What happened on December 9 ?

1447 - Chenghua, Emperor of China (d. 1487)

1508 - Gemma Frisius, Dutch mathematician and cartographer (d. 1555)

1561 - Sir Edwin Sandys, British-born Virginian colonist (d. 1629)

1571 - Metius (Adriaan Adriaanszoon), Dutch mathematician and astronomer (d. 1635)

1579 - Martin de Porres, Peruvian saint (d. 1639)

1594 - King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (d. 1632)

1608 - John Milton, English poet (d. 1674)

1610 - Baldassare Ferri, Italian castrato (d. 1680)

1652 - Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, German physician and botanist (d. 1723)

1667 - William Whiston, English mathematician (d. 1752)

1748 - Claude Louis Berthollet, French chemist (d. 1822)

1842 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (d. 1921)

1847 - George Grossmith, English actor (d. 1912)

1850 - Emma Abbott, American soprano (d. 1891)

1868 - Fritz Haber, German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1934)

1871 - Joe Kelley, American baseball player (d. 1943)

1876 - Berton Churchill, American actor (d. 1940)

1882 - Joaquín Turina, Spanish composer (d. 1949)

1886 - Clarence Birdseye, American frozen food manufacturer (d. 1956)

1889 - Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish long-distance runner and Olympic gold medalist (d. 1966)

1891 - Maksim Bahdanovi?, Belarusian poet (d. 1917)

1895 - Conchita Supervia, Spanish opera singer (d. 1936)

1897 - Hermione Gingold, British actress (d. 1987)

1898 - Emmett Kelly, American circus clown (d. 1979)

1899 - Jean de Brunhoff, French author (d. 1937)

1901 - Carol Dempster, American actress (d. 1991)

1901 - ÿdön von Horváth, Hungarian-born writer (d. 1938)

1901 - Jean Mermoz, French pilot (d. 1936)

1902 - Margaret Hamilton, American actress (d. 1985)

1905 - Dalton Trumbo, American writer (d. 1976)

1906 - Grace Murray Hopper, American computer pioneer (d. 1992)

1909 - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (d. 2000)

1911 - Broderick Crawford, American actor (d. 1986)

1912 - Tip O'Neill, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1994)

1915 - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, German soprano

1916 - Kirk Douglas, American actor and film producer

1917 - James Rainwater, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)

1918 - Jerome Beatty Jr., American author of children's books

1919 - William Lipscomb, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate

1920 - Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic

1922 - Redd Foxx, American comedian and actor (d. 1991)

1926 - Henry Way Kendall, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)

1926 - Jan K?esadlo, Czech writer (d. 1995)

1927 - Pierre Henry, French composer

1928 - Dick Van Patten, American actor

1929 - John Cassavetes, American actor and film director (d. 1989)

1929 - Bob Hawke, twenty-third Prime Minister of Australia

1930 - Buck Henry, American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer

1931 - Ladislav Smoljak, Czech actor, director and humourist

1933 - Morton Downey Jr., American talk show host (d. 2001)

1934 - Dame Judi Dench British actress

1934 - Junior Wells, American blues harmonica player (d. 1998)

1937 - Darwin Joston, American actor (d. 1998)

1938 - Deacon Jones, American football player

1941 - Beau Bridges, American actor

1941 - Dan Hicks, American musician

1942 - Dick Butkus, American football player

1946 - Sonia Gandhi, Italian-born Indian politician, chair of the United Progressive Alliance

1947 - Tom Daschle, American politician

1947 - Jaak Jõerüüt, Soviet-born Estonian politician

1950 - Joan Armatrading, West Indian-born British singer

1952 - Michael Dorn, American actor

1952 - Liaqat Baloch, Pakistani politician

1953 - John Malkovich, American actor

1954 - Herman Finkers, Dutch comedian

1957 - Donny Osmond, American singer and actor

1958 - Nick Seymour, Australian bassist (Crowded House)

1960 - Juan Samuel, Major League Baseball Player

1961 - David Anthony Higgins, American actor

1962 - Felicity Huffman, American actress

1964 - Paul Landers, German guitarist (Rammstein)

1967 - Joshua Bell, American violinist

1967 - Gheorghe Popescu, Romanian footballer

1968 - Kurt Angle, American amateur and professional wrestler

1968 - Dave Harold, British snooker player

1968 - Brian Bell, American guitarist (Weezer)

1969 - Jakob Dylan, American singer and songwriter (The Wallflowers)

1969 - Bixente Lizarazu, French international footballer and World Cup winner

1972 - Tre Cool (Frank Edwin Wright III), German-born American drummer (Green Day)

1972 - Reiko Aylesworth, American actress

1972 - Fabrice Santoro, Tahitian-born French tennis player

1976 - Imogen Heap, British singer and songwriter

1978 - Jesse Metcalfe, American actor (Desperate Housewives)

1981 - Diya Mirza, Indian actress

1983 - Dariusz Dudka, Polish footballer

1991 - Prince Joachim, Archduke of Austria-Este, Belgian Prince