August 9

Events

• 48 BC - Roman Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt.
• 378 - Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens is defeat by the Visigoths in present-day Turkey. Valens is killed along with 2/3 of his army.
• 1842 - Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States-Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Cedar Mountain - At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope.
• 1877 - Indian Wars: Battle of Big Hole - Near Big Hole River in Montana, a small band of Nez Percé Indians who refused government orders to move to a reservation, clash with the United States Army. The army lost 29 soldiers and Indians lost 89 warriors in a US Army win.
• 1892 - Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
• 1902 - Edward VII is crowned king of the United Kingdom.
• 1930 - Betty Boop premiers in the animated film Dizzy Dishes.
• 1936 - 1936 Summer Olympics: Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the games becoming the first American to win four medals in one Olympics.
• 1942 - Indian leader, Mohandas Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces.
• 1944 - The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey the Bear for the first time.
• 1945 - World War II: An atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" is detonated over the city of Nagasaki, Japan at 11:02 AM (local time) with an equivalent force of 22,000 tons of TNT. An estimated 60,000-80,000 are killed and more 60,000 injured.
• 1965 - Singapore proclaims its independence from the Malaysian Federation.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: Operation Cochise initiated - United States Marines begin a new operation in the Que Son Valley.
• 1969 - Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murder five people including Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and, Abigail Folger.
• 1974 - Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office, an action taken to avoid being removed by impeachment in response to his role in the Watergate scandal. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, takes the oath of office and becomes the 38th president.
• 1993 - King Albert II of Belgium is sworn into office nine days after the death of his brother, King Baudouin.
• 1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
• 2000 - A Piper Navajo and a Piper Seminole collide in mid-air over a housing development in Burlington, New Jersey killing 11
• 2001 - US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.

Births

• 1593 - Izaak Walton, angler († 1683)
• 1757 - Thomas Telford, civil engineer († 1834)
• 1797 - Charles Robert Malden, British naval officer who discovered Malden Island († 1855)
• 1805 - Joseph Locke, railway and civil engineer († 1860)
• 1875 - Reynaldo Hahn, composer († 1947)
• 1896 - Jean Piaget, child psychologist († 1980)
• 1899 - P. L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins († 1996)
• 1914 - Tove Jansson, author of the Moomin books († 2001)
• 1919 - Ralph Houk, professional baseball player and manager
• 1927 - Robert Shaw, actor († 1978)
• 1928 - Bob Cousy, professional basketball player
• 1938 - Rod Laver, tennis player
• 1944 - Sam Elliott, actor
• 1945 - Ken Norton, boxing champion
• 1949 - Jonathan Kellerman, mystery writer
• 1957 - Melanie Griffith, actress
• 1963 - Whitney Houston, singer and actress
• 1967 - Deion Sanders, professional football player
• 1968 - Gillian Anderson, actress

Deaths

• 117 - Trajan, Roman emperor
• 1919 - Ruggiero Leoncavallo, composer
• 1962 - Hermann Hesse, author (* 1877)
• 1969 - Sharon Tate, actress
• 1969 - Jay Sebring, Hollywood hair stylist
• 1969 - Abigail Folger, Coffee heiress
• 1975 - Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer
• 1995 - Jerry Garcia, guitarist: Grateful Dead
• 2002 - Peter Neville, anarchist, sociologist and peace activist

Holidays and observances

• South Africa: National Women's Day
• Singapore: National Day

August 8 - August 10 - July 9 - September 9 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By