Year 1839
The word OK first used in the Boston Morning Post.
MARCH 23
Daily Historical Chronicle
UPSC CSE • State PSC • SSC CGL Matrix
23 March: What Happened On This Day in History
Curated historical timeline of momentous political pacts, freedom struggle uprisings, constitutional developments, scientific breakthroughs, and prominent birthdays recorded on 23 March.
Observances & Special Days
World Tuberculosis Day: This day is celebrated to commemorate the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch discovered the TB bacillus.
Martyrs Memorial Day: on the death anniversary of Bhagat Singh in 1931
Pakistan Resolution Day, also known as Republic Day or just Pakistan Day
Year 1857
The first elevator opened in New York City.
Year 1919
Benito Mussolini started the fascist movement in Milan, Italy.
Year 1931
Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev executed.
Year 1940
A resolution for the creation of a fully independent Pakistan passed at a convention of the Muslim League in Lahore.
Year 1956
Pakistan became the world’s first Islamic republic.
Year 1980
Prakash Padukone became the first Indian to win the All England Badminton Championship.
Year 1998
Actor Dilip Kumar awarded Nishan-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s highest civilian honor.
Year 1999
Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and Lata Mangeshkar were honored with Padma Vibhushan.
Year 1999
Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and actress Sulochana were awarded the Padma Shri.
Year 2001
Russia’s Mir space station crashed.
Born 1699
John Bartram, an early American botanist.
Born 1749
Pierre-Simon Laplace, a French mathematician.
Born 1855
Kottarathil Sankunni, an Indian writer of Malayalam literature.
Born 1880
Basanti Devi, an Indian independence activist.
Born 1881
Hermann Staudinger, a German organic chemist.
Born 1883
M. Govinda Pai, a Kannada poet.
Born 1893
Gopalswamy Doraiswamy Naidu, Indian engineer and businessman (d. 1974)
Born 1898
Nalini Bala Devi, an Indian writer, and poet of Assamese literature.
Born 1901
Bon Maharaja, Indian guru and religious writer (d. 1982)
Born 1910
Ram Manohar Lohia, an activist in the Indian independence movement and a socialist political leader.
Born 1923
Hemu Kalani, a Sindhi revolutionary and freedom fighter.
Born 1926
Ravindra Pinge, a Marathi writer
Born 1929
Govind Swarup, a radio astronomer.
Born 1931
Viktor Korchnoi, was a Soviet (until 1976) and Swiss (since 1994) chess grandmaster and writer
Born 1953
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is an Indian entrepreneur. She is the chairman and managing director of Biocon Limited, a biotechnology company based in Bangalore (Bengaluru), India
Born 1968
Meka Srikanth, an Indian film actor.
Born 1976
Smriti Irani, an Indian politician, former model, television actress, and producer.
Born 1987
Kangana Ranaut, an Indian actress, and filmmaker.
Died 1927
Lala VC, an Indian recipient of the Victoria Cross.
Died 1931
Bhagat Singh, Shivram Rajguru, and Sukhdev Thapar, Indian revolutionaries.
Died 1938
Maharaja Sir Bhupinder Singh, Maharaja of Patiala, and former Indian cricketer.
Died 1991
Parkash Singh, Indian soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1913)
Died 2011
Elizabeth Taylor, an English-American actress.