# April 9

**April 9** is the 99th day of the year (100th every 4 years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 266 days remaining until the end of the year.

## Events

### Up to 1900

* 193 – Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum.
* 1241 – Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol Empire forces defeat the German and Polish armies.
* 1388 – Despite being outnumbered 16 to 1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Nafels.
* 1413 – King Henry V of England is crowned.
* 1440 – Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.
* 1454 – The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among the northern Italian city states for almost 50 years.
* 1511 – Saint John's College, Cambridge, receives its charter.
* 1609 – Eighty Years' War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp.
* 1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River.
* 1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest–known recording of an audible human voice.
* 1865 – The American Civil War ends, as Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.
* 1867 – By a single vote, the United States Senate approves the treaty with Russia for the purchase of Russian America, present–day Alaska.

### 1901 – 2000

* 1914 – Mexican Revolution: One of the world's first naval/air skirmishes takes place off the coast of western Mexico.
* 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 when Canadian corps execute a massive assault on the Vimy Ridge.
* 1918 – The National Council of Bessarabia, in present–day Moldova, proclaims a union with Romania.
* 1939 – Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after being denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall.
* 1940 – World War II: The Nazis invade Denmark and Norway.
* 1940 – World War II: Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.
* 1942 – World War II: Bataan Death March – US forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula.
* 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.
* 1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.
* 1947 – The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 people in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
* 1948 – President of Colombia Jorge Eliecer Gaitan is assassinated.
* 1948 – Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attack the Arab village of Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100 people.
* 1952 – Hugo Gallivan's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution.
* 1957 – The Suez Canal opens to shipping.
* 1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the first seven US astronauts.
* 1961 – The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles ends operations.
* 1963 – Winston Churchill becomes an honorary US citizen, becoming the first non–American to be given this honour.
* 1965 – The first indoor game of baseball is played.
* 1967 – The Boeing 737 makes its first flight.
* 1969 – The "Chicago Eight" plead not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
* 1975 – The first game of the Philippine Basketball Association is played.
* 1981 – United States Navy nuclear submarine USS *George Washington (SSBN-598)* accidentally collides with *Nissho Maru*, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it.
* 1989 – April 9 tragedy: In Tbilisi, in the then–Soviet Republic of Georgia, a peaceful pro–independence demonstration is broken up by the Soviet army, killing 20 people, and injuring hundreds.
* 1991 – The Republic of Georgia, under Zviad Gamsakhurdia, declares independence from the Soviet Union.
* 1992 – The British Conservative Party under John Major, wins a fourth term in office in the United Kingdom, defeating Neil Kinnock of the Labour Party. Kinnock resigns shortly after.
* 1992 – A US Federal Court finds Panama's former military leader Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering offences.
* 1999 – Niger's President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara is overthrown, and killed at Niamey airport.

### From 2001

* 2003 – Baghdad falls to US forces, as Saddam Hussein's regime crumbles, while a statue of him is torn down in the centre of the city.
* 2005 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Their wedding had been postponed from the previous day, for the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
* 2009 – In Tbilisi, 60,000 people gather to protest against the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
* 2011 – Seven people, including the gunman, are killed in a shooting at a mall, in Alphen an den Rijn, in the Netherlands.
* 2013 – Thirteen people are shot dead in a shooting rampage in a village south of Belgrade, Serbia.
* 2013 – Uhuru Kenyatta is formally sworn in as President of Kenya.
* 2017 – 2017 Palm Sunday church bombings occur in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, killing 45 people.
* 2019 – An election is held for the Israeli Knesset, with Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu looking for a record fifth term in office.

## Births

### Up to 1900

* 1283 – Margaret, Maid of Norway (d. 1290)
* 1336 – Tamerlane, also known as Timur, Turkic conqueror, in Transoxiana (d. 1405)
* 1498 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (d. 1550)
* 1597 – John Davenport, English clergyman (d. 1670)
* 1686 – James Craggs the Younger, British politician (d. 1721)
* 1770 – Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist (d. 1831)
* 1773 – Étienne Aignan, translator, political writer, librettist, playwright, member of the Académie française (d. 1824)
* 1794 – Theobald Boehm, inventor of the modern flute.
* 1802 – Elias Lönnrot, Finnish physician and writer (d. 1884)
* 1806 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British engineer (d. 1859)
* 1816 – Charles-Eugene Delaunay, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1872)
* 1817 – Alexander Thomson, Scottish architect (d. 1895)
* 1821 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet (d. 1867)
* 1830 – Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer, movie pioneer (d. 1904)
* 1834 – Edmond Laguerre, French mathematician (d. 1886)
* 1835 – King Leopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
* 1846 – Paolo Tosti, Italian composer (d. 1916)
* 1848 – Helene Lange, German teacher (d. 1930)
* 1865 – Charles Proteus Steinmetz, German–born engineer and mathematician (d. 1923)
* 1865 – Adela Florence Nicolson, English poet (d. 1904)
* 1865 – Erich Ludendorff, German general in World War I (d. 1937)
* 1867 – Chris Watson, third Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
* 1867 – Charles Winckler, Danish tug of war competitor (d. 1932)
* 1869 – Élie Cartan, French mathematician (d. 1951)
* 1872 – Léon Blum, Prime Minister of France (d. 1950)
* 1880 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect (d. 1925)
* 1882 – Frederick Francis IV, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1945)
* 1883 – Frank King, American cartoonist (d. 1969)
* 1888 – Sol Hurok, American impresario (d. 1974)
* 1889 – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (d. 1985)
* 1893 – Charles E. Burchfield, American painter (d. 1967)
* 1893 – Rahul Sankrityanan, Indian travel writer and scholar (d. 1962)
* 1895 – Michel Simon, French actor (d. 1975)
* 1897 – John B. Gambling, radio talk–show host (d. 1974)
* 1897 – Fred G. Aandahl, 23rd Governor of North Dakota (d. 1966)
* 1898 – Paul Robeson, American singer and political activist (d. 1976)
* 1898 – Curly Lambeau, American football coach, executive (d. 1965)

### 1901 – 1950

* 1902 – Theodore Monod, French naturalist, explorer and scholar (d. 2000)
* 1903 – Ward Bond, actor (d. 1960)
* 1904 – Sharkey Bonano, jazz musician (d. 1972)
* 1905 – J. William Fulbright, former Senator from Arkansas (d. 1995)
* 1906 – Hugh Gaitskell, British politician (d. 1963)
* 1906 – Rafaela Aparicio, Spanish actress (d. 1996)
* 1906 – Antal Dorati, Hungarian conductor (d. 1988)
* 1908 – Victor Vasarely, painter (d. 1997)
* 1910 – Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (d. 1998)
* 1912 – Lev Kopelev, Russian writer and humanist (d. 1997)
* 1914 – Koichi Oita, Japanese footballer (d. 1996)
* 1915 – Daniel Johnson, Sr., Canadian politician, 20th Premier of Quebec (d. 1968)
* 1917 – Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
* 1917 – Johannes Bobrowski, German poet (d. 1965)
* 1917 – Rolf Kauka, German comics creator and publisher (d. 2000)
* 1918 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect (d. 2008)
* 1919 – J. Presper Eckert, inventor of the ENIAC computer (d. 1995)
* 1920 – Jorge Pacheco Areco, President of Uruguay (d. 1998)
* 1921 – Yitzhak Navon, 5th President of Israel (d. 2015)
* 1921 – Frankie Thomas, American actor (d. 2006)
* 1925 – Heinz Nixdorf, industrialist (d. 1985)
* 1925 – Virginia Gibson, American actress, singer and dancer (d. 2013)
* 1925 – Art Kane, American photographer (d. 1995)
* 1926 – Hugh Hefner, American editor and publisher (d. 2017)
* 1928 – Tom Lehrer, American musician, mathematician and satirist
* 1928 – Aubrey Woods, American actor and singer (d. 2013)
* 1929 – Manuel Jiménez de Parga, Spanish politician (d. 2014)
* 1930 – Wallace McCain, Canadian businessman (d. 2001)
* 1930 – Alphonse Alley, President of Benin (d. 1987)
* 1930 – Nathaniel Branden, Canadian–American psychologist (d. 2014)
* 1931 – Leone Frollo, Italian comic book artist (d. 2018)
* 1931 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1991)
* 1932 – Carl Perkins, country and rockabilly musician (d. 1998)
* 1932 – Jim Fowler, American naturalist
* 1933 – Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor
* 1933 – René Burri, Swiss photographer (d. 2014)
* 1935 – Avery Schreiber, actor (d. 2002)
* 1935 – Josef Fritzl, Austrian criminal
* 1936 – Valerie Solanas, American feminist writer (d. 1988)
* 1937 – Valerie Singleton, British television presenter
* 1937 – Marty Krofft, children's television producer
* 1938 – Aziz Asli, Iranian footballer (d. 2015)
* 1938 – Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian politician (d. 2010)
* 1939 – Michael Learned, American actress
* 1940 – Jimmy Roberts, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
* 1941 – Hannah Gordon, Scottish actress
* 1942 – Brandon De Wilde, American actor (d. 1972)
* 1942 – Petar Nadoveza, Croatian footballer
* 1945 – Peter Gammons, American baseball sportswriter, journalist
* 1945 – Steve Gadd, American musician
* 1946 – Sara Parkin, Scottish activist and politician
* 1948 – Jaya Bachchan, Indian actress and politician
* 1948 – Michel Parizeau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
* 1948 – Patty Pravo, Italian singer

