What are the important events that happened on May 9? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

May 9: Facts & Myths About This Day

May 9 is the 129^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 236 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is April 26, 2025 – a Friday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 485,208 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectaicosaenneagon’ day.

Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 284 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,522 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 9 Historical Events

• 1864 –
  Second War of Schleswig: The Danish navy defeats the Austrian and Prussian fleets in the Battle of Heligoland.
• 1887 –
  Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show opens in London.
• 1904 –
  The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine in Europe to exceed 100 mph.
• 1911 –
  The works of Gabriele D'Annunzio placed by the Vatican in the Index of Forbidden Books.
• 1927 –
  The Australian Parliament first convenes in Canberra.
• 1960 –
  The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle’s Enovid, making Enovid the world’s first approved oral contraceptive pill.
• 1980 –
  In Norco, California, five masked gunman hold up a Security Pacific bank, leading to a violent shoot-out and one of the largest pursuits in California history. Two of the gunmen and one police officer are killed and thirty-three police and civilian vehicles are destroyed in the chase.
• 2001 –
  In Ghana 129 football fans die in what became known as the Accra Sports Stadium Disaster. The deaths are caused by a stampede (caused by the firing of teargas by police personnel at the stadium) that followed a controversial decision by the referee.
• 2002 –
  The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries.
• 2004 –
  Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by a land mine under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial victory parade in Grozny, Chechnya.

Who were born on May 9?

• 1912 –
  Géza Ottlik, Hungarian writer (d. 1990)
• 1932 –
  Geraldine McEwan, English actress
• 1939 –
  Ralph Boston, American athlete
• 1942 –
  John Ashcroft, United States Attorney General
• 1945 –
  Steve Katz, American musician (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
• 1946 –
  Candice Bergen, American actress
• 1951 –
  Alley Mills, American actress
• 1977 –
  Maggie Dixon, American college basketball coach (d. 2006)
• 1979 –
  Brandon Webb, American baseball player
• 1981 –
  Evangelos Tsiolis, Greek footballer

Who died on May 9?

• 1747 –
  John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and diplomat (b. 1673)
• 1760 –
  Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, German religious and social reformer (b. 1700)
• 1791 –
  Francis Hopkinson, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1737)
• 1968 –
  Marion Lorne, American actress (b. 1885)
• 1970 –
  Walter Reuther, American labor leader (b. 1907)
• 1979 –
  Cyrus Eaton, Canadian-American businessman and industrialist (b. 1883)
• 1989 –
  Keith Whitley, American country music singer (b. 1955)
• 1998 –
  Alice Faye, American actress (b. 1915)
• 2004 –
  Akhmad Kadyrov, Chechen president (b. 1951)
• 2005 –
  Nasrat Parsa, Afghan singer (b. 1969)