History of Today in India – 09 February

Explore the history of today 09 February in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 09 February 2026, 10:00 AM

📜 Important Events on 09 February in World History

• 09 Feb 2025: The Baltic states synchronize their electric power transmission infrastructure with the Continental Europe Synchronous Area (CESA), in objective to disconnect from the Russo-Belarussian agreement to use the IPS/UPS system. Read more
• 09 Feb 2021: Second impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins. Read more
• 09 Feb 2020: Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has the army soldiers enter the Legislative Assembly to assist in pushing for the approval for a better government security plan, causing a brief political crisis. Read more
• 09 Feb 2018: Winter Olympics: Opening ceremony is performed in Pyeongchang County in South Korea. Read more
• 09 Feb 2016: Two passenger trains collide in the German town of Bad Aibling in the state of Bavaria. Twelve people die and 85 others are injured. Read more
• 09 Feb 2001: The Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision takes place, killing nine of the thirty-five people on board the Japanese fishery high-school training ship Ehime Maru, leaving the USS Greeneville (SSN-772) with US $2 million in repairs, at Pearl Harbor. Read more
• 09 Feb 1996: The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares the end to its 18-month ceasefire and explodes a large bomb in London’s Canary Wharf, killing two people. Read more
• 09 Feb 1996: Copernicium is discovered by Sigurd Hofmann, Victor Ninov et al. Read more
• 09 Feb 1991: Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Voters in Lithuania vote for independence from the Soviet Union. Read more
• 09 Feb 1987: Civil unrest broke out across Palestine. Read more
• 09 Feb 1986: Halley’s Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System. Read more
• 09 Feb 1982: Japan Air Lines Flight 350 crashes near Haneda Airport in an attempted pilot mass murder-suicide, killing 24 of the 174 people on board. Read more
• 09 Feb 1978: The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Read more
• 09 Feb 1976: Aeroflot Flight 3739, a Tupolev Tu-104, crashes during takeoff from Irkutsk Airport, killing 24. Read more
• 09 Feb 1975: The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth. Read more
• 09 Feb 1971: The 6.5–6.7 Mw  Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000. Read more
• 09 Feb 1971: Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro league player to be voted into the USA’s Baseball Hall of Fame. Read more
• 09 Feb 1971: Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third human Moon landing. Read more
• 09 Feb 1965: Vietnam War: The United States Marine Corps sends a MIM-23 Hawk missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission. Read more
• 09 Feb 1964: The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a record-setting audience of 73 million viewers across the United States. Read more
• 09 Feb 1961: The Beatles at the Cavern Club: Lunchtime – The Beatles perform under this name at The Cavern Club for the first time following their return to Liverpool from Hamburg. Read more
• 09 Feb 1959: The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR. Read more
• 09 Feb 1951: Korean War: The two-day Geochang massacre begins as a battalion of the 11th Division of the South Korean Army kills 719 unarmed citizens in Geochang, in the South Gyeongsang district of South Korea. Read more
• 09 Feb 1950: Second Red Scare: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists. Read more
• 09 Feb 1945: World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: HMS Venturer sinks U-864 off the coast of Fedje, Norway, in a rare instance of submarine-to-submarine combat. Read more
• 09 Feb 1945: World War II: A force of Allied aircraft unsuccessfully attack a German destroyer in Førdefjorden, Norway. Read more
• 09 Feb 1943: World War II: Pacific War: Allied authorities declare Guadalcanal secure after Imperial Japan evacuates its remaining forces from the island, ending the Battle of Guadalcanal. Read more
• 09 Feb 1942: Year-round Daylight saving time (aka War Time) is reinstated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources. Read more
• 09 Feb 1941: World War II: Bombing of Genoa: The Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, Italy, is struck by a bomb which fails to detonate. Read more
• 09 Feb 1934: The Balkan Entente is formed between Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Turkey. Read more
• 09 Feb 1932: Prohibition law is abolished in Finland after a national referendum, where 70% voted for a repeal of the law. Read more
• 09 Feb 1929: Members of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng assassinate the labor recruiter Bazin, prompting a crackdown by French colonial authorities. Read more
• 09 Feb 1922: Brazil becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty. Read more
• 09 Feb 1920: Under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty, international diplomacy recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Arctic archipelago Svalbard, and designates it as demilitarized. Read more
• 09 Feb 1913: A group of meteors is visible across much of the eastern seaboard of the Americas, leading astronomers to conclude the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the Earth. Read more
• 09 Feb 1907: The Mud March is the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). Read more
• 09 Feb 1904: Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Port Arthur concludes. Read more
• 09 Feb 1900: The Davis Cup competition is established. Read more
• 09 Feb 1895: William G. Morgan creates a game called Mintonette, which soon comes to be referred to as volleyball. Read more
• 09 Feb 1893: Verdi’s last opera, Falstaff premieres at La Scala, Milan. Read more
• 09 Feb 1889: US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency. Read more
• 09 Feb 1870: US president Ulysses S. Grant signs a joint resolution of Congress establishing the U.S. Weather Bureau. Read more
• 09 Feb 1861: American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama Read more
• 09 Feb 1849: The new Roman Republic is declared. Read more
• 09 Feb 1825: After no candidate receives a majority of electoral votes in the US presidential election of 1824, the United States House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as sixth President of the United States in a contingent election. Read more
• 09 Feb 1822: Haiti attacks the newly established Dominican Republic on the other side of the island of Hispaniola. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 09 February in World History

• 09 Feb 2007: Ryan Williams, American football player Ryan Alexander Coleman Williams Jr. is an American college football wide receiver for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Read more
• 09 Feb 2003: Cooper DeJean, American football player Cooper Michael DeJean is an American professional football cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes, receiving unanimous All-American honors in 2023. Selected by the Eagles in the second round of the 2024 NFL draft, DeJean helped the team win Super Bowl LIX as a rookie, where he returned his first career interception for a touchdown in the win. Read more
• 09 Feb 2002: Jalen Green, American basketball player Jalen Romande Green is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a consensus five-star recruit and the best shooting guard in the 2020 class, with ESPN ranking him number one overall. He finished his high school career at Prolific Prep in Napa, California, and he chose to forgo college basketball to join the NBA G League Ignite team in its inaugural season. Green has won three gold medals with the United States at the junior level and was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2018 FIBA Under-17 World Cup. Green was selected by the Houston Rockets with the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft. He is the third player in the NBA of Filipino descent, following Raymond Townsend and Jordan Clarkson. Read more
• 09 Feb 2001: Dylan Cozens, Canadian ice hockey player Dylan Cozens is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a centre for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Cozens was selected seventh overall in the 2019 NHL entry draft by the Buffalo Sabres. Nicknamed “The Workhorse from Whitehorse”, he is the first player from the Yukon to be a first-round Western Hockey League (WHL) draft pick, a first-round NHL draft pick, and a member of the Canada men’s national junior ice hockey team. Read more
• 09 Feb 1998: Cem Bölükbaşı, Turkish racing driver and former sim racer Cem Bölükbaşı is a Turkish racing driver and former sim racer who competes in the 2025 European Le Mans Series for Nielsen Racing. He previously drove for DKR Engineering in the 2024 European Le Mans Series. Read more
• 09 Feb 1998: Isabella Gomez, Colombian-American actress Isabella Gomez is a Colombian-American actress, best known for starring in One Day at a Time. Gomez has previously had minor roles in both Modern Family and Matador. She was later cast in a starring role in HBO Max’s Head of the Class, the revival of the former ABC ’80s sitcom television series of the same name, which premiered in October 2021. Read more
• 09 Feb 1997: Jaire Alexander, American football player Jaire Zakar Alexander is an American former professional football cornerback who played eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals, and was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft, where he spent seven seasons. He signed with the Baltimore Ravens in 2025 before being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles midseason and announced his retirement from football ten days after being traded. Read more
• 09 Feb 1997: Saquon Barkley, American football player Saquon Rasul Quevis Barkley is an American professional football running back for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions, where he set several school records for his offensive production over three seasons before forgoing his senior year to enter the NFL. Read more
• 09 Feb 1997: Valentini Grammatikopoulou, Greek tennis player Valentini Grammatikopoulou is a Greek tennis player. On 22 August 2022, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 143. On 15 July 2024, she peaked at No. 97 in the WTA doubles rankings. She has won a singles and a doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour, and in addition, 15 singles and 34 doubles titles on the ITF Women’s Circuit. Read more
• 09 Feb 1996: Jimmy Bennett, American actor James Michael Bennett is an American actor. He is known for his roles as a child actor in Daddy Day Care, Hostage, The Amityville Horror, Poseidon, Evan Almighty, Orphan, Shorts, and as young James T. Kirk in the 2009 film Star Trek. He also starred on the ABC series No Ordinary Family as JJ Powell, a teenager gifted with vast intelligence after a plane crash. Read more
• 09 Feb 1996: Kelli Berglund, American actress Kelli Michelle Berglund is an American actress. She became known for starring as Bree Davenport in the Disney XD series Lab Rats (2012–2016) and its sequel Lab Rats: Elite Force (2016). She also starred in the comedy series Now Apocalypse (2019) and the drama series Heels (2021–2023), both for Starz. Read more
• 09 Feb 1996: Chungha, South Korean singer Kim Chung-ha, known mononymously as Chung Ha, is a South Korean singer, dancer and choreographer. She finished fourth in Mnet’s girl group survival show Produce 101, becoming a member of the resulting girl group I.O.I. Following the dissolution of I.O.I in 2017, Chung Ha debuted as a solo artist with the extended play Hands on Me. Read more
• 09 Feb 1996: Sebastián Driussi, Argentinian footballer Sebastián Driussi is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for River Plate. Read more
• 09 Feb 1995: André Burakovsky, Swedish ice hockey player André Burakovsky is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for the Washington Capitals, who drafted him 23rd overall in 2013, along with the Colorado Avalanche, who acquired his rights and consequently signed him during the 2019 offseason and also the Seattle Kraken. Burakovsky is a two-time Stanley Cup champion, winning with the Capitals in 2018 and the Avalanche in 2022. Read more
• 09 Feb 1995: Mario Pašalić, Croatian footballer Mario Pašalić is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A side Atalanta. Born in Germany, he plays for the Croatia national team. Read more
• 09 Feb 1995: Sheraldo Becker, Surinamese footballer Sheraldo Rudi Salomo Willem Becker is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bundesliga club Mainz 05, on loan from La Liga club Osasuna. Born in the Netherlands, he plays for the Suriname national team. Read more
• 09 Feb 1993: Wataru Endō, Japanese footballer Wataru Endō is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Liverpool and captains the Japan national team. Read more
• 09 Feb 1993: K. J. McDaniels, American basketball player Kevin Ornell Chapman “K. J.” McDaniels Jr. is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Clemson University before he was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 32nd overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft. Read more
• 09 Feb 1993: Despina Papamichail, Greek tennis player Despina Papamichail is a Greek professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 147, reached on 20 June 2022. Her highest doubles ranking is No. 93, achieved on 4 December 2023.
