March 9

2024 Calendar

March 9 is the 68th day of the year (69th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 297 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

141 BC – Liu Che, known after his death as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne of the Han Dynasty in China.
1009 – Lithuania is mentioned in the annals of Quedlinburg.
1230 – Ivar Asen II of Bulgaria defeats Theodore Epirus in the Battle of Klokonitsa.
1276 – Augsburg becomes an Imperial Free City.
1500 – The fleet of Pedro Alvares Cabral leaves Lisbon. It intends to reach Calicut, India, but gets to present–day Brazil instead.
1566 – David Rizzio, private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, is murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
1741 – War of Jenkins' Ear: British forces lay siege to Cartagena in present–day Colombia.
1781 – American War of Independence: The Spanish Infanteria de Marina under command of Bernardo de Galvez y Madrid occupy Pensacola, Florida. The Battle of Pensacola lasts until May 8.
1796 – Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de Beauharnais.
1811 – Paraguayan forces defeat Manuel Belgrano at the Battle of Taguari.
1842 – Gold is discovered at Rancho San Francisco, California.
1842 – The opera Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi has its first performance in Milan.
1847 – Mexican-American War: The first large amphibious (in–water) assault in US history begins in Veracruz, Mexico.
1848 – The Bundestag in Frankfurt declares black, red and gold as the official German national colours.
1862 – American Civil War: The USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fight to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads in the first battle between two iron–clad warships.
1888 – Wilhelm I of Germany dies. Friedrich III of Germany becomes Kaiser, but dies only 99 days later due to laryngeal cancer.
1896 – Italian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi resigns.

1901 – 2000

1902 – The Italian football club Vicenza Calcio is founded.
1908 – In Italy, Inter Milan football club is founded by angry members of the Milan Cricket and Football Club, which only allows Italian nationals to participate.
1908 – A five–man team reaches the top of Mount Erebus in Antarctica.
1916 – Pancho Villa leads nearly 500 Mexican raiders in an attack on Columbus, New Mexico.
1933 – Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to the United States Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.
1944 – World War II: Soviet Air Forces conduct a heavy bombing of Tallinn, Estonia, killing up to 800 people, mostly civilians.
1945 – World War II: The bombing of Tokyo by US forces begins.
1946 – Bolton Wanderers stadium disaster in Burnden Park, Bolton, northwest England, kills 33 people.
1954 – CBS programme See It Now, reporting on Senator Joseph McCarthy, is broadcast, contributing to the end of the McCarthy Era.
1956 – The Soviet military suppresses mass demonstrations in Georgia, which was part of the Soviet Union at the time.
1957 – A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Andreanof Islands off Alaska, and triggers a Pacific–wide tsunami.
1959 – The first Barbie dolls are sold.
1960 – Dr. Belding Hibbard Scribner first implants a shunt he invented, into a patient.
1961 – Sputnik 9 successfully launches.
1967 – Trans World Airlines Flight 553, a Douglas DC–9–15 aircraft, crashes into Concord Township, Ohio, following a collision with a Beechcraft Baron aircraft, killing 26 people.
1976 – 42 people die in the Cavalese cable car disaster.
1977 – Hanafi Siege: In a 39–hour stand–off, armed Hanafi Muslims seize three Washington, DC buildings, killing 2 people and taking 149 hostage.
1984 – Tim Witherspoon wins the Heavyweight Boxing Title, defeating Greg Page in Las Vegas, on points.
1987 – U2 album The Joshua Tree is released.
1989 – Eastern Air Lines files for bankruptcy.
1990 – Antonia Novello becomes the first female, and first Hispanic American, to become Surgeon General of the United States.
1991 – A massive demonstration against Slobodan Milosevic is held in Belgrade.
1997 – Comet Hale–Bopp is seen during the day in China, Mongolia and Siberia, as an eclipse also occurs.

From 2001

2004 – John Allen Muhammad is sentenced to death for the Beltway sniper attacks.
2006 – NASA announces the possibility of water existing on Saturn's moon Enceladus.
2010 – The first same-sex marriages in Washington, DC are held.
2011 – The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched for the last time.
2011 – Enda Kenny becomes Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, succeeding Brian Cowen.
2015 – Villa Castelli helicopter crash: Two helicopters involved in a French Reality TV programme collide over western Argentina, killing 10 people, including 3 of France's most famous sportspeople.
2016 – A solar eclipse is seen over Eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Totality is mainly seen over Indonesia and parts of the Western Pacific.
2018 – The 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, begin.

Births

Up to 1900

1213 – Hugh II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1271)
1285 – Emperor Go-Nijo of Japan (d. 1318)
1454 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer and cartographer (d. 1512)
1564 – David Fabricius, German astronomer (d. 1617)
1568 – Aloysius Gonzaga, Italian saint (d. 1591)
1629 – Tsar Alexis I of Russia (d. 1676)
1695 – Martin Sarmiento, Spanish writer and scholar (d. 1772)
1697 – Friederike Caroline Neuber, German actress (d. 1760)
1727 – Johann Gottlieb Preller, German cantor, composer and land surveyor (d. 1786)
1737 – Josef Muslivecek, Czech composer (d. 1781)
1749 – Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, French writer and politician (d. 1791)
1753 – Jean-Baptiste Kléber, French general (d. 1800)
1758 – Franz Joseph Gall, German neuroscientist (d. 1828)
1763 – William Cobbett, English writer (d. 1835)
1814 – Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet (d. 1861)
1824 – Amasa Leland Stanford, American businessman and politician (d. 1893)
1847 – Martin Pierre Marsick, Belgian violinist (d. 1924)
1856 – Eddie Foy, American singer and actor (d. 1928)
1856 – Tom Roberts, Australian artist (d. 1931)
1856 – Edward Goodrich Acheson, American chemist and technician (d. 1931)
1877 – Stuart Stickney, American golfer (d. 1932)
1881 – Ernest Bevin, British politician and trade unionist (d. 1951)
1882 – Arthur Beecher Carles, American painter (d. 1952)
1883 – Umberto Saba, Italian poet and writer (d. 1957)
1884 – Johan Salonen, Finnish wrestler (d. 1938)
1886 – Kenneth Edwards, American golfer (d. 1952)
1887 – Fritz Lenz, German geneticist and eugenicist (d. 1976)
1890 – Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian politician (d. 1986)
1891 – José P. Laurel, 3rd President of the Philippines (d. 1959)
1892 – Vita Sackville-West, British writer (d. 1962)
1894 – Frank Arnau, German writer (d. 1976)
1900 – Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta, Italian aristocrat (d. 1948)

1901 – 1950

1902 – Will Geer, American actor (d. 1978)
1903 – Albert Gregory Meyer, American cardinal (d. 1965)
1905 – Gerardus Philippus Helders, Dutch politician (d. 2013)
1911 – Clara Rockmore, Lithuanian–American theremin performer (d. 1998)
1916 – Puey Ungpakorn, Thai bureaucrat (d. 1999)
1918 – Mickey Spillane, American writer (d. 2006)
1918 – George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party (d. 1967)
1920 – Franjo Mihalic, Croatian–Serbian runner and coach (d. 2015)
1923 – James L. Buckley, American politician
1923 – Walter Kohn, Austrian–born physicist (d. 2016)
1923 – André Courrèges, French fashion designer (d. 2016)
1924 – Peter Scholl-Latour, German journalist and writer (d. 2014)
1925 – Ernest Braun, Austrian–British academic and writer (d. 2015)
1925 – C. William Miller, American politician (d. 2006)
1926 – Joe Franklin, American radio and television host (d. 2015)
1929 – Zillur Rahman, 15th President of Bangladesh (d. 2013)
1929 – Desmond Hoyte, President of Guyana (d. 2002)
1930 – Stephen Fumio Hamao, Japanese cardinal (d. 2007)
1930 – Taina Elg, Finnish–American actress and dancer
1930 – Ota Filip, Czech novelist and journalist (d. 2018)
1930 – Ornette Coleman, American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter and composer (d. 2015)
1931 – Billy Frank, Jr., American environmental activist (d. 2014)
1931 – Jackie Healy-Rae, Irish politician (d. 2014)
1931 – Leon Febres Cordero, President of Ecuador (d. 2008)
1931 – Gilles Perrault, French writer and journalist
1932 – Rodolfo Quezada Toruño, Guatemalan cardinal (d. 2012)
1932 – Qayyum Chowdhury, Bangladeshi painter (d. 2014)
1932 – Walter Mercado, Puerto Rican astrologer and critic
1933 – Mel Lastman, Canadian politician, 62nd Mayor of Toronto
1933 – Lloyd Price, American musician
1933 – David Weatherall, English physician and geneticist
1934 – Yuri Gagarin, Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, first person to travel into space (d. 1968)
1934 – Joyce Van Patten, American actress
1935 – Andrew Viterbi, Italian–American electronic engineer and businessman
1936 – Mickey Gilley, American musician and singer
1936 – Marty Ingels, American actor (d. 2015)
1937 – Bernard Landry, Quebec politician
1937 – Harry Neale, Canadian ice hockey player
1937 – Brian Redman, English racing driver
1938 – Tom Adams, English actor (d. 2014)
1938 – Lill-Babs, Swedish singer (d. 2018)
1942 – John Cale, Welsh musician (The Velvet Underground)
1942 – Mark Lindsay, American musician of Paul Revere and the Raiders
1943 – Bobby Fischer, American–Icelandic chess player (d. 2008)
1944 – Lee Irvine, South African cricketer
1945 – Katja Ebstein, German singer
1945 – Robin Trower, English musician
1945 – Dennis Rader, American serial killer
1946 – Alexandra Bastedo, English actress (d. 2014)
1946 – Bernd Hölzenbein, German footballer
1947 – Emiliano Mondonico, Italian footballer (d. 2018)
1947 – Keri Hulme, New Zealand writer
1948 – Emma Bonino, Italian politician
1948 – Chris Thompson, English singer and guitarist
1948 – Eric Fischl, American painter, sculptor and printmaker
1949 – Neil Hamilton, Welsh politician (Conservative Party and UKIP)

