March 9

Events
Up to 1900
141 BC - Liu Che, known after his death as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne of the Han Dynasty in China.
1009 - Lithuania is mentioned in the annals of Quedlinburg.
1230 - Ivar Asen II of Bulgaria defeats Theodore Epirus in the Battle of Klokonitsa.
1276 - Augsburg becomes an Imperial Free City.
1500 - The fleet of Pedro Alvares Cabral leaves Lisbon. It intends to reach Calicut, India, but gets to present-day Brazil instead.
1566 - David Rizzio, private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, is murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
1741 - War of Jenkins' Ear: British forces lay siege to Cartagena in present-day Colombia.
1781 - American War of Independence: The Spanish Infanteria de Marina under command of Bernardo de Galvez y Madrid occupy Pensacola, Florida. The Battle of Pensacola lasts until May 8.
1796 - Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de Beauharnais.
1811 - Paraguayan forces defeat Manuel Belgrano at the Battle of Taguari.
1842 - Gold is discovered at Rancho San Francisco, California.
1842 - The opera Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi has its first performance in Milan.
1847 - Mexican-American War: The first large amphibious (in-water) assault in US history begins in Veracruz, Mexico.
1848 - The Bundestag in Frankfurt declares black, red and gold as the official German national colours.
1862 - American Civil War: The USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fight to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads in the first battle between two iron-clad warships.
1888 - Wilhelm I of Germany dies. Friedrich III of Germany becomes Kaiser, but dies only 99 days later due to laryngeal cancer.
1896 - Italian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi resigns.
1901 2000
1902 - The Italian football club Vicenza Calcio is founded.
1908 - In Italy, Inter Milan football club is founded by angry members of the Milan Cricket and Football Club, which only allows Italian nationals to participate.
1908 - A five-man team reaches the top of Mount Erebus in Antarctica.
1916 - Pancho Villa leads nearly 500 Mexican raiders in an attack on Columbus, New Mexico.
1933 - Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt submits the Emergency Banking Act to the United States Congress, the first of his New Deal policies.
1944 - World War II: Soviet Air Forces conduct a heavy bombing of Tallinn, Estonia, killing up to 800 people, mostly civilians.
1945 - World War II: The bombing of Tokyo by US forces begins.
1946 - Bolton Wanderers stadium disaster in Burnden Park, Bolton, northwest England, kills 33 people.
1954 - CBS programme See It Now, reporting on Senator Joseph McCarthy, is broadcast, contributing to the end of the McCarthy Era.
1956 - The Soviet military suppresses mass demonstrations in Georgia, which was part of the Soviet Union at the time.
1957 - A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Andreanof Islands off Alaska, and triggers a Pacific-wide tsunami.
1959 - The first Barbie dolls are sold.
1960 - Dr. Belding Hibbard Scribner first implants a shunt he invented, into a patient.
1961 - Sputnik 9 successfully launches.
1967 - Trans World Airlines Flight 553, a Douglas DC-9-15 aircraft, crashes into Concord Township, Ohio, following a collision with a Beechcraft Baron aircraft, killing 26 people.
1976 - 42 people die in the Cavalese cable car disaster.
1977 - Hanafi Siege: In a 39-hour stand-off, armed Hanafi Muslims seize three Washington, DC buildings, killing 2 people and taking 149 hostage.
1984 - Tim Witherspoon wins the Heavyweight Boxing Title, defeating Greg Page in Las Vegas, on points.
1987 - U2 album The Joshua Tree is released.
1989 - Eastern Air Lines files for bankruptcy.
1990 - Antonia Novello becomes the first female, and first Hispanic American, to become Surgeon General of the United States.
1991 - A massive demonstration against Slobodan Milosevic is held in Belgrade.
1997 - Comet Hale-Bopp is seen during the day in China, Mongolia and Siberia, as an eclipse also occurs.
From 2001
2004 - John Allen Muhammad is sentenced to death for the Beltway sniper attacks.
2006 - NASA announces the possibility of water existing on Saturn's moon Enceladus.
2010 - The first same-sex marriages in Washington, DC are held.
2011 - The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched for the last time.
2011 - Enda Kenny becomes Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, succeeding Brian Cowen.
2015 - Villa Castelli helicopter crash: Two helicopters involved in a French Reality TV programme collide over western Argentina, killing 10 people, including 3 of France's most famous sportspeople.
2016 - A solar eclipse is seen over Eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Totality is mainly seen over Indonesia and parts of the Western Pacific.
2018 - The 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, begin.
