February 9
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Featured Event
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Magic Johnson unretires to play in the NBA All-Star Game
On this day in 1992, Magic Johnson briefly returned to the basketball court for his 12th NBA All-Star Game, which was the only game he played the entire season. Johnson had revealed just months earlier that he was HIV-positive, and he had missed the first few games of the season because of a different illness. Although revealing his HIV diagnosis invited judgment, Johnson played with his usual verve and scored 25 points—and earned MVP honors for himself. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
AP Images
‘When you ask me about peace, Suwelo,’ said Miss Lissie, ‘if I’ve ever in all my lifetimes experienced peace, I am nearly perplexed. Could it be possible that after hundreds of lifetimes I have not known peace? That seems to be the fact. In lifetime after lifetime I have known oppression: from parents, siblings, relatives, governments, countries, continents. As well as from my own body and mind.’
The works of American writer Alice Walker, born this day in 1944 and perhaps best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple (1982), are noted for their insightful treatment of African American culture.
Famous Birthdays
More on February 9
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
2002
Princess Margaret died in London. As King George VI’s second daughter and the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, she struggled to balance her independent spirit with her duties as a member of Britain’s royal family. [Sort fact from fiction in our English royalty quiz.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1996
German physicist Peter Armbruster and his team of scientists synthesized chemical element 112, a heavy transuranium element that was later named copernicium. [Take our quiz about the periodic table.]
Universal History Archive/REX/Shutterstock.com
1984
Soviet Premier Yury Andropov died 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev and was replaced by Konstantin Chernenko. [How much do you know about Russia?]
Tiziana Fabi—AFP/Getty Images
1940
South African novelist, critic, and translator J.M. Coetzee, who won the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature, was born. [Sort fact from fiction with our famous writers quiz.]
Photos.com/Jupiterimages
1757
The Treaty of Alinagar placed what is today Kolkata under British control and served as a prelude to the seizure of Bengal. Robert Clive had seized the city in January from the ruler of Bengal, Siraj al-Dawlah.