2009

File:2009 Events Collage V2.png|From left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests erupt over the 2009 Iranian presidential election; US Airways Flight 1549 crash-lands in the Hudson River with no fatalities, with the event becoming known as the "Miracle on the Hudson"; The "King of Pop" Michael Jackson died in 2009; Bitcoin is initially launched by the pseudonymous name Satoshi Nakamoto; the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake strikes central Italy; The H1N1 virus was responsible for the 2009 swine flu pandemic.|430x430px|thumb
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**2009** (MMIX) was a common year starting on Thursday in the Gregorian calendar.

2009 was designated as:
* International Year of Astronomy.
* International Year of Natural Fibres.
* International Year of Reconciliation.

2009 was the Chinese Year of Earth Ox based on the 12-year Chinese Zodiac cycle.

## Events 
### January 
* January 1 – Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and Uganda assume their seats on the United Nations Security Council.
* January 1 – The Czech Republic takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union from France.
* January 1 – Slovakia uses the Euro as its money, instead of the Slovak koruna.
* January 3 – Israel invades Gaza with its army.
* January 7 – Russia shuts off all gas to Europe through Ukraine. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly supports the move and suggests that international observers be brought into the dispute.
* January 12 – The Electronic System for Travel Authorization becomes necessary for travelers from Visa Waiver Program countries before travel to the United States.
* January 13 – Ethiopian military forces start to go home from Somalia, where they have tried to keep order for nearly two years.
* January 15 – US Airways Flight 1549, crash-lands in the Hudson River near Manhattan. All 155 people leave the airplane safely. The accident happened because the plane hit a flock of Canada Geese.
* January 17 – Israel declares a cease-fire against Hamas, even though Hamas does not. This ends Israel's attacks after 22 days of fighting in Gaza.
* January 20 – Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.
* January 26 – The International Criminal Court has its first trial. Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is claimed to have used children to make war.
* January 26 – The Icelandic government and banking system collapse. Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigns.
### February 
* February 1 – Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
* February 1 – Johanna Sigurdardottir becomes Prime Minister of Iceland.
* February 2 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that Iran has launched its own satellite, "Omid", into orbit on an Iranian-built rocket.
* February 7 – The deadliest bushfires in Australian history begin; they kill 173, injure 500 more, and leave 7,500 homeless. The fires come after Melbourne records the hottest-ever temperature (46.4&nbsp;°C, 115&nbsp;°F) of any capital city in Australia. The majority of the fires are started by either fallen or clashing power lines or deliberately lit.
* February 9 – Victoria (Australia) hottest day, 48.8&nbsp;°C at Hopetoun.
* February 10 – A Russian and an American satellite collide over Siberia, creating a large amount of space debris.
* February 17 – The JEM rebel group in Darfur, Sudan sign a pact with the Sudanese government, planning a ceasefire within the next 3 months.
* February 25 – Members of the Bangladesh Rifles paramilitary force begin mutinying. Over 80 are killed.

### March 
* March 2 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau.
* March 3 – Gunmen attack a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, Pakistan, killing eight people and injuring several others.
* March 17 – The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, is overthrown in a coup d'état, following a month of rallies in Antananarivo. The military appoints opposition leader Andry Rajoelina as the new president.

### April 
* April 1 – Albania and Croatia join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
* April 5 – North Korea launches the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket, prompting an emergency meeting of—but no official reaction from—the United Nations Security Council.
* April 6 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing nearly 300 and injuring more than 1,500.
### May 
* May 4 – The President of Niger, Tandja Mamadou, holds peace talks with the Tuareg rebel groups in north Niger.
* May 18 – The third C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group meets in Seoul.
* May 18 -Following more than a quarter-century of fighting, the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the total military defeat of the LTTE.\

### June 
* June 1 – An Air France plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil, killing all of the 228 people on board.
* June 12 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reelected as the president of Iran. Over the following weeks, thousands of the opposition's supporters protest the results.
** The end of analog television broadcast in United States.
* June 25 – Music legend Michael Jackson dies in Los Angeles at the age of 50. leading to a worldwide outpouring of global grief.
* June 28 – Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is ousted in a coup.

