February 9
is the 40th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 325 days remaining, 326 in
leap years.
*
474 -
Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the
Byzantine Empire.
*
1555 -
Bishop of
Gloucester John Hooper is
burned at the stake.
*
1621 -
Gregory XV becomes
Pope, the last Pope
elected by
acclamation.
*
1775 -
American Revolutionary War:
British Parliament declares
Massachusetts in rebellion.
*
1788 - The
Habsburg Empire joins the
Russo-Turkish War in the
Russian camp.
*
1822 -
Haiti invades the
Dominican Republic.
*
1825 - After no presidential candidate received a majority of
electoral votes, the
United States House of Representatives elects
John Quincy Adams President of the United States.
*
1861 -
American Civil War:
Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the
Confederate States of America by the
Confederate convention at
Montgomery, Alabama.
*
1870 - The
U.S. Weather Bureau was established.
*
1885 - The first
Japanese arrive in
Hawaii.
*
1889 - The
United States Department of Agriculture (
USDA) is established as a
Cabinet-level agency.
*
1895 -
William G. Morgan invents
volleyball.
*
1900 -
Davis Cup competition is established.
*
1904 -
Battle of Port Arthur*
1920 - By the terms of the
Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes
Norwegian sovereignty over arctic archipelago
Svalbard, and designates it as
demilitarized.
*
1922 -
Brazil becomes a member of the
Berne Convention copyright treaty.
*
1934 - The
Balkan Entente is formed.
*
1942 -
World War II: Top
United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss
American military strategy in the war.
* 1942 -
Daylight saving time goes into effect in the
United States.
*
1943 -
World War II:
Allied authorities declare
Guadalcanal secure after
Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the
Battle of Guadalcanal.
*
1950 -
Red scare:
Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the
United States State Department of being filled with
Communists.
*
1960 -
Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
*
1962 -
Jamaica becomes independent nation within the
Commonwealth of Nations.
*
1964 -
Olympic Games:
Winter Olympic Games -
The IX Olympic Winter Games close in
Innsbruck,
Austria.
*1964 -
The Beatles make their first appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a "record-busting" audience of 73 million viewers.
*
1965 -
Vietnam War: The first
United States combat troops are sent to
South Vietnam.
*
1969 - First test flight of the
Boeing 747.
*
1971 - The 6.4 on the
Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the
San Fernando Valley area of
California.
* 1971 -
Satchel Paige becomes the first
Negro League player to become voted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame.
* 1971 -
Apollo program:
Apollo 14 returns to
Earth after the third manned
moon landing.
*
1973 -
Biju Patnaik of the
Pragati Legislature Party elected leader of opposition in the state assembly in
Orissa,
India.
*
1975 - The
Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to
Earth.
*
1986 -
Comet Halley reaches
perihelion, its closest approach to the
sun, during its second visit to the
solar system in the
20th century.
*
1991 - Voters in
Lithuania vote for independence.
*
1994 - Peace plan for
Bosnia and Herzegovina announced (so called
Vance-Owen peace plan).
*
1996 - The
Irish Republican Army declares the end of its 18 month
ceasefire shortly followed by a large bomb in
London's
Canary Wharf.
*
2001 - The
American submarine
USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks the
Ehime-Maru, a
Japanese training vessel operated by the
Uwajima Fishery High School.
*
1404 -
Constantine XI, last
Byzantine Emperor (d.
1453)
*
1533 -
Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese samurai (d.
1611)
*
1666 -
George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (d.
1737)
*
1748 -
Luther Martin, American patriot (d.
1826)
*
1773 -
William Henry Harrison,
President of the United States (d.
1841)
*
1783 -
Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet (d.
1852)
*
1800 -
Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (d.
1844)
*
1830 -
Abd-ul-Aziz,
Ottoman Sultan (d.
1876)
*
1834 -
Felix Dahn, German author (d.
1912)
*
1846 -
Wilhelm Maybach, German automotive designer (d.
1929)
*
1865 -
Mrs. Patrick Campbell, British actress (d.
1940)
*
1874 -
Amy Lowell, American poet (d.
1925)
*
1885 -
Alban Berg, Austrian composer (d.
1935)
*
1891 -
Ronald Colman, English actor (d.
1958)
*
1892 -
Peggy Wood, American actress (d.
1978)
*
1895 -
Hermann Brill, German politician (d.
1959)
*
1897 -
Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, Australian pilot (d.
1935)
*
1901 -
Brian Donlevy, Irish actor (d.
1972)
* 1901 -
James Murray, American actor (d.
1936)
*
1902 -
Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German women's leader (d.
1999)
*
1909 -
Heather Angel, British actress (d.
1986)
* 1909 -
Carmen Miranda, Portuguese actress (d.
1955)
* 1909 -
Dean Rusk,
United States Secretary of State (d.
1994)
*
1910 -
Jacques Monod, French biochemist,
Nobel laureate (d.
1976)
*
1914 -
Gypsy Rose Lee, American dancer (d.
1970)
* 1914 -
Ernest Tubb, American singer (d.
1984)
* 1914 -
Bill Veeck, American baseball executive (d.
1986)
*
1916 -
Tex Hughson, American baseball player (d.
1993)
*
1922 -
Kathryn Grayson, American actress
*
1923 -
Brendan Behan, Irish author (d.
