December 9th in History
The Hollerith computing device
Today in History
- The Virgin of Guadalupe allegedly appears to Juan Diego near Mexico City (1531)
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” is published (1854)
- P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first African-American governor of a US state (Louisiana) (1872)
- Herman Hollerith installs his computing device at the US War Department (1888)
- France passes a law separating church and state (1905)
- The “Doctors’ Trial” of accused Nazis begins at Nuremberg (1946)
- The John Birch Society is founded (1958)
- The world’s longest-running soap opera, Coronation Street, premiers in the UK (1960)
- The Petrified Forest National Park is established (1962)
- The Kecksburg UFO incident takes place (1965)
- The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified (1979)
- The First Intifada begins (1987)
- Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is arrested (2008)
Birthdays
- Metius, mathematician (1571)
- John Milton, poet (1608)
- Peter Kropotkin (Пётр Кропо́ткин), scientist and anarchist (1842)
- Joel Chandler Harris, folklorist (1845)
- Joe Kelley, baseball player (1871)
- Joseph Pilates, physical fitness guru (1883)
- Clarence Birdseye, food manufacturer (1886)
- Hermione Gingold, actress (1897)
- Emmett Kelly, clown (1898)
- Jean de Brunhoff, Babar the Elephant creator (1899)
- Margaret Hamilton, actress (1902)
- Dalton Trumbo, author and blacklist victim (1905)
- Grace Hopper, computer scientist (1906)
- Douglas Fairbanks Jr., actor (1909)
- Lee J. Cobb, actor (1911)
- Broderick Crawford (1911)
- Tip O’Neill, US Speaker of the House (1912)
- Eloise Jarvis McGraw, children’s book author (1915)
- Kirk Douglas, actor (1916)
- James Jesus Angleton, CIA counterintelligence chief (1917)
- Redd Foxx, comedian (1922)
- Dina Merrill, actress (1925)
- Humayun Mirza, historian, son of the first president of Pakistan, and last heir to the throne of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa (1928)*
- Dick Van Patten, actor (1928)
- John Cassavetes, actor (1929)
- Buck Henry, actor and screenwriter (1930)
- Ashleigh Brilliant, author (1933)
- Morton Downey, Jr., talk show host (1933)
- Orville Moody, golfer (1933)
- Judi Dench, actress (1934)
- Deacon Jones, football player (1938)
- Beau Bridges, actor (1941)
- Dick Butkus, football player (1942)
- Michael Nouri, actor (1945)
- Sonia Gandhi, Indian politician (1946)
- Tom Daschle, US Senator (1947)
- Michael Dorn, actor (1952)
- John Malkovich, actor (1953)
- Otis Birdsong, basketball player (1955)
- Donny Osmond, singer (1957)
- Felicity Huffman, actress (1962)
- Kirsten Gillibrand, US Senator (1966)
- Jakob Dylan, singer-songwriter (1969)
- McKayla Maroney, gymnast (1995)
* Timespinner Press is proud to be the publisher of Humayun Mirza’s From Plassey to Pakistan, a magisterial history of the British Raj and the foundation of Pakistan as told from the perspective of the royal family of Bengal.
Deaths
- Rube Foster, baseball player (1930)
- Edith Sitwell, poet (1964)
- Branch Rickey, baseball player and executive (1965)
- Feroz Khan Noon, Pakistani prime minister (1970)
- Ralph Bunche, diplomat and Nobel laureate (1971)
- Louella Parsons, gossip columnist (1972)
- Fulton J. Sheen, Catholic bishop and televangelist (1979)
- Leon Jaworski, Watergate special prosecutor (1982)
- Vincent Gardenia, actor (1992)
- Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan, pilot (1995)
- Patty Donahue, singer-songwriter (1996)
- Archie Moore, boxer (1998)
- Paul Simon, US Senator (2003)
- Robert Sheckley, science fiction writer (2005)
- Gene Barry, actor (2009)
Holidays and Celebrations
- Anna’s Day (Sweden and Finland)
- Christmas Card Day (honoring Sir Henry Cole, creator of the first commercial Christmas card)
- Independence Day (Tanganyika)
- International Anti-Corruption Day (United Nations)
- National Heroes Day / V. C. Bird Day (Antigua and Barbuda)
- National Pastry Day (US food holidays)
- Weary Willie Day (celebrating the birth of clown Emmett Kelly)
- Yuri’s Day in the Autumn (Russian Orthodox Church)
December 9 is the 343rd day of the year (344th in leap years). There are 22 days remaining until the end of the year.