December 9: Day of the year

December 9 is the 343rd day of the year (344th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 22 days remaining until the end of the year.

Up to 1950

• 480 – Odoacer, the first King of Italy, occupies Dalmatia in present-day Croatia.
• 536 – Gothic War: The Byzantine general Belisarius enters Rome unopposed.
• 1531 – The Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have first appeared to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico City.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: British troops lose in the Battle of Great Bridge and leave Virginia shortly after.
• 1793 – New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is created by Noah Webster.
• 1824 – Battle of Ayacucho: Peruvian troops defeat the Spanish, who then end their colonial rule over Peru.
• 1835 – The Texan Army captures San Antonio, Texas.
• 1851 – The YMCA in North America is founded in Montreal.
• 1872 – P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first African American State Governor in the US, in Louisiana.
• 1888 – Statistician Herman Hollerith installs his computing device at the United States Department of War.
• 1892 – English football club Newcastle United is created.
• 1897 – Activist Marguerite Durand founds the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde, in Paris.
• 1905 – France passes the law separating church and state.
• 1911 – A mine explosion in Briceville, Tennessee kills 84 miners.
• 1917 – World War I: Hussein al-Husseyni, Ottoman Mayor of Jerusalem, surrenders the city to the British.
• 1922 – Gabriel Narutowicz is confirmed as President of Poland.
• 1931 – The Constituent Cortes approves a constitution which establishes the Second Spanish Republic.
• 1935 – American football: The trophy that later becomes the Heisman Trophy is given for the first time. The winner is Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.
• 1937 – In the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese troops launch an assault on the city of Nanjing.
• 1940 – World War II: Operation Compass – British and Indian troops under the command of Major-General Richard O'Connor attack Italian forces near Sidi Barrani, Egypt.
• 1941 – World War II: The Republic of China, Cuba, Guatemala, the Republic of Korea and the Philippine Commonwealth declare war on Japan.
• 1946 – The Constituent Assembly of India meets to write the Constitution.
• 1946 – The Doctors' trial begins over physicians believed to have committed Nazi war crimes and medical experiments on people.
• 1948 – The Genocide Convention is adopted.
• 1950 – Harry Gold is sentenced to 30 years in prison for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union.

From 1951

• 1953 – Red Scare: General Electric announces the discharge of all Communist employees.
• 1956 – Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, a Canadair, crashes near Hope, British Columbia, killing all 62 people on board.
• 1960 – Coronation Street is broadcast for the first time on British television.
• 1961 – Tanganyika becomes independent. In 1964 it joins with Zanzibar to form Tanzania.
• 1962 – Tanganyika joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1962 – The Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona is created.
• 1966 – Barbados joins the UN.
• 1968 – Douglas Engelbart demonstrates the computer mouse and hypertext.
• 1971 – The United Arab Emirates join the UN.
• 1973 – Britain and Ireland sign the Sunningdale Agreement.
• 1979 – The eradication of Smallpox is announced.
• 1990 – Lech Walesa becomes President of Poland.
• 1998 – In the Swiss Federal Council, Ruth Dreifuss is chosen to be Switzerland's President for the year 1999, making her the first woman to take up the role, on January 1, 1999.
• 2003 – A blast in central Moscow kills 6 people.
• 2005 – End of the London Routemaster Red Double-Decker Bus Service.
• 2008 – Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is arrested by federal agents on a number of crimes, including trying to sell the United States Senate Seat of Barack Obama, who had been elected president.
• 2009 – Carwyn Jones becomes First Minister of Wales, succeeding Rhodri Morgan.
• 2016 – President of South Korea Park Geun-hye is impeached by the country's National Assembly, as a result of a major corruption scandal.
• 2016 – A suicide bomb attack in Madagali, Nigeria, kills at least 45 people.
• 2019 – 2019 Whakaari/White Island eruption: The Whakaari-White Island volcano in New Zealand erupts, killing at least 18 people.
• 2019 – A Chilean plane crashes en route from Chile to Antarctica with 38 people on board.

