Major Events
- 536 Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to its empire
- 1212 Frederick II (later also Holy Roman Emperor) crowned King of Germany in Mainz
- 1968 Douglas Engelbart demonstrates in "The Mother of All Demos" the computer system NLS (oN-Line System) to a live audience in San Francisco. Shows for the first time, the mouse, word processing, windows, hypertext links, video conferencing, real-time collaboration, and other modern computing concepts. [1]
- 1990 Lech Wałęsa wins the first direct presidential election in Poland
- 1992 US Marines and allied nations launch an amphibious and airborne operation in Mogadishu, Somalia to restore order to the war-torn nation. Authorized by UN Security Council Resolution 794 passed on December 3.
- More December 9 Events
Dec 9 in Film & TV
- 1960 1st broadcast of "Coronation Street" on British ITV
Dec 9 in Music
- 1964 John Coltrane's Quartet records their greatest work "A Love Supreme" at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Dec 9 in Sport
- 1978 1st game of Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL), Chicago Hustle vs Milwaukee Does
Did You Know?
Alfred Tennyson's poem "Charge of the Light Brigade" is published in "The Examiner"
John Milton
Margaret Hamilton
Grace Hopper
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Kirk Douglas
McKayla Maroney
Fun Fact About December 9
The first traffic lights are installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
Famous Weddings
- 1883 Poet Rabindranath Tagore (22) weds Mrinalini Devi in an arranged marriage
- 1953 Entertainer Milton Berle (45) marries for the third time Ruth Cosgrove (32)
- 1956 NBA player Bill Russell (22) weds college sweetheart Rose Swisher; divorce in 1973
Famous Divorces
- 1929 Businessman Howard Hughes divorces 1st wife Ella Rice after 4 years of marriage
- 1937 Writer Walter Lippmann (48) divorces first wife Faye Albertson after 20 years of marriage
- 1982 American actors Mary-Beth & William Hurt divorce, after 10 years of marriage
More December 9 Weddings
Branch Rickey
Ralph Bunche
Mary Leakey
Archie Moore
Jenni Rivera
Al UnserArticles, Photos and Quiz
Coronation Street, King of the Soaps
Thought to have no great future when launched on this day, Coronation Street still reigns supreme
December 9, 1960
Operation Restore Hope
A US helicopter flies over Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, during Restore Hope in December 1995
December 9, 1992
Weekly Quiz for December 9 - 15
Which country was Lech Wałęsa elected President of? Which British monarch abdicated their throne in 1936? Who headed the 1st expedition to the South Pole?
