Historical Events March 9.

1776: Publication of Adam Smith’s famous book on economics, ‘The Wealth of Nations’.

1796: Napoleon Bonaparte married Josephina, his first wife.

1846: The Treaty of Lahore, a peace treaty marking the end of the First Anglo-Sikh War.

1945: World War II- US B-29 bombers struck Tokyo, Japan. More than 1 lakh people died in it.

1959: The Barbie doll made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

1961: Successful launch of Russian spacecraft Sputnik 9 with a human dummy and a dog.

1992: Poet-writer Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan awarded the first Saraswati Award by the Vice President of India at a function organized by the K. K. Birla Pratishthan in New Delhi.

Famous birthdays– March 9

1454: Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian merchant, explorer, and navigator.

1824: Amasa Leland Stanford, an American industrialist, and politician. He is the founder of Stanford University.

1836: Navalram Pandya, a Gujarati critic, playwright, poet, essayist, editor, educationist, and a social reformer.

1934: Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space.

1943: Robert Fischer, an American chess grandmaster.

1951: Ustad Zakir Hussain, an Indian tabla player.

1956: Shashi Tharoor, an Indian politician, writer, and former international diplomat.

1985: Parthiv Patel, an Indian cricketer.

Death anniversaries -March 9

1851: Hans Christian Orsted, a Danish physicist and chemist.

1969: Sir Homi Mody, a noted Indian-Parsi businessman associated with Tata Group and an administrator of India.

1992: Menachem Begin, the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.

1994: Devika Rani, an actress in Indian films.

2012: Joy Mukherjee, an Indian film actor, and director.