November 23 birthdays & history

Famous people born on November 23

• 1992Miley Cyrus, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1962Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan union leader and politician, President of Venezuela
• 1837Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Dutch physicist and thermodynamicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1926Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philosopher
• 1920Paul Celan, Romanian-French poet and translator
• 1933Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer and conductor
• 1966Vincent Cassel, French actor and producer
• 1887Boris Karloff, English actor
• 1760François-Noël Babeuf, French journalist and activist
• 1941Franco Nero, Italian actor and producer

What happened on November 23

• 1921Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States, signs the Willis–Campbell Act into law, prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.
• 1924The New York Times published evidence from Edwin Hubble stating that the Andromeda Nebula, previously believed to be part of the Milky Way, is in fact another galaxy.
• 1955The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to that of Australia.
• 1959French President Charles de Gaulle declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals".
• 1963The first episode of Doctor Who, the world's longest-running science fiction television show, was broadcast on BBC television, starring William Hartnell as the first incarnation of the title role.
• 1971Representatives of the People's Republic of China attend the United Nations, including the United Nations Security Council, for the first time.
• 1972The Soviet Union makes its final attempt at launching the N1 rocket.
• 1976Jacques Mayol became the first person to freedive to a depth of 100 metres (330 ft).
• 1978The Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 goes into effect, realigning many of Europe's longwave and mediumwave broadcasting frequencies.
• 1992The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• 2001The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest, Hungary.
• 2002Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-113 to the International Space Station carrying the Expedition 6 crew and the P1 truss.

Also observed on November 23

• Labor Thanksgiving Day (Japan)
• Repudiation Day (Frederick County, Maryland, United States)
• St George's Day (Georgia) or Giorgoba (Georgia)