This Day in History
August 9

Copyright © 2006-2024 Ken Polsson
internet e-mail: ken@kpolsson.com
URL: http://kpolsson.com/thisday/
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What happened in history on this day: August 9?

On August 9 in ...

  • 378 - Battle of Adrianople, Visigoth Calvary defeats Roman Army.
  • 1048 - Death of Pope Damasus II, the third German pope, of malaria.
  • 1138 - In Aleppo, Syria, one of the world's most destructive earthquakes occurs, claiming 230,000 deaths.
  • 1573 - Captain Francis Drake returns to Plymouth (left May 1572).
  • 1593 - Birth of Izaak Walton England, biographer/fisherman/writer (Compleat Angler).
  • 1638 - Jonas Bronck of Holland becomes first European settler in the Bronx.
  • 1661 - In China, a meteorite smashes through the roof of a house. No one is injured.
  • 1673 - Dutch recapture New York from English; regained by English in 1674.
  • 1686 - Birth of Benedetto Marcello Venice Italy, composer (Lettera Famigliare).
  • 1776 - Birth of Amedeo Avogadro in Tuin, Italy; 6.022 x 10 ^ 23 (Avogadro's Law).
  • 1786 - First ascent of Mount Blanc.
  • 1825 - Birth of Elisha Ferry; American politician (Governor-Republican-Washington, 1872-80, 1889-93).
  • 1831 - First US steam engine train run (Albany to Schenectady, New York).
  • 1842 - US-Canada border defined by Webster-Ashburton Treaty.
  • 1848 - Barnburners (anti-slavery) party merges with the Free Soil Party, nominating Martin Van Buren for president.
  • 1849 - Hungarian Republic is crushed by Austria and Russia.
  • 1855 - Battle of Acapulco during Mexican Liberal uprising.
  • 1855 - Antonio López de Santa Anna resigns (11th and last time) as President of Mexico.
  • 1861 - Ernest von Rebeur-Paschwitz born in Germany; physicist, made the first known recordings of a distant earthquake.
  • 1862 - Prelude to second Manassas, CSA General Thomas Jackson is victorious at Battle of Cedar Mount, however CSA General Charles S Winder is killed.
  • 1875 - Birth of Albert William Ketèlbey in Aston, England; composer (Wonder Worker).
  • 1876 - Gold is discovered in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory of the USA.
  • 1883 - Birth of George Hoyt; NBA hall of fame referee (elected 1961).
  • 1890 - Great Britain cedes Heligoland to Germany in exchange for protectorate of Witu in Kenya and island of Zanzibar.
  • 1893 - First US bowling magazine, Gut Holz, published in New York.
  • 1896 - Birth of Jean Piaget in Switzerland; pioneer developmental psychologist/zoologist.
  • 1896 - Birth of Leonide Massine; choreographer (Diaghilev Ballet Russe 1914-20).
  • 1896 - Otto Lilenthal is killed during a glider test.
  • 1897 - Birth of Ralph Wyckoff; American pioneer in x-ray crystallography.
  • 1901 - Birth of Charles Farrell in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA; actor (Vern - My Little Margie).
  • 1902 - Birth of Zino Francescatti in Marseilles, France; violinist (New York Philharmonic - 1939).
  • 1902 - Edward VII of England is crowned King.
  • 1905 - Birth of Leo Genn; actor (Affair in Monte Carlo).
  • 1909 - Birth of John Baur; museum director/author (American Paintings in 19th Century).
  • 1911 - Birth of Robert McCormick in Danville, Kentucky, USA; NBC newscaster (Current Opinion).
  • 1911 - Birth of William A Fowler; US astrophysicist (Nobel Prize 1983).
  • 1913 - Birth of Harry Mills; singer (Mills Brothers - "Paper Doll").
  • 1913 - Birth of Herman Talmadge; American politician (Senator-Democrat-Georgia, Watergate Committee).
  • 1919 - Birth of Ralph Houk; baseball manager (New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers).
  • 1921 - Birth of J James Exon; American politician (Senator-Democrat-Nebraska).
  • 1922 - Birth of Philip Larkin in Coventry, England; writer (North Ship, Jill).
  • 1923 - New York State Golf Association formed.
  • 1925 - Only time Babe Ruth is pinch-hit for in baseball; Bobby Veach flies out.
  • 1927 - Birth of Marvin Minsky; Artifical intelligence computer scientist (MIT).
  • 1927 - Birth of Robert Shaw in England; actor (Deep, Jaws, The Sting, Black Sunday, From Russia with Love, Man for All Seasons).
