What happened on August 9 ?

48 BC - Roman Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt.

378 - Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens is defeated by the Visigoths in present-day Turkey. Valens is killed along with 2/3 of his army.

681 - Bulgaria is founded as a Khanate on the south bank of the Danube, after defeating the Byzantine armies of Emperor Constantine IV south of the Danube delta.

1048 - Pope Damasus II dies in Rome, after reigning for only 23 days.

1173 - Construction of the (Leaning) Tower of Pisa begins, and it takes two centuries to complete.

1483 - Opening of the Sistine Chapel

1842 - Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States-Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.

1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Cedar Mountain - At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope.

1877 - Indian Wars: Battle of Big Hole - A small band of Nez Percé Indians clash with the United States Army.

1892 - Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.

1902 - Edward VII is crowned king of the United Kingdom.

1936 - 1936 Summer Olympics: Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the games becoming the first American to win four medals in one Olympic Games.

1942 - Indian leader, Mohandas Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces, launching the Quit India Movement.

1944 - The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey the Bear for the first time.

1945 - World War II: An atomic bomb, codenamed Fat Man, is dropped on the city of Nagasaki, Japan killing an estimated 70,000-90,000 people.

1965 - Singapore seceded from the newly-formed Federation of Malaysia.

1965 - Space disasters: A fire at a Titan missile base near Little Rock, Arkansas kills 53 construction workers.

1967 - Vietnam War: Operation Cochise initiated - United States Marines begin a new operation in the Que Son Valley.

1969 - Members of a cult led by Charles Manson brutally murder Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Jay Sebring, and Steven Parent at 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles.

1974 - Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, becomes president.

1983 - Peter Jennings hosts his first broadcast of ABC's World News Tonight as sole anchor.

1986 - The Headington Shark is erected in Oxford.

1987 - 9 People are shot dead and 17 more injured as 19-year old Julian Knight opens fire at random in the Hoddle Street Massacre in Clifton Hill

1988 - Wayne Gretzky is traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most controversial transactions in hockey history.

1988 - Baseball's all-day-game era officially came to an end when the Cubs beat the Mets 6-4 in Wrigley Field's first night game.

1989 - Kaifu Toshiki becomes Prime Minister of Japan.

1993 - The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan loses a 38-year hold on national leadership.

1993 - King Albert II of Belgium is sworn into office.

1995 - Netscape launches IPO. Jerry Garcia, founding member and lead guitarist for Grateful Dead succumbs due to heart failure induced by sleep apnea at Serenity Knolls in Forest Hills, California.

1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.

1999 - The Diet of Japan enacts a law establishing the Hinomaru and Kimi Ga Yo as the official national flag and national anthem.

2000 - A Piper Navajo and a Piper Seminole collide in mid-air over a housing development in Burlington, New Jersey, killing 11

2001 - US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.

2001 - In Jerusalem, 15 people die and 130 are wounded in the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing.

2005 - Space Shuttle Discovery makes successful touchdown at Edwards Air Force Base, California