Skip to main content

Mafia boss John Gotti, aka “Teflon Don,” sentenced to life

Born on This Day

Alan Turing

1912 - 1954

British mathematician and father of modern computer science whose work formed the basis for artificial intelligence.

Bob Fosse

1927 - 1987

Director known for his revolutionary choreographic style showcased in "Sweet Charity," "Chicago," "Cabaret" and "All That Jazz."

Wilma Rudolph

1940 - 1994

Sprinter who became the first American woman to win three track and field gold medals in a single Olympics in 1960.

Alan TuringPictures from History/Universal

Bob FosseNewsday RM via Getty Images

Wilma RudolphBettmann Archive

1868

JUN23

Christopher Latham Sholes patents the QWERTY typewriter, revolutionizing communication. His first version was cobbled together using an old table, a circular piece of glass, a telegraph key and piano wire.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on June 23rd

Gamal Abdel Nasser elected president of Egypt

On June 23, 1956, 99.95 percent of Egyptian voters mark their ballots to elect Gamal Abdel Nasser as the first president of the Republic of Egypt. Nasser, who toppled the Egyptian monarchy in 1952 in a military coup, was the only presidential candidate on the ballot. In the same ballot, Nasser’s new constitution, under which […]

Title IX enacted

On June 23, 1972, Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 is enacted into law. Title IX prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex. It begins: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits […]

Haldeman encourages Nixon, on tape, to thwart FBI inquiry into Watergate

On June 23, 1972, President Richard Nixon’s advisor, H.R. Haldeman, tells the president to put pressure on the head of the FBI to “stay the hell out of this [Watergate burglary investigation] business.” In essence, Haldeman was telling Nixon to obstruct justice, which is one of the articles Congress threatened to impeach Nixon for in […]

Tim Burton’s “Batman” released

On June 23, 1989, Tim Burton’s noir spin on the well-known story of the DC Comics hero Batman is released in theaters. Michael Keaton starred in the film as the multimillionaire Bruce Wayne, who has transformed himself into the crime-fighting Batman after witnessing his parents’ brutal murder as a child. As the film’s action begins, […]

Lorena Bobbitt maims her husband with a kitchen knife

On June 23, 1993 Lorena Bobbitt chops off the penis of her sleeping husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, with a kitchen knife. She flees their home, tossing the severed organ from her car window as she drives away. Bleeding profusely, John had a friend drive him to Prince William Hospital in Manassas, Virginia. Meanwhile, police officers […]

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Wallenda crosses Little Grand Canyon on high wire

On June 23, 2013, 34-year-old aerialist Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to walk a high wire across the Little Colorado River Gorge near Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Wallenda wasn’t wearing a safety harness as he made the quarter-mile traverse on a 2-inch-thick steel cable some 1,500 feet above the gorge. In June […]

Thai soccer team becomes trapped in cave

It started as a fun after-practice excursion. On June 23, 2018, Ekkapol Chantawong, a 25-year-old Thai youth soccer coach, takes his team, the Wild Boars, to explore a cave he’d visited before, intending to stay just about an hour. But when monsoon rains hit while they’re underground and the cave’s entrance floods, the coach and […]

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement