February 9

February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 325 days remaining until the end of the year (326 in leap years).

Events

Up to 1900

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.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in rebellion.
1788 – The Habsburg Empire joins the Russo-Turkish War on the Russian side.
1796 – Jiaqing takes over from Qianlong as Emperor of China.
1825 – After an indecisive election, the United States House of Representatives declares John Quincy Adams as President of the United States.
1839 – In the Southern Ocean, British whaling captain John Balleny discovers Sturge Island, part of the group of islands now known as the Balleny Islands. His companion Thomas Freeman sets foot on the island.
1849 – The New Roman Republic is created.
1861 – Jefferson Davis is chosen to become President of the Confederate States of America.
1870 – US President Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress, creating the US Weather Bureau.
1889 – US President Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a cabinet–level agency.
1895 – William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which later becomes better known as Volleyball.
1900 – Dwight Filley Davis founds the Davis Cup tennis tournament, which has been named after him.

1901 – 2000

1904 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Port Arthur ends.
1913 – A group of meteors can be seen in the Eastern parts of North America and South America.
1920 – Under the Svalbard Treaty, Norway's governing of the Svalbard archipelago is recognized.
1922 – Brazil joins the Berne Convention Copyright Treaty.
1934 – The Balkan Entente is formed.
1942 – Year–round Daylight Saving Time is re–introduced in the United States.
1943 – World War II: The Allies declare the island of Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces.
1945 – World War II: Battle of the Atlantic – HMS Venturer sinks U-864 off the coast of Fedie, Norway in a rare instance of submarine–to–submarine combat.
1945 – World War II: A force of Allied aircraft unsuccessfully attack a German destroyer in Fordefjorden, Norway.
1950 – Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States State Department of being filled with Communists.
1951 – Korean War: Geochang massacre.
1959 – R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational in Plesetsk, northern Russia, Soviet Union.
1964 – The Beatles appear on the US TV show, the Ed Sullivan Show.
1964 – The Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, end.
1965 – The first US combat troops are sent to Vietnam.
1969 – First test flight of a Boeing 747
1971 – Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing.
1971 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes the San Fernando Valley in California, killing 65 people.
1975 – The Soviet Soyuz 17 spacecraft returns to Earth.
1983 – Prize–winning racehorse Shergar is kidnapped in Ireland and is never seen again.
1986 – Comet Halley passes through Perihelion. It will not do so again until 2061.
1991 – Lithuania votes for independence.
1995 – On the Space Shuttle, Bernard A. Harris, Jr. and Michael Foale become the first African American and first Briton respectively to perform a space walk.
1996 – The Irish Republican Army declares an end to its 18–month ceasefire and explodes a bomb in London's docklands.

From 2001

2001 – American submarine US Greenville accidentally strikes and sinks the Ehime-Maru, a Japanese training vessel operated by the Uwajima Fishery High School, killing 9 crew members.
2006 – The discovery of a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt, is announced.
2014 – In a referendum, slightly over half of voters in Switzerland support limiting immigration from the European Union.
2016 – Two trains collide near Bad Aibling, Bavaria, southern Germany, killing 12 people and injuring up to 100.
2018 – 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang of Republic of Korea (South Korea) begin.
2025 – Declared 'Gulf of America Day' in the United States by President Trump.

