History of 23 July
1904 – The ice cream cone was invented by Charles E. Menches during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, MO.
1914 – Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb assassin. The dispute led to World War I.
1938 – The first federal game preserve was approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The area was 2,000 acres in Utah.
1945 – The first passenger train observation car was placed in service by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
1952 – Egyptian military officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk I.
1954 – A law was passed that stated “The Secretary of the Navy is authorized to repair, equip, and restore the United States Ship Constitution, as far as may be practicable, to her original appearance, but not for active service, and thereafter to maintain the United States Ship Constitution at Boston, Massachusetts.”
1958 – The submarine Nautilus departed from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, under orders to conduct “Operation Sunshine.” The mission was to be the first vessel to cross the north pole by ship. The Nautils achieved the goal on August 3, 1958.
1962 – The “Telstar” communications satellite sent the first live TV broadcast to Europe.
1972 – Eddie Merckx of Belgium won his fourth consecutive Tour de France bicycling competition.
1972 – The U.S. launched Landsat 1 (ERTS-1). It was the first Earth-resources satellite.
1984 – Miss America, Vanessa Williams, turned in her crown after it had been discovered that nude photos of her had appeared in “Penthouse” magazine. She was the first to resign the title.
1985 – Commodore unveiled the personal computer Amiga 1000.
1986 – Britain’s Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in London. They divorced in 1996.
1998 – U.S. scientists at the University of Hawaii turned out more than 50 “carbon-copy” mice, with a cloning technique.
2000 – Lance Armstrong won his second Tour de France.
2005 – Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people.
2014 – TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashes in Xixi village near Huxi, Penghu, during approach to Phengu Airport. 48 of the 58 people on board are killed and five more people on the ground are injured.
2015 – NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by Kepler.
2016 – Kabul twin bombing occurred in the vicinity of Deh Mazang when protesters, mostly from the Shiite Hazara minority, were marching against route changing of the TUTAP power project. At least 80 people were killed and 260 were injured.
2018 – A wildfire in East Attica caused the death of 102 people. It was the deadliest wildfire in history of Greece and the second-deadliest in the world, in the 21st century, after the 2009 bushfires in Australia that killed 180.
Celebrating Birthday Today
1981 – Dmitriy Karpov, Kazakhstani decathlete
1981 – Aleksandr Kulik, Estonian footballer
1982 – Ömer Aysan Barış, Turkish footballer
1982 – Joe Mather, American baseball player
1983 – Bec Hewitt, Australian actress
1983 – Aaron Piersol, American swimmer
1984 – Walter Gargano, Uruguayan footballer
1984 – Celeste Thorson, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1985 – Luis Ángel Landín, Mexican footballer
1986 – Aya Uchida, Japanese voice actress and singer
1986 – Yelena Sokolova, Russian long jumper
1987 – Alessio Cerci, Italian footballer
1987 – Felipe Dylon, Brazilian singer
1989 – Daniel Radcliffe, English actor
1989 – Donald Young, American tennis player
1990 – Kevin Reynolds, Canadian figure skater
1991 – Lauren Mitchell, Australian gymnast
1991 – Jarrod Wallace, Australian rugby league footballer
1992 – Danny Ings, English footballer
1996 – Alexandra Andresen, Norwegian heiress and equestrian