Rahul Sharma (Editor)

2009

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2009 (MMIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (dominical letter D) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2009th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 9th year of the 3rd millennium, the 9th year of the 21st century, and the 10th and last year of the 2000s decade.

Contents

2009 was designated as:

  • International Year of Astronomy
  • International Year of Natural Fibres
  • International Year of Reconciliation
  • Year of the Gorilla (UNEP and UNESCO)

    • January

  • January 1
  • Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and Uganda assume their seats on the United Nations Security Council.
  • Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, becomes the American Capital of Culture and Vilnius and Linz become the European Capitals of Culture.
  • Slovakia adopts the euro as its national currency, replacing the Slovak koruna.
  • January 21 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, Intermittent air strikes by both sides continue in the weeks to follow.
  • January 26
  • The first trial at the International Criminal Court is held. Former Union of Congolese Patriots leader Thomas Lubanga is accused of training child soldiers to kill, pillage, and rape.
  • The Icelandic government and banking system collapse; Prime Minister Geir Haarde immediately resigns.

    • February

  • February 1
  • Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is enthroned as the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church following the death of his predecessor, Alexy II in 2008.
  • Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Iceland, becoming the world's first openly lesbian head of government.
  • February 26 – Former Serbian president Milan Milutinović is acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding war crimes during the Kosovo War.

    • March

  • March 2 – The President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo Vieira, is assassinated during an armed attack on his residence in Bissau.
  • March 4 – The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.
  • March 7 – NASA's Kepler Mission, a space photometer that will search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way galaxy, is launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA.
  • March 17 – The President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, is overthrown in a coup d'état, following a month of unrest in Antananarivo.

    • April

  • April 1 – Albania and Croatia are admitted to NATO, becoming the newest members of the organization.
  • April 5 – North Korea launches a rocket from its Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground, which it says is carrying the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 satellite, prompting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
  • April 6 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing nearly 300 and injuring more than 1,500.
  • April 21 – UNESCO launches The World Digital Library.

    • May

  • May 18 – Following more than a quarter-century of fighting, the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the total military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
  • May 25 – North Korea announces that it has conducted a second successful nuclear test in North Hamgyong Province. The United Nations Security Council condemns the reported test.

    • June

  • June 1 – Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board.
  • June 11 – The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, commonly referred to as "swine flu", is deemed a global pandemic.
  • June 13 – Mass protests erupt across Iran following a disputed presidential election in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected president, the largest demonstrations in the country since the Iranian Revolution.
  • June 18 – NASA launches the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS probes to the Moon, the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998.
  • June 28 – The Military of Honduras ousts Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in a coup d'état, which is condemned worldwide.
  • June 30 – Yemenia Flight 626 crashes off the coast of Moroni, Comoros, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew.

    • July

  • July 15 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Qazvin, Iran, killing all 168 on board.
  • July 16 – Iceland's national parliament, the Althingi, votes to pursue joining the EU.
  • July 22 – The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting up to 6 minutes and 38.8 seconds, occurs over parts of Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
  • July 26 – The Islamic extremist group Boko Haram initiates an uprising in Bauchi State, Nigeria and quickly spreads throughout the northern part of the country.

    • August

  • August 3 – Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.
  • August 7 – Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan, killing 500 and stranding more than 1,000 via the worst flooding on the island in half a century.
  • August 14 – The United Kingdom imposes direct rule on the Turks and Caicos Islands after an inquiry that found evidence of government corruption.

    • September

  • September 28 – At least 157 demonstrators are massacred by the Guinean military at the Stade du 28 Septembre during a protest against the government that came to power in a coup d'état the previous year.
  • September 30 – An 7.6 Mw earthquake strikes Sumatra, Indonesia with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving at least 1,110 people dead.

    • October

  • October 1 – Paleontologists announce the discovery of an Ardipithecus ramidus fossil skeleton, deeming it the oldest remains of a human ancestor yet found.
  • October 2 – Ireland holds a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The amendment is approved by the Irish electorate, having been rejected in the Lisbon I referendum held in last year.
  • October 25 – Two suicide attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 155 people and injure at least 721 people.

    • November

  • November 3
  • The Czech Republic becomes the final member-state of the European Union to sign the Treaty of Lisbon, thereby permitting that document's initiation into European law.
  • The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, is designated the first permanent President of the European Council, a position he takes up on December 1, 2009.
  • November 13 – Having analyzed the data from the LCROSS lunar impact, NASA announces that it has found a "significant" quantity of water in the Moon's Cabeus crater.
  • November 20 – CERN restarts the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator in Geneva, Switzerland; they had shut it down on September 19, 2008.
  • November 23 – In the Philippines, at least 58 people are abducted and killed in the province of Maguindanao, in what the Committee to Protect Journalists called the single deadliest attack on journalists in history.

    • December

  • December 1 – The Treaty of Lisbon comes into force.
  • December 7–18 – The UNFCCC's 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • December 8 – A series of attacks in Baghdad, Iraq kill at least 127 people and injure at least 448 more.
  • December 16 – Astronomers discover GJ 1214 b, the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist.

