August 9

Events 
 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.

 Births 
 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

 Deaths 
 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)

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

August 09