Births
Up to 1900
1213 - Hugh II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1271)
1285 - Emperor Go-Nijo of Japan (d. 1318)
1454 - Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer and cartographer (d. 1512)
1564 - David Fabricius, German astronomer (d. 1617)
1568 - Aloysius Gonzaga, Italian saint (d. 1591)
1629 - Tsar Alexis I of Russia (d. 1676)
1695 - Martin Sarmiento, Spanish writer and scholar (d. 1772)
1697 - Friederike Caroline Neuber, German actress (d. 1760)
1727 - Johann Gottlieb Preller, German cantor, composer and land surveyor (d. 1786)
1737 - Josef Muslivecek, Czech composer (d. 1781)
1749 - Honore Gabriel Riqueti, French writer and politician (d. 1791)
1753 - Jean-Baptiste Kleber, French general (d. 1800)
1758 - Franz Joseph Gall, German neuroscientist (d. 1828)
1763 - William Cobbett, English writer (d. 1835)
1814 - Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet (d. 1861)
1824 - Amasa Leland Stanford, American businessman and politician (d. 1893)
1847 - Martin Pierre Marsick, Belgian violinist (d. 1924)
1856 - Eddie Foy, American singer and actor (d. 1928)
1856 - Tom Roberts, Australian artist (d. 1931)
1856 - Edward Goodrich Acheson, American chemist and technician (d. 1931)
1877 - Stuart Stickney, American golfer (d. 1932)
1881 - Ernest Bevin, British politician and trade unionist (d. 1951)
1882 - Arthur Beecher Carles, American painter (d. 1952)
1883 - Umberto Saba, Italian poet and writer (d. 1957)
1884 - Johan Salonen, Finnish wrestler (d. 1938)
1886 - Kenneth Edwards, American golfer (d. 1952)
1887 - Fritz Lenz, German geneticist and eugenicist (d. 1976)
1890 - Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian politician (d. 1986)
1891 - Jose P. Laurel, 3rd President of the Philippines (d. 1959)
1892 - Vita Sackville-West, British writer (d. 1962)
1894 - Frank Arnau, German author (d. 1976)
1900 - Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta, Italian aristocrat (d. 1948)
1901 1950
1902 - Will Geer, American actor (d. 1978)
1903 - Albert Gregory Meyer, American cardinal (d. 1965)
1905 - Gerardus Philippus Helders, Dutch politician (d. 2013)
1911 - Clara Rockmore, Lithuanian-American theremin performer (d. 1998)
1916 - Puey Ungpakorn, Thai bureaucrat (d. 1999)
1918 - Mickey Spillane, American writer (d. 2006)
1918 - George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party (d. 1967)
1920 - Franjo Mihalic, Croatian-Serbian runner and coach (d. 2015)
1923 - James L. Buckley, American politician
1923 - Walter Kohn, Austrian-born physicist (d. 2016)
1923 - Andre Courreges, French fashion designer (d. 2016)
1924 - Peter Scholl-Latour, German journalist and writer (d. 2014)
1925 - Ernest Braun, Austrian-British academic and author (d. 2015)
1925 - C. William Miller, American politician (d. 2006)
1926 - Joe Franklin, American radio and television host (d. 2015)
1929 - Zillur Rahman, 15th President of Bangladesh (d. 2013)
1929 - Desmond Hoyte, President of Guyana (d. 2002)
1930 - Stephen Fumio Hamao, Japanese cardinal (d. 2007)
1930 - Taina Elg, Finnish-American actress and dancer
1930 - Ota Filip, Czech novelist and journalist (d. 2018)
1930 - Ornette Coleman, American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter and composer (d. 2015)
1931 - Billy Frank, Jr., American environmental activist (d. 2014)
1931 - Jackie Healy-Rae, Irish politician (d. 2014)
1931 - Leon Febres Cordero, President of Ecuador (d. 2008)
1931 - Gilles Perrault, French author and journalist
1932 - Rodolfo Quezada Toruno, Guatemalan cardinal (d. 2012)
1932 - Qayyum Chowdhury, Bangladeshi painter (d. 2014)
1932 - Walter Mercado, Puerto Rican astrologer and critic
1933 - Mel Lastman, Canadian politician, 62nd Mayor of Toronto
1933 - Lloyd Price, American musician
1933 - David Weatherall, English physician and geneticist
1934 - Yuri Gagarin, Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, first person to travel into space (d. 1968)
1934 - Joyce Van Patten, American actress
1935 - Andrew Viterbi, Italian-American electronic engineer and businessman
1936 - Mickey Gilley, American musician and singer
1936 - Marty Ingels, American actor (d. 2015)
1937 - Bernard Landry, Quebec politician
1937 - Harry Neale, Canadian ice hockey player
1937 - Brian Redman, English racing driver
1938 - Tom Adams, English actor (d. 2014)
1938 - Lill-Babs, Swedish singer (d. 2018)
1942 - John Cale, Welsh musician (The Velvet Underground)