### 1951 – 1975

* 1952 – Jerzy Szmajdzinski, Polish politician (d. 2010)
* 1953 – Hal Ketchum, American country musician
* 1954 – Dennis Quaid, actor (*The Right Stuff*, *Any Given Sunday*, *Traffic*)
* 1954 – Iain Duncan Smith, British politician
* 1955 – Yanina Benguigui, French director and politician
* 1956 – Michael Hashim, American saxophonist
* 1956 – Miguel Angel Russo, Argentine footballer and coach
* 1956 – Marina Zueva, Russian ice dancer and coach
* 1957 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (d. 2011)
* 1958 – Nigel Slater, English chef and cookery writer
* 1959 – Bernard Jenkin, English politician
* 1962 – Jeff Turner, American basketball player and broadcasting announcer
* 1963 – Marc Jacobs, American fashion designer
* 1964 – Doug Ducey, American politician, 23rd Governor of Arizona
* 1964 – Akihiro Nagashima, Japanese footballer
* 1965 – Paulina Porizkova, Czech–American actress and model
* 1965 – Jeff Zucker, American television executive
* 1965 – Mark Pellegrino, American actor
* 1966 – John Hammond, English weather presenter
* 1966 – Cynthia Nixon, American actress
* 1967 – Sam Harris, American philosopher and writer
* 1970 – Tricia Penrose, English actress and singer
* 1971 – Jacques Villeneuve, French–Canadian racing driver
* 1972 – Alain Berset, Swiss politician
* 1972 – Neve McIntosh, Scottish actress
* 1973 – Spencer Rice, Canadian actor, director, producer and screenwriter
* 1974 – Alexander Pichushkin, Russian serial killer
* 1974 – Jenna Jameson, American pornographic actress
* 1975 – Robbie Fowler, English footballer (soccer)
* 1975 – Balzhinima Tsyrempilov, Russian archer

### From 1976

* 1977 – Gerard Way, American rock band frontman (My Chemical Romance)
* 1978 – Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
* 1978 – Rachel Stevens, English singer
* 1979 – Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress (Rudy Huxtable, The Cosby Show)
* 1979 – Mario Matt, Austrian skier
* 1979 – Albert Hammond, Jr., American guitarist (The Strokes)
* 1980 – Jerko Leko, Croatian footballer
* 1980 – Isabelle Severino, French gymnast and actress
* 1980 – Rachel Specter, American actress
* 1981 – Ireneusz Jelen, Polish footballer
* 1981 – Eric Harris, one of the gunmen at Columbine (d. April 20 1999)
* 1981 – Albin Pelak, Bosnian footballer
* 1982 – Jay Maruchel, Canadian actor, filmmaker and musician
* 1985 – Antonio Nocerino, Italian footballer
* 1985 – Nichole Arsenault, model
* 1986 – Leighton Meester, American actress
* 1986 – Brian Larsen, American singer, musician and record producer
* 1987 – Jesse McCartney, American actor and singer
* 1990 – Kristen Stewart, American actress
* 1998 – Elle Fanning, American actress
* 1999 – Isaac Hempstead Wright, English actor
* 2000 – Jackie Evancho, American singer
* 2002 – Marko Suvajac, Serbo Slovenian poet

