March 23 holidays in 2017

Historical Events on March 23

• 1769: The Duke of Grafton, Augustus FitzRoy, divorces the Duchess of Grafton, Ann Liddel. This is done by an Act of Parliament.
• 1775: In a speech given to support Virginian troops who were joining the war, Patrick Henry proclaims: “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
• 1808: The brother of Napoleon, Joseph, ascends the Spanish throne.
• 1857: The first elevator by Elisha Graves Otis is installed in a building in New York City.
• 1862: Confederates are defeated at the First Battle of Kernstown, Virginia during the American Civil War.
• 1868: When the Organic Act is signed into law, the University of California is established.
• 1909: Former U.S President Theodore Roosevelt leaves for a safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the National Geographic Society, as well as the Smithsonian Institution.
• 1918: The 10 Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment is defeated during the German Spring Offensive. Many of the soldiers in this regiment will end up becoming POWs.
• 1919: A Fascist political movement is started in Milan, Italy by Benito Mussolini.
• 1956: Pakistan becomes an Islamic Republic.
• 1965: Gemini 3 is launched by NASA. It’s the first 2-man space flight and features astronauts John Young and Gus Grissom.
• 1994: 75 people are killed when Aeroflot Flight 593 crashes into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain in Russia.
• 1996: Lee Teng hui is elected as President of Taiwan during direct elections.
• 2001: The Russian Space Station Mir enters Earth’s atmosphere, breaks ip and falls into the Pacific Ocean near Fiji.

Famous Birthdays on March 23

• French novelist and Nobel Prize laureate, Roger Martin du Gard is born in 1881.
• German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate, Hermann Staudinger is born in 1881.
• Swiss-Italian pharmacologist and Nobel Prize laureate, Daniel Bovet is born in 1907.
• American author Kim Stanley Robinson is born in 1952.
• American singer-songwriter Chaka Khan is born in 1953.
• American actress Amanda Plummer is born in 1957.