January 9 is the 9th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 356 days remaining (357 in leap years).
Events
- 1760 - Afghans defeat Marathas in Battle of Barari Ghat
- 1768 - Philip Astley stages the first modern circus (London)
- 1788 - Connecticut becomes the fifth state to join the United States
- 1793 - Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first to fly in a balloon in the United States
- 1806 - Lord Horatio Nelson is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral
- 1839 - The French Academy of Science announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
- 1861 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, preceding the American Civil War.
- 1878 - Humbert I becomes King of Italy
- 1894 - New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts
- 1894 - William Kennedy Laurie Dickson copyrights the first motion picture
- 1912 - Marines invade Honduras
- 1923 - Juan de la Cierva makes first autogiro flight
- 1929 - The Seeing Eye is established with the mission to train dogs to assist the blind (Nashville, Tennessee).
- 1937 - The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States.
- 1945 - The United States invades Luzon in the Philippines
- 1951 - United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.
- 1956 - First "Dear Abby" column appears in newspapers
- 1960 - Construction of the Aswan Dam begins in Egypt
- 1972 - RMS Queen Elizabeth is destroyed by fire (Hong Kong harbor).
- 1984 - Clara Peller is featured in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's Restaurants for the first time.
- 1986 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant camera business.
- 1991 - The Soviets storm Vilnius to stop Lithuanian independence.
- 1991 - Pete Rose is banned from the Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1995 - Valeri Poliakov completes 366 days in space while aboard the Mir space station, breaking a duration record.
- 1996 - Sun Microsystems announced the formation of JavaSoft
- 2002 - The United States Department of Justice announces it is going to pursue a criminal investigation of Enron.
Births
- 1554 - Gregory XV, Pope (+ 1623)
- 1574 - Christoph Buel, composer
- 1620 - Johann Weichmann, composer
- 1695 - John E Loovens, lawyer
- 1699 - Robert J Pothier, French lawyer
- 1728 - Thomas Warton, poet laureate of England
- 1748 - Stefan Paluselli, composer
- 1790 - Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, Swedish poet
- 1811 - Gilbert Abbott a Beckett, writer
- 1815 - William Jackson, composer
- 1820 - Pavel Krizkovsky, composer
- 1829 - Thomas William Robertson, English playwright
- 1829 - Adolf von Schlagintweit, German explorer
- 1839 - John Knowles Paine, composer
- 1843 - Christiaan A Ulder, composer
- 1851 - Giuseppi Gallignani, composer
- 1851 - Luis Coloma, Spanish Jesuit writer, theologian
- 1856 - Anton Askerc, priest, poet
- 1856 - Lizette Woodworth Reese, poet
- 1856 - Stevan Mokranjac, composer
- 1857 - Henry B. Fuller, writer
- 1859 - Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, women's rights leader, founder of the League of Women Voters
- 1859 - Frederik Pijper, Dutch vicar, church historian
- 1864 - Vladimir Andreevich Steklov, Russian mathematician
- 1866 - Albert Baertsoen, Flemish painter, etcher
- 1867 - Jacques Urlus, Dutch opera singer
- 1870 - Joseph B Strauss, civil engineer, builder of the Golden Gate Bridge
- 1873 - Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Hebrew poet, translator
- 1875 - Gertrude Whitney, sculptor (+ 1942)
- 1876 - Hans Bethge, writer
- 1879 - John Broadus Watson, behaviorist psychologist
- 1881 - Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet, critic
- 1881 - Giovanni Papini, Italian, writer
- 1890 - Karel Capek, Czech writer (+ 1938)
- 1890 - Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist, writer, satirist, social critic (+ 1935)
- 1891 - August Gailit, Estonian, writer
- 1894 - Henryk Stazewski, Polish abstract painter, graphic artist
- 1897 - Luis Gianneo, composer
- 1898 - Gracie Fields, English music hall/vaudeville performer (+ 1979)
- 1899 - Alexander Tcherepnin, composer
- 1900 - Joseph Frederick Wagner, composer
- 1901 - Chic Young, cartoonist (Blondie) (+ 1973)
- 1902 - Rudolph Bing, opera manager (New York Metropolitan Opera)
- 1904 - George Balanchine, dancer, choreographer, ballet producer (+ 1983) (O.S.)
