August 9: Day of the year

August 9 is the 221st day of the year (222nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 144 days remaining until the end of the year.

Up to 1900

• 48 BC – Caesar's Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus. Pompey flees to Egypt.
• 378 – Gothic War: Battle of Adrianople - A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens is defeated by the Visigoths. Valens is killed, along with over half of his army.
• 681 – Bulgaria is founded on the south bank of the Danube after defeating the Byzantine armies of Emperor Constantine IV south of the Danube delta.
• 1173 – Construction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa begins.
• 1329 – Quilon, the first Indian Christian Diocese, is created by Pope John XXII. French-born Jordanus becomes its first bishop.
• 1483 – The Sistine Chapel opens.
• 1810 – Napoleon Bonaparte annexes the departments of the kingdom of Westphalia into the French Empire.
• 1842 – The Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed. It confirms where the US-Canada border runs to the east of the Rocky Mountains.
• 1854 – Henry David Thoreau publishes his work Walden.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Cedar Mountain - Confederate general Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union general John Pope.
• 1890 – The United Kingdom gives the North Sea island of Heligoland over to German control.
• 1892 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for the two-way telegraph.
• 1896 – German aviator Otto Lilienthal crashes during a flying attempt, dying the next day.

From 1901

• 1902 – Edward VII of the United Kingdom is crowned king, while his consort, Alexandra of Denmark is crowned queen of the United Kingdom.
• 1907 – The first Boy Scout camp ends on Brownsea Island, Dorset, England, UK, having been led by Robert Baden-Powell.
• 1910 – Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition leaves Kristiania, present-day Oslo. The public does not know that it is destined for the South Pole.
• 1912 – An earthquake of magnitude 7.3 in Persia kills around 5,500 people.
• 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Mulhouse, part of an eventually unsuccessful French attempt to retake Alsace from Germany.
• 1925 – A train robbery occurs in Lucknow, India.
• 1936 – Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal of the 1936 Summer Olympics.
• 1942 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested by British colonial police in Bombay, starting the Quit India Movement for Indian independence.
• 1942 – World War II: Battle of Savo Island - Allied forces are surprised and defeated by the Japanese Imperial Navy cruise force in initial stages of the Battle of Guadalcanal.
• 1944 – The US Forest Service and Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey the Bear for the first time.
• 1945 – World War II: The United States drops an atomic bomb, "Fat Man" on the city of Nagasaki.
• 1965 – Singapore gains independence from Malaysia.
• 1965 – A fire at a Titan missile base near Searcy, Arkansas kills 53 construction workers.
• 1968 – British Eagle Flight 802 crashes near Langenbruck, north of Munich, Bavaria, Germany, killing all 48 people on board.
• 1969 – Members of Charles Manson's gang murder Sharon Tate, her unborn son, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Jay Sebring, and Steven Parent.
• 1970 – A Lockheed L-188 Electra plane crashes near Cuzco, Peru, killing 99 of the 100 people on board, as well as 2 people on the ground.
• 1971 – The Troubles: British security forces in Northern Ireland begin Operation Demetrius. In the violence that followed, hundreds are arrested or interred, thousands are made homeless, and 20 people are killed.
• 1974 – Gerald Ford becomes President of the United States after the resignation of Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal.
• 1974 – The oil tanker Metula runs aground off Tierra del Fuego.
• 1988 – Wayne Gretzky, star of ice hockey, is transferred from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial transactions in ice hockey history.
• 1990 – The United Nations Security Council declares Iraq's occupation of Kuwait null and void.
• 1992 – The 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona end.
• 1993 – Albert II of Belgium is proclaimed King.
• 1993 – The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan loses a 38-year hold on national leadership.
• 1999 – Boris Yeltsin names Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister of Russia.
• 1999 – Charles Kennedy is elected leader of the British Liberal Democrats.
• 2001 – 15 people are killed and 132 are injured in a suicide bombing in Downtown Jerusalem.
• 2005 – Space Shuttle Discovery lands safely back on Earth, after a two-week space mission, following spacewalks to carry out repairs on the Shuttle.
• 2012 – 2012 Summer Olympics: Nicola Adams becomes the first Olympic gold medalist in women's boxing. On the same day, Kenya's David Rudisha sets a new record in the men's 800 meters.
• 2018 – A Saudi airstrike in Dahyan, Yemen, kills at least 51 people, including 29 children.