  Papamichail has won two doubles titles on the WTA Challenger Tour as well as 17 singles and 39 doubles titles on the ITF Women’s Circuit. Read more
• 09 Feb 1993: Niclas Füllkrug, German footballer Niclas Füllkrug is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club AC Milan, on loan from West Ham United, and the Germany national team. Read more
• 09 Feb 1992: Avan Jogia, Canadian actor Avan Tudor Jogia is a Canadian actor, author and director. Starting as a child actor, he first received recognition for portraying Danny Araujo in the television film A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story (2006). After moving to the United States in his late teens, he landed various roles on television series such as Caprica (2009–2010) and had his breakthrough as Beck Oliver in Victorious (2010–2013). Read more
• 09 Feb 1991: Helena Kmieć, Polish Roman Catholic missionary (died 2017) Helena Agnieszka Kmieć was a Polish Catholic missionary who was awarded the Polish Gold Cross of Merit. In May 2024, her sainthood cause was opened and she was named a Servant of God. Read more
• 09 Feb 1991: Logan Ryan, American football player Logan Daniel Ryan is an American former professional football defensive back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights as a cornerback and was selected by the New England Patriots in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft. Ryan also played for the Tennessee Titans, New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and San Francisco 49ers. He played cornerback for the first seven seasons of his career before switching to safety in 2020 and playing the position in his last four seasons. Since retiring from playing, Ryan has worked as an NFL color analyst for CBS television broadcasts. Read more
• 09 Feb 1990: Randall Delgado, Panamanian baseball player Randall Enrique Delgado is a Panamanian professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks, and in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the Uni-President Lions. Read more
• 09 Feb 1990: Tariq Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player Tariq Sims is a Fiji international retired rugby league footballer who played as a Second-row, Loose forward and Prop for the Catalans Dragons in the Super League. Read more
• 09 Feb 1990: Camille Winbush, American actress Camille Simoine Winbush is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles as Emma Aimes on short-lived sitcom Minor Adjustments, Vanessa “Nessa” Thomkins on The Bernie Mac Show and as Lauren Treacy on the popular teen drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Her work in television has earned her three Image Awards and a Young Artist Award. Read more
• 09 Feb 1989: Maxime Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian skier Maxime Dufour-Lapointe is a Canadian freestyle skier from Montréal, Quebec. Read more
• 09 Feb 1987: Michael B. Jordan, American actor Michael Bakari Jordan is an American actor, producer, and director. His accolades include a Producers Guild Award and an Actor Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Emmy Awards. Jordan was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2020 and 2023, People’s Sexiest Man Alive in 2020, and The New York Times ranked him 15th on its list of the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century. Read more
• 09 Feb 1987: Davide Lanzafame, Italian footballer Davide Lanzafame is an Italian football coach and former professional player, who played as a striker or right winger. He is in charge of Eccellenza amateurs Borgaro. Read more
• 09 Feb 1987: Rose Leslie, Scottish actress Rose Eleanor Arbuthnot-Leslie is a Scottish actress. She portrayed Gwen Dawson in the ITV drama series Downton Abbey and Ygritte in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones. She played Maia Rindell in three seasons of the CBS All Access legal and political drama The Good Fight and starred as Clare Abshire in HBO’s The Time Traveler’s Wife. Read more
• 09 Feb 1987: Magdalena Neuner, German biathlete Magdalena “Lena” Holzer is a retired German professional biathlete. She is the most successful woman of all time at Biathlon World Championships and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. At the age of 21, she became the youngest Overall World Cup winner in the history of the International Biathlon Union (IBU). With 34 World Cup wins, Neuner is ranked second all-time for career victories on the Biathlon World Cup tour. She has won the Overall World Cup title three times, in 2007–08, in 2009–10 and her final season in 2011–12. At only 25 years old, Neuner retired from the sport in March 2012, citing a lack of motivation and her desire for a normal life. Read more
• 09 Feb 1985: Nigel Dawes, Canadian-Kazakhstani ice hockey player Nigel Alexander Dawes is a Canadian–Kazakhstani former professional ice-hockey winger. He played 212 games in five seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers, and Montreal Canadiens. Read more
• 09 Feb 1985: David Gallagher, American actor David Lee Gallagher is an American actor and former model. He began his career as a child actor and model at the age of two, and is known for his roles as Mikey Ubriacco in Look Who’s Talking Now, Simon Camden in 7th Heaven, Kevin Harper in Angels in the Endzone, Richie Rich in Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish, and Riku in the Kingdom Hearts series. Throughout his career, he has been a five-time Young Artist Award nominee and Teen Choice Award winner. Read more
• 09 Feb 1984: Maurice Ager, American basketball player, singer, and producer Maurice Darnell Ager is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans from 2002 until 2006. Ager led the Spartans to the NCAA Final Four as a junior in 2005 and averaged 14 points per game. He led the Big Ten Conference in scoring during his senior season. Ager was selected by the Dallas Mavericks with 28th overall pick of the 2006 NBA draft. He played parts of four seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Dallas Mavericks, New Jersey Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves. Ager also played in the NBA Development League and in Spain. Read more
• 09 Feb 1984: Dioner Navarro, Venezuelan baseball player Dioner Favian Navarro Vivas is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox and Toronto Blue Jays. With the Rays, Navarro was an All-Star in 2008. Read more
• 09 Feb 1984: Shōhōzan Yūya, Japanese sumo wrestler Shōhōzan Yūya is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler from Chikujō, Fukuoka. Wrestling for Hanaregoma stable, he made his professional debut in March 2006 and reached the top makuuchi division in November 2011. His highest rank was komusubi, which he achieved on five separate occasions. He earned three Fighting Spirit prizes, five kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna, and was runner-up in one tournament before retiring from competition in June 2022. Read more
• 09 Feb 1983: Mikel Arruabarrena, Spanish footballer Mikel Arruabarrena Aranbide is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a centre-forward, currently manager of SD Beasain. Read more
• 09 Feb 1982: Domingo Cisma, Spanish footballer Domingo Cisma González is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left-back. Read more
• 09 Feb 1982: Jameer Nelson, American basketball player Jameer Lamar Nelson Sr. is an American former professional basketball player who currently serves as the assistant general manager for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Saint Joseph’s Hawks, where he was named national college player of the year in 2004. Drafted 20th overall in the 2004 NBA draft, Nelson spent the first ten years of his NBA career with the Orlando Magic. In 2009, he was named an All-Star and made an appearance in the NBA Finals with the Magic. He also played in the NBA for the Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, and Detroit Pistons. Read more
• 09 Feb 1982: Ami Suzuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress Ami Suzuki is a Japanese recording artist, DJ, and actress from Zama, Kanagawa, Japan. Following her late 90s fame as a popular teen idol, Suzuki went on to become known for her self-penned lyrics and music production. Read more
• 09 Feb 1982: Chris Weale, English footballer and manager Christopher Weale is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently director of football at Sherborne School. Read more
• 09 Feb 1981: Tom Hiddleston, English actor Thomas William Hiddleston is a British actor. He gained international fame portraying Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), beginning with Thor in 2011 and including the Disney+ series Loki (2021–2023). Read more
• 09 Feb 1981: John Walker Lindh, American Taliban member John Philip Walker Lindh is an American Taliban member who was captured by United States forces as an enemy combatant during the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001. He was detained at Qala-i-Jangi fortress, which was used as a prison. He denied participating in the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi, a violent uprising of the Taliban prisoners, stating that he was wounded in the leg and hid in the cellar of the Pink House, in the southern half of the fort. He was one of the 86 prisoners who survived the uprising, from an estimated 400 prisoners in total. CIA officer Johnny Micheal Spann was killed during that uprising. Brought to trial in United States federal court in February 2002, Lindh accepted a plea bargain; he pleaded guilty to two charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released on parole on May 23, 2019, for a three-year period of supervised release. Read more
• 09 Feb 1981: Daisuke Sekimoto, Japanese wrestler Daisuke Sekimoto is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division. He is also known for his appearances in Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max. He is a three-time BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion, while also being a former one-time NWA Pan-Pacific Premium Heavyweight Champion, one-time wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion and a two-time Zero1 World Heavyweight Champion. Other major singles championships include the BJW Heavyweight Championship, the KO-D Openweight Championship and the Strongest-K Championship. Also a successful tag team wrestler, he has held the AJPW World Tag Team Championship three times, the All Asia Tag Team Championship two times, the BJW Tag Team Championship twelve times and the KO-D Tag Team Championship two times with his most successful tag team combination being with Yuji Okabayashi. Read more
• 09 Feb 1981: The Rev, American musician (died 2009) James Owen Sullivan, also known by his stage name The Rev, was an American musician and songwriter. He was the drummer, pianist, backing vocalist, and occasional co-lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, which he co-founded in 1999. He was previously the lead vocalist and pianist of the avant-garde metal band Pinkly Smooth and drummer for the ska punk band Suburban Legends from 1998 to 1999. Read more
• 09 Feb 1980: Angelos Charisteas, Greek footballer Angelos Charisteas is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
• 09 Feb 1980: Margarita Levieva, Russian-American actress Margarita Vladimirovna Levieva is a Russian-American actress. Read more
• 09 Feb 1980: Manu Raju, American journalist Manu Raju is an American journalist who serves as the chief congressional correspondent at the news network CNN, covering the United States Congress and campaign politics. He is also anchor of the Sunday edition of CNN’s Inside Politics with Manu Raju. Raju previously reported for Politico as a senior Capitol Hill correspondent and for other D.C. news outlets as well. Read more
• 09 Feb 1979: Akinori Iwamura, Japanese baseball player Akinori Iwamura is a former Japanese baseball infielder, who currently is a manager for the Fukushima Red Hopes in Japan’s Baseball Challenge League. He made his Major League debut with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2007. Read more
• 09 Feb 1979: Irina Slutskaya, Russian figure skater Irina Eduardovna Slutskaya is a Russian former figure skater. She is a two-time World champion, two-time Olympic medalist, seven-time European champion, a four-time Grand Prix Final champion and a four-time Russian national champion. She won a record total of 17 titles on the Grand Prix circuit. Read more
• 09 Feb 1979: Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress and model Zhang Ziyi, sometimes credited Ziyi Zhang, is a Chinese actress, known for playing independent and strong-willed characters. Born and raised in Beijing, Zhang was admitted to the Central Academy of Drama in 1996. That year, she made her acting debut in the television film Touching Starlight (1996). After her breakout role in Zhang Yimou’s The Road Home (1999), which won her Best Actress at the 2000 Hundred Flowers Awards, she gained international fame for her performance in Ang Lee’s wuxia film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Read more
• 09 Feb 1977: A. J. Buckley, Irish-Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter Alan John Buckley is a Canadian actor. He played crime lab technician Adam Ross on the television series CSI: NY (2005–2013) and Navy SEAL Sonny Quinn on the television series SEAL Team (2017–2024). He also had roles in Supernatural (2006–2014), The Box (2007), Home Sweet Hell (2015), and as the voice of Nash in The Good Dinosaur (2015). Read more
• 09 Feb 1976: Charlie Day, American actor, producer, and screenwriter Charles Peckham Day is an American actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing Charlie Kelly on the FX/FXX dark comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005–present), of which he is also a writer and an executive producer. In 2011, he was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Television Award and a Satellite Award for the role. Subsequently, he co-created the Apple TV+ comedy Mythic Quest (2020–2025) with Rob Mac and Megan Ganz. Read more
• 09 Feb 1975: Kurt Asle Arvesen, Norwegian cyclist and coach Kurt Asle Arvesen is a Norwegian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 1998 and 2011. Arvesen is from Eresfjord, Nesset. He won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships five times, as well as stages in each of the three Grand Tours. Read more
• 09 Feb 1975: Clinton Grybas, Australian journalist and sportscaster (died 2008) Clinton Andrew Grybas was an Australian rules football and sports radio and television commentator. Read more
• 09 Feb 1975: Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican-American baseball player Vladimir Guerrero Alvino, nicknamed “Vlad the Impaler”, is a Dominican former professional baseball player who spent 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right fielder and designated hitter. He played for the Montreal Expos (1996–2003), Anaheim Angels / Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2004–2009), Texas Rangers (2010), and Baltimore Orioles (2011). Read more
• 09 Feb 1974: Jordi Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager Johan Jordi Cruijff is a Dutch-Spanish professional football director, coach and former player. Following an appointment in December 2025, he is the Director of Football at AFC Ajax. Read more
• 09 Feb 1974: Brad Maynard, American football player Bradley Alan Maynard is an American former professional football punter in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ball State Cardinals, twice earning consensus All-American honors. Maynard was selected by the New York Giants in the third round of the 1997 NFL draft, and was also a member of the Chicago Bears, the Houston Texans and the Cleveland Browns. Read more
• 09 Feb 1974: Amber Valletta, American model Amber Evangeline Valletta is an American model and actress. She began her career as a fashion model, landing her first of 17 American Vogue covers in February 1993. During the 1990s, Valletta reached the status of supermodel, working as the face of Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Escada, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Valentino, Gucci, and Versace, and signing multimillion-dollar cosmetics contracts with Calvin Klein and Elizabeth Arden. From 1995 to 1996, Valletta and her friend and fellow model Shalom Harlow hosted the MTV show House of Style. Read more
