What are the important events that happened on May 23? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
May 23: Facts & Myths About This Day
May 23 is the 144th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 222 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is May 10, 2024 – a Thursday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,716,422,400 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectatetracontatetragon’ day.
Gemini is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 251 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,171 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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May 23 Historical Events
- 1498 –Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy, on the orders of Pope Alexander VI.
- 1568 –The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.
- 1609 –Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia takes place.
- 1813 –South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (“The Liberator”).
- 1844 –Declaration of the Báb: a merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that would later be brutally crushed by the Persian government. He is considered to be a forerunner of the Bahá'í Faith, and Bahá'ís celebrate the day as a holy day.
- 1846 –Mexican-American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
- 1907 –The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
- 1990 –Jordan Mack was born.
- 1995 –The first version of the Java programming language is released.
- 2006 –Alaskan stratovolcano Mount Cleveland erupts.
Who were born on May 23?
- 1824 –Ambrose Burnside, American Union Civil War general (d. 1881)
- 1865 –Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian politician (d. 1942)
- 1893 –Ulysses S. Grant IV, American geologist and paleontologist (d. 1977)
- 1919 –Avraham Drori, Polish-born Israeli politician (d. 1964)
- 1928 –Jeannie Carson, English actress and comedian
- 1928 –Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)
- 1939 –Jack McCarthy, American poet
- 1942 –Gabriel Liiceanu, Romanian philosopher
- 1958 –Paul Street, American author and historian
- 1966 –Ernst-Paul Hasselbach, Dutch TV host and producer
Who died on May 23?
- 1906 –Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer (b. 1828)
- 1937 –John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1839)
- 1966 –Demchugdongrub, Mongolian politician (b. 1902)
- 1986 –Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
- 1994 –Joe Pass, American jazz guitarist (b. 1929)
- 2002 –Sam Snead, American golfer (b. 1912)
- 2006 –Clifford Antone, American businessman (b. 1949)
- 2006 –Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer (b. 1921)
- 2009 –Roh Moo-hyun, 16th President of the Republic of Korea (b. 1946)
- 2010 –Leonida Georgievna, Grand Duchess of Russia (b. 1914)
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