Up to 1800

• 1201 – Arnold Fitz Thedmar, English chronicler (d. 1274)
• 1537 – Francesco Barozzi, Italian mathematician, astronomer and humanist (d. 1604)
• 1544 – Bogislaw III, Duke of Pomerania (d. 1606)
• 1594 – Izaak Walton, English writer (d. 1683)
• 1603 – Johannes Cocceius, German Protestant theologian (d. 1669)
• 1648 – Johann Michael Bach, German composer (d. 1694)
• 1653 – John Oldham, English poet and translator (d. 1683)
• 1663 – Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1713)
• 1669 – Eudoxia Lopukhina, Tsarina of Russia (d. 1731)
• 1696 – Joseph Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein (d. 1772)
• 1722 – Prince Augustus William of Prussia (d. 1758)
• 1726 – Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (d. 1778)
• 1736 – Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, French statesman (d. 1818)
• 1754 – Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French architect (d. 1825)
• 1757 – Thomas Telford, Scottish civil engineer (d. 1834)
• 1757 – Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, American political figure (d. 1854)
• 1759 – Johann Christoph Friedrich GutsMuths, German scholar (d. 1839)
• 1776 – Amedeo Avogadro, Italian chemist (d. 1856)
• 1783 – Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia (d. 1801)
• 1794 – Achille Valenciennes, French zoologist (d. 1865)
• 1797 – Charles Robert Malden, British naval officer who discovered Malden Island (d. 1855)

1801 – 1900

• 1805 – Joseph Locke, British railway and civil engineer (d. 1860)
• 1817 – Justo Arosemena, Panamanian statesman (d. 1896)
• 1819 – William T. G. Morton, American dentist and anesthesia pioneer (d. 1868)
• 1834 – Manuel Pardo, 20th President of Peru (d. 1878)
• 1845 – André Bessette, Canadian saint (d. 1937)
• 1847 – Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo, Queen of Spain (d. 1876)
• 1863 – Alvaro Figueroa, 1st Count of Romanones, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1950)
• 1867 – Evelina Haverfield, Scottish nurse and activist (d. 1920)
• 1871 – Leonid Andreyev, Russian writer (d. 1919)
• 1872 – Archduke Joseph August of Austria, Austrian field marshal (d. 1962)
• 1874 – Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan-born composer (d. 1947)
• 1875 – Albert Ketèlbey, English composer (d. 1959)
• 1884 – John S. McCain, Sr., American admiral (d. 1945)
• 1887 – Hans Oster, German general and Resistance activist (d. 1945)
• 1892 – S. R. Ranganathan, Indian mathematician (d. 1972)
• 1894 – Mikhail Zoshchenko, Russian writer (d. 1958)
• 1896 – Jean Piaget, Swiss child psychologist (d. 1980)
• 1899 – P. L. Travers, Australian writer, writer of Mary Poppins (d. 1996)

