February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 325 days remaining, 326 in leap years.

Events

• 474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
• 1621 - Gregory XV becomes Pope, the last Pope elected by acclamation.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: English Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.
• 1825 - After no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams President of the United States.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
• 1885 - The first Japanese arrive in Hawaii.
• 1889 - The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is established as a Cabinet-level agency.
• 1895 - William G. Morgan invents volleyball.
• 1900 - Davis Cup competition is established.
• 1922 - Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
• 1942 - World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
• 1942 - Daylight-saving time goes into effect in the United States.
• 1943 - World War II, Battle of Guadalcanal: After forcing the remaining Japanese to be evacuated the night before, American authorities declared Guadalcanal secure.
• 1950 - Red scare: Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States State Department of being filled with Communists.
• 1960 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• 1964 - The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: The first United States combat troops are sent to South Vietnam.
• 1971 - The 6.4 on the Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.
• 1971 - Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• 1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned moon landing.
• 1975 - The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.
• 1991 - Voters in Lithuania vote for independence.
• 1994 - Peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina announced (so called Vance-Owen peace plan).
• 1996 - The Irish Republican Army declares the end of its 18 month ceasefire shortly followed by a large bomb in London's Canary Wharf
• 1997 - The Simpsons surpasses The Flintstones as the longest-running prime-time animated series.
• 2001 - American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally strikes and sinks Ehime-Maru the Japanese training vessel operated by the Uwajima Fishery High School.
• 2004 - Mozilla Firefox: Browser renamed from Firebird to Firefox

Births

• 1409 - Constantine XI, last Byzantine Emperor (d. 1453)
• 1533 - Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese daimyo and samurai (d. 1611)
• 1700 - Daniel Bernoulli, mathematician
• 1748 - Luther Martin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States (d. 1826)
• 1773 - William Henry Harrison, President of the United States (d. 1841)
• 1830 - Abd-ul-Aziz, future Ottoman sultan (d. 1876)
• 1834 - Felix Dahn, author (d. 1912)
• 1846 - Wilhelm Maybach, designer of engines and cars, industrialist (d. 1929)
• 1865 - Mrs. Patrick Campbell, nee Beatrice Stella Tanner, British actress, original Eliza Doolittle/Pygmalion, (d. 1940)
• 1874 - Amy Lowell, poet (d. 1925)
• 1885 - Alban Berg, composer (d. 1935)
• 1885 - Anita Ree, painter (d. 1933)
• 1891 - Ronald Colman, actor (d. 1958)
• 1895 - Hermann Brill, politician (d. 1959)
• 1897 - Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, pioneering aviator (d. 1935)
• 1902 - Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German women's leader during Germany's Third Reich (d. 1999)
• 1909 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)
• 1909 - Carmen Miranda, actress, singer (d. 1995)
• 1910 - Jacques Monod, biochemist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965 (d. 1976)
• 1911 or 1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee, actress, ecdysiast (d. 1970)
• 1914 - Ernest Tubb, country music singer (d. 1984)
• 1916 - Tex Hughson, Major League Baseball player (d. 1993)
• 1922 - Kathryn Grayson, actress
• 1923 - Brendan Behan, author (d. 1964)
• 1928 - Frank Frazetta, illustrator
• 1928 - Roger Mudd, journalist
• 1932 - Gerhard Richter, painter and graphic artist
• 1940 - J. M. Coetzee, author
• 1942 - Carole King, singer, composer
• 1943 - Joe Pesci, actor
• 1944 - Alice Walker, writer
• 1945 - Mia Farrow, actress
• 1952 - Mookie Wilson, Major League Baseball, helped the New York Mets win the 1986 World Series
• 1960 - Holly Johnson, British singer with Frankie Goes To Hollywood
• 1961 - John Kruk, baseball player, commentator
• 1963 - Brian Greene, string theorist
• 1963 - Travis Tritt, country music singer
• 1966 - Ellen van Langen, Dutch athlete
• 1966 - Peter Howard, browser
• 1976 - Vladimir Guerrero, Major League Baseball All-Star
• 1979 - Mena Suvari, actress
• 1979 - David Gray, English snooker player
• 1980 - Zhang Ziyi, actress
• 1981 - John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban

Deaths

• 1555 - Rev. Dr. Rowland Taylor, pastor, martyred under Bloody Mary I (b. 1510)
• 1881 - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, author (b. 1821)
• 1906 - Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet (b. 1872)
• 1951 - Eddy Duchin, musician (b. 1910)
• 1957 - Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and longtime Regent (b. 1868)
• 1969 - Gabby Hayes, actor
• 1976 - Percy Faith, musician, composer
• 1981 - Bill Haley, musician ("Bill Haley and the Comets") (b. 1925)
• 1984 - Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (b. 1914)
• 2002 - HRH The Countess Snowdon, Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances

February 8 - February 10 - January 9 - March 9 -- listing of all days