• 09 Feb 1974: John Wallace, American basketball player and coach John Gilbert Wallace is an American former professional basketball player and current broadcaster on MSG Network. He also hosts a live stream and podcast called “Power Forward w/ John Wallace” on SportsCastr. A 6′ 8″ forward, Wallace played seven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), in addition to stints in Greece and Italy. Read more
• 09 Feb 1973: Svetlana Boginskaya, Belarusian gymnast Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya is a former artistic gymnast for the Soviet Union and Belarus of Belarusian origin. She is a three-time Olympic champion, with an individual gold medal on vault from the 1988 Summer Olympics and team gold medals from the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics. Read more
• 09 Feb 1973: Colin Egglesfield, American actor Colin Egglesfield is an American actor. He played Josh Madden in the soap opera All My Children, Auggie Kirkpatrick on The CW’s reboot of the drama series Melrose Place, and Dex in the film Something Borrowed. Read more
• 09 Feb 1973: Makoto Shinkai, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter Makoto Niitsu , known as
  Makoto Shinkai , is a Japanese filmmaker and novelist. A founder of CoMix Wave Films, he is known for his anime feature films enriched with visually-appealing animation and romantic stories depicting teenagers and high school students. Read more
• 09 Feb 1972: Darren Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager Darren Ferguson is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was last the manager of EFL League One club Peterborough United, in his fourth stint as manager of the club. In between his stints with Peterborough, he also managed Preston North End and Doncaster Rovers. Read more
• 09 Feb 1972: Jason Winston George, American actor and model Jason Winston George is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Michael Bourne on the NBC daytime soap opera Sunset Beach, as Jeremiah Thurgood “J.T.” Hunter on the UPN television sitcom Eve, as Dr. Otis Cole on ABC’s Off the Map, and as Dr. Ben Warren on Grey’s Anatomy and its spinoff Station 19. Read more
• 09 Feb 1971: Sharon Case, American actress and model Sharon Case is an American actress and former model. At the age of 17, Case began working as a model, relocating briefly to Japan, before pursuing an acting career. She is best known for her roles on daytime television soap operas, scoring parts in the serials General Hospital and As the World Turns during the early stages of her career. In 1994, she stepped into the role of Sharon Newman on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless, which she still plays. Case, who is considered a leading actress in the series, won the 1999 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance. Read more
• 09 Feb 1971: Matt Gogel, American golfer Matthew John Gogel is an American professional golfer and golf commentator. He currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He previously played on the PGA Tour and the Nike Tour. Read more
• 09 Feb 1971: Johan Mjällby, Swedish footballer and manager Karl Johan Siward Mjällby is a Swedish football manager and former professional player who played as a centre-back. He represented AIK, Celtic, and Levante during a career that spanned between 1989 and 2006. A full international between 1997 and 2004, he won 49 caps and scored 4 goals for the Sweden national team. Mjällby was the team captain during the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and also took part in UEFA Euro 2000 and 2004. He has been assistant manager of Bolton Wanderers and Celtic, working alongside former Celtic team-mate and manager Neil Lennon. Read more
• 09 Feb 1970: Glenn McGrath, Australian cricketer and sportscaster Glenn Donald McGrath is an Australian former international cricketer whose career spanned 14 years. He was a fast-medium pace bowler and is considered one of cricket’s greatest bowlers and a leading contributor to Australia’s domination of world cricket from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s. McGrath was a member of the Australian team that won three consecutive World Cup trophies, winning the 1999 Cricket World Cup, the 2003 Cricket World Cup, and the 2007 Cricket World Cup. In the 2003 final, he took the winning wicket of Zaheer Khan. McGrath was also a member of the team that won the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy. Read more
• 09 Feb 1969: Jimmy Smith, American football player Jimmy Lee Smith Jr. is an American former professional football who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football for the Jackson State Tigers. With the Cowboys, he won two consecutive Super Bowls over the Buffalo Bills. Read more
• 09 Feb 1968: Alejandra Guzmán, Mexican singer-songwriter and actress Gabriela Alejandra Guzmán Pinal is a Mexican pop and rock singer. With more than 30 million records sold throughout her career, winner of a Latin Grammy Award, and nicknamed “La Reina de Corazones” and “La Reina del Rock”, she is one of the most successful Mexican female singers. She is also daughter of actress Silvia Pinal and singer Enrique Guzmán. Read more
• 09 Feb 1968: Derek Strong, American basketball player and race car driver Derek Lamar Strong is an American former professional basketball player who played in ten National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons from 1991 to 2001 for six different teams. A 6’8″ power forward from Xavier University, Strong was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the 1990 NBA draft. Strong has successfully transitioned into stock car racing. Read more
• 09 Feb 1968: Gloria Trevi, Mexican singer and actress Gloria de los Ángeles Treviño Ruiz, known professionally as Gloria Trevi, is a Mexican singer-songwriter. She is one of the best-selling Latin music artists in history, having sold over 20 million records worldwide. Trevi is known for her emotional lyrics, performances, and lasting influence on Latin music, being dubbed the “Mexican Queen of Pop” by Rolling Stone. She is also known for the media coverage surrounding the Trevi–Andrade scandal, involving sexual abuse and forced labour led by her former manager-producer Sergio Andrade. Read more
• 09 Feb 1967: Gaston Browne, Antiguan and Barbudan Prime Minister Gaston Alphonso Browne is an Antiguan politician serving as the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda and leader of the Labour Party since 2014. Before entering politics, he was a banker and businessman. Read more
• 09 Feb 1967: Venus Lacy, American basketball player Venus Lacy is an American former professional basketball who played as a 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) center. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, she won championships at every level, but her American professional career was diminished by injuries she sustained in a 1997 car accident. Read more
• 09 Feb 1967: Todd Pratt, American baseball player and coach Todd Alan Pratt is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1992 and 2006, primarily serving as a back-up catcher for most of his career. Following his playing career, Pratt has served in a number of coaching roles including in college baseball and also in Minor League Baseball with the Miami Marlins. He is currently manager of the Glacier Range Riders, an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League in Kalispell, Montana. Read more
• 09 Feb 1967: Dan Shulman, Canadian sportscaster Daniel Shulman is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet as well as the American network ESPN. Read more
• 09 Feb 1966: Harald Eia, Norwegian comedian, actor, and screenwriter Harald Meldal Eia is a Norwegian comedian, and sociologist. In recent years, Eia has also made TV-documentaries and written books. Read more
• 09 Feb 1965: Dieter Baumann, German runner Dieter Baumann is a German former athlete and 5000 m Olympic champion at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He also won the silver medal in the same event (5000 m) at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Read more
• 09 Feb 1965: Julie Warner, American actress Juliet Mia Warner is an American actress. She is best known as Danni Lipton on Family Law (1999–2001) and Megan O’Hara on Nip/Tuck (2003–2006), Lou in Doc Hollywood (1991), Elaine in Mr. Saturday Night (1992), Michelle in Tommy Boy (1995), Micki in Wedding Bell Blues (1996), and Dean York in Chalk It Up (2016). She also appeared in the 1989 HBO special The Diceman Cometh with comedian Andrew Dice Clay. Read more
• 09 Feb 1964: Debrah Miceli, Italian-American wrestler and manager Debrah Ann Miceli, better known as Madusa, is an American monster truck driver and retired professional wrestler. She is currently signed to National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as a producer. In professional wrestling Miceli is also known by the ring name Alundra Blayze, which she used while in the WWF/WWE. Read more
• 09 Feb 1964: Dewi Morris, English rugby player

  Colin Dewi Morris is a former rugby union footballer, who played scrum half for England. Read more

• 09 Feb 1964: Ernesto Valverde, Spanish footballer and manager Ernesto Valverde Tejedor is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of La Liga club Athletic Bilbao. Read more
• 09 Feb 1963: Brian Greene, American physicist Brian Randolph Greene is an American physicist known for his research on string theory. He is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, director of its center for theoretical physics, and the chairman of the World Science Festival, which he co-founded in 2008. Greene co-discovered mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi–Yau manifolds. He also described the flop transition, a mild form of topology change, and the conifold transition, a more severe transformation of space, showing that topology can smoothly change in string theory. Read more
• 09 Feb 1963: Peter Rowsthorn, Australian comedian and actor Peter Rowsthorn is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, writer, producer, MC, host and theatre. Read more
• 09 Feb 1963: Travis Tritt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor James Travis Tritt is an American country singer-songwriter. He signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest-hits package for the label between then and 1999. In the 2000s, he released three studio albums on Columbia Records and one for the now-defunct Category 5 Records. Seven of his albums are certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America; the highest-certified is 1991’s It’s All About to Change, which is certified triple-platinum. Tritt has also charted more than 40 times on the Hot Country Songs charts, including five number ones—”Help Me Hold On”, “Anymore”, “Can I Trust You with My Heart”, “Foolish Pride”, and “Best of Intentions”—and 15 additional top-10 singles. Tritt’s musical style is defined by mainstream country and Southern rock influences. Read more
• 09 Feb 1962: Anik Bissonnette, Canadian ballerina Anik Bissonnette is a Canadian ballet dancer. She began her professional ballet career with the Ballet de Montreal Eddy Toussaint in the 1980s, and became a principal dancer with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in 1990. Read more
• 09 Feb 1961: John Kruk, American baseball player and sportscaster John Martin Kruk is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder. Kruk played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, and Chicago White Sox from 1986 through 1995. During his career, he was a three-time MLB All-Star. After retiring as a player, Kruk became a baseball analyst for ESPN. He is now a color commentator for Phillies’ games on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Read more
• 09 Feb 1960: Holly Johnson, English singer-songwriter and bass player William “Holly” Johnson is an English singer, songwriter and artist, best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who achieved huge commercial success in the mid-1980s. Prior to that, in the late 1970s he was a bassist for the band Big in Japan. In 1989, Johnson’s debut solo album, Blast, reached number one in the UK Albums Chart. Two singles from the album – “Love Train” and “Americanos” – reached the top 5 of the UK Singles Chart. In the 1990s, he also embarked on writing, painting, and printmaking careers. Read more
• 09 Feb 1960: David Simon, American journalist, author, screenwriter, and television producer David Judah Simon is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on The Wire (2002–2008). Read more
• 09 Feb 1960: Peggy Whitson, American biochemist and astronaut Peggy Annette Whitson is an American biochemistry researcher, and astronaut working for Axiom Space. She retired from NASA in 2018, after serving as Chief Astronaut. Over all her missions, Whitson has accumulated a total of 695 days in space, more than any other American or woman. Read more
• 09 Feb 1958: Sandy Lyle, Scottish golfer Alexander Walter Barr “Sandy” Lyle is a Scottish professional golfer. He has won two major championships during his career. Along with Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam, he became one of Britain’s top golfers during the 1980s. He spent 167 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking from its introduction, in 1986, until 1989. Read more
• 09 Feb 1958: Chris Nilan, American ice hockey player, coach, and radio host Christopher John Nilan is an American former professional ice hockey player and former radio host. Nilan played 688 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season games as a right-wing for the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Boston Bruins between 1980 and 1992. He won the Stanley Cup in 1986 with Montreal. Read more
• 09 Feb 1957: Terry McAuliffe, American businessman and politician, 72nd Governor of Virginia Terence Richard McAuliffe is an American businessman and politician who served as the 72nd governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign, co-chairman of the 1997 Presidential Inaugural Committee, chairman of the 2000 Democratic National Convention, chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005 and chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. Read more
• 09 Feb 1957: Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager Gordon David Strachan is a Scottish former football coach and player who is currently Technical Director of Dundee. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Coventry City, Southampton, Celtic, Middlesbrough and Scotland. Read more
• 09 Feb 1956: Phil Ford, American basketball player and coach Phil Jackson Ford Jr. is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He graduated from Rocky Mount Senior High School in 1974, and had an All-American college career with the North Carolina Tar Heels. Read more
• 09 Feb 1956: Mookie Wilson, American baseball player and coach William Hayward “Mookie” Wilson is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder and coach who played for the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays over 12 major league seasons. He is best remembered as the Met who hit the ground ball that rolled through Bill Buckner’s legs in the bottom of the 10th inning of game six of the 1986 World Series. Read more
• 09 Feb 1955: Jerry Beck, American historian and author Jerry Beck is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. Read more
• 09 Feb 1955: Jimmy Pursey, English singer-songwriter and producer James Timothy Pursey is an English rock musician. He is the founder and frontman of the punk rock band Sham 69, which he has performed with since 1976, along with releasing material as a solo artist. Read more
• 09 Feb 1955: Charles Shaughnessy, English actor Charles George Patrick Shaughnessy, 5th Baron Shaughnessy is a British actor. His roles on American television include Shane Donovan on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, Maxwell Sheffield on the sitcom The Nanny, and the voice of Dennis the Goldfish on Stanley for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award. He had recurring roles as Christopher Plover on The Magicians and St. John Powell on Mad Men. Shaughnessy was a series regular on ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital in the role of villain Victor Cassadine. Read more
• 09 Feb 1954: Jo Duffy, American author Mary Jo Duffy is an American comic book editor and writer, known for her work for Marvel Comics in the 1980s and DC Comics and Image Comics in the 1990s. Read more
• 09 Feb 1954: Chris Gardner, American businessman and philanthropist Christopher Paul Gardner, Sr. is an American businessman and motivational speaker. He became a stockbroker in the mid-1980s and eventually founded his own brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co, in 1987. In 2006, Gardner sold his minority stake in the firm and published a memoir. The book was later made into the motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness. Read more
• 09 Feb 1954: Kevin Warwick, English scientist Kevin Warwick is an English engineer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University. He is known for his studies on direct interfaces between computer systems and the human nervous system, and has also done research concerning robotics. Read more
• 09 Feb 1953: Ciarán Hinds, Irish actor Ciarán Hinds is an Irish actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Persuasion (1995), Oscar and Lucinda (1997), Road to Perdition (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Munich (2005), Amazing Grace (2007), There Will Be Blood (2007), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Silence (2016), First Man (2018) and Belfast (2021), the last of which earned him nominations for Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Read more
• 09 Feb 1953: Ezechiele Ramin, Italian missionary, priest, and martyr (died 1985) Ezechiele “Lele” Ramin, MCCJ was an Italian Comboni missionary and artist. He was described as a martyr of charity by Pope John Paul II after his murder in Brazil while defending the rights of the farmers and the Suruí natives of the Rondônia area against local landowners. His cause for canonization was opened in 2016, granting him the title “Servant of God”. Read more
• 09 Feb 1953: Gabriel Rotello, American journalist and author, founded OutWeek
  Douglas Gabriel Rotello is an American musician, writer and filmmaker. He created New York’s Downtown Divas revues in the 1980s, was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of OutWeek magazine, became the first openly gay columnist at a major American newspaper, New York Newsday, and authored the book Sexual Ecology. He now makes documentaries for HBO, The History Channel and other networks. Read more
• 09 Feb 1952: Danny White, American football player and sportscaster Wilford Daniel White is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback and punter for 13 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He was the third major franchise quarterback in Cowboys history, following Roger Staubach and Don Meredith. White was 62–30 as a starter, was a second team All-Pro selection in 1982, and led the Cowboys to five playoff appearances, with three consecutive appearances in the NFC Championship game from 1980 to 1982. White was also among the last Cowboys quarterbacks in the Tom Landry era, alongside 1988 starter Steve Pelluer. Read more
• 09 Feb 1951: David Pomeranz, American singer, musician, and composer David Pomeranz is an American singer, songwriter, composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theater. He is also an ambassador for Operation Smile, a foundation dedicated to cleft lip and palate and a member of the Church of Scientology. Read more
• 09 Feb 1950: Richard F. Colburn, American sergeant and politician Richard Franklin Colburn was an American politician who was a Republican state senator for District 37 in Maryland. Read more
• 09 Feb 1949: Bernard Gallacher, Scottish golfer and journalist Bernard Gallacher is a Scottish retired professional golfer. He captained the Europe team to victory in the 1995 Ryder Cup. Read more
• 09 Feb 1949: Judith Light, American actress Judith Ellen Light is an American actress. She made her professional stage debut in 1970, before making her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of A Doll’s House. Her breakthrough role was in the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live from 1977 to 1983, where she played the role of Karen Wolek; for this role, she won two consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1980 and 1981. In 2024, Light won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Poker Face. Read more
• 09 Feb 1949: Marcia Garbey, Cuba’s first Olympic long jump finalist (died2024) Marcia Alejandra Garbey Montell was a Cuban athlete. She competed in the women’s long jump at the 1968 Summer Olympics and the 1972 Summer Olympics. She was Cuba’s first Olympic long jump finalist in 1972 when she finished fourth in Munich. Read more
• 09 Feb 1948: Guy Standing, English economist and academic Guy Standing is a British labour economist. He is a professor of development studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a co-founder of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). Standing has written widely in the areas of labour economics, labour market policy, unemployment, labour market flexibility, structural adjustment policies and social protection. He created the term precariat to describe an emerging class of workers who are harmed by low wages and poor job security as a consequence of globalisation. Since the 2011 publication of his book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, his work has focused on the precariat, unconditional basic income, deliberative democracy, and the commons. Read more
• 09 Feb 1947: Carla Del Ponte, Swiss lawyer and diplomat Carla Del Ponte is a Swiss former Chief Prosecutor of two United Nations international criminal law tribunals. A former Swiss attorney general, she was appointed prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in August 1999, replacing Louise Arbour. Read more
• 09 Feb 1947: Joe Ely, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2025) Joe Ely was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He was “one of the main movers” of Austin, Texas’s progressive country scene in the 1970s and 1980s. Read more
• 09 Feb 1947: Major Harris, American singer (died 2012) Major Harris III was an American R&B singer, associated with the Philadelphia soul sound and the Delfonics. His biggest hit as a solo artist was the 1975 single “Love Won’t Let Me Wait”. Read more
• 09 Feb 1947: Alexis Smirnoff, Canadian-American wrestler and actor (died 2019) Michel Lamarche was a Canadian professional wrestler, known by his ringnames Alexis Smirnoff and Michel “Justice” Dubois, who competed in North American regional promotions including the National Wrestling Alliance, including the Mid-South, Central States, Georgia and San Francisco territories, as well as brief stints in International Wrestling Enterprise, the American Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Federation during the 1970s and 1980s. Read more
• 09 Feb 1946: Bob Eastwood, American golfer Robert Fred Eastwood is an American professional golfer who has won numerous amateur and professional tournaments. Read more
• 09 Feb 1946: Vince Papale, American football player and sportscaster Vincent Francis Papale is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played three seasons with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, primarily on special teams, following two seasons with the Philadelphia Bell of the World Football League (WFL). Papale’s story was the inspiration behind the 2006 film Invincible. Read more
• 09 Feb 1946: Jim Webb, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of the Navy James Henry Webb Jr. is an American politician and author. He has served as a United States senator from Virginia, Secretary of the Navy, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Counsel for the United States House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and is a retired Marine Corps officer. Webb has been a member of the Democratic Party since 2006, having initially been a Republican. He was the first Democratic U.S senator to be elected in Virginia since 1994 and most recently elected who did not serve as Governor of Virginia. Read more
• 09 Feb 1945: Bill Bergey, American football player (died 2024) William Earl Bergey was an American professional football linebacker who played for 12 seasons, most notably with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals of the American Football League (AFL) in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft, the year before the AFL–NFL merger was completed and continued to play with the Bengals in the NFL until 1973. Bergey signed with the Eagles the following year, where he played seven seasons until retiring in 1981. Read more
• 09 Feb 1945: Mia Farrow, American actress, activist, and model Maria de Lourdes Villiers Farrow is an American actress. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the prime-time television soap opera Peyton Place and gained further recognition for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra. An early film role, as Rosemary in Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968), saw her nominated for a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. She went on to appear in several films throughout the 1970s, such as Follow Me! (1972), The Great Gatsby (1974), and Death on the Nile (1978). Her younger sister is Prudence Farrow. Read more
• 09 Feb 1945: Yoshinori Ohsumi, Japanese biologist, 2016 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine Yoshinori Ohsumi is a Japanese cell biologist specializing in autophagy, the process that cells use to destroy and recycle cellular components. Ohsumi is a professor at Institute of Science Tokyo’s Institute of Innovative Research. He received the Kyoto Prize for Basic Sciences in 2012, the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and the 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy. Read more
• 09 Feb 1945: Carol Wood, American mathematician and academic Carol Saunders Wood is a retired American mathematician, the Edward Burr Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics, Emerita, at Wesleyan University. Her research concerns mathematical logic and model-theoretic algebra, and in particular the theory of differentially closed fields. Read more
• 09 Feb 1944: Derryn Hinch, New Zealand-Australian radio and television host and politician Derryn Nigel Hinch is a New Zealand–born media personality, politician, actor, journalist and published author. He is best known for his career in Australia, on Melbourne radio and television. He served as a Senator for Victoria from 2016 to 2019. Read more
• 09 Feb 1944: Alice Walker, American novelist, short story writer, and poet Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awarded for her novel The Color Purple. Over the span of her career, Walker has published seventeen novels and short story collections, twelve non-fiction works, and collections of essays and poetry. Read more
• 09 Feb 1943: Barbara Lewis, American singer-songwriter Barbara Ann Lewis is an American singer and songwriter whose smooth style influenced rhythm and blues. Read more
• 09 Feb 1943: Joe Pesci, American actor Joseph Frank Pesci is an American actor. He is best known for portraying tough, volatile characters in a variety of genres and for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro in the films Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), and The Irishman (2019). Read more
• 09 Feb 1943: Joseph Stiglitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Joseph Eugene Stiglitz is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, political activist, and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank. He is also a former member and chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers. He is known for his support for the Georgist public finance theory and for his critical view of the management of globalization, of laissez-faire economists, and of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Read more
• 09 Feb 1942: Carole King, American singer-songwriter and pianist Carole King Klein is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 during the latter half of the 20th century and 61 songs that reached the UK charts, establishing her as the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts from 1962 to 2005. Read more
• 09 Feb 1941: Kermit Gosnell, American abortionist and serial killer Kermit Barron Gosnell is an American serial killer and former abortion doctor. At his clinic in West Philadelphia, Gosnell provided illegal and unsafe late-term abortions, committed post-labor infanticide after many live births, and ran a prescription pill mill which eventually attracted federal attention. Gosnell was convicted of the murders of three infants who were born alive after using drugs to induce labor, the manslaughter of one woman who died of an anesthetic overdose during an abortion procedure, and of several other abortion- and drug-related crimes. Staff at Gosnell’s clinic testified that there were hundreds of infants born alive during abortion procedures and subsequently killed either by Gosnell himself or on Gosnell’s orders by staff. Read more
• 09 Feb 1941: Sheila Kuehl, American actress, lawyer, gay rights activist, and politician Sheila James Kuehl is an American politician and retired actress, who served as a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 3rd District from 2014 to 2022. Kuehl was California’s first openly gay state legislator, having previously served in the California State Senate and the California State Assembly, where she was the Assembly’s first female speaker pro tem. Read more
• 09 Feb 1940: Brian Bennett, English drummer and songwriter Brian Laurence Bennett is an English drummer, pianist, composer and producer of popular music. He is best known as the drummer of the UK rock and roll group the Shadows. He is the father of musician and Shadows band member Warren Bennett. Read more
• 09 Feb 1940: J. M. Coetzee, South African-Australian novelist, essayist, and linguist, Nobel Prize laureate John Maxwell Coetzee AC FRSL OMG is a South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, and translator. The recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature, Coetzee is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in the English language. He has won the Booker Prize (twice), the CNA Literary Award (thrice), the Jerusalem Prize, the Prix Femina étranger, and The Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and holds a number of other awards and honorary doctorates. Read more
• 09 Feb 1939: Mahala Andrews, English vertebrae palaeontologist (died 1997) Mahala Andrews was a British vertebrae palaeontologist who worked for the National Museum of Scotland. Read more
• 09 Feb 1939: Barry Mann, American pianist, songwriter, and producer Barry Mann is an American songwriter and musician, and was part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. Read more
• 09 Feb 1939: Janet Suzman, South African-British actress and director Dame Janet Suzman is a South African-born British actress who had a successful early career in the Royal Shakespeare Company, later replaying many Shakespearean roles on television. In her first film, Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), her performance as Empress Alexandra Feodorovna earned her several honours, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Read more
• 09 Feb 1938: Raul Martirez, Filipino Roman Catholic prelate (died 2024) Raul José Quimpo Martirez was a Filipino Roman Catholic prelate. He was bishop of San Jose de Antique from 1983 to 2002. Read more
• 09 Feb 1937: Clete Boyer, American baseball player and manager (died 2007) Cletis Leroy “Clete” Boyer was an American professional baseball third baseman—who occasionally played shortstop and second base—in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Athletics (1955–1957), New York Yankees (1959–1966), and Atlanta Braves (1967–1971). Boyer also spent four seasons with the Taiyō Whales of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). In his 16-year big league career, Boyer hit 162 home runs, with 654 runs batted in (RBI), and a .242 batting average, in 1,725 games played. Read more
• 09 Feb 1937: Fazle Haque, Bengali state minister Mohammed Fazle Haque is an Indian politician and also was the past Minister of State for Home Ministry as well as Public Works in the government of West Bengal. He was also an MLA, elected from the Sitai constituency in the 2006 West Bengal legislative assembly election.
  He served 6 terms as an MLA. Read more
• 09 Feb 1936: Callistus Ndlovu, Zimbabwean academic and politician (died 2019) Callistus Dingiswayo Ndlovu was a Zimbabwean academic, diplomat, and politician. He joined the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) in 1963 as a teacher in Matabeleland, and went on to serve as its representative to the United Nations and North America in the 1970s. After Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, he was a member of the House of Assembly from 1980 to 1985 and served as a senator from 1985 to 1990. He left ZAPU and joined the ruling ZANU–PF party in 1984. Read more
• 09 Feb 1936: Clive Swift, English actor and singer-songwriter (died 2019) Clive Walter Swift was an English actor and songwriter. A classically trained actor, his stage work included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he was best known to television viewers for his role as Richard Bucket in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. He played many other television and film roles. Read more
• 09 Feb 1935: Lionel Fanthorpe, English-Welsh priest, journalist, and author Robert Lionel Fanthorpe is a retired British priest and entertainer. Fanthorpe also worked as a dental technician, journalist, teacher, television presenter, author and lecturer. Born in Dereham in Norfolk, he lives in Cardiff in South Wales, where he served as Director of Media Studies and tutor/lecturer in Religious Studies at the Cardiff Academy Sixth form college. Read more
• 09 Feb 1932: Tatsuro Hirooka, Japanese baseball player and manager Tatsuro Hirooka is a Japanese retired professional baseball player and manager. Read more
• 09 Feb 1932: Gerhard Richter, German painter and photographer Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German artists and several of his works have set record prices at auction, with him being the most expensive living painter at one time. Read more
• 09 Feb 1931: Thomas Bernhard, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (died 1989) Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard was an Austrian novelist, playwright, poet and polemicist who is considered one of the most important German-language authors of the postwar era. He explored themes of death, isolation, obsession and illness in controversial literature that was pessimistic about the human condition and highly critical of post-war Austrian and European culture. He developed a distinctive prose style often featuring multiple perspectives on characters and events, idiosyncratic vocabulary and punctuation, and long monologues by protagonists on the verge of insanity. Read more
• 09 Feb 1931: Josef Masopust, Czech footballer and coach (died 2015) Josef Masopust was a Czech football player and coach. He played as midfielder and was a key player for Czechoslovakia, helping them reach the 1962 FIFA World Cup Final. He was capped 63 times, scoring ten goals for his national team. Read more
• 09 Feb 1931: Robert Morris, American sculptor and painter (died 2018) Robert Morris was an American sculptor, conceptual artist and writer. He was regarded as having been one of the most prominent theorists of Minimalism along with Donald Judd, but also made important contributions to the development of performance art, land art, the Process Art movement, and installation art. Morris lived and worked in New York. In 2013 as part of the October Files, MIT Press published a volume on Morris, examining his work and influence, edited by Julia Bryan-Wilson. Read more
• 09 Feb 1930: Garner Ted Armstrong, American evangelist and author (died 2003) Garner Ted Armstrong was an American evangelist and the son of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God, at the time a Sabbatarian organization that taught observance of seventh-day Sabbath and annual Sabbath days based on Leviticus 23. Read more
• 09 Feb 1929: A. R. Antulay, Indian social worker and politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (died 2014) Abdul Rahman Antulay was an Indian politician. Antulay was a union minister for Minority Affairs and a Member of Parliament in the 14th Lok Sabha of India. Earlier he had been the Chief Minister of the state of Maharashtra, but was forced to resign after being convicted by the Bombay High Court on charges that he had extorted money for a trust fund he managed. Later, the Supreme Court of India gave him a clean chit in that case. Read more
• 09 Feb 1929: Clement Meadmore, Australian-American sculptor (died 2005) Clement Meadmore was an Australian-American furniture designer and sculptor known for massive outdoor steel sculptures. Read more
• 09 Feb 1928: Frank Frazetta, American painter and illustrator (died 2010) Frank Frazetta was an American artist known for themes of fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is often referred to as the “Godfather of fantasy art”, and one of the most renowned illustrators of the 20th century. He was also the subject of a 2003 documentary Painting with Fire. Read more
• 09 Feb 1928: Rinus Michels, Dutch footballer and coach (died 2005) Marinus Jacobus Hendricus “Rinus” Michels was a Dutch football player and coach. He played his entire career for Ajax, which he later managed, and played for and later managed the Netherlands national team for four spells. Throughout his career, he played as a forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. Read more
• 09 Feb 1928: Roger Mudd, American journalist (died 2021) Roger Harrison Mudd was an American broadcast journalist who was a correspondent and anchor for CBS News and NBC News. He also worked as the primary anchor for the History Channel. Previously, Mudd was weekend and weekday substitute anchor for CBS Evening News, co-anchor of the weekday NBC Nightly News, and host of the NBC-TV’s Meet the Press and American Almanac TV programs. Mudd was a recipient of a Peabody Award, a Joan Shorenstein Award for Distinguished Washington Reporting, and five Emmy Awards. Read more
• 09 Feb 1927: Richard A. Long, American historian and author (died 2013) Richard A. Long was an American cultural historian and author, who has been called “one of the great pillars of African-American arts and culture”. As an academic, he taught at University of Pennsylvania, University of Paris, University of Poitiers, Atlanta University, Emory University, Morgan State College and West Virginia State College, and had worked as a visiting lecturer at universities in Africa and India. Read more
• 09 Feb 1926: Garret FitzGerald, Irish lawyer and politician, 7th Taoiseach of Ireland (died 2011) Garret Desmond FitzGerald was an Irish Fine Gael politician, economist, and barrister who served twice as Taoiseach, serving from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987. He served as Leader of Fine Gael from 1977 to 1987 and was twice Leader of the Opposition between 1977 and 1982; he was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1973 to 1977. FitzGerald served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1969 to 1992 and was a Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel from 1965 to 1969. Read more
• 09 Feb 1925: John B. Cobb, American philosopher and theologian (died 2024) John Boswell Cobb Jr. was an American theologian, philosopher and environmentalist. He is often regarded as the preeminent scholar in the field of process philosophy and process theology, the school of thought associated with the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Cobb is the author of more than fifty books. In 2014, Cobb was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Read more
• 09 Feb 1925: Burkhard Heim, German physicist and academic (died 2001) Burkhard Heim was a German theoretical physicist known for proposing a unified field theory called Heim theory, which he claimed could have applications to the development of hyperspace travel. Read more
• 09 Feb 1923: Brendan Behan, Irish rebel, poet, and playwright (died 1964) Brendan Francis Aidan Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican, an activist who wrote in both English and Irish. His widely acknowledged alcohol dependence, despite attempts to treat it, impacted his creative capacities and contributed to health and social problems which curtailed his artistic output and finally his life. Read more
• 09 Feb 1923: Tonie Nathan, American radio host, producer, and politician (died 2014) Theodora Nathalia “Tonie” Nathan was an American radio producer, television producer, and political activist. She was the first woman to receive an electoral vote in a United States presidential election. She was the 1972 vice presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party and running mate of John Hospers, when Roger MacBride, a Republican elector from Virginia, cast the historic vote as a faithless elector. Read more
• 09 Feb 1922: Kathryn Grayson, American actress and soprano (died 2010) Kathryn Grayson was an American actress and coloratura soprano. Read more
• 09 Feb 1922: Jim Laker, English cricketer and broadcaster (died 1986) James Charles Laker was an English professional cricketer. A right-arm off break bowler, Laker is generally regarded as one of the greatest spin bowlers in cricket history. Read more
• 09 Feb 1922: C. P. Krishnan Nair, Indian businessman, founded The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts (died 2014) Captain Chittarath Poovakkatt Krishnan Nair was an Indian businessman who founded The Leela Group. He was a 2010 recipient of the Padma Bhushan, given by Government of India. He was sometimes popularly known as Captain Nair due to his service in the Indian Army. Read more
• 09 Feb 1922: Robert E. Ogren, American zoologist (died 2005) Robert Edward Ogren was an American zoologist. Read more
• 09 Feb 1920: Fred Allen, New Zealand rugby player and coach (died 2012) Sir Frederick Richard Allen was a captain and coach of the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby union team. The All Blacks won all 14 of the test matches they played under his coaching. Read more
• 09 Feb 1920: Enrico Schiavetti, Italian football player (died 1993) Enrico Schiavetti was an Italian professional football player. Born in Tivoli, he played for 3 seasons in the Serie A for A.S. Roma. Read more
• 09 Feb 1919: John Abramovic, American basketball player (died 2000) John M. Abramovic Jr. was an American professional basketball player. He played in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) for the Pittsburgh Ironmen, St. Louis Bombers and Baltimore Bullets. Abramovic was nicknamed “Brooms” and worked in his family’s broom manufacturing business after his playing retirement. Read more
• 09 Feb 1918: Lloyd Noel Ferguson, American chemist (died 2011) Lloyd Noel Ferguson was an American chemist. Read more
• 09 Feb 1916: Tex Hughson, American baseball player (died 1993) Cecil Carlton Hughson was an American Major League Baseball starting pitcher who played his entire career in the American League with the Boston Red Sox. He batted and threw right-handed. Read more
• 09 Feb 1914: Ernest Tubb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1984) Ernest Dale Tubb, nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, “Walking the Floor Over You” (1941), marked the rise of the honky-tonk style of music. Read more
• 09 Feb 1912: Ginette Leclerc, French actress (died 1992) Ginette Leclerc was a French film actress. She appeared in nearly 90 films between 1932 and 1978. Her last TV appearance was in 1981. She was born in Ile-de-France, France and died in Paris. She was married to the actor Lucien Gallas. She is possibly best-remembered for her roles in such films as Le Corbeau (1943), The Baker’s Wife (1938), Cab Number 13 (1948), and Tropic of Cancer (1970). Read more
• 09 Feb 1912: Futabayama Sadaji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 35th Yokozuna (died 1968) Futabayama Sadaji was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Oita Prefecture. Entering sumo in 1927, he was the sport’s 35th yokozuna from 1937 until his retirement in 1945. He won twelve yūshō or top division championships and had a winning streak of 69 consecutive bouts, an all-time record. Despite his dominance he was extremely popular with the public. After his retirement he was head coach of Tokitsukaze stable and chairman of the Japan Sumo Association. Read more
• 09 Feb 1911: William Orlando Darby, American general (died 1945) William O. Darby was a career United States Army officer who fought in World War II, where he was killed in action at age 34 in Italy. He was posthumously promoted to brigadier general. Darby was the founding commander of the First Ranger Battalion, which evolved into the United States Army Rangers. He was subsequently portrayed by James Garner in the 1958 theatrical film about Darby’s career titled Darby’s Rangers, which was also the title of his memoir, the source for many of his exploits. Read more
• 09 Feb 1911: Esa Pakarinen, Finnish actor and musician (died 1989) Feeliks Esaias “Esa” Pakarinen was a Finnish actor, singer, accordionist and comedian, best known for the role of Pekka Puupää in the Pekka and Pätkä films from 1953–1960. He was also a skilled, self-taught accordion player. Read more
• 09 Feb 1910: Jacques Monod, French biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1976) Jacques Lucien Monod was a French biochemist. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with François Jacob and André Lwoff “for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis” Read more
• 09 Feb 1909: Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson, Scottish historian (died 2002)

  Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson was a Scottish historian and paleographer. Read more

• 09 Feb 1909: Heather Angel, English-American actress (died 1986) Heather Grace Angel was a British actress. She was known for providing the voice of Mrs. Darling, Wendy’s mother in Peter Pan (1953) and Alice’s sister in Alice in Wonderland (1951). Read more
• 09 Feb 1909: Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-Brazilian actress, singer, and dancer (died 1955) Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, known professionally as Carmen Miranda, was a Portuguese-born Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress. Nicknamed “the Brazilian Bombshell,” she was known for her signature fruit hat outfits that she wore in her American films. Read more
• 09 Feb 1909: Dean Rusk, American colonel and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (died 1994) David Dean Rusk was the United States secretary of state from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the second-longest serving secretary of state after Cordell Hull from the Franklin Roosevelt administration. He had been a high government official in the 1940s and early 1950s, as well as the head of a leading foundation. Read more
• 09 Feb 1907: Trường Chinh, Vietnamese politician, 4th President of Vietnam (died 1988) Trường Chinh, born Đặng Xuân Khu was a Vietnamese communist political leader, revolutionary and theoretician. He was one of the key figures of Vietnamese politics for over 40 years, and played a major role in the 1946-54 war against the French. Trường also played an important role in shaping the politics of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and creating the socialist structure of the new Vietnam. Read more
