On January 23, 1556, an earthquake in Shaanxi, China, kills an estimated 830,000 people. Counting casualties is often imprecise after large-scale disasters, especially prior to the 20th century, but this disaster is still considered the deadliest of all time.

John Moses Browning, sometimes referred to as the “father of modern firearms,” is born in Ogden, Utah on January 23, 1855. Many of the guns manufactured by companies whose names evoke the history of the American West—Winchester, Colt, Remington, and Savage—were actually based on John Browning’s designs.

Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American to be elected to the United States Senate on January 23, 1907. His tenure later as Herbert Hoover's vice president made him the highest-ranking Native American ever to serve in the federal government.

Charles A. Lindbergh, a national hero since his nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic, testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Lend-Lease policy-and suggests that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Hitler.

The singer, actor, athlete and activist Paul Robeson dies at the age of 79 on January 23, 1976.

On January 23, 1984, Hulk Hogan becomes the first wrestler to escape the “camel clutch”—the signature move of reigning World Wrestling Federation (WWF) champion Iron Sheik—as he defeats Sheik to win his first WWF title, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Darrell Lunsford, a county constable in Garrison, Texas, is killed after pulling over a traffic violator. His murder was remarkable because it was captured on a camera set up in Lunsford’s patrol vehicle. The videotape evidence led to the conviction of the three men who beat, kicked, and stabbed the officer to death along the East Texas highway.

The day after her unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Madeleine Albright is sworn in as America’s first female secretary of state by Vice President Al Gore at the White House. As head of the U.S. State Department, Albright was the highest ranking female official in U.S. history, a distinction that led some to declare that the “glass ceiling” preventing the ascension of women in government had been lifted.