July 2009 in History

Events in History

Jul 4 The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after 8 years, due to security reasons following the World Trade Center attacks

Jul 5 Ethnic rioting breaks out in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, People's Republic of China
Jul 6 Jadranka Kosor became first female prime minister of Croatia
Jul 14 Singapore experiences a seasonally adjusted and annualised growth of 20.4% in the second quarter as a result of increased pharmaceuticals production and construction, bringing the country out of the recession
Jul 15 A 7.9 Magnitude earthquake registers 160km west of Invercargill, New Zealand, creating a small tsunami
Jul 17 Jakarta double bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels killed 9 people including 4 foreigners
Jul 18 Five members of one family are found murdered at Epping, New South Wales.
Jul 19 The Wesley Impact: black spot the size of Earth discovered on Jupiter after unknown object crashed onto the planet
Jul 23 The Bank of Canada announces the end of the recession even though it remains nascent and still dependent on government stimulus money
Jul 24 FINA Congress votes to ban all body-length swimsuits; men's suits to maximally cover from the waist to knee, and women's from shoulder to knee; fabric must be a "textile" or woven material; effective 1 January 2010
Jul 29 Temperature reaches 103°F in Seattle, Washington, the hottest day on record [1]
Jul 30 A bomb explodes in Palma Nova, Mallorca, killing 2 police officers. Basque separatist group ETA is believed to be responsible.

Jul 1 Marwa El-Sherbini, Egyptian housewife (b. 1977 or 1976)
Jul 1 Onni Palaste, Finnish writer, dies at 91
Jul 3 John A. Keel, American Fortean, television scriptwriter, author of The Mothman Prophecies (b. 1930)
Jul 4 Allen Klein, American record label executive (b. 1931)
Jul 4 Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard, Congolese politician (b.1938)
Jul 6 Leo Mol, Ukrainian Canadian artist and sculptor (b. 1915)
Jul 6 Robert McNamara, American United States Secretary of Defense (1961-8), who played a major role in US escalation in Vietnam, dies at 93
Jul 6 Vasily Aksyonov, Soviet-Russian novelist (The Burn), dies at 76
Jul 11 Ji Xianlin, Chinese linguist and paleographer (b.1911)
Jul 12 Simon Vinkenoog, Dutch writer and poet, dies at 80
Jul 14 Phyllis Gotlieb, Canadian sci-fi novelist (Sunburst), dies at 83
Jul 17 Leszek Kolakowski, Polish philosopher (Conversations with the Devil), dies at 81
Jul 17 Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher (b. 1927)
Jul 18 Henry Allingham, British supercentenarian and World War I veteran, dies at 113
Jul 19 Frank McCourt, Irish-American Pulitzer Prize winning author (Angela's Ashes), and teacher, dies of cancer at 78
Jul 22 Richard M. Givan, American jurist (Indiana Supreme Court, 1969-94), dies at 88

Jul 24 E. Lynn Harris, American Author (b. 1955)
Jul 24 Marcel van Maele, Belgian poet and playwright, dies at 78
Jul 25 Harry Patch, the last surviving soldier to have served in the trenches in World War I, dies at 111 (b. 1898)
Jul 25 Stanley Middleton, British novelist (Holiday, Three Wise Men), dies at 89
Jul 26 Marcey Jacobson, American photographer (b. 1911)
Jul 26 Merce Cunningham, American choreographer (Acrobat in Every Soul is a Circus), dies at 90
Jul 28 Reverend Ike [Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II], American televangelist (Joy of Living), dies at 74
Jul 29 Gayatri Devi, 3rd Maharani consort of Jaipur, India (1940-49), dies of lung failure and gastric problems at 90
Jul 30 Peter Zadek, German theatre director (b. 1926)