Births

Up to 1900

1060 – Pope Honorius II (d. 1130)
1533 – Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese samurai (d. 1611)
1645 – Johann Aegidus Bach, German musician (d. 1716)
1711 – Luis Vicente de Velasco e Isla, Spanish sailor and naval commander (d. 1762)
1737 – Thomas Paine, English–born American intellectual, revolutionary and founding father of the United States (d. 1809)
1748 – Luther Martin, American patriot (d. 1826)
1751 – Antoine Bullant, Czech musician and opera composer (d. 1821)
1763 – Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Baden (d. 1830)
1769 – George W. Campbell, Scottish–born 5th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1848)
1773 – William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (d. 1841)
1775 – Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1856)
1781 – Johann Baptist von Spix, German scientist (d. 1826)
1783 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet (d. 1852)
1789 – Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, German inventor of stenography (d. 1849)
1814 – Samuel J. Tilden, American politician (d. 1886)
1830 – Abd-ul Aziz, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1876)
1834 – Kamehameha IV, King of Hawaii (d. 1863)
1839 – Silas Adams, American lawyer and politician (d. 1896)
1843 – Nathan Goff, American lawyer and politician (d. 1920)
1846 – Wilhelm Maybach, German engineer and entrepreneur (d. 1929)
1853 – Leander Starr Jameson, British–born South African politician (d. 1917)
1856 – Hara Takashi, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1921)
1865 – Erich von Drygalski, German geographer, geophysicist and polar scientist (d. 1949)
1865 – Wilson Bentley, American photographer and scientist (d. 1931)
1879 – Jacques Bainville, French historian and journalist (d. 1936)
1880 – Lipot Fejer, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1989)
1883 – Jules Berry, French actor (d. 1951)
1885 – Alban Berg, Austrian composer (d. 1935)
1887 – Toivo Aro, Finnish diver (d. 1962)
1891 – Pietro Nenni, Italian politician (d. 1980)
1892 – Peggy Wood, American actress (d. 1978)
1893 – Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, Greek lawyer and politician (d. 1987)
1895 – Hermann Brill, German politician (d. 1959)
1896 – Alberto Vargas, Peruvian painter (d. 1962)
1897 – Charles Kingsford Smith, Australian pilot (d. 1935)

1901 – 1950

1902 – Leon M'ba, 1st President of Gabon (d. 1967)
1907 – Truong Chinh, 4th President of Vietnam (d. 1988)
1909 – Robert Velter, French comic artist (d. 1991)
1909 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese–Brazilian actress (d. 1955)
1909 – Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)
1910 – Jacques Monod, French biochemist (d. 1976)
1910 – Elbert N. Carvel, Governor of Delaware (d. 2005)
1912 – Futabayama Sadaji, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1968)
1912 – Ginette Leclerc, French actress (d. 1992)
1914 – Ernest Tubb, American singer (d. 1984)
1920 – Edward Joseph McManus, American politician and jurist (d. 2017)
1922 – Kathryn Grayson, American singer and actress (d. 2010)
1923 – Brendan Behan, Irish writer and activist (d. 1964)
1923 – Tonie Nathan, American political figure (d. 2014)
1925 – Burkhard Heim, German physicist (d. 2001)
1926 – Garret FitzGerald, Irish politician and Taoiseach (d. 2011)
1927 – David Wheeler, British computer scientist
1928 – Frank Frazetta, American artist (d. 2010)
1928 – Herman Pieter de Boer, Dutch writer, poet and journalist (d. 2014)
1928 – Rinus Michels, Dutch footballer and coach (d. 2005)
1928 – Roger Mudd, American journalist
1929 – A. R. Antulay, Indian politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2014)
1931 – Josef Masopust, Czech footballer (d. 2015)
1931 – Thomas Bernhard, Austrian playwright and novelist (d. 1989)
1932 – Gerhard Richter, German artist
1932 – Tatsuro Hirooka, Japanese baseball player and manager
1933 – Arthur A. Neu, American politician (d. 2015)
1936 – Clive Swift, British actor
1936 – Stompin' Tom Connors, Canadian country music singer (d. 2013)
1937 – Hildegard Behrens, German operatic soprano (d. 2009)
1939 – Janet Suzman, South African actress
1940 – J. M. Coetzee, South African–born Australian Nobel Prize–winning writer
1940 – Brian Bennett, British musician (The Shadows)
1940 – Enrique Olivera, Argentine politician (d. 2014)
1941 – Sheila Kuehl, American actress, activist and politician
1942 – Carole King, American singer
1943 – Ryland Davies, Welsh operatic tenor
1943 – Joe Pesci, American actor
1943 – Joseph E. Stiglitz, American economist
1944 – Alice Walker, American writer
1945 – Mia Farrow, American actress
1945 – Yoshinori Ohsumi, Japanese cell biologist
1946 – Jim Webb, United States Senator from Virginia
1947 – Carla Del Ponte, Swiss UN prosecutor
1948 – David Hayman, Scottish actor
1948 – Guy Standing, English economist
1949 – Judith Light, American actress
1949 – Bernard Gallacher, Scottish golfer
1950 – James Luna, American performance artist (d. 2018)