    • Births

  • May 4 – Prince Henrik of Denmark

    • January

  • January 1
  • Nizar Rayan, Palestinian military and political leader (b. 1959)
  • Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer (b. 1924)
  • Helen Suzman, South African activist and politician (b. 1917)
  • January 3 – Pat Hingle, American actor (b. 1924)
  • January 12
  • Claude Berri, French film director (b. 1934)
  • Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher (b. 1912)
  • January 13 – Patrick McGoohan, American-born British actor (b. 1928)
  • January 14 – Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican-born American actor (b. 1920)
  • January 16 – Andrew Wyeth, American painter (b. 1917)
  • January 20 – Stéphanos II Ghattas, Egyptian Patriarch of Alexandria (b. 1920)
  • January 22 – Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum, Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1905)
  • January 25 – Mamadou Dia, 1st Prime Minister of Senegal (b. 1910)
  • January 27
  • John Updike, American writer (b. 1932)
  • R. Venkataraman, 8th President of India (b. 1910)
  • January 30 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish boxer (b. 1932)

    • February

  • February 6 – James Whitmore, American actor (b. 1921)
  • February 9 – Eluana Englaro, Italian patient in right-to-die case (b. 1970)
  • February 25 – Philip José Farmer, American writer (b. 1918)
  • February 27 – Manea Mănescu, Romanian Prime Minister (b. 1916)

    • March

  • March 2 – João Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1939)
  • March 14 – Alain Bashung, French singer, songwriter and actor (b. 1947)
  • March 15 – Ron Silver, American actor and political activist (b. 1946)
  • March 18 – Natasha Richardson, English actress (b. 1963)
  • March 20 – Abdellatif Filali, 13th Prime Minister of Morocco (b. 1928)
  • March 25 – Yukio Endo, Japanese gymnast (b. 1937)
  • March 28 – Janet Jagan, 6th President of Guyana (b. 1920)
  • March 29 – Maurice Jarre, French composer and conductor (b. 1924)
  • March 31 – Raúl Alfonsín, 49th President of Argentina (b. 1927)

    • April

  • April 12
  • Marilyn Chambers, American pornographic actress (b. 1952)
  • Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, American social theorist (b. 1950)
  • April 14 – Maurice Druon, French novelist (b. 1918)
  • April 19 – J. G. Ballard, English novelist (b. 1930)
  • April 22
  • Ken Annakin, English film director (b. 1914)
  • Jack Cardiff, English cinematographer (b. 1914)
  • April 25 – Bea Arthur, American actress (b. 1922)
  • April 28 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (b. 1939)

    • May

  • May 2
  • Augusto Boal, Brazilian theatre director (b. 1931)
  • Jack Kemp, American politician and football player (b. 1935)
  • May 4 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)
  • May 9 – Chuck Daly, American basketball coach (b. 1930)
  • May 13 – Achille Compagnoni, Italian mountaineer (b. 1914)
  • May 17 – Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer (b. 1920)
  • May 18
  • Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan militant (b. 1954)
  • Wayne Allwine, American voice actor (b. 1947)
  • May 19 – Robert F. Furchgott, American scientist (b. 1916)
  • May 23 – Roh Moo-hyun, 16th President of South Korea (b. 1946)
  • May 27 – Clive Granger, British economist (b. 1934)
  • May 30
  • Luís Cabral, 1st President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1931)
  • Ephraim Katzir, 4th President of Israel (b. 1916)
  • Gaafar Nimeiry, 5th President of the Sudan (b. 1930)
  • May 31 – Millvina Dean, British citizen, last remaining survivor of the RMS Titanic. (b. 1912)

    • June

  • June 2 – David Eddings, American author (b. 1931)
  • June 3
  • David Carradine, American actor (b. 1936)
  • Koko Taylor, American musician (b. 1928)
  • June 6 – Jean Dausset, French immunologist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
  • June 8 – Omar Bongo, 2nd President of Gabon (b. 1935)
  • June 12 – Félix Malloum, 3rd President of Chad (b. 1932)
  • June 13 – Mitsuharu Misawa, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1962)
  • June 17 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-British social theorist and politician (b. 1929)
  • June 25
  • Farrah Fawcett, American actress (b. 1947)
  • Michael Jackson, American performer and recording artist (b. 1958)
  • June 30 – Pina Bausch, German choreographer (b. 1940)

    • July

  • July 1
  • Alexis Argüello, Nicaraguan boxer and politician (b. 1952)
  • Karl Malden, American actor (b. 1912)
  • July 4 – Allen Klein, American businessman (b. 1931)
  • July 6
  • Vasily Aksyonov, Russian novelist (b. 1932)
  • Robert McNamara, 8th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1916)
  • July 17
  • Meir Amit, Israeli general and politician (b. 1921)
  • Walter Cronkite, American newscaster (b. 1916)
  • Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher (b. 1927)
  • July 19 – Frank McCourt, Irish-American author (b. 1930)
  • July 26 – Merce Cunningham, American choreographer (b. 1919)
  • July 31 – Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (b. 1933)

