On This Day for February 9 - Calcutta restored to British control, Alice Walker is featured, and more

This message contains graphics. If you do not see the graphics, click here to view. February 09 FEATURED BIOGRAPHY Alice Walker READ MORE   FEATURED EVENT 1757 Calcutta restored to British control READ MORE   Advertisement Advertisement   MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY 2002: Princess Margaret—who, as King George VI's second daughter and the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II , struggled to balance her independent spirit with her duties as a member of Britain's royal family—died in London. [Sort fact from fiction in our English royalty quiz.] 1943: The Battle of Guadalcanal ended with an Allied victory over Japan. [ Test your knowledge about which countries fought on which side during World War II.] 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.] 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.] 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?] 1796: Qianlong, the fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty, abdicated and was succeeded by Jiaqing. [ Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about China.] SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY 1942 Carole King American singer-songwriter 1943 Joseph E. Stiglitz American economist 1773 William Henry Harrison president of United States 1979 Zhang Ziyi Chinese actress 1944 Alice Walker American writer 1909 Carmen Miranda Portuguese-born singer and actress SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY   Advertisement   FOLLOW: To unsubscribe from Britannica e-mails, click here. Encyclopædia Britannica 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 United States © 2021 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Privacy Policy • Help