January 23 in History

January 23 is the 23rd day of the year. There are 343 days remaining until the end of the year.

• 1368 – Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating the Ming Dynasty that would last for three centuries.
• 1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history hit Shaanxi province, China. The estimated death toll was 830,000.
• 1571 – The Royal Exchange opened in London.
• 1789 – Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, was founded in Georgetown, Maryland.
• 1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell was awarded her M.D. by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, becoming the US' first woman doctor.
• 1855 – The first bridge over the Mississippi River opened in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• 1907 – Charles Curtis of Kansas became the first Native American US Senator.
• 1941 – Aviator Charles Lindbergh testified before the US Congress to recommend that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
• 1950 – The Israeli Knesset passed a resolution declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
• 1960 – The bathyscaphe USS Trieste broke a depth record by descending 35,798 feet in the Pacific Ocean.
• 1964 – The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, was ratified.
• 1968 – North Korea seized the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship had violated their territorial waters while spying.
• 1973 – President Richard Nixon announced that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
• 1986 – The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley.
• 1997 – Madeleine Albright became the first woman to serve as US Secretary of State.
• 2002 – Reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan, and subsequently executed.