April 9

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 Baré Maïnassara[?] 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 is 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, singer, composer
• 1932 - Carl Perkins, country musician (+ 1998)
• 1933 - Jean-Paul Belmondo, actor
• 1928 - Tom Lehrer, musician and satirist
• 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

• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Jalál (Glory) - First day of the second month of the Bahá'í Calendar

April 8 - April 10 - March 9 - May 9 - more historical anniversaries