Significant Events
- Jan 9 Ernest Shackleton as part of the British Nimrod Expedition reaches a record farthest South latitude (88°23' south)
- Mar 26 In support of Mohammed Ali Shah's coup d'etat against the constitutional government in Persia, a Russian military force invades northern Persia to relieve the siege of Tabriz
- Apr 19 Joan of Arc receives beatification by the Roman Catholic Church
- Sep 6 Word received that American explorer Robert Peary had discovered the North Pole, 5 months earlier
- Sep 7 Eugene Lefebvre becomes first pilot to die in an airplane craft, while test piloting new French-built Wright biplane at Juvisy
- Sep 12 World's first patent for synthetic rubber granted to German chemist Fritz Hofmann
- Dec 7 Inventor Leo Baekeland patents the first thermo-setting plastic, Bakelite, sparking the birth of the plastics industry
1909 in Sport
- Jun 16 Jim Thorpe makes his pro baseball pitching debut for Rocky Mount (ECL) with 4-2 win, this will cause him to forfeit his Olympic gold medals
- Aug 19 Indianapolis 500 race track opens
World Leaders in 1909
Nicholas II
Tsar
Wilhelm II
German Emperor and King of Prussia
William Howard Taft
27th US President
Famous People in 1909
Claude Monet
Impressionist Painter
Clyde Barrow
Eduard Wirths
Edwin Land
Joseph McCarthy
Kwame Nkrumah
Maybelle CarterWould You Believe?
MLB umpire Tim Hurst instigates a riot by spitting in the face of A's 2nd baseman Eddie Collins who had questioned a call; 2 weeks later Hurst banned for life
On August 4, 1909
Geronimo