✦ DateLore

On This Day · The 68th day of the year

March 9

A look at March 9 through the almanac — historic events, famous birthdays including Yuri Gagarin and Julia Mancuso, and the day's notable deaths and observances.

♓ZodiacPisces ◈BirthstoneAquamarine ❀Birth flowerDaffodil
Advertisement 728 × 90 leaderboard

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1959

    Barbie

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

    Fictional character
  2. 1957

    1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake

    The 8.6 Mw Andreanof Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands, causing over $5 million in damage from ground movement and a destructive tsunami.

    Severe earthquake and tsunami
  3. 1942

    World War II

    World War II: Dutch East Indies unconditionally surrenders to the Japanese forces in Kalijati, Subang, West Java, and the Japanese complete their Dutch East Indies campaign.

    1939–1945 global conflict
  4. 1908

    Inter Milan

    Inter Milan is founded on Football Club Internazionale, following a schism from A.C. Milan.

    Association football club in
  5. 1862

    American Civil War

    American Civil War: USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (rebuilt from the engines and lower hull of the USS Merrimack) fight to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships.

    1861–1865 conflict in the
  6. 1847

    Mexican–American War

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

    1846–1848 conflict between Mexico
  7. 1796

    Napoleon

    Napoléon Bonaparte marries his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais.

    French general and emperor
  8. 1776

    Adam Smith

    Scottish philosopher Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations, ushering in the classical period of political economy.

    Scottish economist and philosopher
  9. 1230

    Bulgaria

    Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus in the Battle of Klokotnitsa.

    Country in Southeast Europe
  10. 1009

    Lithuania

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

    Country in Northern Europe
Advertisement Responsive in-content unit

Famous birthday twins

Born on March 9

Yuri Gagarin

b. 1934

Russian colonel, pilot, and cosmonaut, first human in space

Julia Mancuso

b. 1984

American skier

Bobby Fischer

b. 1943

American chess player and author

Bernd Hölzenbein

b. 1946

German footballer and scout

John Cale

b. 1942

Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer

Juan Sebastián Verón

b. 1975

Argentine footballer

Amerigo Vespucci

b. 1454

Italian cartographer and explorer, namesake of the Americas

Emma Bonino

b. 1948

Italian politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs

Deaths

  • 1988Kurt Georg Kiesinger, German lawyer, politician and Chancellor of Germany
  • 1974Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr., Jr., American pharmacologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1964Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general
  • 1918Frank Wedekind, German author and playwright
  • 1851Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist and chemist, discovered electromagnetism and the element aluminium
  • 886Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi, Muslim scholar and astrologer

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Catherine of Bologna
  • —Christian feast day: Forty Martyrs of Sebaste
  • —Christian feast day: Frances of Rome
  • —Christian feast day: Pacian
  • —Christian feast day: Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria (Coptic Orthodox Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Gregory of Nyssa (Episcopal Church (United States))
  • —Christian feast day: March 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • —Teachers' Day or Eid Al Moalim (Lebanon)

Born on this day?

Make your birthday card.

Drop in your birth year and we'll work out your exact age, the day of the week you were born, your Chinese zodiac, your generation, and the countdown to your next candle.