Comet Hale-Bopp was discovered independently by two amateur astronomers on the same night
Alan Hale in New Mexico and Thomas Bopp in Arizona spotted the comet within hours of each other using backyard telescopes. The comet became one of the...
July 23 in History
Significant events that happened on this day.
Historical Events
1995
1984
Vanessa Williams became the first Miss America to resign after Penthouse published unauthorized nude photographs
The photos were taken before her pageant days, but the scandal forced her to give up the crown just weeks before her reign ended. Williams went on to...
1983
Air Canada Flight 143 ran completely out of fuel at 41,000 feet but landed safely with no fatalities
A metric conversion error left the Boeing 767 with half the fuel needed, forcing pilots to glide the powerless plane to an abandoned airfield. The inc...
1982
The International Whaling Commission voted to ban commercial whaling
After decades of industrial hunting brought several whale species to the brink of extinction, the global moratorium took effect in 1986. Some nations...
1967
Riots broke out in Detroit, becoming one of the deadliest and most destructive in American history
MajorWhat started as a police raid on an unlicensed bar escalated into five days of chaos that left 43 dead and over 1,000 buildings burned. President John...
1962
The first live transatlantic television signal was transmitted via the Telstar satellite
MajorMillions of viewers watched as grainy images bounced off a satellite orbiting 3,500 miles above Earth, connecting America and Europe in real-time for...
1952
Egypt's King Farouk abdicated after a military coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser
MajorThe playboy king was forced to leave Egypt after the Free Officers Movement took control. Farouk sailed away on his yacht with 204 pieces of luggage,...
1929
Italy's Benito Mussolini banned the use of foreign words in an attempt to 'purify' the Italian language
The fascist dictator ordered Italians to stop using words like 'cocktail,' 'garage,' and 'football,' replacing them with Italian equivalents. Offender...
1904
The ice cream cone was served for the first time at the St. Louis World's Fair
Charles Menches ran out of dishes at his ice cream booth and rolled up a waffle to hold the ice cream instead. The accidental invention became an inst...
1903
The Ford Motor Company sold its first automobile, a Model A
MajorDr. Ernst Pfenning of Chicago became Ford's first customer, paying $850 for the two-cylinder vehicle. This sale launched Henry Ford's automotive empir...
1888
Raymond Chandler, author of hard-boiled detective novels like The Big Sleep, was born
Born in Chicago but raised in England, Chandler didn't publish his first novel until age 51 after losing his oil company job during the Depression. Hi...
1886
Steve Brodie claimed to have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge and survived
The bookmaker insisted he leapt 135 feet into the East River to win a $200 bet, though many suspected he used a dummy while hiding under the bridge. W...
1829
William Austin Burt patented the typographer, America's first typewriting machine
The device was slower than handwriting and never achieved commercial success, but it preceded the practical typewriter by decades. Burt demonstrated h...
1715
The first lighthouse in America was lit on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor
The 60-foot stone tower charged ships one penny per ton to help fund its operation. British troops blew it up during the Revolutionary War, but it was...