• 09 Feb 1907: Dit Clapper, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 1978) Aubrey Victor “Dit” Clapper was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Clapper played his entire professional career for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1947, the first Honoured Member to be living at the time of his induction. Read more
• 09 Feb 1907: Harold Scott MacDonald Coxeter, English-Canadian mathematician and academic (died 2003) Harold Scott MacDonald “Donald” Coxeter was a British-Canadian geometer and mathematician. He is regarded as one of the greatest geometers of the 20th century. Read more
• 09 Feb 1906: André Kostolany, Hungarian-French economist and journalist (died 1999) André Kostolany was a stock market expert, bon vivant and Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. He worked most of his life in France and Germany. Read more
• 09 Feb 1905: David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, English hurdler and politician (died 1981) David George Brownlow Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter, KCMG, KStJ, styled Lord Burghley from birth until 1956 and also known as David Burghley, was an English athlete, sports official, peer, and Conservative Party politician. He won the gold medal in the 400 m hurdles at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Read more
• 09 Feb 1901: Brian Donlevy, American actor (died 1972) Waldo Brian Donlevy was an American actor, who was noted for playing dangerous and tough characters. Usually appearing in supporting roles, among his best-known films are Beau Geste (1939), The Great McGinty (1940) and Wake Island (1942). For his role as the sadistic Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Read more
• 09 Feb 1901: James Murray, American actor (died 1936) James T. Murray was an American film actor best known for starring in the 1928 film The Crowd. Read more
• 09 Feb 1898: Jūkichi Yagi, Japanese poet and educator (died 1927) Jūkichi Yagi was a Japanese poet active in the late Taishō period and for the first few years of the Shōwa period, who focused on modern religious themes. Read more
• 09 Feb 1897: Charles Kingsford Smith, Australian captain and pilot (died 1935) Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Read more
• 09 Feb 1896: Alberto Vargas, Peruvian-American painter and illustrator (died 1982) Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chávez was a Peruvian-American painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists and one of the pioneers of airbrush art. Numerous Vargas paintings have sold and continue to sell for tens of thousands of dollars around the world. Read more
• 09 Feb 1895: Hermann Brill, German lawyer and politician, 8th Minister-President of Thuringia (died 1959) Dr. Hermann Louis Brill was a German resistance fighter, doctor of law and politician (SPD). Read more
• 09 Feb 1893: Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, Greek lawyer and politician, 163rd Prime Minister of Greece (died 1987) Georgios Athanasiadis–Novas was a Greek poet, lawyer and politician who briefly served as Prime Minister in 1965. Read more
• 09 Feb 1892: Peggy Wood, American actress (died 1978) Mary Margaret Wood was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best remembered for her performance as the title character in the CBS television series Mama (1949–1957), for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series; her starring role as Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, in The Story of Ruth (1960); and her final screen appearance as Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music (1965), for which she received nominations for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Read more
• 09 Feb 1891: Ronald Colman, English-American actor (died 1958) Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor who started his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then emigrated to the United States, where he had a highly successful Hollywood film career. Colman starred in silent films and successfully transitioned to sound, aided by his distinctive, pleasing voice. He was most popular during the 1930s and 1940s. Colman received Oscar nominations for Bulldog Drummond (1929), Condemned (1929) and Random Harvest (1942). He starred in several classic films, including A Tale of Two Cities (1935), Lost Horizon (1937) and The Prisoner of Zenda (1937). Colman also played the starring role in the Technicolor classic Kismet (1944), with Marlene Dietrich. In 1947, he won an Academy Award for Best Actor and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film A Double Life. Read more
• 09 Feb 1891: Kristian Krefting, Norwegian footballer and chemical engineer (died 1964) Kristian August Krefting was a Norwegian footballer, military officer, chemical engineer and company owner. He was Norwegian champion with the club Lyn in 1910 and 1911, and was on the Norway national football team at the 1912 Summer Olympics. Read more
• 09 Feb 1891: Pietro Nenni, Italian journalist and politician, Secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (died 1980) Pietro Sandro Nenni was an Italian socialist politician and statesman, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and senator for life since 1970. He was a recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951. He was one of the founders of the Italian Republic and a central figure of the Italian political left from the 1920s to the 1960s. Read more
• 09 Feb 1889: Larry Semon, American actor, producer, director and screenwriter (died 1928) Lawrence Semon was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter during the silent film era. In his day, Semon was considered a major movie comedian, but he is now remembered mainly for working with both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before they started working together. He directed and appeared in the 1925 silent film The Wizard of Oz, which had a slight influence on the better-known 1939 talkie The Wizard of Oz released by MGM. The film was included in the 2005 three-disc DVD version of the 1939 film, along with other silent Oz movies. Read more
• 09 Feb 1885: Alban Berg, Austrian composer and educator (died 1935) Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively small oeuvre, he is remembered as one of the most important composers of the 20th century for his expressive style encompassing “entire worlds of emotion and structure”. Read more
• 09 Feb 1885: Clarence H. Haring, American historian and author (died 1960) Clarence Henry Haring was an American historian of Latin America and a pioneer in initiating the study of Latin American colonial institutions among scholars in the United States. Read more
• 09 Feb 1883: Jules Berry, French actor and director (died 1951) Jules Berry was a French actor. Read more
• 09 Feb 1880: Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician and academic (died 1959) Lipót Fejér was a Hungarian mathematician. Read more
• 09 Feb 1878: Jack Kirwan, Irish international footballer (died 1959) John Henry Kirwan was an Irish football player and coach. As a player, he was described as an out and out winger with good pace and skills, playing as an outside-left for, among others, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Ireland. As a football coach he became the first professional manager of Dutch side Ajax. He was the last survivor of the Tottenham team that won the 1901 FA Cup. In his early life he played Gaelic football for Dublin, winning an All-Ireland SFC medal in 1894. Read more
• 09 Feb 1876: Arthur Edward Moore, New Zealand-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Queensland (died 1963) Arthur Edward Moore was an Australian politician. He was the Country and Progressive National Party Premier of Queensland, from 1929 to 1932. He was the only Queensland Premier not to come from the ranks of the Labor Party between 1915 and 1957. Although successful in achieving the unity of the conservative forces in Queensland for an extended period, Moore’s abilities were tested by the onset of the Great Depression and like many other governments in Australia and elsewhere his was unable to endure the formidable challenges it posed. Read more
• 09 Feb 1874: Amy Lowell, American poet, critic, and educator (died 1925) Amy Lawrence Lowell was an American poet of the imagist school. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Read more
• 09 Feb 1871: Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist and physician (died 1910) Howard Taylor Ricketts was an American pathologist after whom the family Rickettsiaceae and the order Rickettsiales are named. Read more
• 09 Feb 1867: Natsume Sōseki, Japanese author and poet (died 1916) Natsume Sōseki was a Japanese novelist, poet, and scholar. He is considered one of the greatest writers in modern Japanese history and is often called the first modern novelist of Japan. Sōseki’s fiction explored themes of individualism, loneliness, and the conflict between traditional Japanese values and the rapid Westernization of the Meiji era. His major works include I Am a Cat (1905), Botchan (1906), Sanshirō (1908), Kokoro (1914), and his unfinished final novel Light and Dark (1916). Read more
• 09 Feb 1865: Mrs. Patrick Campbell, English-French actress (died 1940) Beatrice Rose Stella Tanner, better known by her stage name Mrs Patrick Campbell or Mrs Pat, was an English stage actress, best known for appearing in plays by Shakespeare, Shaw and Barrie. These included Shaw’s Pygmalion where she originated the role of Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle in the West End in 1914. She also toured the United States and appeared briefly in films. Read more
• 09 Feb 1865: Erich von Drygalski, German geographer and geophysicist (died 1949) Erich Dagobert von Drygalski was a German geographer, geophysicist and polar scientist, born in Königsberg, East Prussia. Read more
• 09 Feb 1864: Miina Härma, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (died 1941) Miina Härma was an Estonian composer, organist, choir director, and music teacher, known for being Estonia’s first professional female composer and organist. Read more
• 09 Feb 1863: Anthony Hope, English author and playwright (died 1933) Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope, was a British novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books: The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898). Read more
• 09 Feb 1859: Akiyama Yoshifuru, Japanese general (died 1930) Akiyama Yoshifuru was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and was considered the father of modern Japanese cavalry. He was the older brother of Vice Admiral Akiyama Saneyuki. Read more
• 09 Feb 1856: Hara Takashi, Japanese politician, 10th Prime Minister of Japan (died 1921) Hara Takashi , informally known as Hara Kei, was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1918 until his assassination. Hara was the first commoner and first Christian appointed to be Prime Minister of Japan, and was given the moniker of “commoner prime minister” . Read more
• 09 Feb 1854: Aletta Jacobs, Dutch physician and suffrage activist (died 1929) Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs was a Dutch physician and women’s suffrage activist. As the first woman officially to attend a Dutch university, she became one of the first female physicians in the Netherlands. In 1882, she founded the world’s first birth control clinic and was a leader in both the Dutch and international women’s movements. She led campaigns aimed at deregulating prostitution, improving women’s working conditions, promoting peace and calling for women’s right to vote. Read more
• 09 Feb 1847: Hugh Price Hughes, Welsh-English clergyman and theologian (died 1902) Hugh Price Hughes was a Welsh Methodist clergyman and religious reformer. He served in multiple leadership roles in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He organised the West London Methodist Mission, a key Methodist organisation today. Recognised as one of the greatest orators of his era, Hughes also founded and edited an influential newspaper, the Methodist Times in 1885. His editorials helped convince Methodists to break their longstanding support for the Conservatives and support the more moralistic Liberal Party, which other Nonconformist Protestants already supported. Read more
• 09 Feb 1846: Wilhelm Maybach, German engineer and businessman, founded Maybach (died 1929) Wilhelm Maybach was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the “King of Designers”. Read more
• 09 Feb 1846: Whitaker Wright, English businessman and financier (died 1904) James Whitaker Wright was a company promoter and swindler, who committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice in London immediately following his conviction for fraud. Read more
• 09 Feb 1839: Silas Adams, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (died 1896) Silas Adams was an American attorney and politician from Kentucky who served for one term as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky’s 11th congressional district. Read more
• 09 Feb 1837: José Burgos, Filipino priest and revolutionary (died 1872) José Apolonio Burgos y García was a Filipino Catholic priest, accused of mutiny by the Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippines in the 19th century. He was tried and executed in Manila along with two other clergymen, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, who are collectively known as the Gomburza. Read more
• 09 Feb 1834: Felix Dahn, German lawyer, historian, and author (died 1912) Felix Ludwig Julius Dahn was a German law professor and nationalist author, poet and historian. Read more
• 09 Feb 1830: Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish emperor (died 1876) Abdulaziz was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was overthrown in a government coup. He was a son of Sultan Mahmud II and succeeded his brother Abdulmejid I in 1861. Read more
• 09 Feb 1826: Keʻelikōlani, Hawaiian royal and governor (died 1883) Ruth Ke‘elikōlani, or sometimes written as Luka Ke‘elikōlani, also known as Ruth Ke‘elikōlani Keanolani Kanāhoahoa or Ruth Keanolani Kanāhoahoa Ke‘elikōlani, was a member of the House of Kamehameha who served as Governor of the Island of Hawaiʻi and for a period, was the largest and wealthiest landowner in the Hawaiian Islands. Keʻelikōlani’s genealogy is controversial. Her mother’s identity is not disputed, while her grandfather Pauli Kaōleiokū’s relationship to Kamehameha I is. While her father was legally identified as early as 1864, disputes to that lineage continued as late as 1919. As one of the primary heirs to the Kamehameha family, Ruth held much of the land that would become the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, funding the Kamehameha Schools. Read more
• 09 Feb 1815: Federico de Madrazo, Spanish painter (died 1894) Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz was a Spanish painter. Read more
• 09 Feb 1814: Samuel J. Tilden, American lawyer and politician, 28th Governor of New York (died 1886) Samuel Jones Tilden was an American politician who served as the 25th governor of New York and was the Democratic nominee in the disputed 1876 United States presidential election. Read more
