June 9
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Featured Event
© Barbara Alper—Archive Photos/Getty Images; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
On this day in 1986, brothers Jack and Charles Colbert were found guilty in a New York courtroom of running what they called a “surplus chemical business” and what the U.S. government called a notorious global toxic-waste brokerage. The brothers had shipped 238 drums of waste to a chemical company in Zimbabwe, claiming the drums contained valuable industrial solvents. But the drums actually contained “garbage” from a chemical company in Ohio. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum; object no. SK-A-116
Born this day in 1672 was Russian Tsar Peter the Great, who reigned jointly or alone from 1682 to 1725 and was one of his country’s greatest statesmen, organizers, and reformers.
Famous Birthdays
More on June 9
Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images
2008
American baseball player Ken Griffey, Jr., hit his 600th career home run, becoming the sixth player in major league history to accomplish the feat. [How much do you know about baseball?]
AP Images
1983
British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, buoyed by victory in the Falkland Islands War and by deep divisions within the opposition Labour Party, was easily reelected to a second term in office. [Test your knowledge of notable prime ministers.]
Dfmock
1973
American racehorse Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes (by an unprecedented 31 lengths) to capture the Triple Crown; he earlier had won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. [Take our quiz about famous horses.]
German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv), Bild 146-1969-054-16; photograph, Heinrich Hoffmann
1942
On this day the residents of the village of Lidice (now in the Czech Republic) were rounded up, most to be massacred the next day in reprisal for the assassination by Czech underground fighters of Reinhard Heydrich, deputy leader of the Nazi paramilitary group SS. [Test your knowledge of Nazi officials.]
Ullstein Bilderdienst, Berlin
1940
German tank forces under Major General Erwin Rommel crossed the Seine River in a push to the Atlantic coast of France during World War II. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about wartime Germany.]
Nara Archives/REX/Shutterstock.com
1891
American composer and lyricist Cole Porter, who brought a worldly élan to the American musical, was born in Peru, Indiana. [Test your knowledge of composers.]
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1870
English writer Charles Dickens, generally considered the greatest Victorian novelist, died at Gad’s Hill near Chatham, Kent. [Take our quiz about famous novels.]
Heritage Images—Hulton Fine Art Collection/Getty Images
1815
The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, comprising several agreements separately negotiated among various participants for the reorganization of Europe in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, was signed by representatives of Austria, France, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and Sweden. [How much do you know about European history?]
Courtesy of the Science Museum, London
1781
English engineer George Stephenson, the principal inventor of the railroad locomotive, was born. [Test your knowledge of inventors and their inventions.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1358
The Jacquerie, a revolt of French peasants against abuses inflicted upon them by the nobility of northeastern France, suffered a critical defeat at Meaux. [How much do you know about French history?]