On This Day: February 9

This is the 40th day of the year.

Fact of the Day: chromosomes

There are 46 chromosomes in the living cell of a human being and these chromosomes carry the genetic information that decides how a person will grow, whether they are fair or dark, short or tall, blue-eyed or brown-eyed. But the sex cells, the female egg and male sperm, each have only 23 chromosomes. They fuse at conception to make a cell containing 46 chromosomes - and it is this mix that creates the diversity of human life. Other living things which reproduce sexually also have chromosomes, but the numbers vary from species to species. A garden pea, for instance, has 14 chromosomes, a potato 48, and a crayfish 200.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Apollonia, St. Sabinus of Canossa, St. Teilo, St. Alto, St. Ansbert, and St. Nicephorus of Antioch.

Lebanon: St. Maron's Day.

Events

1718 - French colonists arrived in Louisiana.

1801 - The Holy Roman Empire came to an end with the signing of the Peace of Luneville between Austria and France.

1825 - The U.S. House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams the 6th President after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes. He had won fewer votes than Andrew Jackson in the popular election.

1861 - Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.

1870 - The U. S. Weather Bureau was established.

1895 - The first college basketball game was played as Minnesota State School of Agriculture defeated the Porkers of Hamline College, 9-3.

1900 - American collegian Dwight Filley Davis challenged British tennis players to come across the Atlantic Ocean and compete against his Harvard team, which was the beginning of the Davis Cup competition.

1942 - The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first formal meeting to coordinate military strategy during World War II.

1942 - The Normandie, thought by many to be the most elegant ocean liner ever built, burned and sank in New York Harbor during its conversion to an Allied trip transport ship.

1943 - The Battle of Guadalcanal ended in the southwest Pacific Ocean as an important American victory over the Japanese in World War II.

1950 - Joseph McCarthy, Republican senator from Wisconsin, announced during a speech that he knew of 205 communists who had infiltrated the U.S. State Department.

1964 - The Beatles made their first live American television appearance, on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

1994 - Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa.

2001 - An American submarine accidentally strikes and sinks a Japanese fishing vessel off the coast of Hawaii, killing nine.

Births

1773 - William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States of America (1941, shortest term -- 32 days).

1874 - Amy Lowell, American poet.

1914 - Carmen Miranda, Brazilian singer, actress.

1943 - Joe Pesci, American actor.

1963 - Travis Tritt, American country singer.

1981 - John Walker Lindh, American-born Taliban fighter.

Deaths

1966 - Sophie Tucker, American singer.

1981 - Bill Haley, American singer and songwriter, considered by many the "Father of Rock and Roll."

2002 - The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, the younger daughter of England's George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

2004 - Claude Ryan, Canadian politician and leader of the Parti libéral du Québec from 1978 to 1982.

2006 - Freddie Laker, British airline entrepreneur.