1901 – 1950

• 1901 – Charles Farrell, American actor (d. 1990)
• 1902 – Zino Francescatti, French violinist (d. 1991)
• 1903 – Tom Tyler, American actor (d. 1954)
• 1904 – Hasso von Boehmer, German military and Resistance activist (d. 1945)
• 1908 – Tommaso Landolfi, Italian writer (d. 1979)
• 1909 – Adam von Trott zu Solz, German jurist, diplomat and Resistance activist (d. 1944)
• 1910 – Robert van Gulik, Dutch sinologist, diplomat, writer and musician (d. 1967)
• 1911 – William Alfred Fowler, American physicist (d. 1996)
• 1912 – Anne Brown, American soprano (d. 2009)
• 1914 – Tove Jansson, Finnish writer of the Moomin books (d. 2001)
• 1914 – Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian conductor (d. 1963)
• 1914 – Joe Mercer, English footballer (d. 1990)
• 1914 – Alastair Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, British aristocrat (d. 1943)
• 1916 – Manea Manescu, Romanian politician (d. 2009)
• 1918 – Robert Aldrich, American director (d. 1983)
• 1919 – Joop den Uyl, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1987)
• 1920 – Enzo Biagi, Italian journalist and writer (d. 2007)
• 1921 – J. James Exon, American politician, 33rd Governor of Nebraska (d. 2005)
• 1922 – Philip Larkin, English poet (d. 1985)
• 1923 – Gerrit Kouwenaar, Dutch poet (d. 2014)
• 1924 – Marta Becket, American actress, dancer, choreographer and painter (d. 2017)
• 1927 – Marvin Minsky, American scientist (d. 2016)
• 1927 – Daniel Keyes, American writer (d. 2014)
• 1927 – Robert Shaw, English actor (d. 1978)
• 1928 – Bob Cousy, American professional basketball player (NBA)
• 1930 – Jacques Parizeau, Quebec politician and economist (d. 2015)
• 1931 – Mário Zagallo, Brazilian footballer
• 1931 – James Freeman Gilbert, American geophysicist (d. 2014)
• 1932 – Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister of Thailand
• 1932 – Tam Dalyell, Scottish politician (d. 2017)
• 1933 – Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Japanese television personality, children's writer
• 1934 – Graeme Gibson, Canadian novelist and union leader (d. 2019)
• 1936 – Patrick Tse, Hong Kong-Chinese actor, director, producer and screenwriter
• 1937 – Hans Nowak, German footballer (d. 2012)
• 1938 – Leonid Kuchma, former President of Ukraine
• 1938 – Rod Laver, Australian tennis player
• 1938 – Otto Rehhagel, German football manager
• 1939 – Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy
• 1939 – The Mighty Hannibal, American singer-songwriter and record producer (d. 2014)
• 1939 – Hércules Brito Ruas, Brazilian footballer
• 1939 – Bulle Ogier, French actress
• 1942 – Tommie Agee, American baseball player (d. 2001)
• 1943 – Ken Norton, American boxer (d. 2013)
• 1943 – Lorenzo Sanz, Spanish businessman
• 1943 – Lubomir Kavalek, Czech-American chess player
• 1944 – John Simpson, English journalist and correspondent
• 1944 – Sam Elliott, American actor
• 1944 – Patrick Depailler, French racing driver (d. 1980)
• 1945 – Posy Simmonds, cartoonist
• 1947 – Roy Hodgson, English football manager
• 1947 – Barbara Mason, American soul singer
• 1948 – William M. Daley, 24th White House Chief of Staff
• 1949 – Jonathan Kellerman, American mystery writer

1951 – 1975

• 1951 – James Naughtie, Scottish broadcaster
• 1951 – Michaele Schreyer, German politician
• 1952 – Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, Thai politician and activist
• 1953 – Michael Russell, Scottish politician
• 1953 – Kay Stenshjemmet, Norwegian speed skater
• 1953 – Jean Tirole, French economist
• 1955 – Maud Olofsson, Swedish politician
• 1955 – Charlie Morgan, English drummer
• 1957 – Melanie Griffith, American actress (Working Girl, The Bonfire of the Vanities)
• 1958 – Amanda Bearse, American actress
• 1959 – Stuart Hughes, Canadian actor
• 1959 – Kurtis Blow, American rapper
• 1959 – Michael Kors, American fashion designer
• 1959 – Idrissa Seck, former Prime Minister of Senegal
• 1961 – John Key, 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1961 – Brad Gilbert, American tennis player
• 1961 – Amy Stiller, American actress
• 1962 – Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, German politician, former Prime Minister of Saarland
• 1962 – Kevin Mack, American football player
• 1962 – John "Hot Rod" Williams, American basketball player
• 1963 – Maria Manuela Machado, Portuguese long-distance runner
• 1963 – Petra Pau, German politician
• 1963 – Whitney Houston, American singer and actress (d. 2012)
• 1963 – Jay Leggett, American actor (d. 2013)
• 1964 – Brett Hull, Canadian-American professional hockey player (NHL)
• 1966 – Vinny Del Negro, American basketball player and coach
• 1967 – Dana Vávrová, Czech actress (d. 2009)
• 1967 – Ralph Hasenhüttl, Austrian footballer and manager
• 1967 – Deion Sanders, American football player
• 1968 – Gillian Anderson, American actress
• 1968 – Eric Bana, Australian actor
• 1968 – McG, American director and producer
• 1969 – Troy Percival, Major League Baseball All-Star
• 1970 – Chris Cuomo, American journalist
• 1970 – Thomas Lennon, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
• 1972 – Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez, Colombian singer and songwriter
• 1972 – Liz Vassey, American actress
• 1973 – Kevin McKidd, Scottish actor
• 1973 – Filippo Inzaghi, Italian footballer
• 1974 – Derek Fisher, American basketball player

