April 9: Encyclopedia - April 9

April 9

April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). There are 266 days remaining.

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.
• 1667: First public art exhibition opens in Paris
• 1682 - Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield - Union General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign is thwarted by Confederate General Richard Taylor's forces at Mansfield, 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: Passing by a single vote, the United States Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
• 1909 - The U.S. Congress passes the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act.
• 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 - Second World War: Battle of Bataan/Bataan Death March - United States forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula. Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
• 1945 - The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer is sunk.
• 1947 - The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward Tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
• 1947 - The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride of 16 black and white men traveling through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws begins. The riders, sponsored by CORE and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, are seeking to force southern states to enforce the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
• 1948 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in all of Colombia (La violencia).
• 1948 - Massacre at Deir Yassin.
• 1949 - The Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force is formed.
• 1953 - Warner Brothers premieres the first 3-D film, entitled House of Wax
• 1959 - Mercury program: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts which the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".
• 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 National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1986 - The government of France rules against the privatization of French automaker Renault.
• 1987 - Dikye Baggett becomes the first person to undergo corrective surgery for Parkinson's disease.
• 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 American Civil War POW camp.
• 1999 - Ismail Omar Guelleh is elected president of Djibouti.
• 1999 - Nigerian President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara is assassinated.
• 2002 - The funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of the United Kingdom is held at Westminster Abbey.
• 2003 - 2003 invasion of Iraq: The Ba'ath regime headed by Saddam Hussein in Iraq is deposed.
• 2004 - 2004 KBR Convoy Attacked on BIAP highway: Nine KBR civilians were killed. KBR convoy commander Thomas Hamill captured. Two US Army soldiers killed. The fuel convoy from LSA Anaconda was delivering fuel to Baghdad Airport when insurgents attacked the convoy with small arms fire and RPG's. KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton.
• 2005 - HRH Charles, Prince of Wales weds Camilla Parker Bowles

April 9 - Births

• 1336 - Tamerlane, Turkish conqueror (d. 1405)
• 1498 - John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (d. 1550)
• 1597 - John Davenport, Connecticut pioneer (d. 1670)
• 1648 - Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, 1st Viscount Galway, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1720)
• 1649 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II of England (d. 1685)
• 1680 - Philippe Néricault Destouches, French dramatist (d. 1754)
• 1686 - James Craggs the Younger, English politician (d. 1721)
• 1691 - Johann Matthias Gesner, German classical scholar (d. 1761)
• 1757 - Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, British admiral (d. 1833)
• 1770 - Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist (d. 1831)
• 1773 - Étienne Aignan, French writer (d. 1824)
• 1794 - Theobald Boehm, German inventor of the modern flute (d. 1881)
• 1806 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, English engineer (d. 1859)
• 1821 - Charles Baudelaire, French poet (d. 1867)
• 1830 - Eadweard Muybridge, English-born photographer and motion picture pioneer (d. 1904)
• 1835 - King Léopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
• 1865 - Erich Ludendorff, German general in World War I (d. 1937)
• 1867 - Chris Watson, third Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
• 1872 - Léon Blum, French prime minister (d. 1950)
• 1888 - Sol Hurok, Russian-born impresario (d. 1974)
• 1889 - Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (d. 1985)
• 1897 - John B. Gambling, American radio talk-show host (d. 1974)
• 1898 - Curly Lambeau, American football coach, executive (d. 1965)
• 1898 - Paul Robeson, American singer and activist (d. 1976)
• 1903 - Ward Bond, American actor (d. 1960)
• 1904 - Sharkey Bonano, American musician (d. 1972)
• 1905 - J. William Fulbright, U.S. Senator from Arkansas (d. 1995)
• 1906 - Antal Dorati, Hungarian conductor (d. 1988)
• 1908 - Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-born painter (d. 1997)
• 1910 - Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (d. 1998)
• 1912 - Lew Kopelew, Russian author (d. 1997)
• 1917 - Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
• 1918 - Jørn Utzon, Danish architect
• 1919 - J. Presper Eckert, American computer pioneer
• 1926 - Hugh Hefner, American editor and publisher
• 1928 - Tom Lehrer, American musician and mathematician
• 1932 - Jim Fowler, American zoologist
• 1932 - Carl Perkins, American musician (d. 1998)
• 1933 - Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor
• 1935 - Avery Schreiber, American actor (d. 2002)
• 1937 - Marty Krofft, children's television producer
• 1938 - Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian politician
• 1939 - Michael Learned, American actress
• 1942 - Brandon De Wilde, American actor (d. 1972)
• 1945 - Peter Gammons, baseball journalist
• 1954 - Dennis Quaid, American actor
• 1954 - Iain Duncan Smith, British politician
• 1957 - Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer
• 1962 - Imran Sherwani, British field hockey player
• 1965 - Jeff Zucker, American television executive
• 1966 - Cynthia Nixon, American actress
• 1971 - Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
• 1974 - Jenna Jameson, American adult entertainer
• 1975 - Robbie Fowler, English footballer
• 1977 - Gerard Way, American singer (My Chemical Romance)
• 1978 - Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
• 1978 - Rachel Stevens, English singer
• 1979 - Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress
• 1987 - Jesse McCartney, American singer/actor
• 1990 - Kristen Stewart, American actress
• 1998 - Elle Fanning, American actress

April 9 - Deaths

• 491 - Zeno, Byzantine Emperor
• 715 - Pope Constantine
• 1024 - Pope Benedict VIII
• 1137 - William X, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
• 1483 - King Edward IV of England (b. 1442)
• 1484 - Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales (b. 1473)
• 1553 - François Rabelais, French writer
• 1557 - Mikael Agricola, Finnish scholar (b. 1510)
• 1626 - Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, and essayist (b. 1561)
• 1693 - Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French writer (b. 1618)
• 1739 - Nicolas Saunderson, English scientist and mathematician (b. 1682)
• 1747 - Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish clan chief
• 1754 - Christian Wolff, German philosopher (b. 1679)
• 1761 - William Law, English minister (b. 1686)
• 1804 - Jacques Necker, French statesman (b. 1732)
• 1806 - William V of Orange, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic
• 1889 - Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist (b. 1786)
• 1917 - James Hope Moulton, English scholar of Classical Greek (b. 1863)
• 1936 - Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist (b. 1855)
• 1940 - Mrs. Patrick Campbell, English actress (b. 1865)
• 1944 - Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1920)
• 1945 - Wilhelm Canaris, German Nazi leader (b. 1887)
• 1945 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (executed) (b. 1906)
• 1948 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903).
• 1951 - Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist (b. 1862)
• 1959 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
• 1961 - King Zog of Albania (b. 1895)
• 1963 - Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist (b. 1891)
• 1976 - Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer, pianist, one of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1903)
• 1976 - Phil Ochs, American singer (b. 1940)
• 1988 - Brook Benton, American actor (b. 1931)
• 1991 - Martin Hannett, record producer (b. 1948)
• 1996 - Richard Condon, American novelist (b. 1915)
• 1996 - James W. Rouse, American real estate developer, activist, and philanthropist (b. 1914)
• 1997 - Laura Nyro, American singer and songwriter (b. 1947)
• 1999 - Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, Niger politician and general (b. 1949)
• 2001 - Willie Stargell, baseball player (b. 1940)
• 2002 - Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (b. 1891)
• 2005 - Andrea Dworkin, American feminist and writer (b.

April 9 - Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Jalál (Glory) - First day of the second month of the Bahá'í Calendar
• Good Friday (2004)
• Bataan Day (Day of Valor - Araw ng Kagitingan) in the Philippines

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "April 9", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki