Friday 9 February 2024 Calendar with holidays, observances and special days

Holidays and observances

• Dentist Day in Mexico
• Food Freedom Day in Canada (date may vary)
• International Pizza Day
• Journalists' Day in Colombia
• Meat Day in Japan
• Mother's Day in Norway (Second Sunday of February)
• National Bagel Day and National Pizza Day in USA (National Bagels and Lox Day)
• National Day of the Football Fan in Chile
• National Pulque Day in Mexico (Held on the second Sunday of February)
• Read In The Bathtub Day
• Scout Sunday in the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA. It is celebrated on the second Sunday of February)
• St. Maroun's Day (public holiday in Lebanon)
• Toothache Day (It is so important that we learn how to take care of our teeth and not only get rid of nasty aches but also stop them coming back or turning into something more serious)

Events

• 1996 – Copernicium is first discovered.
• 1978 – The Budd Company unveils its first SPV-2000 self-propelled railcar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1971 – Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to be voted into the USA's Baseball Hall of Fame.
• 1965 – 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.
• 1964 – The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing before a "record-busting" audience of 73 million viewers across the USA.
• 1959 – The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.
• 1950 – Second Red Scare: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the United States Department of State of being filled with Communists.
• 1942 – World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.
• 1942 – Year-round Daylight saving time is re-instated in the United States as a wartime measure to help conserve energy resources.
• 1889 – US president Grover Cleveland signs a bill elevating the United States Department of Agriculture to a Cabinet-level agency.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Confederate convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
• 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 President of the United States.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The British Parliament declares Massachusetts in rebellion.
• 951 – The Northern Han Kingdom is founded by Liu Chong in modern-day Shanxi.

Births

• 1991 – Logan Ryan, American football player. Logan Daniel Ryan (born February 9, 1991) is an American football cornerback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL).
• 1987 – Michael B. Jordan, American actor. He is known for his film roles as shooting victim Oscar Grant in the drama Fruitvale Station (2013), boxer Adonis Creed in the Rocky sequel film Creed (2015) and main antagonist Erik Killmonger in Black Panther (2018), all three of which were co-written and directed by Ryan Coogler.
• 1985 – David Gallagher, American actor. Gallagher is also well known for the voice of Riku in the Kingdom Hearts video game series.
• 1984 – Maurice Ager, American basketball player, singer, and producer. As a Junior, Ager led the Spartans to the NCAA Final Four in 2005, averaging 14 points per game.
• 1982 – Jameer Nelson, American basketball player. Drafted 20th overall in the 2004 NBA draft, Nelson spent the first ten years of his NBA career with the Orlando Magic.
• 1980 – Manu Raju, American journalist. Manu Raju (born February 9, 1980) is an American journalist and the Senior Congressional Correspondent at CNN, covering the United States Congress and campaign politics.
• 1980 – Margarita Levieva, Russian-American actress. On television, she is known for her role as Amanda Clarke on Revenge, Gina Zanetakos on The Blacklist and most recently as Abigail "Abby" Parker opposite James Franco on the HBO series The Deuce.
• 1976 – Charlie Day, American actor, producer, and screenwriter. Charles Peckham Day (born February 9, 1976) is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, director and musician.
• 1975 – Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican-American baseball player. Vladimir Alvino Guerrero Sr. (born February 9, 1975), is a Dominican former professional baseball player and Hall of Famer, who spent 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right fielder and designated hitter.
• 1974 – Amber Valletta, American model. 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.
• 1974 – Brad Maynard, American football player. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft, and has also been a member of the Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, and the Cleveland Browns.
• 1974 – John Wallace, American basketball player and coach. John Wallace is the name of:
• 1973 – Colin Egglesfield, American actor. He is known for his roles as Josh Madden in the long-running soap opera All My Children, Auggie Kirkpatrick on The CW's short-lived drama series Melrose Place, and Evan Parks on The Client List.
• 1971 – Matt Gogel, American golfer. Matthew John Gogel (born February 9, 1971) is an American professional golfer and golf commentator who has played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour.
• 1968 – Derek Strong, American basketball player and race car driver. Derek Lamar Strong (born February 9, 1968) is a retired American professional basketball player who played in ten National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons from 1991 to 2001 for six different teams.
• 1967 – Todd Pratt, American baseball player and coach. Todd Alan Pratt (born February 9, 1967) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) catcher, playing from 1992 to 2006 and current manager for the Jupiter Hammerheads.
• 1964 – Debrah Miceli, Italian-American wrestler and manager. She is best known under her ring names Madusa (shortened from Made in the USA) and Alundra Blayze.
• 1963 – Brian Greene, American physicist. Brian Randolph Greene (born February 9, 1963) is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician, and string theorist.
• 1963 – Travis Tritt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. Records in 1989, releasing seven studio albums and a greatest hits package for the label between then and 1999.
• 1961 – John Kruk, American baseball player and sportscaster. John Martin Kruk (born February 9, 1961) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder.
• 1960 – Peggy Whitson, American biochemist and astronaut. Her second mission launched October 10, 2007, as the first female commander of the ISS with Expedition 16.
• 1958 – Chris Nilan, American ice hockey player, coach, and radio host. He won the Stanley Cup in 1986 with Montreal.
• 1957 – Terry McAuliffe, American businessman and politician, 72nd Governor of Virginia. He was chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005, was co-chair of President Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and 1997 Presidential inauguration, and was chair of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.
• 1956 – Mookie Wilson, American baseball player and coach. William Hayward "Mookie" Wilson (born February 9, 1956) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and coach 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.
• 1955 – Jerry Beck, American historian and author. Jereld "Jerry" Beck (born February 9, 1955 in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer.
• 1954 – Chris Gardner, American businessman and philanthropist. He became a stock broker and eventually founded his own brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co in 1987.
• 1954 – Jo Duffy, American author. Mary Jo Duffy (born February 9, 1954) 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.
• 1953 – Gabriel Rotello, American journalist and author, founded OutWeek. He now makes documentaries for HBO, The History Channel and other networks.
• 1952 – Danny White, American football player and sportscaster. Wilford Daniel White (born February 9, 1952) is a former quarterback and punter for the Dallas Cowboys and an American football coach in the Arena Football League.
• 1951 – David Pomeranz, American singer, musician, and composer. He is also ambassador for Operation Smile.
• 1950 – Richard F. Colburn, American sergeant and politician. Colburn (born February 9, 1950), a Republican, is a former State Senator for District 37 in Maryland.
• 1949 – Judith Light, American actress. Judith Ellen Light (born February 9, 1949) is an American actress, producer, and activist.
• 1947 – Alexis Smirnoff, Canadian-American wrestler and actor, was a Canadian professional wrestler, known by his ringnames Alexis Smirnoff and Michel "Justice" Dubois (Mike "The Judge" 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.
• 1947 – Joe Ely, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Joe Ely (born February 9, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist whose music touches on honky-tonk, Texas country, Tex-Mex and rock and roll.
• 1947 – Major Harris, American R&B singer (d. 2012). Major Harris (born Feb 15, 1968) is a former college football quarterback for West Virginia University during the 1980s.
• 1946 – Bob Eastwood, American golfer. Robert Fred Eastwood (born February 9, 1946) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous amateur and professional tournaments.
• 1946 – Jim Webb, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of the Navy. James Henry Webb Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is an American politician and author.
• 1946 – Vince Papale, American football player and sportscaster. Vincent Papale (born February 9, 1946 in Chester, Pennsylvania) is a former professional American football player.
• 1945 – Carol Wood, American mathematician and academic. Carol Saunders Wood (born February 9, 1945, in Pennington Gap, Virginia) is a retired American mathematician, the Edward Burr Van Vleck Professor of Mathematics, Emerita, at Wesleyan University.
• 1945 – Mia Farrow, American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Farrow is also known for her extensive work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, which includes humanitarian activities in Darfur, Chad, and the Central African Republic.
• 1944 – Alice Walker, American novelist, short story writer, and poet. She also wrote the novels Meridian (1976) and The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970).
• 1943 – Barbara Lewis, American soul/R&B singer-songwriter. Barbara Ann Lewis (born February 9, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter whose smooth style influenced rhythm and blues.
• 1943 – Joe Pesci, American actor. Joseph Frank Pesci (/ˈpɛʃi/ PESH-ee, Italian pronunciation: ; born February 9, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, and musician.
• 1943 – Joseph Stiglitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate. He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and is a former member and chairman of the (US president's) Council of Economic Advisers.
• 1942 – Carole King, American singer-songwriter and pianist. Carole King (born Carol Joan Klein, February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at the Brill Building and later as a solo artist.
• 1941 – Sheila Kuehl, American actress, lawyer, gay rights activist, and politician. Sheila James Kuehl (born February 9, 1941) is an American politician, former child actress, and currently the member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 3rd District.
• 1939 – Barry Mann, American pianist, songwriter, and producer. Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.
• 1937 – Clete Boyer, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007), was a Major League Baseball player. A third baseman who also played shortstop and second base occasionally, Boyer played for the Kansas City Athletics (1955–57), New York Yankees (1959–66), and Atlanta Braves (1967–71).
• 1930 – Garner Ted Armstrong, American evangelist and author (d. 2003), 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.
• 1929 – Clement Meadmore, Australian-American sculptor (d. 2005), was an Australian-American sculptor known for massive outdoor steel sculptures.
• 1928 – Frank Frazetta, American painter and illustrator (d. 2010), was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media. He was the subject of a 2003 documentary.
• 1928 – Roger Mudd, American journalist, was a correspondent and anchor for CBS News and NBC News. He worked most recently as the primary anchor for The History Channel.
• 1927 – Richard A. Long, American historian and author (d. 2013). Long (9 February 1927 – 4 January 2013) was an American cultural historian and author, who has been called "one of the great pillars of African-American arts and culture".
• 1925 – John B. Cobb, American philosopher and theologian. Cobb is the author of more than fifty books.
• 1923 – Tonie Nathan, American radio host, producer, and politician (d. 2014), was an American political figure. She was the first woman to receive an electoral vote in a United States presidential election.
• 1922 – C. P. Krishnan Nair, Indian businessman, founded The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts (d. 2014). Captain Chittarath Poovakkatt Krishnan Nair (9 February 1922 – 17 May 2014), C.P.
• 1922 – Kathryn Grayson, American actress and soprano (d. 2010), was an American actress and coloratura soprano.
• 1922 – Robert E. Ogren, American zoologist (d. 2005). Ogren was born in 1922 in Jamestown, New York, son of David Paul and Mary Gladys (born Ahlstrom) Ogren.
• 1918 – Lloyd Noel Ferguson, African American chemist (d. 2011). As a child in Oakland, California, Ferguson had a backyard laboratory in which he developed a moth repellent, a silverware cleanser, and a lemonade powder.
• 1916 – Tex Hughson, American baseball player (d. 1993), was a Major League Baseball starting pitcher who played his entire career in the American League with the Boston Red Sox (1941–44, 1946–49). He batted and threw right-handed.
• 1914 – Ernest Tubb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984), 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.
• 1911 – William Orlando Darby, American general (d. 1945). Darby (8 February 1911 – 30 April 1945) was a career United States Army officer who fought in World War II, where he was killed in action in Italy.
• 1909 – Dean Rusk, American colonel and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (d. 1994), was the United States Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B.
• 1901 – Brian Donlevy, American actor (d. 1972), was an American actor, noted for playing dangerous tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles.
• 1896 – Alberto Vargas, Peruvian-American painter and illustrator (d. 1982), was a noted Peruvian painter of pin-up girls. He is often considered one of the most famous of the pin-up artists.
• 1892 – Peggy Wood, American actress (d. 1978), 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 was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
• 1891 – Ronald Colman, English-American actor (d. 1958), was an English-born actor, starting his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then emigrating to the United States and having a successful Hollywood film career. He was most popular during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
• 1889 – Larry Semon, American actor, producer, director and screenwriter (d. 1928), 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.
• 1885 – Clarence H. Haring, American historian and author (d. 1960), was an important historian of Latin America and a pioneer in initiating the study of Latin American colonial institutions among scholars in the United States.
• 1874 – Amy Lowell, American poet, critic, and educator (d. 1925), was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts. She posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.
• 1871 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist and physician (d. 1910), was an American pathologist after whom the Rickettsiaceae family and the Rickettsiales are named.
• 1846 – Wilhelm Maybach, German engineer and businessman, founded Maybach (d. 1929), 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".
• 1839 – Silas Adams, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 1896), was a lawyer and politician from Kentucky.
• 1814 – Samuel J. Tilden, American lawyer and politician, 28th Governor of New York (d. 1886), was the 25th Governor of New York and the Democratic candidate for president in the disputed election of 1876. He was the first individual to win an outright majority of the popular vote in a United States presidential election but lose the election itself, though four other candidates have lost a presidential election despite garnering a plurality of the popular vote.
• 1800 – Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (d. 1844), 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.
• 1789 – Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, German engineer, invented Gabelsberger shorthand (d. 1849), was a German inventor of a shorthand writing system, named Gabelsberger shorthand after him.
• 1773 – William Henry Harrison, American general and politician, 9th President of the United States (d. 1841), was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States in 1841. He died of typhoid, pneumonia or paratyphoid fever 31 days into his term (the shortest tenure), becoming the first president to die in office.
• 1769 – George W. Campbell, Scottish-American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1848), was an American statesman who served as a U.S. Representative, Senator, Tennessee Supreme Court Justice, U.S.
• 1737 – Thomas Paine, English-American philosopher, author, and activist (d. 1809). Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain) (February 9, 1737 [O.S.