From 1976

• 1976 – Jessica Capshaw, American actress (The Practice)
• 1976 – Rhona Mitra, American actress (The Practice)
• 1976 – Audrey Tautou, French actress
• 1976 – Nawaf al-Hazmi, Saudi Arabian terrorist (d. 2001)
• 1977 – Chamique Holdsclaw, professional basketball player (WNBA)
• 1977 – Adewale Ogunleye, American football player
• 1977 – Mikael Silvestre, French footballer
• 1978 – Daniela Denby-Ashe, British actress
• 1978 – Wesley Sonck, Belgian footballer
• 1979 – Lisa Nandy, English politician
• 1979 – Tony Stewart, American football player
• 1980 – Ryoo Seung-bum, South Korean actor
• 1981 – Jarvis Hayes, American basketball player
• 1981 – Li Jiawei, Singaporean table tennis player
• 1981 – Roland Linz, Austrian footballer
• 1982 – Tyson Gay, American runner
• 1982 – Joel Anthony, American basketball player
• 1982 – Yekaterina Samutsevich, Russian singer and activist (Pussy Riot)
• 1983 – Ashley Johnson, American actress
• 1985 – Luca Filippi, Italian racing driver
• 1985 – Anna Kendrick, American actress
• 1985 – Dennis Marshall, Costa Rican footballer (d. 2011)
• 1985 – Hayley Peirsol, American swimmer
• 1986 – Rafaela Zanella, Brazilian model
• 1987 – Marco Carmona, Mexican artist
• 1988 – Vasilios Koutsianikoulis, Greek footballer
• 1989 – Stefano Okaka, Italian footballer
• 1989 – Jason Heyward, American baseball player
• 1990 – Adelaide Kane, Australian actress
• 1991 – Alexa Bliss, American professional wrestler
• 1991 – Candela Vetrano, Argentine actress and singer
• 1993 – Rydel Lynch, American actress, singer, dancer and musician
• 1994 – Jonathan Espericueta, Mexican footballer
• 1994 – Forrest Landis, American actor
• 1996 – Deborah Burke, Canadian ice hockey player

Up to 1900

• 117 – Trajan, Roman emperor (b. 53)
• 378 – Valens, Roman emperor (killed in battle) (b. 328)
• 378 – Traianus, Roman general
• 803 – Byzantine Empress Irene (b. 752)
• 1048 – Pope Damasus II
• 1107 – Emperor Horikawa of Japan (b. 1079)
• 1250 – King Eric IV of Denmark (b. 1216)
• 1472 – Janos Vitez, Croatian humanist (b. 1408)
• 1534 – Thomas Cajetan, Italian theologian (b. 1470)
• 1580 – Metrophanes III, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 1520)
• 1601 – Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia (b. 1558)
• 1816 – Johann August Apel, German jurist and writer (b. 1771)
• 1837 – Xavier Sigalon, French painter (b. 1787)
• 1854 – Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (b. 1797)
• 1864 – John Brown Francis, Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1791)
• 1880 – William Bigler, 12th Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1814)