1942 - Mark Lindsay, American musician of Paul Revere and the Raiders
1943 - Bobby Fischer, American-Icelandic chess player (d. 2008)
1944 - Lee Irvine, South African cricketer
1945 - Katja Ebstein, German singer
1945 - Robin Trower, English musician
1945 - Dennis Rader, American serial killer
1946 - Alexandra Bastedo, English actress (d. 2014)
1946 - Bernd Holzenbein, German footballer
1947 - Emiliano Mondonico, Italian footballer (d. 2018)
1947 - Keri Hulme, New Zealand writer
1948 - Emma Bonino, Italian politician
1948 - Chris Thompson, English singer and guitarist
1948 - Eric Fischl, American painter, sculptor and printmaker
1949 - Neil Hamilton, Welsh politician (Conservative Party and UKIP)
1951 1975
1951 - Zakir Hussain, Indian tabla player
1951 - Helen Zille, South African politician
1952 - Bill Beaumont, English rugby player
1952 - Uliana Semenova, Latvian basketball player
1954 - Bobby Sands, Northern Irish political activist, IRA member and hunger striker (d. 1981)
1955 - Teo Fabi, Italian racing driver
1955 - Ornella Muti, Italian actress
1955 - Pat Murphy, American science fiction writer
1956 - Shashi Tharoor, Indian politician
1956 - David Willetts, British politician
1957 - Mona Sahlin, Swedish politician
1958 - Linda Fiorentino, American actress
1958 - Martin Fry, English singer
1958 - Jack Kenny, American television producer and writer
1959 - Takaaki Kajita, Japanese physicist
1959 - Lonny Price, American actor and director
1960 - Elsa Cayat, French psychoanalyst and writer (d. 2015)
1962 - Pete Wishart, Scottish musician and politician (Scottish National Party)
1963 - Jean-Marc Vallee, Canadian movie director and screenwriter
1964 - Juliette Binoche, French actress
1964 - Valerie Lemercier, French actress, singer and director
1964 - Herbert Fandel, German football referee
1965 - Antonio Saca, former President of El Salvador
1965 - Mike Pollock, American actor
1968 - Youri Djorkaeff, French footballer
1968 - Maggie Aderin-Pocock, English space scientist
1968 - Johnny Kelly, American drummer
1969 - Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, American basketball player
1970 - Martin Johnson, English rugby player and coach
1970 - Shannon Leto, American musician and actor
1970 - David Guido Pietroni, Italian movie director and producer
1971 - Diego Torres, Argentine singer
1972 - Jean Louisa Kelly, American actress and singer
1973 - Matteo Salvini, Italian politician
1975 - Roy Makaay, Dutch footballer
1975 - Juan Sebastian Veron, Argentine footballer
From 1976
1976 - Ben Mulroney, Canadian television host
1978 - Lucas Neill, Australian footballer
1980 - Chingy, American rapper and author
1980 - Matthew Gray Gubler, American actor
1983 - Luke Charteris, Welsh rugby player
1983 - Clint Dempsey, American footballer
1983 - Maite Perroni, Mexican singer-songwriter and actress
1984 - Julia Mancuso, American skier
1986 - Brittany Snow, American actress
1987 - Bow Wow, American rapper
1987 - Stacey Dooley, English television presenter
1988 - Alodia Gosiengfiao, Filipino model, actress and singer
1989 - Taeyeon, South Korean singer (Girls' Generation)
1989 - Artem Borodulin, Russian figure skater
1989 - Klariza Clayton, English actress
1990 - Daley Blind, Dutch footballer
1990 - Bilel Ifa, Tunisian footballer
1990 - Tatsuki Machida, Japanese figure skater
1991 - Jade Etherington, English skier
1993 - Suga, South Korean rapper, singer and actress
1994 - Morgan Rielly, Canadian ice hockey player
2018 - Princess Adrienne, Duchess of Blekinge, Swedish royal
Deaths
Up to 1900
1202 - Sverre of Norway
1440 - Saint Frances of Rome, Italian nun (b. 1384)
1566 - David Rizzio, Italian secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1533)
1649 - James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish statesman (b. 1606)
1649 - Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier (b. 1590)
1661 - Cardinal Mazarin, French cardinal and statesman (b. 1602)
1808 - Joseph Bonomi the Elder, Italian architect (b. 1739)
1825 - Anna Laetitia Barbauld, English poet, essayist and writer (b. 1743)
1831 - Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, German writer (b. 1752)
1847 - Mary Anning, English paleontologist (b. 1799)
1851 - Hans Christian Orsted, Danish physicist (b. 1777)
1888 - Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany (b. 1797)
1895 - Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (b. 1836)
