April 23 in history — On This Day

A photograph taken after the 1871 fire can make Chicago look as though its future had been decided by a wall of flame. A view from around 1905 tells a different story: tall offices, busy transport routes and commercial streets crowded again.

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The first video is uploaded to YouTube

Also on April 23

The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 1

Manuel Roxas wins the Philippine presidential election

The Peace of Oliva settles northern European disputes

Royal forces defeat the Comuneros at Villalar

This Week in History

Starship makes its first integrated flight test

Endeavour carries Canadarm2 to the space station

An early fiber-optic telephone system carries live calls

South Vietnamese troops withdraw from Xuân Lộc

AI History Recreations

Politics

Manuel Roxas wins the Philippine presidential election

War & Conflict

Royal forces defeat the Comuneros at Villalar

Space

The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 1

Technology

The first video is uploaded to YouTube

History

The Surgeon’s Photograph of Loch Ness is published

The Luttra Woman is found in a Swedish bog

Barbie is introduced at a New York toy fair

Crime & Justice

A school shooting takes place in Belgrade

A gunman attacks residents of Velika Ivanča

A shooting hits a shopping center in Alphen aan den Rijn

Science

Stones fall from the sky near L’Aigle

Astronomers unveil the first image of a black hole

A criticality accident exposes Louis Slotin to radiation

Medicine & Health

A French team reports isolating a virus later named HIV

The Bundaberg vaccine contamination disaster unfolds

Researchers identify the bacterium behind Legionnaires’ disease

Nature & Disasters

A solar halo over Stockholm inspires a famous city view

Market Street Before and After the 1906 Earthquake

A Rachel Carson sculpture is dedicated in Woods Hole

Exploration

Soviet scientists establish North Pole-1 on drifting ice

La Salle is killed by members of his own expedition

Amundsen's Team Reaches the South Pole

Sport

The Montreal Canadiens Are Founded

FC Barcelona Is Founded

Mike Tyson Becomes the Youngest Heavyweight Titleholder

Art & Literature

Stephen King’s Carrie is published

Farmers uncover the Terracotta Army near Xi’an

The Ninth Street Show opens in New York

Music

Stravinsky’s Orpheus premieres in New York

Handel’s Serse opens in London

Handel’s Messiah premieres in Dublin

Film & TV

My Neighbor Totoro opens in Japan

Sidney Poitier wins the Best Actor Oscar

My Fair Lady wins the Academy Award for Best Picture

The Story Behind the Photo

Chicago After the Fire: From Burned Blocks to a New Skyline

Collections

The Road to the Moon

Fires That Changed Cities

The Age of Invention

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