  • 1928 - Birth of Bob Cousy; NBA star, Boston Celtics (1957 Most Valuable Player).
  • 1930 - Betty Boop debuts in Max Fleischer's animated cartoon Dizzy Dishes.
  • 1936 - Jesse Owens wins fourth gold medal of Berlin Olympics.
  • 1938 - Birth of Dick Anthony Williams in Chicago, Illinois, USA; actor (Our Family Honor).
  • 1938 - Birth of Rod Laver in Australia; tennis ace (1962, 1969 Grand Slam).
  • 1939 - Birth of Claude Osteen; baseball pitcher (Cincinnati Reds).
  • 1940 - Birth of Beverlee McKinsey in Oklahoma, USA; actress (Another World, Guiding Light).
  • 1942 - Birth of David Steinberg in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; comedian/director (End).
  • 1942 - British arrest Indian nationalist Mohandas K Gandhi.
  • 1944 - Birth of Sam Elliot in California, USA; actor (Big Chill, Fatal Beauty).
  • 1945 - Birth of Ken Norton; heavyweight boxing champion/TV panelist (Gong Show).
  • 1945 - (1102 hours) An American plane drops a plutonium-atomic bomb over the Urakami suburb of Nagasaki, Japan, off-target by three miles. Estimated dead are 38-70,000.
  • 1946 - First time all major-league baseball games (8) are played at night.
  • 1955 - Birth of Doug Williams in Louisana, USA; NFL quarterback (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins).
  • 1956 - Alabama begins the first US state-wide, state-supported educational TV network.
  • 1956 - South African women demonstrate against pass laws.
  • 1957 - Birth of Melanie Griffith in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Something Wild, Working Girl).
  • 1958 - Birth of Amanda Bearse; actress (Marcy Rhoodes - Married With Children).
  • 1958 - Birth of Greg Chaisson; heavy metal rocker (Badlands - "Dreams in the Dark").
  • 1959 - Birth of Kurtis Blow in New York City, New York, USA; rapper (Krushgroove - "The Breaks").
  • 1960 - Race riot in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
  • 1963 - Birth of Lonnie Quinn in Cheshire Connecticut, USA; actor (Will Cooley - All My Children).
  • 1963 - Birth of Whitney Houston in Newark, New Jersey, USA; singer ("One Moment in Time").
  • 1963 - Britain's rock TV show Ready Steady Go premieres.
  • 1965 - Birth of Kyle Kyle in Kensington, Pennsylvania, USA; rock bassist (Bang Tango-Dancin' on Coals).
  • 1965 - Singapore gains independence from Malaysia.
  • 1966 - Birth of Pat Petersen in Los Angeles, California, USA; actor (Michael - Knots Landing).
  • 1969 - George P Marshall, president of Washington Redskins, dies at age 72.
  • 1969 - Death of Sharon Tate, actress, killed by Charles Manson's gang.
  • 1970 - Peruvian Airlines jet carrying 45 US exchange students explodes.
  • 1971 - Birth of Mary Joe Fernandez in the Dominican Republic; tennis player (US National 16s).
  • 1972 - Bill Berns, commentator (Television Screen Magazine), dies at age 53.
  • 1972 - Birth of Elizabeth Vassey in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; actress (Emily Martin - All My Children).
  • 1972 - Rockwell receives NASA contract to construct the Space Shuttle.
  • 1973 - USSR launches Mars 7.
  • 1974 - US President Richard Nixon resigns presidency, Vice President Gerald Ford becomes 38th president.
  • 1975 - First NFL game in Louisiana Superdome, Houston Oilers beats New Orleans Saints 13-7.
  • 1976 - Pittsburgh Pirates' player John Candelaria no-hits Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0.
  • 1976 - Death of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff in West Berlin, Germany; Expressionist/Cubist artist of the group, Die Brücke.
  • 1976 - USSR launches Luna 24, to the Moon.
  • 1977 - NHL refuses merger of six WHA clubs.
  • 1978 - New York Yankees score five in bottom of 9th to beat Milwaukee Brewers 8-7.
  • 1979 - Allan Frank, actor (Charade Quiz), dies at age 64.
  • 1979 - Raymond Washington, co-founder of the Crips today one of the largest, most gang in the United States, is killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles.
  • 1980 - In Guatemala, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurs.
  • 1981 - Major League Baseball resumes from strike with the 52nd All-Star Game in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. National League beats American League 5-4.
  • 1981 - Six English lifeguards set relay swim record of the English Channel (7:17).
  • 1982 - (to August 21) In Vienna, Austria, the 2nd United Nations Conference on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space is held.
