Holidays Calendar for August 23, 2022

International Blind Dog Day is celebrated annually on August 23. It was created to bring together owners of blind and visually-impaired dogs from across the world and encourage people to give disabled dogs a loving home.

National Statistical Committee Worker's Day is one of the official professional holidays, that is observed in Belarus. This day falls on August 23 and it's celebrated since 1998.

In Iran, National Doctors’ Day is celebrated on the 1st day of the month of Shahrivar, which corresponds to August 23 in the Gregorian calendar. This date was chosen to commemorate the birthday of Avicenna, a famous Persian polymath who made a great contribution to the development of medicine.

Victory over Germany in the Battle of Kursk is one of the days of military honor in Russia. This day annually falls on August 23, that is the last day of the battle.

Ukraine annually celebrates Flag Day on August 23. This is public working holiday, that celebrates the day, when the yellow-and-blue flag was risen at the flagstaff of the Kiev City Council.

European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism is observed in the countries of Europe on August 23. This day commemorates the death of people, who became victims of totalitarian ideologies, especially Stalinism (communism) and Nazism (fascism).

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Fascism and Communism, formerly known as Liberation from Fascist Occupation Day, is observed in Romania on August 23. On this day in 1944, King Michael I led a coup which resulted in the overthrow of Ion Antonescu and his fascist government. Following the coup, Romania joined the Allies.

August 23 is the National Sponge Cake Day. This food holiday is dedicated to one of the simplest and oldest forms of cake which as been around since the 17th century.

August 23 is the perfect day to have a delicious ham and cheese sandwich for lunch because it is National Cuban Sandwich Day. Despite its name and origin, this sandwich is primarily associated with Florida rather than Cuba.

August 23 is an excellent day to plan your next vacation because it is Cheap Flight Day. Although in reality plane tickets aren’t necessarily the cheapest on this day, it’s a great occasion to learn some tips and tricks that will help you save on airfare.

UNESCO designated August 23 to be International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. This day memorializes the transatlantic slave trade that had been exercised for centuries.

 

This Day in History

  • 2011 Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces took control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the 2011 Libyan civil war.
  • 2000 143 passengers of Gulf Air Flight 072 were killed, when the airliner crashed into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain.
  • 1997 Died: John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer. In 1962 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Max Perutz for determining the first atomic structures of proteins using X-ray crystallography.
  • 1996 Osama bin Laden issued a message entitled "A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places" and initiated the first series of bombings and related attacks.
  • 1993 The first known asteroid moon, later named Dactyl, was discovered by the Gelileo spacecraft around the asteroid 243 Ida.
  • 1991 World Wide Wed, WWW, was opened to new users by its inventor and computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee.
  • 1990 West and East Germany made an announcement about reunification, that would take place on October 3, 1990.
  • 1989 Two million people from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania came to streets to a peaceful political demonstration. Holding hands, they formed a chain, that connected three Baltic capitals - Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn.
  • 1982 Died: Stanford Moore, American biochemist and academic, a Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate for work on the structure on the enzyme ribonuclease and for contribution to the understanding of the connection between the chemical structure and catalytic activity of the ribonuclease molecule.
  • 1979 Born: Ritchie Neville, English singer, most noted for being a member of the successful boy band Five. The band was launched by the producers of Spice Girls and achieved world success (mostly in Britain, Asia and Europe).
  • 1974 Born: Konstantin Novoselov, Russian born British physicist and academic. In 2010 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for groundbreaking experiments regarding the material graphene.
  • 1970 Born: River Phoenix, American actor, musician and activist, the older brother of American actor Joaquin Phoenix. He had a promising career, but he died at the age of 23 from an acute drug intoxication.
  • 1966 The first photo of Earth was taken from orbit around the Moon by Lunar Orbiter 1, the first American spacecraft to orbit the Moon.
  • 1946 Born: Keith Moon, English drummer, songwriter, and producer, known as the drummer of the English rock band the Who. He is well known for his drumming technique and the readers of Rolling Stone named him to be the second-greatest drummer in history.
  • 1944 38 children and 23 grownups were killed, when a United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashed into a school in Freckleton, England.
  • 1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, dividing spheres of influence over Eastern Europe. According to the secret addition, The Baltic States, Romania, Finland and Poland were divided between the two nations.
  • 1933 Born: Robert Curl, American chemist and academic. In 1996 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovery of the nanomaterial buckminsterfullerene.
  • 1931 Born: Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978 for discovery of type II restriction enzymes.
  • 1926 Died: Rudolph Valentino, Italian-born American actor, star of several well-known silent films: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle, and The Son of the Sheik. After death at 31 he was propelled into the status of an American sex symbol and icon.
  • 1924 Born: Robert Solow, American economist, known for his work on the theory of economic growth, that culminated in the exogenous growth model, that was named after him. In 1987 he was awarded Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for analysis of economic growth.
  • 1921 Born: Kenneth Arrow, American economist and academic, a prominent figure in post-World War II neo-classical economic theory. In 1972 he was the joint winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics
  • 1912 Born: Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, and dancer, known for his energetic and athletic dancing style. He is remembered for performances in films such as An American in Paris, Anchors Aweigh and Singin' in the Rain.
  • 1892 Died: Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian politician, the first President of the Republic of Brazil. He deposed Emperor Pedro II and proclaimed the Republic in 1889. He served in office till November 1891.
  • 1831 Died: Ferenc Kazinczy, Hungarian author. He is best known for the extensive Language Reform of the 19th century that coined and revived thousands of words. The reform established the modern Hungarian language, that was able to keep up with scientific progress.
  • 1813 Died: Alexander Wilson, Scottish-born American poet, ornithologist, regarded as the greatest American ornithologist of his time. Several species of birds were named after him.
  • 1806 Died: Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist, best known for developing Coulomb's law, defining electrostatic force of attraction and repulsion. The SI unit of electric charge, the coulomb, was named after him.
  • 1769 Born: Georges Cuvier, French biologist and academic, a major figure in natural sciences research in the early 19th century and instrumental in establishing the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology.
  • 1628 Died: George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English politician, claimed by some to the lover of King James I of England. He became one of the characters in Alexandre Duma's The Three Musketeers, where he was painted as a lover of Anne of Austria.
  • 1591 Died: Luis de León, Spanish poet and academic, active during the Spanish Golden Age. His poetry was praised in Spain and he was the source of inspiration to various Neoclassical poets.
  • 1305 Died: William Wallace, Scottish commander, one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served on this position till his death. He was executed by King Edward I of England by hanging, drowning and quartering for high treason and crimes against English civilians.