Up to 1900

• 1392 – Peter, Duke of Coimbra, Portuguese prince (d. 1449)
• 1447 – Chenghua Emperor of China (d. 1487)
• 1508 – Gemma Frisius, Dutch mathematician and mapmaker (d. 1555)
• 1571 – Metius, Dutch mathematician and astronomer (d. 1635)
• 1579 – Martín de Porres, Peruvian saint (d. 1639)
• 1594 – King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (d. 1632)
• 1608 – John Milton, English poet (d. 1674)
• 1610 – Baldassare Ferri, Italian singer and actor (d. 1680)
• 1652 – Augustus Quirinus Rivenus, German physician and botanist (d. 1723)
• 1667 – William Whiston, English mathematician, historian and theologian (d. 1752)
• 1748 – Claude Louis Berthollet, French chemist (d. 1822)
• 1751 – Maria Luisa of Parma, Queen of Spain (d. 1819)
• 1787 – John Dobson, English architect (d. 1865)
• 1842 – Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist and writer (d. 1921)
• 1845 – Joel Chandler Harris, American journalist and author (d. 1908)
• 1850 – Emma Abbott, American soprano (d. 1891)
• 1863 – John Burnet, Scottish classical philologist (d. 1928)
• 1868 – Fritz Haber, German chemist (d. 1934)
• 1872 – Thomas W. Hardwick, American politician, Governor of Georgia (d. 1944)
• 1873 – Henry S. Caulfield, American politician, 37th Governor of Missouri (d. 1966)
• 1876 – Berton Churchill, Canadian-American actor and singer (d. 1940)
• 1877 – Mart Kuusik, Russian-Estonian rower (d. 1964)
• 1882 – Joaquin Turina, Spanish composer (d. 1949)
• 1883 – Nikolai Luzin, Russian mathematician, theorist and academic (d. 1950)
• 1883 – Alexander Papagos, Greek general and Prime Minister (d. 1955)
• 1883 – Joseph Pilates, German-American fitness expert (d. 1967)
• 1886 – Clarence Birdseye, American frozen food manufacturer (d. 1956)
• 1887 – Tim Moore, American actor (d. 1958)
• 1889 – Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish long-distance runner (d. 1966)
• 1890 – Laura Salverson, Canadian author (d. 1970)
• 1896 – Goodwin Knight, American politician, 31st Governor of California (d. 1970)
• 1897 – Hermione Gingold, English-American actress and singer (d. 1987)
• 1898 – Emmett Kelly, American clown (d. 1979)
• 1900 – Albert Weisbord, American activist (d. 1977)

1901 – 1950

• 1901 – Jean Mermoz, French pilot (d. 1936)
• 1901 – Carol Dempster, American actress (d. 1991)
• 1901 – Odon von Horvath, Austro-Hungarian writer (d. 1938)
• 1902 – Rab Butler, British politician (d. 1982)
• 1902 – Margaret Hamilton, American actress (d. 1985)
• 1906 – Grace Hopper, American computer scientist (d. 1992)
• 1909 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (d. 2000)
• 1911 – Broderick Crawford, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1912 – Tip O'Neill, American politician (d. 1994)
• 1914 – Max Manus, Norwegian resistance activist (d. 1996)
• 1915 – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, German soprano (d. 2006)
• 1916 – Kirk Douglas, American actor (d. 2020)
• 1917 – James Rainwater, American physicist (d. 1986)
• 1919 – William Lipscomb, American chemist (d. 2011)
• 1920 – Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, former President of Italy (d. 2016)
• 1924 – Manlio Sgalambro, Italian philosopher and poet (d. 2014)
• 1926 – Erhard Eppler, German politician (d. 2019)
• 1926 – Henry Way Kendall, American physicist (d. 1999)
• 1928 – Dick Van Patten, American actor (d. 2015)
• 1929 – Bob Hawke, 23rd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2019)
• 1929 – John Cassavetes, American director and actor (d. 1989)
• 1930 – Edoardo Sanguineti, Italian writer (d. 2010)
• 1930 – Buck Henry, American actor, director and writer (d. 2020)
• 1931 – William Reynolds, American actor
• 1933 – Milt Campbell, American decathlete (d. 2012)
• 1933 – Morton Downey, Jr., American singer-songwriter, actor and talk show host (d. 2001)
• 1934 – Judi Dench, English actress
• 1941 – Beau Bridges, American actor
• 1942 – Billy Bremner, Scottish footballer (d. 1997)
• 1942 – Germain Gagnon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
• 1942 – Joe McGinniss, American writer (d. 2014)
• 1943 – Joanna Trollope, English writer
• 1944 – Bob O'Connor, American politician, 57th Mayor of Pittsburgh
• 1944 – Neil Innes, English musician and composer (d. 2019)
• 1944 – Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, 80th Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (d. 2020)
• 1945 – Michael Nouri, American actor
• 1946 – Mervyn Davies, Welsh rugby player (d. 2012)
• 1946 – Sonia Gandhi, Italian-born Indian politician
• 1948 – Dennis Dunaway, American musician
• 1949 – Tom Kite, American golfer
• 1949 – Nando Parrado, Uruguayan plane crash survivor
• 1950 – Joan Armatrading, British musician and singer-songwriter

