This Day in History

[Gravdigr]

March 9

1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.

1765 – After a campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son may have actually committed suicide.

1796 – Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais.

1815 – Francis Ronalds describes the first battery-operated clock in the Philosophical Magazine.

1841 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the United States v. The Amistad case that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.

1842 – The first documented discovery of gold in California occurs at Rancho San Francisco, six years before the California Gold Rush.

1847 – Mexican–American War: The first large-scale amphibious assault in U.S. history is launched in the Siege of Veracruz.

1862 – American Civil War: The USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fight to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships.

1916 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa leads nearly 500 Mexican raiders in an attack against the border town of Columbus, New Mexico.

1944 – World War II: Soviet Army planes attack Tallinn, Estonia.

1945 – World War II: The first nocturnal incendiary attack on Tokyo inflicts damage comparable to that inflicted on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later.

1946 – Bolton Wanderers stadium disaster at Burnden Park, Bolton, England, kills 33 and injures hundreds more.

1957 – The 8.6 Mw Andreanof Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing $5 million in damage from ground movement and a destructive tsunami that affected Hawaii, where two people were killed in a plane crash while documenting its arrival.

1959 – The Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

1975 - Actor Telly Savalas was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the David Gates (from Bread) song 'If'.

1976 – Forty-two people died in the 1976 Cavalese cable car disaster, the worst cable-car accident to date.

1977 – The Hanafi Siege: In a thirty-nine-hour standoff, armed Hanafi Muslims seize three Washington, D.C., buildings, killing two and taking 149 hostage.

1982 – "Krononauts" hosted an event in Baltimore, Maryland asking time-travelers to meet and demonstrate future science methods of time travel.

1997 – Comet Hale–Bopp: Observers in China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia are treated to a rare double feature as an eclipse permits Hale-Bopp to be seen during the day.

2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights.

Births

1454 – Amerigo Vespucci (namesake of the Americas), 1568 – Aloysius Gonzaga (namesake of Gonzaga University), 1824 – Amasa Leland Stanford (founded Stanford University), 1856 – Eddie Foy, Sr., 1890 – Vyacheslav Molotov (namesake of the Molotov Cocktail), 1902 – Will Geer ('Grandpa Walton' on The Waltons, 'Bear Claw Chris Lapp' in Jeremiah Johnson), 1918 – Mickey Spillane, 1926 – Joe Franklin (I can't remember what Joe Franklin looks like, all I can see is Billy Crystal's impersonation), 1930 – Ornette Coleman♪ ♫, 1934 – Yuri Gagarin (1st man in space), 1934 – Joyce Van Patten, 1936 – Mickey Gilley♪ ♫, 1936 – Marty Ingels, 1940 – Raúl Juliá, 1942 – Mark Lindsay♪ ♫(Paul Revere & The Raiders), 1943 – Bobby Fischer, 1943 – Charles Gibson, 1945 – Robin Trower♪ ♫, 1948 – Jeffrey Osborne♪ ♫, 1950 – Danny Sullivan, 1955 – Teo Fabi, 1958 – Linda Fiorentino, 1958 – Martin Fry♪ ♫, 1963 – David Pogue, 1964 – Juliette Binoche, 1965 – Brian Bosworth, 1971 – Emmanuel Lewis

Deaths

1989 – Robert Mapplethorpe, 1994 – Charles Bukowski, 1994 – Fernando Rey, 1996 – George Burns, 1997 – Terry Nation (tv writer DR. Who, created the Daleks and 'Davros'), 1997 – Notorious B.I.G.♪ ♫, 2005 – Chris LeDoux♪ ♫, 2005 - Danny Joe Brown♪ ♫(Molly Hatchet), 2006 – John Profumo (notable for the Profumo Affair), 2007 – Brad Delp♪ ♫(Boston)