July 23
July 23 is the 205th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 161 days remain until the year's end. It falls in summer (northern hemisphere) and under the astrological sign of Leo.
External references
Curated jump-off points to the major almanacs, encyclopaedias and primary sources for this date.
Astronomy
On July 23 the Sun's declination is approximately +19.8°. At this latitude the Sun is north of the celestial equator, giving the Northern Hemisphere longer days than nights.
For specific rise/set times at your location, see the U.S. Naval Observatory, or the NASA APOD archive for any imagery published on a July 23.
Position in the year
Holidays & observances
- Birthday of Haile Selassie (Rastafari)
- Children's Day (Indonesia)
- Christian feast day: Bridget of Sweden
- Christian feast day: Heiromartyr Phocas (Eastern Orthodox)
- Christian feast day: John Cassian (Western Christianity)
Events
A selection of widely-documented historical events that took place on this date. Years marked BCE follow standard astronomical convention.
2018 — A wildfire in East Attica kills at least 102 people. It is the deadliest wildfire in the history of Greece. ↗(8 years ago)more
A series of wildfires in Greece, during the 2018 European heat wave, began in the coastal areas of Attica in July 2018. 104 people were confirmed dead from the Mati fires. The fires were, at that time, the second-deadliest wildfire event in the 21st century, after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Australia that killed 173.
2015 — NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by the Kepler space telescope. ↗(11 years ago)more
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the United States' civil space program and for research in aeronautics and space. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NASA operates ten field centers across the U.S.
2014 — TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashes in Xixi village near Huxi, Penghu, during approach to Penghu Airport. Forty-eight of the 58 people on board are killed and five more people on the ground are injured. ↗(12 years ago)more
TransAsia Airways Flight 222 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by TransAsia Airways from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to Magong, Penghu Island. On 23 July 2014, the ATR 72-500 twin turboprop operating the route crashed into buildings during approach to land in bad weather at Magong Airport. Among the 58 people on board, only 10 survived.
2012 — The Solar storm of 2012 was an unusually large coronal mass ejection that was emitted by the Sun which barely missed the Earth by nine days. If it hit, it would have caused up to US$2.6 trillion in damages to electrical equipment worldwide. ↗(14 years ago)more
The solar storm of 2012 was a solar storm involving an unusually large and strong coronal mass ejection that occurred on July 23, 2012. It missed Earth by a margin of roughly nine days, as the Sun's equator rotates around its own axis once over a period of about 25 days.
2011 — A high-speed train rear-ends another on a viaduct on the Yongtaiwen railway line in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, resulting in 40 deaths. ↗(15 years ago)more
High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilizing trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks.
2010 — The English-Irish boy band One Direction were formed while auditioning for the 2010 series of the British singing competition The X Factor. ↗(16 years ago)more
One Direction, often shortened to 1D, were an English–Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group consisted of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik. The group sold over 70 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.
- 2005 — Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people. ↗(21 years ago)
more
The 2005 Sharm El Sheikh bombings were committed by Islamist group Abdullah Azzam Brigades on 23 July 2005 in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh, at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Eighty-eight people were killed by the three bombings, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were injured, making the attack the deadliest terrorist ac...
2001 — Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment. ↗(25 years ago)more
Diah Permata Megawati Setiawati Sukarnoputri is an Indonesian politician who served as the fifth president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004 and the eighth vice president under President Abdurrahman Wahid from 1999 to 2001. She is Indonesia's first and only female president to date.
1999 — ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo, Japan by Yuji Nishizawa. ↗(27 years ago)more
All Nippon Airways Flight 61 was a scheduled domestic flight from Tokyo Haneda Airport in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan and was en route to New Chitose Airport in Chitose, Japan, near Sapporo. On 23 July 1999, the Boeing 747-481D operating the flight with 503 passengers on board, including 14 children and 14 crew members on board, was hijacked by Yūji Nishizawa, a Ja...
1999 — Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory. ↗(27 years ago)more
Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, and the female personification of the United States, Columbia was the first of five Space Shuttle orbiters to fly in space, debuting the Space Shuttle launch vehicle on it...
