April 9
April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap
years). There are 266 days remaining.
Events
* 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in
Illyricum (in the Balkans).
* 1241 - Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeats the Polish and German
armies.
* 1682 - Robert de LaSalle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River
and claims it for France and named it Louisiana.
* 1865 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of
Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox
Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
* 1867 - Alaska purchase: By a single vote, the United States Senate
ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
* 1913 - The Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field opens.
* 1916 - World War I: Battle of Verdun - German forces launch their third
offensive of the battle.
* 1917 - World War I: Battle of Arras - The battle begins with Canadian
forces executing a massive assault on the Vimy Ridge.
* 1939 - Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after having been
refused the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's
Constitution Hall.
* 1940 - World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
* 1942 - World War II: Battle of Bataan - United States forces surrender
on the Bataan Peninsula.
* 1947 - A series of tornadoes hits Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas killing
169 and injuring 1,300.
* 1959 - Mercury program: NASA announces the selection of the United
States' first seven astronauts which the news media quickly dub the
"Mercury 7".
* 1967 - The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) takes its maiden flight.
* 1969 - The "Chicago Eight" plead not guilty on federal charges of
conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic convention in
Chicago, Illinois.
* 1991 - Georgia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
* 1992 - Manuel Noriega is convicted of eight crimes.
* 1998 - The National Prisoner of War Museum is dedicated in
Andersonville, Georgia, on the site of an infamous American Civil War
POW camp.
* 1999 - Ismail Omar Guelleh is elected president of Djibouti.
* 1999 - Nigerian President Ibrahim BarŽ Ma•nassara is assassinated.
* 2002 - The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon has
her funeral at Westminster Abbey.
* 2003 - The Ba'ath regime headed by Saddam Hussein in Iraq is deposed.
Births
* 1806 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer (+ 1859)
* 1821 - Charles Baudelaire, lyricist (+ 1867)
* 1830 - Eadweard Muybridge, photographer, motion picture pioneer (+
1904)
* 1835 - King Leopold II of Belgium (+ 1909)
* 1848 - Helene Lange, teacher (+ 1930)
* 1898 - Paul Robeson, singer, political activist (+ 1976)
* 1903 - Ward Bond, actor (+ 1960)
* 1905 - J. William Fulbright, former Senator from Arkansas (+ 1995)
* 1908 - Victor Vasarely, painter (+ 1997)
* 1912 - Lew Kopelew (Lev Kopelev), author (+ 1997)
* 1919 - J. Presper Eckert, inventor of the ENIAC computer
* 1925 - Heinz Nixdorf, industrialist (+ 1985)
* 1926 - Hugh Hefner, editor, publisher
* 1928 - Tom Lehrer, musician and satirist
* 1932 - Carl Perkins, country musician (+ 1998)
* 1933 - Jean-Paul Belmondo, actor
* 1954 - Dennis Quaid, actor
* 1954 - Iain Duncan Smith, United Kingdom MP
Deaths
* 491 - Zeno, Byzantine emperor
* 879 - Louis the Stammerer, King of France
* 1553 - Francois Rabelais, writer
* 1626 - Sir Francis Bacon, philosopher, statesman, essayist
* 1739 - Dick Turpin, highwayman
* 1889- Michel-Eugene Chevreul, French chemist, dies at 102
* 1945 - Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the Abwehr
* 1959 - Frank Lloyd Wright, architect
* 1976 - Phil Ochs, singer
* 1991 - Martin Hannett, record producer
* 2002 - Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician
Holidays and observances
* Bah‡'’ Faith - Feast of Jal‡l (Glory) - First day of the second month
of the Bah‡'’ Calendar