1951 – 1975

1951 – Jay Inslee, 23rd Governor of Washington
1953 – Ciaran Hinds, Northern Irish actor
1954 – Mary Jo Duffy, American comic book writer and editor
1955 – Charles Shaughnessy, British actor
1957 – Terry McAuliffe, 72nd Governor of Virginia
1957 – Ruy Ramos, Brazilian–Japanese footballer
1957 – Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager
1958 – Sandy Lyle, Scottish golfer
1958 – Cyrille Regis, English footballer (d. 2018)
1959 – Ali Bongo Ondimba, 3rd President of Gabon
1960 – Holly Johnson, English singer (Frankie Goes to Hollywood)
1960 – Peggy Whitson, American biochemist and astronaut
1961 – Jussi Lampi, Finnish musician and actor
1963 – Brian Greene, American physicist
1963 – Travis Titt, American singer-songwriter and producer
1965 – Dieter Baumann, German athlete
1965 – Christian Schenk, German athlete
1965 – Igor Malkov, Russian speed skater
1965 – Julie Warner, American actress
1966 – Ellen van Langen, Dutch athlete
1966 – Harald Eia, Norwegian actor and comedian
1968 – Alejandra Guzman, Mexican singer and actress
1970 – Glenn McGrath, Australian cricketer
1971 – Johan Mjallby, Swedish footballer
1972 – Darren Ferguson, Scottish footballer
1973 – Makoto Shinkai, Japanese director, writer, artist and graphic designer
1974 – Amber Valletta, American model and actress
1974 – Jordi Cruyff, Dutch footballer
1974 – Erra Frazira, Malaysian actress and singer

From 1976

1978 – A. J. Buckley, Irish–Canadian actor, director and screenwriter
1979 – Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress
1979 – Akinora Iwamura, Japanese baseball player
1979 – David Gray, British snooker player
1980 – Angelos Charisteas, Greek footballer
1981 – John Walker Lindh, American Taliban fighter
1981 – The Rev, American musician (Avenged Sevenfold) (d. 2009)
1981 – Tom Hiddleston, English actor
1982 – Ami Suzuki, Japanese singer
1984 – Han Geng, Chinese singer, actor and dancer
1985 – David Gallagher, American actor
1986 – Princess Rajyah bint Al Hussein of Jordan
1986 – Stina Lykke Petersen, Danish footballer
1987 – Magdalena Neuner, German biathlete
1987 – Rose Leslie, Scottish actress
1987 – Michael B. Jordan, American actor
1988 – Lotte Friis, Danish swimmer
1989 – Shunta Takahashi, Japanese footballer
1989 – Gia Farrell, American singer
1990 – Camille Winbush, American actress
1992 – Avan Jogia, Canadian actor, singer and dancer
1993 – Parimarjan Negi, Indian chess player
1993 – Wataru Endo, Japanese footballer
1996 – Jimmy Bennett, American actor and singer
1996 – Kelli Berglund, American actress
2001 – Erraid Davies, Scottish swimmer