• 09 Feb 1800: Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (died 1844) Hyrum Smith was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement’s founder, Joseph Smith, and was killed with his brother at Carthage Jail where they were being held awaiting trial. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 09 February in World History

• 09 Feb 2025: Tom Robbins, American writer (born 1932) Thomas Eugene Robbins was an American novelist. His most notable works are “seriocomedies”. Robbins had lived in La Conner, Washington, since 1970, where he wrote nine of his books. His 1976 novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was adapted into the 1993 film version by Gus Van Sant. His last work, published in 2014, was Tibetan Peach Pie, a self-declared “un-memoir”. Read more
• 09 Feb 2022: Johnny Raper, Australian rugby league player and coach (born 1939) John William Raper was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Nicknamed “Chook”, he was a lock-forward who earned a then-record of 33 Test caps in the Australia national team between 1959 and 1968. He also played six World Cup games between 1960 and 1968. Raper captained Australia on eight occasions from 1967 to 68 and played in eight consecutive NSWRFL first-grade grand final victories for the St George Dragons club. He was named as one of the nation’s finest footballers of the 20th century. Read more
• 09 Feb 2021: Chick Corea, American jazz composer (born 1941) Armando Anthony “Chick” Corea was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions “Spain”, “500 Miles High”, “La Fiesta”, “Armando’s Rhumba”, and “Windows” are considered jazz standards. Read more
• 09 Feb 2018: Reg E. Cathey, American actor of stage, film, and television (born 1958) Reginald Eurias Cathey was an American character actor. He was best known for various roles on the children’s math show Square One Television, as well as Norman Wilson in The Wire, Martin Querns in Oz, Freddy Hayes in House of Cards. The latter garnered him three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, including a win in 2015. Read more
• 09 Feb 2018: Jóhann Jóhannsson, Icelandic composer (born 1969) Jóhann Gunnar Jóhannsson was an Icelandic composer who wrote music for a wide array of media including theatre, dance, television, and film. His work is stylised by its blending of traditional orchestration with contemporary electronic elements. Read more
• 09 Feb 2018: John Gavin, American actor and United States ambassador to Mexico (born 1931) John Gavin was an American actor and diplomat who was the president of the Screen Actors Guild (1971–1973), and the United States Ambassador to Mexico (1981–1986). Among the films he appeared in were A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958), Imitation of Life (1959), Spartacus (1960), Psycho (1960), Midnight Lace (1960) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), playing leading roles for producer Ross Hunter. Read more
• 09 Feb 2017: André Salvat, French Army colonel (born 1920) André Salvat was a colonel in the French Army. He was a veteran of World War II, the First Indochina War and the Algerian War. He was made a Companion of the Liberation for his World War II service. Read more
• 09 Feb 2016: Sushil Koirala, Nepalese politician, 37th Prime Minister of Nepal (born 1939) Sushil Prasad Koirala was a Nepalese politician and the Prime Minister of Nepal from 11 February 2014 to 10 October 2015. He was also President of the Nepali Congress from 2010 to 2016, having earlier served in various capacities in the party. Read more
• 09 Feb 2016: Zdravko Tolimir, Bosnian Serb military commander (born 1948) Zdravko Tolimir was a Bosnian Serb military commander and war criminal, convicted of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, extermination, murder, persecution on ethnic grounds and forced transfer. Tolimir was a commander of the Army of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War. He was Assistant Commander of Intelligence and Security for the Bosnian Serb army and reported directly to the commander, General Ratko Mladić. Read more
• 09 Feb 2015: Liu Han, Chinese businessman and philanthropist (born 1965) Liu Han was a Chinese billionaire businessman, the former chairman of the conglomerate Hanlong Group, with interests in power generation and mining. His assets were officially valued at 40 billion yuan. He was convicted of murder, running a mafia-style gang, and many other charges, and executed in February 2015. Read more
• 09 Feb 2015: Ed Sabol, American film producer, co-founded NFL Films (born 1916) Edwin Milton Sabol was an American filmmaker and the founder of NFL Films. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 as a contributor due to his works with NFL Films. Read more
• 09 Feb 2014: Gabriel Axel, Danish actor, director, and producer (born 1918) Axel Gabriel Erik Mørch better known as Gabriel Axel was a Danish film director, actor, writer and producer, best known for Babette’s Feast (1987), which he wrote and directed. Read more
• 09 Feb 2014: Hal Herring, American football player and coach (born 1924) Harold Moreland Herring was an American professional football player and coach. He played college football at Auburn University and professionally as a center and linebacker for the Buffalo Bills in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League (NFL). He later was a defensive coach at Auburn and for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and San Diego Chargers. Read more
• 09 Feb 2014: Logan Scott-Bowden, English general (born 1920) Major General Logan Scott-Bowden, was a British army officer. A Royal Engineers officer during World War II, he was the first commander of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Retiring as a major general in 1974, he served as the colonel-commandant of the Royal Engineers from 1975 to 1980. Read more
• 09 Feb 2013: Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (born 1923) Richard Ernst Artschwager was an American painter, illustrator and sculptor. His work has associations with Pop Art, Conceptual art and Minimalism. Read more
• 09 Feb 2013: Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-American martial artist and trainer (born 1913) Keiko Fukuda was a Japanese-American martial artist. She was the highest-ranked female judoka in history, holding the rank of 9th dan from the Kodokan (2006), and 10th dan from USA Judo and from the United States Judo Federation (USJF), and was the last surviving student of Kanō Jigorō, founder of judo. She was a renowned pioneer of women’s judo, and in 1972 together with her senpai Masako Noritomi (1913–1982) was one of the first two women promoted to 6th dan. In 2006, the Kodokan promoted Fukuda to 9th dan, making her the first woman to hold this rank from any recognized judo organization. She is also the first and, so far, only woman to have been promoted to 10th dan in judo, which occurred in 2011. After completing her formal education in Japan, Fukuda visited the United States to teach in the 1950s and 1960s, and eventually settled there. She continued to teach her art in the San Francisco Bay Area until her death in 2013. Read more
• 09 Feb 2013: Jimmy Smyth, Irish hurler (born 1931) James Smyth was an Irish hurler who played as a full-forward for the Clare senior team. Read more
• 09 Feb 2012: O. P. Dutta, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922)

  Om Prakash Dutta was an Indian filmmaker and writer. He began his career in 1948, by directing the film, Pyar Ki Jeet, which stars actress-singer, Suraiya. The film catapulted her to ‘Super Star’ status. He directed nine films until 1959, after which he got into writing dialogues, scripts and stories for films. He wrote most of the films for his son, film director J. P. Dutta, notably Border and LOC Kargil. In 2001, he won the International Indian Film Academy Award and the Filmfare Award for the film Refugee. In 2006, he won a Lifetime Achievement Award from Filmfare. Dutta died from pneumonia in Mumbai on 9 February 2012. He was 90. Read more

• 09 Feb 2012: John Hick, English philosopher and academic (born 1922) John Harwood Hick was an English philosopher of religion and theologian who taught in the United States for the larger part of his career. In philosophical theology he made contributions in the areas of theodicy, eschatology and Christology, and in the philosophy of religion he contributed to the areas of epistemology of religion and religious pluralism. Read more
• 09 Feb 2012: Joe Moretti, Scottish-South African guitarist and songwriter (born 1938) Joseph Edward Moretti was a Scottish guitarist and songwriter, renowned for his work on seminal UK rock and roll records such as Vince Taylor’s “Brand New Cadillac” and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates’ “Shakin’ All Over”, and later for his work as a session musician. He also worked with Gene Vincent, Vince Eager, Lesley Duncan, Nero and the Gladiators, Ronnie Jones and The Nightimers, Eddie Calvert, Johnny Duncan’s Bluegrass Boys, Tom Jones, Colin Hicks & The Cabin Boys, Chris Farlowe, and Madeline Bell. Read more
• 09 Feb 2011: Miltiadis Evert, Greek lawyer and politician, 69th Mayor of Athens (born 1939) Miltiadis Evert was a Greek politician, a member of Parliament, government minister, and ex-chairman of the New Democracy party. Read more
• 09 Feb 2010: Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman, invented the Frisbee (born 1920) Walter Frederick Morrison was an American inventor and entrepreneur, who invented the Frisbee. Read more
• 09 Feb 2009: Orlando “Cachaíto” López, Cuban bassist and composer (born 1933) Candelario Orlando López Vergara, better known as Cachaíto, was a Cuban bassist and composer, who gained international fame after his involvement in the Buena Vista Social Club recordings. He was nicknamed Cachaíto after his uncle, the famous bassist and innovator of mambo music Israel “Cachao” López. His father and Cachao’s older brother was Orestes López, also a famous bassist/multi-instrumentalist and composer. Read more
• 09 Feb 2008: Christopher Hyatt, American occultist and author (born 1943) Christopher Hyatt, born Alan Ronald Miller, was an American psychologist, occultist, and writer. He was founder and president of New Falcon Publications, an independent publisher specializing in psychedelic and occult literature; Hyatt’s press published work by several well-known champions of consciousness expansion, including Israel Regardie, Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson, and Antero Alli. Read more
• 09 Feb 2008: Carm Lino Spiteri, Maltese architect and politician (born 1932) Carm Lino Spiteri, also known by his nickname Iċ-Ċumpaqq, was a Maltese architect and politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives with the Nationalist Party between 1971 and 1987, and again between 1992 and 1996. Read more
• 09 Feb 2008: Jazeh Tabatabai, Iranian painter, poet, and sculptor (born 1931) Jazeh Tabatabai was an Iranian avant-garde painter, poet, and sculptor. He was the founder and director of the Iran Modern Art Gallery in Tehran, Iran. Tabatabai’s fame is mostly due to his creative figures and metal sculptures which he assembled with parts from old machinery and cars. Read more
• 09 Feb 2007: Hank Bauer, American baseball player and manager (born 1922) Henry Albert Bauer was an American right fielder and manager in Major League Baseball. He played with the New York Yankees (1948–1959) and Kansas City Athletics (1960–1961); he batted and threw right-handed. He served as the manager of the Athletics in both Kansas City (1961–62) and in Oakland (1969), as well as the Baltimore Orioles (1964–68), guiding the Orioles to the World Series title in 1966. A four-game sweep over the heavily favored Los Angeles Dodgers, it was the first world championship in the franchise’s history. Read more
• 09 Feb 2007: Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (born 1934) Ian William Richardson was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Conservative politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC’s House of Cards (1990–1995) television trilogy, as well as the pivotal spy Bill Haydon in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979). His other notable screen work included a portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in two films, as well as significant roles in Brazil, M. Butterfly, and Dark City. Read more
• 09 Feb 2006: Freddie Laker, English pilot and businessman, founded Laker Airways (born 1922) Sir Frederick Alfred Laker was an English airline entrepreneur, best known for founding Laker Airways in 1966, which went bankrupt in 1982. Known as Freddie Laker, he was one of the first airline owners to adopt the “low cost / no-frills” airline business model that has since proven to be successful worldwide when employed by companies such as Ryanair, Southwest Airlines, easyJet, Norwegian Air, and AirAsia. Read more
• 09 Feb 2005: Robert Kearns, American engineer, invented the intermittent windscreen wiper (born 1927) Robert William Kearns was an American mechanical engineer, educator, and inventor who invented the most common intermittent windshield wiper systems used on most automobiles from 1969 to the present. His first patent for the invention was filed on December 1, 1964, after a few previous designs by other inventors had failed to gain any traction in manufacturing. Read more
• 09 Feb 2004: Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (born 1925) Claude Ryan was a Canadian journalist and politician. He was the director of the newspaper Le Devoir from 1964 to 1978, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party from 1978 to 1982, National Assembly of Quebec member for Argenteuil from 1979 to 1994 and Minister of Education from 1985 to 1989. Read more
• 09 Feb 2003: Masatoshi Gündüz Ikeda, Japanese-Turkish mathematician and academic (born 1926) Masatoşi Gündüz İkeda, was a Japanese-born Turkish mathematician known for his contributions to the field of algebraic number theory. Read more
• 09 Feb 2002: Isabelle Holland, Swiss-American author (born 1920) Isabelle Christian Holland was an American author of fiction for children and adults. She wrote gothic novels, adult mysteries, romantic thrillers and many books for children and young adults. Read more
• 09 Feb 2002: Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (born 1930) Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. Born when her parents were the Duke and Duchess of York, she became second in line to the British throne after her father’s accession in 1936, though her place in the succession declined as her sister’s children and grandchildren were born. Read more
• 09 Feb 2001: Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist, economist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916) Herbert Alexander Simon was an American scholar whose work influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary research interest was decision-making within organizations and he is best known for the theories of “bounded rationality” and “satisficing”. He and Allen Newell received the ACM Turing Award in 1975, and he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1978. His research was noted for its interdisciplinary nature, spanning the fields of cognitive science, computer science, public administration, management, and political science. He was at Carnegie Mellon University for most of his career, from 1949 to 2001, where he helped found the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, one of the first such departments in the world. Read more
