August 9


August 9 is the 221st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (222nd in
leap years), with 144 days remaining.

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 Percˇ 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.
   * 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, Construction Engineer (+ 1834)
   * 1797 - Charles Robert Malden, British naval officer who discovered
     Malden Island (+ 1855)
   * 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
   * 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