- 1908 - Simone de Beauvoir, author (+ 1986)
- 1911 - Richard Selwyn Francis Schiling, professor of occupational health
- 1911 - Stafford William Somerfield, British newspaper editor
- 1912 - Ralph Tubbs, architect
- 1913 - Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (+ 1994)
- 1913 - Lavad 'Dr Hepcat' Durst, musician
- 1913 - Peter John Norton, diplomat, artist
- 1914 - Kenny (Klook) Clarke, jazz drummer, composer
- 1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee, burlesque actress
- 1915 - Fernando Lamas, actor (+ 1982)
- 1915 - Les Paul, guitarist, inventor
- 1916 - Vic Mizzy, orchestra leader
- 1917 - Herbert Lom, actor
- 1921 - Seymour Barab, composer
- 1921 - Patricia Highsmith, American novelist
- 1922 - Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of Guinea
- 1922 - Har Gobind Khorana, biochemist (1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine)
- 1924 - Julián B Coco, guitarist, bassist
- 1925 - Lee Van Cleef, actor (+ 1989)
- 1925 - Abdelhamid Benhadugah, novelist
- 1928 - Judith Krantz, author
- 1928 - Domenico Modugno, musician
- 1929 - Heiner Muller, dramatist (+ 1995)
- 1931 - Algis Budrys, science fiction author
- 1931 - Geoffrey Wragg, British reorganizer
- 1933 - Sonia Garmers, author
- 1934 - Bart Starr, American football star
- 1935 - Bob Denver, actor
- 1935 - Dick Enberg, sportscaster
- 1935 - Kenneth 'Buddy' Scott, blues guitarist, singer
- 1936 - Peter Fletcher, music teacher
- 1937 - K Schlesinger, writer
- 1937 - Judith Krantz, author
- 1938 - Aad Kosto, theologian, actor, assistant Secretary of Justice of the Netherlands
- 1940 - Jimmy Boyd, actor, singer
- 1940 - Barbara Buczek, composer
- 1941 - Joan Baez, folk music singer, activist
- 1941 - Susannah York, actress
- 1943 - Dick Yount, rock musician
- 1943 - Kenneth Kelley, American singer
- 1943 - Rob Hoeke, pianist, singer
- 1944 - Scott Engel, singer
- 1944 - Jimmy Page, rock musician, guitarist ("Led Zeppelin")
- 1945 - Frank J. Biondi Jr., president of HBO
- 1945 - Harun Farocki, actor, director
- 1946 - Leo Gullotta, actor
- 1948 - Paul King, musician (Blue Oyster Cult)
- 1950 - David Johansen (Buster Poindexter),singer
- 1950 - Rio Reiser, singer
- 1951 - Crystal Gayle, country music singer
- 1951 - Rosalyn Kind, , singer
- 1952 - Eveline L Herfkens, Dutch MP (PvdA)
- 1954 - Lance Hoppens, musician
- 1956 - David Smith, cricket player
- 1962 - Phil Lewis, musician
- 1965 - Carin Garbarra, football player
- 1965 - Cindy Brooks, rower
- 1965 - Joely Richardson, actress
- 1967 - Dave Matthews, singer, musician
- 1968 - Jimmy Adams, cricket player
- 1974 - Craig Wishart, cricketer
- 1978 - AJ McLean, singer ("Backstreet Boys")
- 2002 - Morgan Kay Beamer, daughter of Todd Beamer, who died on United Airlines flight 93
Deaths
- 1283 - Wu Tian Xiang Chinese patriot, executed in Beijing.
