September 23

What happened that day?

• 2008: Kauhajoki school shooting: Matti Saari kills ten people before committing suicide.
• 2004: Over 3,000 people die in Haiti after Hurricane Jeanne produces massive flooding and mudslides.
• 2002: The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.
• 1986: Jim Deshaies of the Houston Astros sets a major league record by striking out the first eight batters he faces in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• 1983: Gulf Air Flight 771 is destroyed by a bomb, killing all 117 people on board.
• 1983: Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.
• 1980: Bob Marley plays what would be his last concert in Pittsburgh.
• 1973: Argentine general election: Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina.
• 1962: The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opens in New York City.
• 1950: Korean War: The Battle of Hill 282: The first US friendly-fire incident on British military personnel since World War II occurs.
• 1943: World War II: The Nazi puppet state known as the Italian Social Republic is founded.
• 1942: World War II: The Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins: U.S. Marines attack Japanese units along the Matanikau River.
• 1938: Mobilization of the Czechoslovak army in response to the Munich Agreement.
• 1932: The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd is renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• 1913: Roland Garros of France becomes the first to fly in an airplane across the Mediterranean (from St. Raphael France to Bizerte, Tunisia).
• 1911: Pilot Earle Ovington makes the first official airmail delivery in America under the authority of the United States Post Office Department
• 1909: The Phantom of the Opera (original title: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra), a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux, is first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois.
• 1905: Norway and Sweden sign the "Karlstad treaty", peacefully dissolving the Union between the two countries.
• 1899: American Asiatic Squadron destroys a Filipino battery at the Battle of Olongapo.
• 1889: Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) is founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
• 1868: Grito de Lares ("Lares Revolt") occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.
• 1846: Astronomers Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier, John Couch Adams and Johann Gottfried Galle collaborate on the discovery of Neptune.
• 1845: The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York.
• 1821: Tripolitsa, Greece, is captured by Greek rebels during the Greek War of Independence.
• 1806: Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
• 1803: Second Anglo-Maratha War: Battle of Assaye between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India.
• 1780: American Revolution: British Major John André is arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's change of sides.
• 1779: American Revolution: John Paul Jones on board the USS Bonhomme Richard wins the Battle of Flamborough Head.
• 1642: First commencement exercises occur at Harvard College.
• 1641: The Merchant Royal, carrying a treasure of over 100,000 pounds of gold (worth over £1 billion today), is lost at sea off Land's End.
• 1568: Spanish naval forces rout an English fleet, under the command of John Hawkins, at the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa near Veracruz.
• 1459: Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, takes place.
• 1409: Battle of Kherlen, the second significant victory over Ming dynasty China by the Mongols since 1368.
• 1338: The Battle of Arnemuiden was the first naval battle of the Hundred Years' War and the first naval battle using artillery, as the English ship Christopher had three cannons and one hand gun.
• 1122: Pope Callixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V agree to the Concordat of Worms to put an end to the Investiture Controversy.