Deaths

• 2015 – Ed Sabol, American film producer, co-founded NFL Films (b. 1916)
• 2014 – Hal Herring, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-American martial artist and trainer (b. 1913)
• 2013 – Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (b. 1923)
• 2010 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman, invented the Frisbee (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Hank Bauer, American baseball player and manager (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Freddie Laker, English pilot and businessman, founded Laker Airways (b. 1922)
• 2005 – Robert Kearns, American engineer, invented the windscreen wiper (b. 1927)
• 2002 – Isabelle Holland, Swiss-American author (b. 1920)
• 2001 – Herbert A. Simon, American political scientist, economist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
• 1995 – David Wayne, American actor (b. 1914)
• 1995 – J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
• 1994 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1934)
• 1981 – Bill Haley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1925)
• 1979 – Allen Tate, American poet and academic (b. 1899)
• 1977 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer and businessman, founded the Ilyushin Design Company (b. 1894)
• 1969 – George "Gabby" Hayes, American actor and singer (b. 1885)
• 1966 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer (b. 1884)
• 1951 – Eddy Duchin, American pianist, bandleader, and actor (b. 1910)
• 1945 – Ella D. Barrier, American educator (b. 1852)
• 1930 – Richard With, Norwegian captain and businessman, founded Hurtigruten (b. 1846)
• 1906 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1872)
• 1777 – Seth Pomeroy, American general and gunsmith (b. 1706)