1897 - Jamal-al-Din Afghani, Afghan politician and activist (b. 1838)
1897 - Sondre Norheim, Norwegian skier (b. 1825)
1901 2000
1918 - Frank Wedekind, German writer (b. 1864)
1926 - Usui Mikao, Japanese founder of Reiki healing (b. 1865)
1936 - Sri Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru and swami (b. 1855)
1936 - Sidney Johnston Catts, Governor of Florida (b. 1863)
1945 - Margot Frank, sister of Anne Frank (b. 1926)
1952 - Alexandra Kollontai, Russian revolutionary, diplomat and writer (b. 1872)
1954 - Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, German astronomer (b. 1912)
1955 - Miroslava, Czech-Mexican actress (b. 1925)
1962 - Zdenek Nejedly, Czech historian, literary critic and musicologist (b. 1878)
1971 - Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria, Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church (b. 1902)
1974 - Earl Wilbur Sutherland, Jr., American physiologist (b. 1915)
1981 - Max Delbruck, German-American physicist and geneticist (b. 1906)
1983 - Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist (b. 1905)
1983 - Faye Emerson, American actress (b. 1917)
1988 - Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Chancellor of West Germany (b. 1904)
1992 - Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1913)
1993 - C. Northcote Parkinson, English historian (b. 1909)
1994 - Fernando Rey, Spanish actor (b. 1917)
1996 - George Burns, American actor and singer (b. 1896)
1997 - Terry Nation, Welsh author and screenwriter (b. 1930)
1997 - The Notorious B. I. G., American rapper (b. 1972)
From 2001
2003 - Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (b. 1946)
2004 - Albert Mol, Dutch actor (b. 1917)
2006 - Geir Ivarsoy, Norwegian programmer, co-founder of Opera Software ASA (b. 1957)
2006 - Anna Moffo, American operatic soprano (b. 1932)
2007 - Brad Delp, American singer and musician (b. 1951)
2010 - Granny D, American political activist (b. 1910)
2012 - Jose Tomas Sanchez, Filipino cardinal (b. 1920)
2013 - Viren J. Shah, Indian politician, 21st Governor of West Bengal (b. 1926)
2014 - Carlos Moreno, Argentine actor (b. 1938)
2014 - Gerard Mortier, Belgian opera director and administrator (b. 1943)
2014 - Glenn McDuffie, American World War II sailor (b. 1927)
2014 - Mohammed Fahim, Vice President of Afghanistan (b. 1957)
2014 - William Clay Ford, Sr., American businessman (b. 1925)
2015 - Jack Harte, Irish politician (b. 1920)
2015 - James Molyneaux, Baron Molyneaux of Killead, Northern Irish politician (b. 1920)
2015 - David B. Frohnmayer, American attorney (b. 1940)
2015 - Windell Middlebrooks, American actor (b. 1979)
2015 - Juanita Morrow Nelson, American activist (b. 1923)
2015 - Frei Otto, German architect (b. 1925)
2015 - French sportspeople killed in the Villa Castelli helicopter crash in Argentina:
Florence Arthaud, French sailor (b. 1957)
Camille Muffat, French swimmer (b. 1989)
Alexis Vastine, French boxer (b. 1986)
2016 - Clyde Lovellette, American basketball player (b. 1929)
2016 - Nana Vasconcelos, Brazilian jazz musician (b. 1944)
2016 - Sergio Arellano Stark, Chilean military officer (b. 1921)
2016 - Jon English, English-Australian musician and actor (b. 1949)
2016 - Ray Griff, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
2016 - Robert Horton, American actor (b. 1924)
2016 - Bill Wade, American football player (b. 1930)
2017 - Anthony Delhalle, French motorcycle racer (b. 1982)
2017 - Hla Myint, Burmese economist (b. 1920)
2017 - Kasugafuji Akihiro, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1966)
2017 - Barbara Helsingius, Finnish singer, poet and fencer (b. 1937)
2018 - Chris Gedney, American football player (b. 1970)
2018 - Jo Min-ki, South Korean actor and professor (b. 1965)
2018 - Jung Jae-sung, South Korean badminton player (b. 1982)
2018 - George A. Sinner, American politician, Governor of North Dakota (b. 1928)
2018 - Ion Voinescu, Romanian footballer (b. 1929)
2018 - Oskar Groning, German war criminal (b. 1921)
2018 - Ali Asghar Khodadoust, Iranian surgeon (b. 1935)
2018 - Millie Dunn Veasey, American activist (b. 1918)
2019 - Jed Allan, American actor (b. 1935)
2019 - Alberto Bucci, Italian basketball coach (b. 1948)
2019 - Bernard Binlin Dadie, Ivorian novelist, playwright and poet (b. 1916)
2019 - Vladimir Etush, Russian actor (b. 1922)
2019 - Harry Howell, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1932)
Observances
Teacher's Day (Lebanon)
March 09