### July 
* July 1 – Sweden assumes the presidency of the European Union.
* July 4 – The Organization of American States suspends Honduras due to the country's recent political crisis after its refusal to reinstate President Zelaya.
* July 5 – Over 150 are killed when a few thousand ethnic Uyghurs target local Han Chinese during major rioting in Ürümqi, Xinjiang.
* July 7 – A public memorial service for Michael Jackson is held at Staples Center.
* July 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, killing all 168 on board.
* July 16 – Iceland's parliament votes to pursue joining the EU.
* July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to six minutes and 38.8&nbsp;seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean; it is figured to be the most widely observed total eclipse in human history.

### August 
* August 4 – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pardons two American journalists, who had been arrested and imprisoned, for illegal entry earlier in the year, after the old U.S. President Bill Clinton meets with Kim in North Korea.

### September 
* September 26 – Typhoon Ketsana hits the Philippines.
### October 
* October 1 – The Ohio Turnpike gets E-ZPass.
* October 2 – Rio de Janeiro is awarded the 2016 Olympic Games.
* October 9 – Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
* October 22 -- Microsoft release operating system Windows 7.

### November 
* November 20 – The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland was restarted.
* November 30 – The Large Hadron Collider set a new energy record for a particle accelerator.

### December 
* December 1 – The EU's Lisbon Treaty enters effect.
* December 25 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack on the USA while aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

## Deaths 
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* January 1 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer (born 1924)
* January 3 – Pat Hingle, American actor (born 1924)
* January 12 – Claude Berri, French movie director (born 1934)
* January 14 – Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican-American actor (b. 1920)
* January 27 – John Updike, American writer (born 1932)
* January 30 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish boxer (b. 1932)
* February 6 – James Whitmore, American actor (born 1921)
* February 11 – Estelle Bennett, American singer (b. 1941)
* March 2 – João Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1939)
* March 18 – Natasha Richardson, English actress (born 1963)
* March 28 – Janet Jagan, Guyanese President (b. 1920)
* March 31 – Raúl Alfonsín, Argentine President (b. 1927)
* April 25 – Beatrice Arthur, American actress (born 1922)
* May 4 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)
* May 19 – Robert Furchgott, American scientist (born 1916)
* May 23 – Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean President (born 1946)
* June 3 – David Carradine, American actor (born 1936)
* June 8 – Omar Bongo, President of Gabon (born 1935)
* June 13 – Mitsuharu Misawa, Japanese professional wrestler (born 1962)
* June 25 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress (born 1947)
* June 25 – Michael Jackson, American singer and entertainer (born 1958)
* July 1 – Karl Malden, American actor (born 1912)
* July 17 – Walter Cronkite, American news anchor (born 1916)
* July 19 – Frank McCourt, Irish-American writer (born 1930)
* July 31 – Bobby Robson, English football manager (born 1933)
* August 1 – Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines (born 1933)
* August 18 – Kim Dae-jung, South Korean President (born 1924)
* August 25 – Ted Kennedy, US Senator (born 1932)
* September 12 – Norman Borlaug, American biologist (b. 1914)
* September 14 – Patrick Swayze, American actor (born 1952)
* September 29 – Pavel Popovich, Soviet cosmonaut
* October 4 
** Shoichi Nakagawa, Japanese politician
** Mercedes Sosa, Argentine singer (b. 1935)
* October 13 – Al Martino, American singer and actor (b. 1927)
* October 31 – Qian Xuesen, Chinese scientist (born 1911)
* November 8 – Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist (b. 1916)
* November 10 – Robert Enke, German footballer (born 1977)
* November 21 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (born 1926)
* December 4 – Eddie Fatu, Samoan-American professional wrestler (born 1973)
* December 5 – Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (born 1926)
* December 17 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (born 1919)
* December 20 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (born 1977)
* December 24 – Rafael Caldera, Venezuelan President (born 1916)
* December 30 – Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesian President (born 1940)

## References