1951 – 1975

1951 – Zakir Hussain, Indian tabla player
1951 – Helen Zille, South African politician
1952 – Bill Beaumont, English rugby player
1952 – Uliana Semenova, Latvian basketball player
1954 – Bobby Sands, Northern Irish political activist, IRA member and hunger striker (d. 1981)
1955 – Teo Fabi, Italian racing driver
1955 – Ornella Muti, Italian actress
1955 – Pat Murphy, American science fiction writer
1956 – Shashi Tharoor, Indian politician
1956 – David Willetts, British politician
1957 – Mona Sahlin, Swedish politician
1958 – Linda Fiorentino, American actress
1958 – Martin Fry, English singer
1958 – Jack Kenny, American television producer and writer
1959 – Takaaki Kajita, Japanese physicist
1959 – Lonny Price, American actor and director
1960 – Elsa Cayat, French psychoanalyst and writer (d. 2015)
1962 – Pete Wishart, Scottish musician and politician (Scottish National Party)
1963 – Jean-Marc Vallée, Canadian movie director and screenwriter
1964 – Juliette Binoche, French actress
1964 – Valérie Lemercier, French actress, singer and director
1964 – Herbert Fandel, German football referee
1965 – Antonio Saca, former President of El Salvador
1965 – Mike Pollock, American actor
1968 – Youri Djorkaeff, French footballer
1968 – Maggie Aderin-Pocock, English space scientist
1968 – Johnny Kelly, American drummer
1969 – Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, American basketball player
1970 – Martin Johnson, English rugby player and coach
1970 – Shannon Leto, American musician and actor
1970 – David Guido Pietroni, Italian movie director and producer
1971 – Diego Torres, Argentine singer
1972 – Jean Louisa Kelly, American actress and singer
1973 – Matteo Salvini, Italian politician
1975 – Roy Makaay, Dutch footballer
1975 – Juan Sebastian Veron, Argentine footballer

From 1976

1976 – Ben Mulroney, Canadian television host
1978 – Lucas Neill, Australian footballer
1980 – Chingy, American rapper and writer
1980 – Matthew Gray Gubler, American actor
1983 – Luke Charteris, Welsh rugby player
1983 – Clint Dempsey, American footballer
1983 – Maite Perroni, Mexican singer-songwriter and actress
1984 – Julia Mancuso, American skier
1986 – Brittany Snow, American actress
1987 – Bow Wow, American rapper
1987 – Stacey Dooley, English television presenter
1988 – Alodia Gosiengfiao, Filipino model, actress and singer
1989 – Taeyeon, South Korean singer (Girls' Generation)
1989 – Artem Borodulin, Russian figure skater
1989 – Klariza Clayton, English actress
1990 – Daley Blind, Dutch footballer
1990 – Bilel Ifa, Tunisian footballer
1990 – Tatsuki Machida, Japanese figure skater
1991 – Jade Etherington, English skier
1993 – Suga, South Korean rapper, singer and actress
1994 – Morgan Rielly, Canadian ice hockey player
2018 – Princess Adrienne, Duchess of Blekinge, Swedish royal

Deaths

Up to 1900

1202 – Sverre of Norway
1440 – Saint Frances of Rome, Italian nun (b. 1384)
1566 – David Rizzio, Italian secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1533)
1649 – James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish statesman (b. 1606)
1649 – Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier (b. 1590)
1661 – Cardinal Mazarin, French cardinal and statesman (b. 1602)
1808 – Joseph Bonomi the Elder, Italian architect (b. 1739)
1825 – Anna Laetitia Barbauld, English poet, essayist and writer (b. 1743)
1831 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (b. 1752)
1847 – Mary Anning, English paleontologist (b. 1799)
1851 – Hans Christian Orsted, Danish physicist (b. 1777)
1888 – Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany (b. 1797)
1895 – Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (b. 1836)
1897 – Jamal-al-Din Afghani, Afghan politician and activist (b. 1838)
1897 – Sondre Norheim, Norwegian skier (b. 1825)