    • August

  • August 1 – Corazon Aquino, 11th President of the Philippines (b. 1933)
  • August 5 – Budd Schulberg, American screenwriter (b. 1914)
  • August 6
  • John Hughes, American film director and writer (b. 1950)
  • Willy DeVille, American singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
  • August 8 – Daniel Jarque, Spanish footballer (b. 1983)
  • August 11 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American founder of the Special Olympics (b. 1921)
  • August 13 – Les Paul, American musician and inventor (b. 1915)
  • August 18 – Kim Dae-jung, 15th President of South Korea (b. 1924)
  • August 24 – Toni Sailer, Austrian alpine ski racer (b. 1935)
  • August 25 – Ted Kennedy, American politician (b. 1932)
  • August 26 – Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Iraqi politician and theologian (b. 1953)
  • August 27 – Sergey Mikhalkov, Soviet-Russian author (b. 1913)

    • September

  • September 8 – Aage Bohr, Danish physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
  • September 11
  • Juan Almeida, Cuban revolutionary and politician (b. 1927)
  • Yoshito Usui, Japanese manga artist (b. 1958)
  • September 12
  • Norman Borlaug, American agronomist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
  • Jack Kramer, American tennis player and promoter (b. 1921)
  • September 14
  • Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (b. 1952)
  • Henry Gibson, American actor and songwriter (b. 1935)
  • September 16 – Mary Travers, American singer and songwriter (b. 1936)
  • September 17 – Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian Islamist militant (b. 1968)
  • September 18 – Irving Kristol, American writer and political commentator (b. 1920)
  • September 23 – Ertuğrul Osman, 43rd Head of the Ottoman Dynasty (b. 1912)
  • September 25 – Alicia de Larrocha, Spanish pianist (b. 1923)
  • September 28 – Guillermo Endara, 32nd President of Panama (b. 1936)
  • September 29 – Pavel Popovich, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1930)

    • October

  • October 2 – Marek Edelman, Polish political and social activist (b. 1922)
  • October 4
  • Shōichi Nakagawa, Japanese politician (b. 1953)
  • Günther Rall, German fighter pilot (b. 1918)
  • Mercedes Sosa, Argentine singer (b. 1935)
  • October 5 – Israel Gelfand, Soviet-American mathematician (b. 1913)
  • October 7 – Irving Penn, American photographer (b. 1917)
  • October 13 – Al Martino, American singer and actor (b. 1927)
  • October 19 – Joseph Wiseman, Canadian actor (b. 1918)
  • October 28 – Taylor Mitchell, Canadian singer (b. 1990)
  • October 30 – Claude Lévi-Strauss, French anthropologist (b. 1908)
  • October 31 – Hsue-Shen Tsien, Chinese scientist (b. 1911)

    • November

  • November 3 – Francisco Ayala, Spanish novelist (b. 1906)
  • November 8 – Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
  • November 10 – Robert Enke, German footballer (b. 1977)
  • November 15
  • Pavle, Serbian Patriarch, Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (b. 1914)
  • Pierre Harmel, 39th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1911)
  • November 16 – Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer (b. 1978)
  • November 20 – Lino Lacedelli, Italian mountaineer (b. 1925)
  • November 21 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1926)
  • November 24 – Samak Sundaravej, 25th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1935)
  • November 30 – Milorad Pavić, Serbian writer (b. 1929)

    • December

  • December 3 – Richard Todd, Irish-born British actor (b. 1919)
  • December 4
  • Edward Fatu, Samoan-American professional wrestler (b. 1973)
  • Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Soviet-Russian actor (b. 1928)
  • December 5
  • Alfred Hrdlicka, Austrian artist (b. 1928)
  • Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (b. 1926)
  • December 9 – Gene Barry, American actor (b. 1919)
  • December 13 – Paul Samuelson, American economist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
  • December 16
  • Roy E. Disney, American businessman (b. 1930)
  • Yegor Gaidar, Russian politician (b. 1956)
  • December 17 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (b. 1919)
  • December 19
  • Hussein-Ali Montazeri, Iranian scholar and human rights activist (b. 1922)
  • Kim Peek, American savant (b. 1951)
  • December 20 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (b. 1977)
  • December 21 – Edwin G. Krebs, American biologist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
  • December 23 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Tibetan politician (b. 1910)
  • December 24 – Rafael Caldera, 54th and 60th President of Venezuela (b. 1916)
  • December 28 – The Rev, American singer-songwriter and drummer (Avenged Sevenfold, Pinkly Smooth, and Suburban Legends) (b. 1981)
  • December 30 – Abdurrahman Wahid, 4th President of Indonesia (b. 1940)

    • Nobel Prizes

  • Chemistry – Ada Yonath, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, and Thomas A. Steitz
  • Economics – Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson
  • Literature – Herta Müller
  • Peace – Barack Obama
  • Physics – Charles K. Kao, Willard Boyle, and George E. Smith
  • Physiology or Medicine – Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak

    • References

    2009 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA