. Wikipedia
• 1964 Typhoon Wilda, one of the strongest typhoons to ever strike Japan, makes landfall, causing at least 30 fatalities and sinking at least 64 ships. Wikipedia
• 1967 Seven people die, 46 people are injured, and more than 150 boats capsize when a squall hits Lake Michigan during Michigan's first coho salmon sport fishing season. 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
• 1999 Qantas Flight 1 overruns a runway in Bangkok during a storm, causing minor injuries to some passengers. 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
• 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
• 2010 Teresa Lewis becomes 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 by lethal injection. Wikipedia
• 2020 A grand jury in Kentucky declines to indict three police officers for the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in a drug raid gone wrong, leading to nationwide protests in the U.S. 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
• 1598 Eleonore Gonzaga, Italian wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1655) Wikipedia
• 1713 Ferdinand VI of Spain (died 1759) Wikipedia
• 1819 Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist and academic (died 1896) Wikipedia
• 1861 Robert Bosch, German engineer and businessman, founded Robert Bosch GmbH (died 1942) Wikipedia
• 1869 Mary Mallon, American cook and typhoid carrier (died 1938) Wikipedia
• 1880 John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, Scottish biologist, physician, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1971) 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
• 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
• 1967 LisaRaye McCoy, American actress, model, fashion designer, and First Lady of the Turks and Caicos Islands Wikipedia
• 1988 Juan Martín del Potro, Argentinian tennis player Wikipedia

Died on September 23

• 788 Ælfwald I, king of Northumbria Wikipedia
• 1241 Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic historian, poet, and politician (born 1178) Wikipedia
• 1675 Valentin Conrart, French author, founded the Académie française (born 1603) Wikipedia
• 1835 Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (born 1801) 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
• 1900 William Marsh Rice, American businessman, founded Rice University (born 1816) 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

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

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 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.