October 23

October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 69 days remaining.

Events:

• 4004 BC - Universe created, according to James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh (a Sunday, at 9am, though the time zone is unknown)
• 425 - Valentinian III elevated as Roman Emperor
• 1086 - A Berber army under Yusuf ibn Tashfin[?] defeats Alfonso VI of Castile at Zallaka[?]
• 1739 - Start of the War of Jenkin's Ear
• 1942 - Start of Second Battle of El Alamein
• 1944 - Soviet Union invades Hungary
• 1944 - Battle of Leyte Gulf - largest naval battle in history
• 1956 - Anti-Soviet uprising in Hungary
• 1971 - Disney World opens
• 1983 - U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut hit by truck bomb, killing 298
• 2002 - Chechen rebels seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theatergoers hostage.

Births:

• 1762 - Samuel Morey, inventor (+ 1843)
• 1835 - Adlai E. Stevenson, Vice President of the United States
• 1844 - Sarah Bernhardt, actress (+ 1923)
• 1875 - Gilbert N. Lewis, American chemist
• 1905 - Felix Bloch, Swiss physicist
• 1906 - Gertrude Ederle[?], first woman to swim the English Channel
• 1925 - Johnny Carson, American television host[?]
• 1931 - Jim Bunning, American baseball pitcher and senator
• 1935 - Chi Chi Rodriguez[?], golf champion
• 1940 - Pele, Brazilian football player
• 1942 - Michael Crichton, writer
• 1954 - Ang Lee, director, producer
• 1956 - Dwight Yoakam, country music performer
• 1959 - Weird Al Yankovic, American musical parodist
• 1959 - Sam Raimi, director, producer
• 1962 - Doug Flutie, Canadian football and American football quarterback.

Deaths:

• 42 BC - Marcus Junius Brutus, suicide
• 1910 - Chulalongkorn (Rama V), king of Thailand
• 1939 - Zane Grey, author
• 1950 - Al Jolson, singer, actor
• 1975 - Charles Brokaw[?], journalist
• 1983 - Jessica Savitch[?], journalist
• 1990 - Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher
• 1998 - Dr. Barnett Slepian[?], physician
• 2001 - Ronald William Kirby, British commercial artist

Holidays:

• Chemistry: Mole Day

October 22 - October 24 - November 23 - September 23 - more historical anniversaries