April 9 in Pop Culture History

1865 – At Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, ending the US Civil War.

1867 – The Alaska Purchase – the United States bought Alaska from the Russian Empire for $7.2 million in a treaty ratified by the U.S. Senate.

1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission was formed.

1947 (Tornado) Higgins, Texas and Woodward, Oklahoma.

1959 – NASA announced the selection of America’s first seven astronauts for Project Mercury. They were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Donald Slayton – the “Mercury Seven”

1962 – Sophia Loren won Best Actress Oscar for Two Women.

1965 – The Astrodome opened and the first indoor MLB baseball game was played. It was an exhibition game between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. The Astros won 2-1.

1966 – #1 Hit April 9, 1966 – April 29, 1966: The Righteous Brothers – (You’re My) Soul And Inspiration

1967 – The first Boeing 737 made its maiden flight.

1974 – Phil Brooks was issued a US patent (#3,802,434) for a disposable syringe.

1977 – #1 Hit April 9, 1977 – April 15, 1977: ABBA – Dancing Queen

1981 – Nature published the longest scientific name in history. With 16,569 nucleotides, the systematic name for human mitochondrial DNA is 207,000 letters long. That would be over 1000 typical web pages.

1988 – #1 Hit April 9, 1988 – April 22, 1988: Billy Ocean – Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car

1993 – Indecent Proposal, The Sandlot and Sidekicks were released in theaters.

1994 – #1 Hit April 9, 1994 – May 20, 1994: R. Kelly – Bump n’ Grind

1998 – The Price Is Right aired its milestone 5,000th episode. Every prize given away in that episode was a car.

1999 – Never Been Kissed debuted in theaters.

2004 – Ella Enchanted, The Alamo, The Whole Ten Yards and The Girl Next Door were released in theaters.

2011 – #1 Hit April 9, 2011 – April 29, 2011: Katy Perry featuring Kanye West – E.T.