1951 – 1975

• 1952 – Michael Dorn, American actor and director
• 1953 – John Malkovich, American actor
• 1954 – Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission and former Prime Minister of Luxembourg
• 1954 – Phil Bryant, American politician, 63rd Governor of Mississippi
• 1954 – Mary Fallin, American politician, Governor of Oklahoma
• 1954 – Henk ten Cate, Dutch footballer and manager
• 1954 – Kip Hanrahan, American musician and producer
• 1955 – Otis Birdsong, American basketball player
• 1956 – Jean-Pierre Thiollet, French author
• 1957 – Donny Osmond, American singer and actor
• 1960 – Caroline Lucas, English politician, MP for and former leader of the Green Party of England and Wales
• 1960 – Juan Samuel, Dominican-American baseball player and manager
• 1961 – John Anthony Higgins, American actor
• 1961 – Joe Lando, American actor
• 1962 – Felicity Huffman, American actress
• 1963 – Empress Masako of Japan
• 1963 – Zurab Zhvania, Prime Minister of Georgia (d. 2005)
• 1964 – Hape Kerkeling, German comedian, actor and television presenter
• 1964 – Johannes B. Kerner, German television presenter
• 1964 – Paul Landers, German guitarist
• 1964 – Michael Müller, German politician, Governing Mayor of Berlin
• 1966 – Kirsten Gillibrand, American politician
• 1966 – Spencer Rochfort, American-Canadian actor
• 1966 – Gideon Sa'ar, Israeli lawyer and politician
• 1966 – Shane Scott, American director, producer, cinematographer and screenwriter
• 1967 – Gheorghe Popescu, Romanian footballer
• 1968 – Kurt Angle, American professional wrestler
• 1969 – Bixente Lizarazu, French footballer
• 1970 – Lance Krall, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
• 1971 – Geoff Barrow, English drummer, DJ, composer and producer
• 1972 – Michael Corcoran, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1972 – Fabrice Santoro, Tahitian-French tennis player
• 1972 – Tré Cool, American musician (Green Day)

From 1976

• 1976 – Booba, French rapper
• 1977 – Imogen Heap, English singer-songwriter
• 1978 – Jesse Metcalfe, American actor
• 1981 – Gemma Fay, Scottish footballer
• 1981 – Mardy Fish, American tennis player
• 1981 – Dia Mirza, Indian model, actress and producer
• 1983 – Jermaine Beckford, English footballer
• 1983 – Dariusz Dudka, Polish footballer
• 1987 – Hikaru Nakamura, Japanese-American chess player
• 1987 – Adam Szalai, Hungarian footballer
• 1988 – Kwadwo Asamoah, Ghanaian footballer
• 1989 – Lindsey Evans, American glamour model
• 1990 – LaFee, German singer
• 1991 – Prince Joachim of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
• 1991 – Choi Minho, South Korean singer, dancer and actor
• 1995 – McKayla Maroney, American gymnast
• 1996 – AleXa, American K-pop singer and first American Song Contest winner

Up to 1950

• 638 – Sergius I of Constantinople
• 1165 – King Malcolm IV of Scotland (b. 1141)
• 1437 – Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1368)
• 1565 – Pope Pius IV (b. 1499)
• 1625 – Ubbo Emmius, Dutch historian and geographer (b. 1547)
• 1641 – Anthony van Dyck, Flemish painter (b. 1599)
• 1669 – Pope Clement XI (b. 1600)
• 1706 – King Peter II of Portugal (b. 1648)
• 1718 – Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian monk, cosmographer and cartographer (b. 1650)
• 1830 – Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher, Danish surgeon, botanist and academic (b. 1757)
• 1858 – Robert Baldwin, Canadian politician (b. 1804)
• 1916 – Natsume Soseki, Japanese novelist (b. 1867)
• 1930 – Rube Foster, American baseball player and manager (b. 1879)
• 1937 – Nils Gustaf Dalén, Swedish physicist (b. 1869)
• 1941 – Dmitry Merezhovsky, Russian author, poet and philosopher (b. 1865)

