Major Events
- Feb 6 Powerful earthquakes strike Turkey and Syria, first 7.8 magnitude at 4.15am 23 kilometers east of Nurdagi, second 7.5 magnitude at 1:24pm with many strong aftershocks causing buildings to collapse. Death toll 59,000 in Turkey, 8,000 Syria [1]
- Mar 30 Key figures in Artificial Intelligence including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak sign open letter warning the race to develop AI systems is out of control, asking for suspension for at least six months [1] [2]
- Apr 12 Ghana is the first country to approve a new vaccine for Malaria, the Mosquirix– RTS,S, made at Oxford University. The first time a major new vaccine is first approved in Africa. [1]
- Apr 24 India surpasses China as the worlds most populous country according to UN estimates, with 1,425,775,850 people (estimated to reach 1.7 billion by 2064) [1]
- Jun 4 Ukrainian counteroffensive begins with increased fighting in the east and south of the country [1]
- Jun 30 US Supreme Court rules 6-3 against the Biden administration's student debt forgiveness plan for 40 million students, saying the president overstepped his authority [1]
- Jul 18 Wildfire season in British Columbia becomes the most destructive on record, burning 14,100 square kilometers of land, with 390 fires still alight (surpassing 2018 record) [1]
- Aug 1 Former US President Donald Trump is indicted on charges of conspiring to defraud the country and prevent the peaceful transfer of power by special counsel Jack Smith [1]
- Oct 4 Kevin McCarthy becomes first speaker of the US House of Representatives to be voted out by fellow Republican hard-liners, led by Matt Gaetz [1]
- Oct 7 Hamas launches a major air and ground attack on Israel from Gaza, killing over a thousand people and taking hundreds of hostages, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare "We are at war." [1]
- More 2023 Events
2023 in Film & TV
- May 2 Writers Guild of America votes to begin striking over pay and industry changes, bringing television production to a halt [1]
- Jul 9 Fantasy comedy film "Barbie", starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and directed by Greta Gerwig premieres at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles
- Nov 29 Taylor Swift is Spotify's most-streamed global artist of the year with 26.1 billion streams, with Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” the most-streamed song [1]
2023 in Music
- May 9 George Harrison's "Here Comes The Sun" becomes 1st Beatles song to register a billion streams on Spotify, it is also the oldest song to do so
2023 in Sport
- Feb 1 At age 45, Tom Brady, regarded as the greatest NFL quarterback of all time, announces his re-retirement after a 23 year career and a record 7 Super Bowl titles with the NE Patriots and TB Buccaneers
- Jun 6 In a stunning development, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf League agree to unify to create its own for-profit entity to be run by the PGA Tour and funded by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund
- Oct 6 American Simone Biles wins all-round gold at the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, - becoming the most decorated gymnast ever with 34 world and Olympic medals [1]
Did You Know?Born in 2023
- Jul 31 Rare spotless giraffe, only known one in the world, born at Brights Zoo, Limehouse, Tennessee [1]
Fun Fact About 2023
Water pumped from underground reservoirs has shifted earth's axis at the North Pole by 4.36 cm a year, with over 2 trillion tons of water extracted 1993-2010
Robert Hanssen
Ted Kaczynski
Yevgeny Prigozhin
Frank Borman
Henry Kissinger
Sandra Day O'Connor
Raquel Welch
Harry Belafonte
Jim Brown
Paul Reubens
Bob Barker
Matthew Perry
Lisa Marie Presley
Gordon Lightfoot
Tony Bennett
Sinead O'Connor
Joe Pepitone
Luis Suárez Miramontes
Brooks Robinson
Betsy Rawls
Cale YarboroughMore 2023 Deaths
Famous Weddings in 2023
- Jan 20 Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin marries his longtime love Anca Faur on his 93rd birthday [1]
- Apr 22 American Olympic gymnast Simone Biles (26) weds American NFL football player Jonathan Owens (27) in Houston, Texas
- Jun 1 Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein (28) marries Saudi architect Rajwa Alseif (29) at Zahran Palace in Amman attended by world leaders [1]
Famous Divorces in 2023
- Aug 16 Sam Asghari files for divorce from singer Britney Spears after 14 months of marriage [1]
- Sep 15 Actors Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness announce they are separating after 27 years of marriage [1]
- Sep 19 Actor Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner settle their divorce after an acrimonious legal battle [1]
More 2023 Weddings
Brendan Fraser
Deion Sanders
Harry Styles
Lionel Messi
Michelle Yeoh
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Taylor Swift
Emmanuel Macron
Joe Biden
Narendra Modi
Rishi Sunak
Vladimir Putin
Xi Jinping