On this day: August 9

Events on August 9

• 378 Gothic War: Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens is defeated by the Visigoths. Valens is killed along with over half of his army. Wikipedia
• 1173 Construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa (now known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa) begins; it will take two centuries to complete. Wikipedia
• 1821 A statue of the Polynesian god A'a was presented to members of the London Missionary Society on the south Pacific island of Ra'iatea. Wikipedia
• 1854 American Transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau publishes his memoir Walden. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: Confederate troops counter-attacked and won the Battle of Cedar Mountain, after nearly being driven from the field in the early part of the battle. Wikipedia
• 1877 Nez Perce War: Both the Nez Perce and the United States Army suffered numerous casualties at the Battle of the Big Hole, which ended conclusively. Wikipedia
• 1897 The first meeting of the International Congress of Mathematicians was held in Zürich, Switzerland. Wikipedia
• 1902 In a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, Edward VII and Alexandra were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor and Empress of India. Wikipedia
• 1934 The Blue Lotus, the fifth volume of The Adventures of Tintin by the Belgian cartoonist Hergé and noted for its emphasis on countering negative misconceptions of Chinese people, began serialisation. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: In the first major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal campaign, Japan forced the U.S. Navy to withdraw from the Solomon Islands. Wikipedia
• 1942 Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 was premiered in Leningrad while the city was under siege by Nazi forces. Wikipedia
• 1944 The United States Forest Service authorized the use of Smokey Bear as its mascot to replace Bambi. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped a Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Wikipedia
• 1956 About 20,000 women marched on Pretoria, South Africa, to protest the introduction of pass laws for black women under apartheid. Wikipedia
• 1960 Led by Albert Kalonji, South Kasai declared its unilateral secession from the Republic of the Congo. Wikipedia
• 1969 Members of the Manson Family invaded a house and murdered American actress Sharon Tate and four guests in Los Angeles, before killing two more people the following night. Wikipedia
• 1971 The Troubles: British forces began arresting and interning suspected Irish republican militants in Northern Ireland. Wikipedia
• 1974 On the verge of an impeachment and removal from office amid the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon became the first president of the United States to resign. Wikipedia
• 1979 Female workers of YH Trading in South Korea held a sit-in protest in response to the company's unilateral shutdown. Wikipedia
• 1988 Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial player transactions in ice hockey history. Wikipedia
• 2001 Second Intifada: A suicide bomber attacked a pizza restaurant in Jerusalem, killing 15 people and wounding 130 others. Wikipedia
• 2006 British police arrested 24 people for conspiring to detonate liquid explosives carried on board airliners travelling from the UK to the US and Canada. Wikipedia
• 2014 Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American man, was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, resulting in widespread protests and unrest. Wikipedia
• 2018 A civilian school bus in Dahyan, Yemen, was bombed by Saudi Arabia killing at least 40 children under 15. Wikipedia
• 2023 Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated in Quito, eleven days before the general election. Wikipedia
• 2024 Voepass Linhas Aéreas Flight 2283 crashed near Vinhedo, São Paulo, Brazil, killing all 62 people on board. Wikipedia

Born on August 9

• 1776 Amedeo Avogadro, Italian physicist and chemist (died 1856) Wikipedia
• 1896 Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist and philosopher (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1899 P. L. Travers, Australian-English author and actress (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1911 William Alfred Fowler, American astronomer and astrophysicist, Nobel Laureate (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1914 Tove Jansson, Finnish author and illustrator (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1927 Marvin Minsky, American cognitive scientist, computer scientist, and pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1931 Mário Zagallo, Brazilian footballer and coach (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1938 Leonid Kuchma, Ukrainian engineer and politician, 2nd President of Ukraine Wikipedia
• 1938 Rod Laver, Australian tennis player and coach Wikipedia
• 1939 Romano Prodi, Italian academic and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of Italy Wikipedia
• 1953 Jean Tirole, French economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1957 Melanie Griffith, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1961 John Key, New Zealand businessman and politician, 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand Wikipedia
• 1963 Whitney Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1968 Gillian Anderson, American-British actress, activist and writer Wikipedia
• 1968 Eric Bana, Australian actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1972 Juanes, Colombian singer and songwriter Wikipedia
• 1973 Filippo Inzaghi, Italian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1976 Audrey Tautou, French model and actress Wikipedia
• 1985 Anna Kendrick, American actress and singer Wikipedia
• 1985 Filipe Luís, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia
• 1988 Willian, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia

Died on August 9

• 378 Valens, Roman emperor (born 328) Wikipedia
• 803 Irene of Athens, Byzantine ruler (born 752) Wikipedia
• 833 Al-Ma'mun, Iraqi caliph (born 786) Wikipedia
• 1048 Pope Damasus II Wikipedia
• 1516 Hieronymus Bosch, Early Netherlandish painter (born circa 1450) Wikipedia
• 1919 Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer and educator (born 1857) Wikipedia
• 1942 Edith Stein, German nun and saint (born 1891) Wikipedia
• 1949 Edward Thorndike, American psychologist and academic (born 1874) Wikipedia
• 1962 Hermann Hesse, German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1877) Wikipedia
• 1969 C. F. Powell, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 1975 Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian pianist and composer (born 1906) Wikipedia
• 2008 Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian author and poet (born 1941) Wikipedia
• 2008 Bernie Mac, American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer (born 1957) Wikipedia
• 2024 Susan Wojcicki, Polish-American technology executive (born 1968) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Battle of Gangut Day (Russia) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Candida Maria of Jesus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Edith Stein (St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Firmus and Rusticus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Florentino Asensio Barroso Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Herman of Alaska (Russian Orthodox Church and related congregations; Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mary Sumner (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nath Í of Achonry Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Romanus Ostiarius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Secundian, Marcellian and Verian Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: August 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples (United Nations) Wikipedia
• Meyboom (Brussels and Leuven, Belgium) Wikipedia
• National Day, celebrates the independence of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965. Wikipedia
• National Peacekeepers' Day, celebrated on Sunday closest to the day (Canada) Wikipedia
• National Women's Day (South Africa) Wikipedia
• Day of the Finnish art, also birthday of Tove Jansson (Finland) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “August 9” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/August 9” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “August 9” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for August 9 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.