## Deaths

### Up to 1900

* 585 – Emperor Jimmu of Japan
* 93 – Yuan An, Chinese statesman
* 436 – Tan Daoji, Chinese statesman
* 491 – Zeno, Byzantine Emperor
* 654 – Matei Basarab, Romanian prince (b. 1588)
* 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)
* 1492 – Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian statesman (b. 1449)
* 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)
* 1768 – Sarah Fielding, British writer (b. 1710)
* 1804 – Jacques Necker, French statesman (b. 1732)
* 1806 – William V of Orange, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic
* 1872 – Erastus Corning, American businessman and politician (b. 1794)
* 1876 – Charles Goodyear, American politician (b. 1804)
* 1882 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English painter, illustrator and poet (b. 1828)
* 1889 – Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist (b. 1786)

### 1901 – 2000

* 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 – German resistance activists executed:
	+ Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (b. 1887)
	+ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (executed) (b. 1906)
	+ Hans von Dohnanyi, German jurist (b. 1902)
	+ Georg Elser, German carpenter (b. 1903)
	+ Hans Oster, German army general (b. 1887)
	+ Karl Sack, German jurist (b. 1896)
* 1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903).
* 1948 – George Carpenter, 5th General of the Salvation Army (b. 1872)
* 1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
* 1961 – King Zog of Albania (b. 1895)
* 1963 – Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist (b. 1891)
* 1970 – Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish–American illustrator (b. 1896)
* 1976 – Phil Ochs, American singer (b. 1940)
* 1980 – Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, Iraqi cleric and philosopher (b. 1935)
* 1982 – Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian conductor (b. 1896)
* 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)

### From 2001

* 2001 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player (b. 1940)
* 2002 – Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (b. 1891)
* 2002 – Pat Flaherty, American racing driver (b. 1926)
* 2004 – Harry Babbitt, American singer (b. 1933)
* 2005 – Andrea Dworkin, American feminist and writer (b. 1946)
* 2009 – Nick Adenhart, American baseball player (b. 1986)
* 2010 – Meinhardt Raabe, American actor (b. 1915)
* 2011 – Sidney Lumet, American movie director (b. 1924)
* 2011 – Daniel Catan, Mexican composer (b. 1949)
* 2013 – Paolo Soleri, Italian–American architect (b. 1919)
* 2014 – A. N. R. Robinson, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1926)
* 2014 – Norman Girvan, Jamaican economist, educator and politician (b. 1941)
* 2014 – Jos Chabert, Belgian politician (b. 1933)
* 2015 – Nina Companeez, French movie director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
* 2015 – Paul Almond, Canadian moviemaker (b. 1931)
* 2015 – Alexander Dalgarno, British physicist (b. 1928)
* 2015 – John Toohey, Australian judge (b. 1930)
* 2016 – Arthur Anderson, American voice actor (b. 1922)
* 2016 – Duane Clarridge, American spy (b. 1932)
* 2016 – Tony Conrad, American musician, composer, video artist and professor (b. 1940)
* 2016 – Juris Ekmanis, Latvian academic (b. 1941)
* 2016 – Will Smith, American football player (b. 1981)
* 2017 – Knut Borge, Norwegian journalist (b. 1949)
* 2017 – Peter Hansen, American actor (b. 1921)
* 2017 – Harry Huskey, American computer scientist (b. 1916)
* 2017 – Kim Young-ae, South Korean actress (b. 1951)
* 2017 – Dieter Kottysch, German boxer (b. 1943)
* 2017 – John Clarke, New Zealand–Australian novelist, actor, screenwriter, comedian and satirist (b. 1948)
* 2017 – Carme Chacón, Spanish politician (b. 1971)
* 2017 – Jean Périmony, French actor and theatre director (b. 1931)
* 2018 – Felix Chen, Taiwanese conductor (b. 1942)
* 2018 – Edelgard Huber von Gersdorff, German supercentenarian (b. 1905)
* 2019 – Richard E. Cole, American Air Force officer (b. 1915)
* 2019 – Nikolai Gorbachev, Belarussian sprint canoeist (b. 1948)
* 2019 – Leif Haraldseth, Norwegian trade unionist and politician (b. 1929)
* 2019 – James D. Hudnall, American comic book writer (b. 1957)
* 2019 – K. M. Mani, Indian politician (b. 1933)
* 2019 – Marilynn Smith, American golfer (b. 1929)
* 2019 – Charles Van Doren, American educator, writer and television quiz show contestant (b. 1926)
* 2021 – Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, member of the British royal family and consort of Queen Elizabeth II (b.1921)

## Observances

* Martyrs' Day (Tunisia)
* Day of National Unity in Georgia
* Day of the Finnish language
* Day of Valour (Philippines)
* Constitution Day (Kosovo)
* Vimy Ridge Day (Canada)