Anniversaries 23 February

Birth

Samuel Pepys16

English naval administrator and member of parliament 1633–1703

George Frideric Handel12

German, later British Baroque composer 1685–1759

Josiah Quincy II1

American lawyer 1744–1775

Ichabod Spencer16

American minister 1798–1854

George Frederick Watts1

British painter and sculptor 1817–1904

Hendrik Willem Mesdag10

painter from the Northern Netherlands 1831–1915

John Heyl Vincent9

American theologian 1832–1920

Carl Menger6

founder of the Austrian School of economics 1840–1921

George Ballard Mathews6

British mathematician 1861–1922

W.E.B. Du Bois62

American sociologist, historian, activist and writer 1868–1963

Digby Jephson1

English cricketer 1871–1926

Kazimir Malevich31

Russian and Soviet artist of polish descent 1879–1935

Karl Jaspers44

German psychiatrist and philosopher 1883–1969

Vittore Pisani1

Italian linguist 1899–1990

Erich Kästner1

German children's writer 1899–1974

Julius Fučík (journalist)2

Czech journalist and revolutionary 1903–1943

Helen Nearing7

American writer 1904–1995

William L. Shirer35

American journalist 1904–1993

Paul Tibbets1

United States Air Force pilot 1915–2007

Allan McLeod Cormack1

American physicist 1924–1998

Robert N. Bellah4

American sociologist 1927–2013

Goro Shimura2

Japanese mathematician 1930–2019

Alan Ford (actor)1

English actor 1938

David Fasold1

American sailor 1939–1998

Bernard Cornwell175

British writer 1944

Allan Boesak6

South African anti-apartheid activist 1946

Mark Nepo16

American writer 1951

Walter Wick3

American photographer and creator of children's books 1953

Viktor Yushchenko1

Ukrainian politician who was President of Ukraine 1954

Naruhito5

Emperor of Japan since 2019 1960

Michael Dell7

Businessman, CEO 1965

Sonya Hartnett4

Australian writer 1968

Lorne Balfe1

British composer 1976

Mirco Bergamasco2

Italian rugby union player 1983

Aziz Ansari2

American actor and stand-up comedian 1983

Death

Polycarp2

Christian bishop of Smyrna 69–155

Thomas Goodwin1

English clergyman 1600–1680

Owen Feltham5

English writer 1602–1668

Stanisław Leszczyński10

king of Poland 1677–1766

Joseph Warton2

English literary critic 1722–1800

Joshua Reynolds22

English painter, specialising in portraits 1723–1792

John Philip Kemble2

British actor-manager 1757–1823

Joanna Baillie10

Scottish poet and dramatist 1762–1851

John Quincy Adams52

American politician, 6th president of the United States (in… 1767–1848

Carl Friedrich Gauss50

German mathematician and physical scientist 1777–1855

John Keats211

English Romantic poet 1795–1821

Zygmunt Krasiński3

One of Poland's three national bards 1812–1859

Duncan Gregory4

British mathematician 1813–1844

David Law Proudfit2

American writer 1842–1897

Edward Elgar9

English composer 1857–1934

Ernest Dowson5

English writer 1867–1900

Paul Claudel6

French diplomat 1868–1955

Stefan Zweig106

Austrian writer 1881–1942

Tomoyuki Yamashita5

general in the Imperial Japanese Army 1885–1946

L. S. Lowry12

British visual artist 1887–1976

Fannie Hurst9

novelist 1889–1968

Leonard D. White18

American historian 1891–1958

Norman Hunter2

author 1899–1995

Muhammad Asad35

Austro-Hungarian writer and academic 1900–1992

Jessamyn West6

American author 1902–1984

Robert K. Merton11

American sociologist 1910–2003

James Herriot11

veterinary surgeon and writer 1916–1995

Douglas Fraser2

American labor leader 1916–2008

Гершон Легман1

1917–1999

José Napoleón Duarte2

President of El Salvador 1925–1990

Rana Bhagwandas2

Pakistani judge 1942–2015

Janez Drnovšek1

Slovenian politician 1950–2008

Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut1

Dutch computer scientist 1953–1994