Deaths

Up to 1900

967 – Sayf al-Dawla, Emir of Aleppo (b. 916)
1011 – Bernard I, Duke of Savoy
1199 – Minamoto no Yoritomo, Japanese shogun (b. 1147)
1450 – Agnes Sorel, mistress to Charles VIII of France (b. 1421)
1555 – John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester
1619 – Lucilio Vanini, Italian philosopher (b. 1585)
1675 – Gerhard Douw, Dutch painter (b. 1613)
1751 – Henri Francois d'Agesseau, Chancellor of France (b. 1668)
1777 – Seth Pomeroy, American gunsmith and soldier (b. 1706)
1782 – Johann Aloysius Assemani, Lebanese orientalist (b. 1710)
1803 – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French poet (b. 1716)
1857 – Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet (b. 1798)
1881 – Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist (b. 1821)
1889 – Peter Lalor, leader of the miners at the Eureka Stockade, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia (b. 1827)
1891 – Johan Barthold Jongkind, Dutch painter (b. 1819)
1894 – Maxime Du Camp, French writer (b. 1822)

1901 – 2000

1905 – Adolph Menzel, German painter (b. 1815)
1906 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American poet (b. 1872)
1930 – Richard With, Norwegian businessman (b. 1846)
1936 – Caroline Furness, American astronomer (b. 1869)
1936 – Jacques Bainville, French historian and journalist (b. 1879)
1942 – Lauri Kristian Relander, 2nd President of Finland (b. 1883)
1948 – Karl Valentin, German comedian, writer and movie producer (b. 1882)
1957 – Miklos Horthy, Hungarian admiral (b. 1868)
1960 – Erno Dohnanyi, Hungarian composer (b. 1877)
1964 – Ary Barroso, Brazilian composer and singer (b. 1903)
1966 – Sophie Tucker, Russian–American actress and singer (b. 1884)
1973 – Max Yasgur, American farmer, owned the site of the Woodstock Festival (b. 1919)
1975 – Pierre Dac, French activist (b. 1893)
1977 – Alia al-Hussein, Queen Consort of Jordan (b. 1948)
1977 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1894)
1979 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian–born British physicist (b. 1900)
1981 – Bill Haley, American musician (Bill Haley & His Comets) (b. 1925)
1984 – Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (b. 1914)
1989 – Osamu Tezuka, Japanese manga artist (b. 1928)
1991 – Daigoro Kondo, Japanese footballer (b. 1907)
1994 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist (b. 1934)
1997 – Barry Evans, British actor (b. 1943)
1998 – Maurice Schumann, French politician (b. 1911)

From 2001

2001 – Herbert Simon, American economist (b. 1916)
2002 – Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom (b. 1930)
2002 – Vicente Sardinero, Spanish baritone (b. 1937)
2005 – Robert Kearns, American engineer (b. 1927)
2007 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (b. 1934)
2007 – Alejandro Finisterre, Spanish inventor of table football (b. 1919)
2009 – Eluana Englaro, Italian patient in right–to–die case (b. 1970)
2010 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American inventor (b. 1920)
2014 – Marius, giraffe controversially put to sleep at Copenhagen Zoo (b. 2012)
2014 – Gabriel Axel, Danish movie director and actor (b. 1918)
2014 – Ranjit Bhatia, Indian runner (b. 1936)
2014 – Serafin R. Cuevas, Filipino lawyer (b. 1928)
2015 – Jorge Sassi, Argentine actor (b. 1950)
2016 – Sushil Koirala, 37th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1939)
2016 – André van den Heuvel, Dutch actor, director and singer (b. 1927)
2016 – Sibghattullah Mojaddedi, President of Afghanistan (b. 1926)
2017 – Serge Baguet, Belgian cyclist (b. 1969)
2017 – Packy, American–held elephant (b. 1962)
2017 – André Salvat, French colonel (b. 1920)
2017 – Radu Gabrea, Romanian film director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
2018 – Johann Johannsson, Icelandic film score composer (b. 1969)
2018 – Reg E. Cathey, American actor (b. 1958)
2018 – Jim Garrett, American football player (b. 1930)
2018 – Alfonso Lacadena, Spanish academic (b. 1964)
2018 – Craig MacGregor, American musician (b. 1949)
2018 – Liam Miller, Irish footballer (b. 1981)
2018 – Wally Moon, American baseball player (b. 1930)
2018 – Anne Treisman, English–American psychologist (b. 1935)

Holidays and Observances

St. Maroun's Day (Lebanon)