1901 – 2000

1918 – Frank Wedekind, German writer (b. 1864)
1926 – Usui Mikao, Japanese founder of Reiki healing (b. 1865)
1936 – Sri Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru and swami (b. 1855)
1936 – Sidney Johnston Catts, Governor of Florida (b. 1863)
1945 – Margot Frank, sister of Anne Frank (b. 1926)
1952 – Alexandra Kollontai, Russian revolutionary, diplomat and writer (b. 1872)
1954 – Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, German astronomer (b. 1912)
1955 – Miroslava, Czech–Mexican actress (b. 1925)
1962 – Zdenek Nejedly, Czech historian, literary critic and musicologist (b. 1878)
1971 – Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria, Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church (b. 1902)
1974 – Earl Wilbur Sutherland, Jr., American physiologist (b. 1915)
1981 – Max Delbrück, German–American physicist and geneticist (b. 1906)
1983 – Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist (b. 1905)
1983 – Faye Emerson, American actress (b. 1917)
1988 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Chancellor of West Germany (b. 1904)
1992 – Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1913)
1993 – C. Northcote Parkinson, English historian (b. 1909)
1994 – Fernando Rey, Spanish actor (b. 1917)
1996 – George Burns, American actor and singer (b. 1896)
1997 – Terry Nation, Welsh writer and screenwriter (b. 1930)
1997 – The Notorious B. I. G., American rapper (b. 1972)

From 2001

2003 – Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (b. 1946)
2004 – Albert Mol, Dutch actor (b. 1917)
2006 – Geir Ivarsøy, Norwegian programmer, co–founder of Opera Software ASA (b. 1957)
2006 – Anna Moffo, American operatic soprano (b. 1932)
2007 – Brad Delp, American singer and musician (b. 1951)
2010 – Granny D, American political activist (b. 1910)
2012 – Jose Tomas Sanchez, Filipino cardinal (b. 1920)
2013 – Viren J. Shah, Indian politician, 21st Governor of West Bengal (b. 1926)
2014 – Carlos Moreno, Argentine actor (b. 1938)
2014 – Gerard Mortier, Belgian opera director and administrator (b. 1943)
2014 – Glenn McDuffie, American World War II sailor (b. 1927)
2014 – Mohammed Fahim, Vice President of Afghanistan (b. 1957)
2014 – William Clay Ford, Sr., American businessman (b. 1925)
2015 – Jack Harte, Irish politician (b. 1920)
2015 – James Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead, Northern Irish politician (b. 1920)
2015 – David B. Frohnmayer, American attorney (b. 1940)
2015 – Windell Middlebrooks, American actor (b. 1979)
2015 – Juanita Morrow Nelson, American activist (b. 1923)
2015 – Frei Otto, German architect (b. 1925)
2015 – French sportspeople killed in the Villa Castelli helicopter crash in Argentina:
- Florence Arthaud, French sailor (b. 1957)
- Camille Muffat, French swimmer (b. 1989)
- Alexis Vastine, French boxer (b. 1986)
2016 – Clyde Lovellette, American basketball player (b. 1929)
2016 – Nana Vasconcelos, Brazilian jazz musician (b. 1944)
2016 – Sergio Arellano Stark, Chilean military officer (b. 1921)
2016 – Jon English, English–Australian musician and actor (b. 1949)
2016 – Ray Griff, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
2016 – Robert Horton, American actor (b. 1924)
2016 – Bill Wade, American football player (b. 1930)
2017 – Anthony Delhalle, French motorcycle racer (b. 1982)
2017 – Hla Myint, Burmese economist (b. 1920)
2017 – Kasugafuji Akihiro, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1966)
2017 – Barbara Helsingius, Finnish singer, poet and fencer (b. 1937)
2018 – Chris Gedney, American football player (b. 1970)
2018 – Jo Min-ki, South Korean actor and professor (b. 1965)
2018 – Jung Jae-sung, South Korean badminton player (b. 1982)
2018 – George A. Sinner, American politician, Governor of North Dakota (b. 1928)
2018 – Ion Voinescu, Romanian footballer (b. 1929)
2018 – Oskar Gröning, German war criminal (b. 1921)
2018 – Ali Asghar Khodadoust, Iranian surgeon (b. 1935)
2018 – Millie Dunn Veasey, American activist (b. 1918)
2019 – Jed Allan, American actor (b. 1935)
2019 – Alberto Bucci, Italian basketball coach (b. 1948)
2019 – Bernard Binlin Dadié, Ivorian novelist, playwright and poet (b. 1916)
2019 – Vladimir Etush, Russian actor (b. 1922)
2019 – Harry Howell, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1932)

Observances

Teacher's Day (Lebanon)