1951 – 2000

• 1955 – Hermann Weyl, German mathematician (b. 1885)
• 1964 – Edith Sitwell, English poet (b. 1887)
• 1967 – Charles Leon Hammes, Luxembourgish lawyer and judge (b. 1898)
• 1970 – Artem Mikoyan, Armenian-Russian engineer and businessman (b. 1905)
• 1970 – Feroz Khan Noon, 7th Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1893)
• 1971 – Ralph Bunche, American diplomat (b. 1904)
• 1972 – Louella Parsons, American journalist and screenwriter (b. 1881)
• 1975 – William A. Wellman, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1896)
• 1977 – Clarice Lispector, Ukrainian-Brazilian writer (b. 1920)
• 1979 – Fulton J. Sheen, American archbishop (b. 1895)
• 1981 – Daniel Faulkner, Philadelphia police officer (b. 1955)
• 1982 – Asmundur Sveinsson, Icelandic sculptor (b. 1893)
• 1991 – Berenice Abbott, American photographer (b. 1898)
• 1993 – Danny Blanchflower, Irish footballer and manager (b. 1926)
• 1995 – Douglas Corrigan, American pilot (b. 1907)
• 1996 – Mary Leakey, British archaeologist and anthropologist (b. 1913)
• 1996 – Alain Poher, French politician (b. 1909)
• 1998 – Archie Moore, American boxer (b. 1913)

From 2001

• 2004 – Lea De Mae, Czech actress (b. 1976)
• 2005 – György Sándor, Hungarian pianist (b. 1912)
• 2009 – Gene Barry, American actor (b. 1919)
• 2010 – James Moody, American jazz musician (b. 1925)
• 2012 – Jenni Rivera, American singer-songwriter, producer and actress (b. 1969)
• 2012 – Patrick Moore, English astronomer, writer and broadcaster (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Charles Rosen, American pianist and musicologist (b. 1927)
• 2013 – Eleanor Parker, American actress (b. 1922)
• 2014 – Mary Ann Mobley, American actress (b. 1939)
• 2014 – Jane Freilicher, American painter (b. 1924)
• 2014 – Karl Otto Pöhl, German economist (b. 1929)
• 2015 – Rusty Jones, American jazz drummer (b. 1942)
• 2017 – James Joseph Brady, American judge (b. 1944)
• 2017 – Leonid Bronevoy, Ukrainian-Russian actor (b. 1928)
• 2017 – Lando Fiorini, Italian actor (b. 1938)
• 2017 – Grant Munro, Canadian animator, filmmaker and actor (b. 1923)
• 2017 – Joe Newton, American track and field coach (b. 1929)
• 2018 – Yigal Bashan, Israeli singer and composer (b. 1950)
• 2018 – Robert Bergland, American politician (b. 1928)
• 2018 – William Blum, American author and historian (b. 1933)
• 2018 – Riccardo Giacconi, Italian-American astrophysicist (b. 1931)
• 2018 – Bob Giggie, American baseball player (b. 1933)
• 2018 – Gordon Scholes, Australian politician (b. 1931)
• 2018 – Dick Van Orden, American rear admiral (b. 1921)
• 2019 – John R. Broxson, American politician (b. 1932)
• 2019 – Marie Fredriksson, Swedish singer (Roxette) (b. 1958)
• 2019 – Omar Graffigna, Argentine air force officer (b. 1926)
• 2019 – William Luce, American writer (b. 1931)
• 2019 – Veijo Puhjo, Finnish politician (b. 1948)
• 2019 – Imre Varga, Hungarian sculptor and painter (b. 1923)

• National holiday in Tanzania, celebrating independence of Tanganyika in 1961
• Anna's Day (Sweden and Finland)
• Armed Forces Day (Peru)
• International Anti-Corruption Day