1997 — Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel. ↗(29 years ago)more
Digital Equipment Corporation, using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president until he was forced to resign in 1992, after the company had gone into precipitous decline.
1995 — Comet Hale–Bopp is discovered; it becomes visible to the naked eye on Earth nearly a year later. ↗(31 years ago)more
Comet Hale–Bopp is a long-period comet that was one of the most widely observed of the 20th century and one of the brightest seen for many decades.
Notable births
- 2003 — Alex Consani, Model and Influencer ↗(23 years ago)
more
Alex Monette Consani is an American model. She started modeling in 2015 and became the world's youngest transgender model at the time at age 12. After signing with IMG Models in 2019, Consani started using TikTok in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and became popular online for her comedic videos, earning over three million followers by 2024.
2001 — Lily Phillips, British pornographic actress ↗(25 years ago)more
Lillian Daisy Phillips is an English pornographic film actress. In late 2024, she uploaded a video to OnlyFans in which she had sex with 101 men, which attracted widespread attention after YouTuber Josh Pieters chronicled the events in a documentary titled I Slept with 100 Men in One Day.
1998 — Deandre Ayton, Bahamian basketball player ↗(28 years ago)more
Deandre Edoneille Ayton, also known as "DominAyton", is a Bahamian professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A consensus five-star prospect in the Class of 2017 and a McDonald's All-American, he played one season of college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats, earning Pac-12 Player of the Year ...
- 1996 — Alexandra Andresen, Norwegian heiress and equestrian ↗(30 years ago)
more
Alexandra Gamlemshaug Andresen is a Norwegian heiress and equestrian. She became the world's youngest billionaire at age 19 in 2016 and held the position of youngest billionaire on the Forbes list for three consecutive years. As of June 2025, Andresen's net worth is estimated at US$2.1 billion.
1996 — David Dobrik, Slovak YouTube personality ↗(30 years ago)more
Dávid Julián Dobrík is a Slovak and American Internet personality, YouTuber, streamer and vlogger. He amassed a million followers on the video-sharing platform Vine before starting his vlog on YouTube in 2015.
Notable deaths
2024 — Robin Warren, Australian pathologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1937) ↗(2 years ago)more
John Robin Warren was an Australian pathologist, Nobel laureate, and researcher who is credited with the 1979 re-discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, together with Barry Marshall. The duo proved to the medical community that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is the cause of most peptic ulcers.
2022 — Zayar Thaw, Burmese politician and rapper (born 1981) ↗(4 years ago)more
Phyo Zeya Thaw (Burmese: ဖြိုးဇေယျာသော်; pronounced [pʰjò zèjà θɔ̀], also referred to as Zeya Thaw was a Burmese politician and hip hop recording artist who was unfairly detained and executed due to the perceived anti-junta messages in his lyrics. Amnesty International designated him as a prisoner of conscience.
2022 — Kyaw Min Yu, Burmese political activist (born 1969) ↗(4 years ago)more
Kyaw Min Yu was a Burmese writer, political prisoner, and a member of the 88 Generation Students Group. He was executed in July 2022 after being sentenced to death for activism against the junta that seized power in a coup in 2021.
2017 — John Kundla, American basketball coach (born 1916) ↗(9 years ago)more
John Albert Kundla was an American college and professional basketball coach. He was the first head coach for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its predecessors, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL), serving 12 seasons, from 1947 to 1959.
2015 — Shigeko Kubota, Japanese-American sculptor and director (born 1937) ↗(11 years ago)more
Shigeko Kubota was a Japanese video artist, sculptor and avant-garde performance artist, who mostly lived in New York City. She was one of the first artists to adopt the portable video camera Sony Portapak in 1970, likening it to a "new paintbrush." Kubota is known for constructing sculptural installations with a strong DIY aesthetic, which include sculp...
Numerical & calendrical curiosities
| Day-of-year (205) | 5 × 41 · composite (no) |
|---|---|
| Days remaining (161) | 7 × 23 |
| Date code DDMMYYYY | 23072026 · no palindrome in next 200 years |
| Sun declination | +19.81° (Cooper approximation) |
| Distance from solstice | 33 days |