1909 (original) (raw)
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s - 1900s - 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
Years: 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 - 1909 - 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914
Events
- January 5 - Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
- January 16 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
- January 28 - United States troops leave Cuba after being there since the Spanish-American War.
- February 12 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
- February 24 - The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded.
- March 18 - Einar Dessau uses a short-wave radio transmitter becoming the first to broadcast as a ham radio operator.
- March 23 - Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.
- March 31 - Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
- April 6 - Robert Peary allegedly reaches the North Pole.
- April 27 - Sultan of Turkey Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Murat V.
- June 1 - The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition opens in Seattle.
- July 13 - Gold discovered near Cochrane, Ontario.
- July 25 - Louis Bleriot is the first man to fly across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air craft.
- September 9 - Comet Halley first becomes visible on a photographic plate.
- November 13 - Ballinger-Pinchot scandal begins: Colliers magazine accuses US Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger of questionable dealings in Alaskan coal fields.
- November 18 - Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of dictator Jose Santos Zelaya.
- Change of US president from Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) to William Howard Taft (1909-1913).
- Albert I of Belgium succeeds Leopold II.
- The Boy Scouts of America is founded.
- Construction begins on the Cape Cod Canal.
- Karl Landsteiner develops system of blood groups.
- Britian introduces Minimum Wage Laws.
Year in topic
- Sophie Tucker first appears in the Ziegfield Follies.
- 1909 in film
- Thomas Edison formed the Motion Picture Patents Company.
- Mary Pickford first appears in a film (The Lonely Villa).
- 1909 in literature
- 1909 in music
- 1909 in science
- 1909 in sports
Births
- January 1 - Barry Goldwater, American politician († 1998)
- January 3 - Victor Borge, Danish entertainer († 2000)
- January 5 - Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician († 1994)
- January 8 - Willy Millowitsch, actor († 1999)
- January 15 - Gene Krupa, drummer († 1973)
- January 16 - Ethel Merman, singer, actress († 1984)
- January 22 - U Thant, 3rd United Nations Secretary General († 1974)
- January 22 - Ann Sothern, actress († 2001)
- February 3 - Simone Weil, philosopher († 1943)
- February 9 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State († 1994)
- February 9 - Carmen Miranda, actress, singer († 1955)
- February 11 - Joseph Mankiewicz, filmmaker († 1993)
- February 11 - Max Baer (The Livermore Larruper), American boxer/actor († 1959)
- February 15 - Guillermo Gorostiza Paredes, Spanish football player († 1966)
- February 15 - Miep Gies (Hermine Santrouschitz), Anne Frank friend, biographer
- February 24 - August Derleth, American writer († 1971)
- February 26 - King Talal, King of Jordan (†1972)
- March 1 - David Niven, actor († 1983)
- March 2 - Mel Ott, Baseball Hall of Famer
- March 4 - Harry Helmsley, real estate entrepreneur († 1997)
- March 19 - Louis Hayward, actor († 1985)
- March 22 - Gabrielle Roy, author († 1983)
- March 24 - Clyde Barrow, half of American criminal duo († 1934)
- March 27 - Golo Mann, historian and publicist († 1994)
- April 13 - Stanislaw Marcin Ulam, Polish/American mathematician († 1984)
- April 30 - Juliana of the Netherlands
- May 7 - Edwin H. Land, inventor and founder of Polaroid († 1991)
- May 10 - Mother Maybelle Carter, country musician
- May 15 - James Mason, British actor († 1984)
- May 19 - Bruce Bennett, actor
- May 30 - Benny Goodman, American jazz musician († 1986)
- June 20 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor († 1959)
- July 18 - Mohammed Daoud Khan, Afghan president († 1978)
- July 28 - Malcolm Lowry, British novelist († 1957)
- July 30 - C. Northcote Parkinson, British historian and author († 1993)
- August 25 - Ruby Keeler, singer, actress († 1993)
- August 26 - Jim Davis, actor († 1981)
- September 14 - Peter Scott, British ornithologist and painter († 1989)
- September 21 - Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanian politician († 1972)
- September 28 - Al Capp, American cartoonist († 1979)
- October 28 - Francis Bacon, British painter († 1992)
- November 10 - Paweł Jasienica, Polish historian († 1970)
- November 18 - Johnny Mercer, American songwriter († 1976)
- November 24 - Gerhard Gentzen, German mathematician († 1945)
- December 23 - Barney Ross, American boxing champion († 1967)
- Giulio Racah, Italian mathematician and physicist († 1965)
Deaths
- January 12 - Hermann Minkowski, German mathematician
- January 14 - Arthur William a Beckett, British journalist
- April 12 - Algernon Charles Swinburne, British poet
- May 19 - Isaac Alb�niz, Spanish composer
- August 27 - Emil Christian Hansen, Danish fermentation physiologist
- December 17 - Leopold II of Belgium