• 09 Feb 1998: Maurice Schumann, French journalist and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1911) Maurice Schumann was a French politician, journalist, writer, and hero of the Second World War who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Georges Pompidou from 22 June 1969 to 15 March 1973. Schumann was a member of the Christian democratic Popular Republican Movement. Read more
• 09 Feb 1995: J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (born 1905) James William Fulbright was an American politician, academic, and statesman who represented Arkansas in the United States Senate from 1945 until his resignation in 1974. As of 2023, Fulbright is the longest-serving chairman in the history of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his strong multilateralist positions on international issues, opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War, and the creation of the international fellowship program bearing his name, the Fulbright Program. Read more
• 09 Feb 1995: Kalevi Keihänen, Finnish entrepreneur (born 1924) Åke Kalevi Keihänen was a Finnish travel agency entrepreneur, director of Keihäsmatkat and a groundbreaking figure in Finnish tourism. Keihänen became known for his extravagant behaviour, long hair and unique style of dress – in advertisement photography, he wore a chinchilla fur coat with only a pair of swimming trunks underneath. The coat was said to have cost him 120,000 markka. Keihänen was said to have copied his style of dress from the Danish travel agency entrepreneur Simon Spies. Read more
• 09 Feb 1995: David Wayne, American actor (born 1914) David Wayne was an American actor and singer, with a stage and screen career spanning over 50 years. He was a recipient of two Tony Awards, Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Finian’s Rainbow and Best Actor in a Play for The Teahouse of the August Moon, with a third nomination for The Happy Time. Read more
• 09 Feb 1994: Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1934) Howard Martin Temin was an American geneticist and virologist. He discovered reverse transcriptase in the 1970s at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, for which he shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Renato Dulbecco and David Baltimore. Read more
• 09 Feb 1989: Osamu Tezuka, Japanese illustrator, animator, and producer (born 1928) Osamu Tezuka was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist and animator. Considered to be among the greatest and most influential cartoonists of all time, his prolific output, pioneering techniques and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as “the Father of Manga” , “the Godfather of Manga” and “the god of Manga” . Additionally, he is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during Tezuka’s formative years. Though this phrase praises the quality of his early manga works for children and animations, it also blurs the significant influence of his later, more literary, gekiga works. Read more
• 09 Feb 1984: Yuri Andropov, Russian lawyer and politician (born 1914) Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from late 1982 until his death in 1984. He previously served as the Chairman of the KGB from 1967 until 1982. Read more
• 09 Feb 1981: M. C. Chagla, Indian jurist and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (born 1900) Mahommedali Currim Chagla was an Indian jurist, diplomat, and Cabinet Minister who served as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court from 1947 to 1958. Read more
• 09 Feb 1981: Bill Haley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1925) William John Clifton Haley was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-selling hits such as “Rock Around the Clock”, “See You Later, Alligator”, “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, “Rocket 88”, “Skinny Minnie”, and “Razzle Dazzle”. Haley has sold over 60 million records worldwide. In 1987, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Read more
• 09 Feb 1980: Tom Macdonald, Welsh journalist and author (born 1900) Tom Macdonald was a Welsh journalist and novelist, whose most significant publication was his highly evocative account of growing up in the north of Cardiganshire in the years before the Great War, which was published in 1975 as The White Lanes of Summer. Read more
• 09 Feb 1979: Allen Tate, American poet and academic (born 1899) John Orley Allen Tate, known professionally as Allen Tate, was an American poet, essayist, social commentator, and poet laureate from 1943 to 1944. Among his best known works are the poems “Ode to the Confederate Dead” (1928) and “The Mediterranean” (1933), and his only novel The Fathers (1938). He is associated with New Criticism, the Fugitives and the Southern Agrarians. Read more
• 09 Feb 1978: Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist and coach (born 1893) Costante Girardengo was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, considered by many to be one of the finest riders in the history of the sport. He was the first rider to be declared a “Campionissimo” or “champion of champions” by the Italian media and fans. At the height of his career, in the 1920s, he was said to be more popular than Mussolini and it was decreed that all express trains should stop in his home town Novi Ligure, an honour only normally awarded to heads of state. Read more
• 09 Feb 1977: Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer and businessman, founded the Ilyushin Design Bureau (born 1894) Sergey Vladimirovich Ilyushin was a Soviet aircraft designer who founded the Ilyushin aircraft design bureau. He designed the Il-2 Shturmovik, which made its maiden flight in 1939. It is the most produced warplane, and remains the second most-produced aircraft in history, with some 36,000+ built, behind the US Cessna 172. Read more
• 09 Feb 1976: Percy Faith, Canadian composer and conductor (born 1908) Percy Faith was a Canadian–American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of instrumental ballads and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the “easy listening” or “mood music” format. He became a staple of American popular music in the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s. Although his professional orchestra-leading career began at the height of the swing era, he refined and rethought orchestration techniques, including use of large string sections, to soften and fill out the brass-dominated popular music of the 1940s. Read more
• 09 Feb 1969: George “Gabby” Hayes, American actor and singer (born 1885) George Francis “Gabby” Hayes was an American actor. He began as something of a leading man and a character player, but he was best known for his numerous appearances in B-Western film series as the bewhiskered, cantankerous, but ever-loyal and brave comic sidekick of the cowboy stars William Boyd, Roy Rogers and John Wayne. Read more
• 09 Feb 1966: Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer (born 1884) Sophie Tucker was a Russian-American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century. She was known by the nickname “the Last of the Red-Hot Mamas”. Read more
• 09 Feb 1965: Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, Bangladeshi theologian and educator (born 1874) Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah was an educator, litterateur, Islamic theologist and social reformer of pre-partition India. Read more
• 09 Feb 1960: Alexandre Benois, Russian painter and critic (born 1870) Alexandre (Alexander) Nikolayevich Benois was a Russian artist, art critic, historian, preservationist and founding member of Mir iskusstva, an art movement and magazine. As a designer for the Ballets Russes under Sergei Diaghilev, Benois exerted what is considered a seminal influence on the modern ballet and stage design. Read more
• 09 Feb 1960: Ernő Dohnányi, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1877) Ernst von Dohnányi was a Hungarian composer, pianist and conductor. He used the German form of his name on most published compositions. Read more
• 09 Feb 1957: Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and politician, Regent of Hungary (born 1868) Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who was the regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar period and most of World War II, from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Read more
• 09 Feb 1951: Eddy Duchin, American pianist, bandleader, and actor (born 1910) Edwin Frank Duchin, commonly known as Eddy Duchin or alternatively Eddie Duchin, was an American popular music pianist and bandleader during the 1930s and 1940s. Read more
• 09 Feb 1950: Ted Theodore, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Queensland (born 1884) Edward Granville Theodore was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1919 to 1925, as leader of the state Labor Party. He later entered federal politics, serving as Treasurer in the Scullin Labor government. Read more
• 09 Feb 1945: Ella D. Barrier, American educator (born 1852) Ella D. Barrier was an American educator and clubwoman. Her younger sister was Fannie Barrier Williams. Read more
• 09 Feb 1942: Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician, 2nd President of Finland (born 1883) Lauri Kristian Relander was the president of Finland (1925–1931). A prominent member of the Agrarian League, he served as a member of Parliament, and as Speaker, before his election as president. Read more
• 09 Feb 1935: Bob Diry, Austrian-born wrestler and boxer (born 1884) Robert “Bob” Diry was an Austrian middleweight world champion 1908 in wrestling. In 1910, he trained in Jiu-Jitsu under T.Tobari of the Tenshin-Shin-Yo-ryu and Kodokan Judo at the Vienna Athletics Club which helped him win a lightweight wrestling title. After his migration to America he tried boxing, making him versed in all 3 areas common to modern MMA. He was defeated by George Ashe (boxer) in 1913 in a knockout. Bob would continue wrestling in the US and coached at the New York Athletics club around the years of 1930. Read more
• 09 Feb 1932: Junnosuke Inoue, Japanese businessman and banker (born 1869) Junnosuke Inoue was a Japanese financier and statesman of the Taisho and Showa eras. He was the 9th and 11th Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), and Minister of Finance in 1923-1924 and 1929-1931. He was assassinated during the League of Blood Incident in 1932. Read more
• 09 Feb 1932: A.K. Golam Jilani, Bangladeshi soldier and activist (born 1904) A. K. Golam Jilani was a Bengali revolutionary of the Indian independence movement from the Nawabganj Upazila, Dhaka in present-day Bangladesh. Read more
• 09 Feb 1930: Richard With, Norwegian captain and businessman, founded Hurtigruten (born 1846) Richard Bernhard With was a Norwegian ship captain, businessman, and politician for the Liberal Left Party. He is known as the founder of the shipping companies Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab and Hurtigruten. Read more
• 09 Feb 1928: William Gillies, Australian politician, 21st Premier of Queensland (born 1868) William Neal Gillies was an Australian Labor politician in Queensland who served as premier of Queensland from February to October 1925. Read more
• 09 Feb 1906: Paul Laurence Dunbar, American author, poet, and playwright (born 1872) Paul Laurence Dunbar was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War, Dunbar began writing stories and verse when he was a child. He published his first poems at the age of 16 in a Dayton newspaper, and served as president of his high school’s literary society. Read more
• 09 Feb 1903: Charles Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Victoria (born 1816) Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, KCMG, PC, was an Irish poet, politician and journalist, Young Irelander and tenant-rights activist. After emigrating to Australia in 1856 he entered the politics of Victoria on a platform of land reform, and in 1871–1872 served as the colony’s 8th Premier. Read more
• 09 Feb 1891: Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (born 1819) Johan Barthold Jongkind was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He painted marine landscapes in a free manner and is regarded as a forerunner of impressionism. Read more
• 09 Feb 1881: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and philosopher (born 1821) Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was a Russian philosopher, novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influential masterpieces. Dostoevsky’s literary works explore the human condition in the troubled political, social and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. His most acclaimed novels include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872), The Adolescent (1875) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). His Notes from Underground, a novella published in 1864, is considered one of the first works of existentialist literature. Read more
• 09 Feb 1874: Jules Michelet, French historian, philosopher, and academic (born 1798) Jules Michelet was a French historian and writer, best known for his multi-volume work Histoire de France, which chronicles the history of France from its earliest origins to the French Revolution. Michelet was influenced by Giambattista Vico, particularly by his emphasis on the role of ordinary people and their customs in shaping historical narratives, which contrasted with the traditional focus on political and military elites. Michelet also drew inspiration from Vico’s concept of the corsi e ricorsi—the cyclical nature of history—in which societies rise and fall in a recurring pattern. Read more
• 09 Feb 1857: Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet and translator (born 1798) Dionysios Solomos was a Greek poet from Zakynthos, who is considered to be Greece’s national poet. He is best known for writing the Hymn to Liberty, which was set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros and became the Greek and Cypriot national anthem in 1865 and 1966 respectively. He was the central figure of the Heptanese School of poetry. He is considered the national poet of Greece, not only because he wrote the national anthem, but also because he contributed to the preservation of earlier poetic tradition and highlighted its usefulness to modern literature. Other notable poems include Ὁ Κρητικός, Ἐλεύθεροι Πολιορκημένοι. A characteristic of his work is that no poem except the Hymn to Liberty was completed, and almost nothing was published during his lifetime. Read more
• 09 Feb 1803: Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French soldier, poet, and philosopher (born 1716) Jean François de Saint-Lambert was a French poet, philosopher and military officer. Read more

Why is 09 February Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 09 February, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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What happened on 09 February in World history?

On 09 February, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

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