  • 1984 - Daley Thomas of Britain sets the decathlon record (8,847) in Los Angeles, California.
  • 1987 - Nine people die and 17 are injured when 19-year-old Julian Knight goes on a shooting rampage in Melbourne, Australia.
  • 1987 - Los Angeles Rams beat Dallas Cowboys 28-27 in London, England (NFL expo).
  • 1988 - Chicago Cubs beat New York Mets 6-4 in their first official night game at Wrigley Field.
  • 1988 - Edmonton Oilers trade Wayne Gretzky to Los Angeles Kings for $15-$20 million.
  • 1988 - Just one day after 8/8/88 New York lottery's daily number is 888.
  • 1989 - Death of Kathleen Maguire at age 63; actress (One Life to Live).
  • 1989 - The asteroid 4769 Castalia is the first asteroid directly imaged by radar from Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
  • 1990 - Twelve Arab leaders agree to send pan-Arab forces to protect Saudi Arabia.
  • 1992 - Midway Amusement Games releases the Mortal Kombat video game to arcades in the US.
  • 1992 - Games of the XXV Olympiad close in Barcelona, Spain.
  • 1993 - King Albert II of Belgium is sworn into office nine days after the death of his brother, King Baudouin I.
  • 1995 - Death of Jerry Garcia at age 53 of diabetes complications; musician/songwriter (Grateful Dead, Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, Warlocks).
  • 1995 - Shares of Netscape Communications are first made available to the public on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Before trading, shares are priced at US$28. The stock opens at US$71, reaching a high of US$74.75. The market value of the company becomes US$2.2 billion. This is the best opening day for a stock in Wall Street history for an issue of its size.
  • 1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
  • 2000 - Death of John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920).
  • 2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.
  • 2001 - In the Comoros, the "Military Committee" of Major Mohamad Bacar seizes power in the island of Anjouan, that had declared independence. They plan to rejoin the Comoros.
  • 2002 - Death of Peter Matz of lung cancer at age 73; orchestra leader, musical director (Carol Burnett Show TV show, Hullabaloo).
  • 2004 - British football player Lee Hughes, 28, is sentenced to six years in prison and banned from driving for ten years after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving. Hughes also has his contract terminated by his employer West Bromwich Albion.
  • 2004 - Disney's Donald Duck cartoon character receives a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
  • 2004 - Death of Tony Mottola at age 86 after a stroke and double pneumonia; guitarist (studio musician, CBS studio orchestra, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, arranger for Perry Como's TV variety show).
  • 2005 - EA Sports releases the Madden NFL 06 video game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube in the USA.
  • 2005 - Space Shuttle Discovery returns to Edwards Air Force Base at 8:14 AM EDT, completing STS-114, "Return to Flight."
  • 2007 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average loses 387.18 points, its largest single-day drop since February 27.
  • 2007 - Large French bank B.N.P. Paribas suspends withdrawals from three of its mutual funds, due to investments in American subprime securities.
  • 2007 - Death of Joe O'Donnell, American documentary photographer and photojournalist (born 1922).
  • 2008 - American actor/comedian Bernie Mac (The Bernie Mac Show, Ocean's Eleven, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Transformers) dies in a Chicago hospital from complications due to pneumonia, at age 50.
  • 2008 - Death of Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet laureate, at age 67.
  • 2012 - At the American Numismatic Association World's Fair of Money in Philadelphia, Stack's Bowers Galleries auctions the Battle Born Collection of coins. A unique US 1873-CC dime, no arrows, MS-65 PCGS sells for US$1.84 million, record price for a US dime.
  • 2020 - Belarus election, Alexander Lukashenko claims 80 percent win.
  • 2021 - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases the first part of its Sixth Assessment Report, which concludes that the effects of human-caused climate change are now "widespread, rapid, and intensifying".
  • 2021 - Death of Sir Lester Bird, 2nd Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda (born 1938).
  • 2022 - Presidential election in Kenya, won narrowly by William Ruto over Raila Odinga.
  • 2022 - Death of Raymond Briggs at age 88; British writer and illustrator (The Snowman, Fungus the Bogeyman).
  • 2022 - Death of Nicolas Evans at age 72; British author (The Horse Whisperer).
  • 2022 - Death of Lamont Dozier at age 81; songwriter, producer ("Baby Love" song).
  • 2023 - Death of Fernando Villavicencio at age 59 assassinated in Ecuador; politician (presidential candidate).
  • 2023 - Death of Robbie Robertson at age 80 in Los Angeles, California; guitarist, lyricist (The Band group, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" song, "Up on Cripple Creek" song).

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