What happened on February 9 ?

1404 - Constantine XI, last Byzantine Emperor (d. 1453)

1533 - Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese warlord and samurai (d. 1611)

1666 - George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (d. 1737)

1748 - Luther Martin, American patriot (d. 1826)

1773 - William Henry Harrison, President of the United States (d. 1841)

1783 - Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet (d. 1852)

1800 - Hyrum Smith, American religious leader (d. 1844)

1830 - Abd-ul-Aziz, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1876)

1834 - Felix Dahn, German author (d. 1912)

1846 - Wilhelm Maybach, German automotive designer and industrialist (d. 1929)

1865 - Mrs. Patrick Campbell, British actress (d. 1940)

1874 - Amy Lowell, American poet (d. 1925)

1885 - Alban Berg, Austrian composer (d. 1935)

1891 - Ronald Colman, English actor (d. 1958)

1892 - Peggy Wood, American actress (d. 1978)

1895 - Hermann Brill, German politician (d. 1959)

1897 - Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, Australian pilot (d. 1935)

1901 - Brian Donlevy, Irish actor (d. 1972)

1901 - James Murray, American actor (d. 1936)

1902 - Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German women's leader (d. 1999)

1909 - Heather Angel, British actress (d. 1986)

1909 - Carmen Miranda, Portuguese actress and singer (d. 1955)

1909 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (d. 1994)

1910 - Jacques Monod, French biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1976)

1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee, American dancer and actress (d. 1970)

1914 - Ernest Tubb, American singer (d. 1984)

1914 - Bill Veeck, baseball executive (d. 1986)

1916 - Tex Hughson, baseball player (d. 1993)

1922 - Kathryn Grayson, American actress

1923 - Brendan Behan, Irish author (d. 1964)

1925 - Burkhard Heim, German physicist (d. 2001)

1926 - Garret FitzGerald, seventh Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland

1928 - Frank Frazetta, American illustrator

1928 - Roger Mudd, American journalist

1930 - Garner Ted Armstrong, American evangelist (d. 2003)

1932 - Gerhard Richter, German painter and graphic artist

1936 - Clive Swift, British actor

1939 - Barry Mann, American singer and songwriter

1939 - Janet Suzman, South African actress

1940 - J. M. Coetzee, South African author, Nobel Prize laureate

1941 - Sheila Kuehl, American actress and politician

1942 - Carole King, American singer and composer

1943 - Joe Pesci, American actor

1943 - Joseph E. Stiglitz, American economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner

1944 - Alice Walker, American writer

1944 - Derryn Hinch, Australian media personality

1945 - Mia Farrow, American actress

1946 - Séan Neeson, Northern Irish politician

1947 - Carla Del Ponte, UN prosecutor

1949 - Judith Light, American actress

1949 - Jim Sheridan, Irish film director

1952 - Mookie Wilson, baseball player

1953 - Ciarán Hinds, Northern Irish actor

1955 - JM J. Bullock, American actor

1955 - Charles Shaughnessy, British actor

1960 - Holly Johnson, British singer (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)

1961 - John Kruk, baseball player and commentator

1963 - Brian Greene, American physicist

1963 - Travis Tritt, American singer

1966 - Ellen van Langen, Dutch athlete

1967 - Todd Pratt, American baseball player

1969 - Jimmy Smith, American football player

1970 - Glenn McGrath, Australian cricketer

1971 - Sharon Case, American actress

1971 - Johan Mjällby, Swedish footballer

1973 - Svetlana Boginskaya, Soviet gymnast

1974 - Amber Valletta, American supermodel and actress

1976 - Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican Major League Baseball player

1979 - David Gray, English snooker player

1979 - Irina Slutskaya, Russian figure skater

1979 - Mena Suvari, American actress

1979 - Zhang Ziyi, Chinese actress

1981 - John Walker Lindh, American Taliban fighter

1982 - Ami Suzuki, Japanese singer

1985 - David Gallagher, American actor

1996 - Jimmy Bennett, American actor