- 1324 - Marco Polo, explorer
- 1499 - Johan Cicero, elector of Brandenburg
- 1677 - Aernout van der Neer, cartoonist, landscape painter
- 1679 - Werner Fabricius, composer
- 1798 - Pedro Pablo Abarca d Bolea, Spanish officer
- 1828 - Pieter Hoen, Dutch journalist, patriot
- 1843 - Caroline Herschel, astronomer
- 1849 - Jan Kops, agriculturist, vicar
- 1853 - Juan N Gallego, Spanish poet, interpreter
- 1854 - Filippo Traetta, composer
- 1863 - Ferdinand Huber, composer
- 1873 - Emperor Napoleon III of France
- 1878 - King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
- 1879 - Don Joaquin BF Espartero, Field Marshal, viceroy of Navarre
- 1886 - Jakob Eduard Schmolzer, composer
- 1893 - Mohara, slave trader
- 1902 - Gustaaf Rolin-Jaequemyns, lawyer, Interior Minister of Belgium
- 1904 - Alfred Richard, cricketer
- 1908 - Abraham Goldfaden, Yiddish stage performer
- 1908 - Wilhelm Busch, writer
- 1911 - Edwin Arthur Jones, composer
- 1923 - Katherine Mansfield, writer
- 1927 - Houston S Chamberlain, race theorist
- 1929 - Heiner Müller, writer
- 1930 - Edward W Buck, editor (Ladies Home Journal)
- 1931 - Claude Anet, French writer
- 1936 - John Gilbert, actor
- 1939 - Johann Strauss III, conductor
- 1941 - Ko Boezeman, Dutch resistance fighter
- 1943 - Robin Collingwood, philosopher
- 1946 - Countee Cullen, poet
- 1947 - Karl Mannheim, sociologist
- 1947 - Lambertus Zijl, sculptor
- 1949 - Amilcare Zanella, composer
- 1953 - Hans Aanrud, Norwegian author (Storken)
- 1957 - Mary Carr Moore, composer
- 1958 - Paul Fechter, German writer, historian
- 1959 - Paul Malengreau, composer
- 1962 - LeRoy B Shield, pianist, composer
- 1966 - Haro Levoni Step'anyan, composer
- 1968 - Louis-François-Marie Aubert, composer
- 1969 - Ladislav Vycpalek, composer
- 1972 - Ted Shawn, dancer
- 1975 - John Slater, actor
- 1975 - Pierre Fresnay, actor
- 1977 - Alexey Kozlovsky, composer
- 1978 - Eddie Gilbert, cricketer
- 1979 - Avery Claflin, composer
- 1979 - Sara Carter, singer, guitarist
- 1981 - Kazimierz Serocki, composer
- 1984 - Wolfgang Staudte, director
- 1985 - Don Brennan, cricketer
- 1992 - Steve Brodie, actor
- 1992 - William JF Naughton, playwright
- 1994 - Silas Hogan, blues singer, guitarist,
- 1995 - Peter Cook, actor. satirist, writer, comedian
- 1995 - Souphanouvong, President of Laos
- 1996 - Mary Nadia Wadia, actress
- 1996 - Kurt Schmucker, Minister of Economy of Germany
- 1996 - Michael Lynn Synar, politician
- 1997 - Edward Osobka-Morawski, Prime Minister of Poland
- 1997 - Jesse White, actor
- 1997 - Junaidu ibn Buhari, scholar
- 1998 - Kenichi Fukui, Nobel Prize for Chemistry, (1981)
Holidays and observances
- 1788 - Ratification Day in Connecticut
- 1964 - Memorial day of Patriotic Panamanians for the Panama Canal (Martyrs' Day/Dia de los Martires)
- Roman Catholic - Feast of St Adrian
- Eastern Orthodox - Feast of Saint Theophan the Recluse
Sport
- 1977 - Super Bowl XI Oakland Raiders defeat Minnesota Vikings, 32-14
See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
January 8 - January 10 - December 9 - February 9 - Historical anniversaries