1964)
*
1925 -
Burkhard Heim, German physicist (d.
2001)
*
1926 -
Garret FitzGerald, seventh
Taoiseach of the
Republic of Ireland*
1928 -
Frank Frazetta, American illustrator
* 1928 -
Roger Mudd, American journalist
*
1930 -
Garner Ted Armstrong, American evangelist (d.
2003)
*
1932 -
Gerhard Richter, German painter
*
1936 -
Clive Swift, British actor
*
1939 -
Barry Mann, American singer
* 1939 -
Janet Suzman, South African actress
*
1940 -
J. M. Coetzee, South African author,
Nobel laureate*
1941 -
Sheila Kuehl, American actress
*
1942 -
Carole King, American singer
*
1943 -
Joe Pesci, American actor
* 1943 -
Joseph E. Stiglitz, American economist,
Nobel laureate*
1944 -
Alice Walker, American writer
* 1944 -
Derryn Hinch, Australian media personality
*
1945 -
Mia Farrow, American actress
*
1946 -
Séan Neeson, Northern Irish politician
*
1947 -
Carla Del Ponte, Swiss UN prosecutor
*
1949 -
Judith Light, American actress
* 1949 -
Jim Sheridan, Irish film director
*
1952 -
Mookie Wilson, American baseball player
*
1953 -
Ciarán Hinds, Northern Irish actor
*
1955 -
JM J. Bullock, American actor
* 1955 -
Charles Shaughnessy, British actor
*
1960 -
Holly Johnson, British singer (
Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
*
1961 -
John Kruk, American baseball player
*
1963 -
Brian Greene, American physicist
* 1963 -
Travis Tritt, American singer
*
1966 -
Ellen van Langen, Dutch athlete
*
1967 -
Todd Pratt, American baseball player
*
1969 -
Jimmy Smith, American football player
*
1970 -
Glenn McGrath, Australian cricketer
*
1971 -
Sharon Case, American actress
* 1971 -
Johan Mjällby, Swedish footballer
*
1973 -
Svetlana Boginskaya, Soviet gymnast
*
1974 -
Amber Valletta, American model
*
1974 -
Charlie Day, American actor
*
1976 -
Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican baseball player
*
1979 -
David Gray, English snooker player
* 1979 -
Irina Slutskaya, Russian figure skater
* 1979 -
Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress
*
1980 -
Shelly Martinez, American wrestler
*
1981 -
John Walker Lindh, American Taliban fighter
*
1982 -
Ami Suzuki, Japanese singer
*
1985 -
David Gallagher, American actor
*
1996 -
Jimmy Bennett, American actor
*
1199 -
Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shogun (b.
1147)
*
1450 -
Agnès Sorel, mistress of King
Charles VII of France (b.
1421)
*
1555 -
Rowland Taylor, English pastor (executed) (b.
1510)
*
1619 -
Lucilio Vanini, Italian philosopher (b.
1585)
*
1640 -
Murad IV,
Ottoman Sultan (b.
1612)
*
1675 -
Gerhard Douw, Dutch painter (b.
1613)
*
1709 -
François Louis, Prince of Conti, French general (b.
1664)
*
1751 -
Henri François d'Aguesseau, Chancellor of France (b.
1668)
*
1752 -
Fredric Hasselquist, Swedish naturalist (b.
1722)
*
1777 -
Seth Pomeroy, American gunsmith and soldier (b.
1706)
*
1782 -
Joseph Aloysius Assemani, Syrian orientalist (b.
1710)
*
1803 -
Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French poet (b.
1716)
*
1881 -
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist (b.
1821)
*
1891 -
Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (b.
1819)
*
1906 -
Paul Laurence Dunbar, American poet (b.
1872)
*
1940 -
Eugene Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist (b.
1857)
*
1951 -
Eddy Duchin, American musician (b.
1910)
*
1957 -
Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral (b.
1868)
*
1960 -
Alexandre Benois, Russian artist (b.
1870)
*
1966 -
Sophie Tucker, Russian-born actress (b.
1884)
*
1969 -
Gabby Hayes, American actor (b.
1885)
*
1976 -
Percy Faith, Canadian musician (b.
1908)
*
1978 -
Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist (b.
1893)
*
1979 -
Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist,
Nobel laureate (b.
1900)
*
1981 -
Bill Haley, American musician (
Bill Haley and the Comets) (b.
1925)
*
1984 -
Yuri Andropov, Soviet politician (b.
1914)
*
1989 -
Osamu Tezuka, Japanese manga artist (b.
1928)
*
1994 -
Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist,
Nobel laureate (b.
1934)
*
1995 -
J. William Fulbright, American politician (b.
1905)
*
1999 -
Bryan Mosley, British actor (b.
1931)
*
2001 -
Herbert Simon, American economist,
Nobel laureate (b.
1916)
*
2002 -
Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom (b.
1930)
*
2006 -
Freddie Laker, British airline entrepreneur (b.
1922)
*
Saint Ansbert of Rouen*
Saint Maroon's Day -
Lebanon*
Saint Apollonia, patron saint of
dentists and
dental technicians
*
On this day in Canada*
NY Times: On this day*
BBC: On This DayFebruary 8 -
February 10 -
January 9 -
March 9 --
listing of all days