1901 – 2000

• 1909 – Jemima Blackburn, Scottish painter (b. 1823)
• 1910 – Hua Yuan Jia, Chinese martial artist (b. 1868)
• 1914 – Roque Sáenz Peña, President of Argentina (b. 1851)
• 1919 – Ernst Haeckel, German zoologist and philosopher (b. 1834)
• 1919 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (b. 1857)
• 1927 – Stephan G. Stephansson, Western Icelander poet and farmer (b. 1853)
• 1932 – John Charles Fields, Canadian mathematician (b. 1863)
• 1942 – Edith Stein, (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) at Auschwitz (b. 1891)
• 1945 – Harry Hillman, American athlete (b. 1881)
• 1948 – Hugo Boss, German fashion designer (b. 1885)
• 1949 – Harry Davenport, American actor (b. 1866)
• 1956 – Tobias Danzig, Russian-American mathematician (b. 1884)
• 1962 – Hermann Hesse, German writer (b. 1877)
• 1967 – Joe Orton, English writer (d. 1933)
• 1969 – Cecil Frank Powell, British physicist (b. 1903)
• 1969 – Murdered by Charles Manson's gang:
  • Sharon Tate, American actress (murdered) (b. 1943)
  • Jay Sebring, Hollywood hair stylist (b. 1933)
  • Abigail Folger, Coffee heiress (b. 1943)
  • Wojciech Frykowski, Polish writer (b. 1936)
  • Steven Parent, American student (b. 1951)
• 1974 – Bill Chase, American trumpeter and bandleader (b. 1934)
• 1975 – Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer (b. 1906)
• 1976 – José Lezama Lima, Cuban writer (b. 1910)
• 1979 – Walter O'Malley, American baseball executive (b. 1903)
• 1980 – Jacqueline Cochran, American pilot (b. 1906)
• 1988 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer (b. 1905)
• 1988 – Ramon Valdés, Mexican actor (b. 1923)
• 1990 – Wladislaw Orlicz, Polish mathematician (b. 1903)
• 1990 – Joe Mercer, English footballer (b. 1914)
• 1992 – Fereydoun Farrokhzad, Iranian singer and actor (b. 1938)
• 1995 – Jerry Garcia, American guitarist (Grateful Dead) (b. 1942)
• 1996 – Frank Whittle, British engineer and inventor (b. 1907)
• 1998 – Frankie Ruiz, American singer (b. 1958)
• 1999 – Fouad Serageddin, Egyptian politician (b. 1910)
• 2000 – John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist (b. 1920)

From 2001

• 2003 – Ray Harford, English football manager (b. 1945)
• 2003 – Gregory Hines, American actor and dancer (b. 1946)
• 2004 – Robert Lecourt, French politician (b. 1908)
• 2005 – Colette Besson, French athlete (b. 1946)
• 2006 – Rafael Ruiz, Spanish hockey player (b. 1916)
• 2006 – James Van Allen, American physicist (b. 1914)
• 2008 – Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet (b. 1941)
• 2008 – Bernie Mac, American comedian and actor (b. 1957)
• 2010 – Ted Stevens, American politician (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Mel Stuart, American director and producer (b. 1928)
• 2012 – Al Freeman, Jr., American actor (b. 1934)
• 2013 – Regina Resnik, American mezzo-soprano (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Andriy Bal, Ukrainian footballer and coach (b. 1958)
• 2014 – Charles Keating, British actor (b. 1941)
• 2014 – Michael Brown, American shooting victim (b. 1996)
• 2014 – Ed Nelson, American actor (b. 1928)
• 2014 – Jerome Ehlers, Australian actor (b. 1958)
• 2015 – Frank Gifford, American football player (b. 1930)
• 2015 – John Henry Holland, American computer scientist (b. 1929)
• 2015 – Fikret Otyam, Turkish painter and journalist (b. 1926)
• 2015 – Susan Sheridan, British voice actress (b. 1947)
• 2015 – David Nobbs, British comedy writer (b. 1935)
• 2015 – George E. R. Kinnear II, American admiral (b. 1928)
• 2016 – Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, British aristocrat and landowner (b. 1951)
• 2016 – Kalikho Pul, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (b. 1969)
• 2016 – Wang Tuoh, Taiwanese writer (b. 1944)
• 2016 – Ernst Neizvestny, Russian-American sculptor, painter, graphic artist and philosopher (b. 1925)
• 2017 – Patricio Echegaray, Argentine politician (b. 1946)
• 2017 – Al McCandless, American politician (b. 1927)
• 2017 – Peter Weibel, German racing cyclist (b. 1950)
• 2017 – Thomas A. Bird, British World War II army officer and architect (b. 1918)
• 2018 – Manfred Melzer, German Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1944)
• 2018 – Mehrdad Pahlbod, Iranian politician (b. 1917)
• 2019 – Paul Findley, American politician (b. 1921)
• 2019 – Altair Gomes de Figueiredo, Brazilian footballer (b. 1938)
• 2019 – Fahrudin Jusufi, Yugoslavian footballer (b. 1939)

• National Day of Singapore
• Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony
• International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples
• National Women's Day (South Africa and Namibia)