* 1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach the North Pole.

* 1909 – William M. Branham, American evangelist ( d. 1965 )

* 1909 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver ( d. 1987 )

* 1909 – Juliana of the Netherlands ( d. 2004 )

* 1909 – F. E. McWilliam, Irish sculptor ( d. 1992 )

* 1909 – Sylvère Maes, Belgian cyclist ( d. 1966 )

* 1909 – Lester Young, American saxophonist ( d. 1959 )

* 1909 – V. K. Gokak, Indian writer ( d. 1992 )

* 1909 – Adam von Trott zu Solz, German diplomat ( d. 1944 )

Monty Noble led Australia to victory in both 1907 – 08 and 1909.

* 1909 – Walter Van Tilburg Clark, American novelist ( d. 1971 )

* 1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.

* 1909 – Bill Voce, England cricketer ( d. 1984 )

* 1871 – John Millington Synge, Irish writer ( d. 1909 )

* 1909 – Hugo Winterhalter, American composer and bandleader ( d. 1973 )

* 1909 – Paul Callaway, American organist and conductor ( d. 1995 )

* 1909 – Bruce Matthews, Canadian army officer and businessman ( d. 1991 )

* 1909 – First automobile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway takes place.

* 1909 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician ( d. 1992 )

* 1829 – Carlo Acton, Italian composer and pianist ( d. 1909 )

* 1909 – Michael Rennie, English actor ( d. 1971 )

* 1909 – The Turkish military reverses the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 to force the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

* 1909 – Syd Buller, English cricketer ( d. 1970 )

* 1909 – Leila Danette, American actress

David Dean Rusk ( February 9, 1909 – December 20, 1994 ) was the United States Secretary of State from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

In 1908 on a high hill on the east side of town, Barber began construction of an experimental farm and estate, comprising a French Renaissance Revival mansion, completed in 1909, and lush gardens, dozens of barns and other structures in the same style, and greenhouses, which he called Anna Dean Farm.

Kent remained at that post until his departure in 1909 to become professor and Dean of Hering Medical College and Hospital, an institution also located in Chicago.

Wallace Earle Stegner ( February 18, 1909 – April 13, 1993 ) was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, often called " The Dean of Western Writers ".

Thurman was born in New York City, the son of Elizabeth Dean Farrar ( 1907 – 1973 ), a stage actress, and Beverly Reid Thurman, Jr. ( 1909 – 1962 ), an Associated Press editor and U. N. translator .< ref >

Author Doug Marman, on the other hand, has sided with 1909, based on census information first discovered by Dean McMakin.

* Sir William Augustus Tilden ( 1842 – 1926 ), Chemist & Dean, Royal College of Science, London ( 1905 – 1909 )

Ten of the twenty locomotives were rebuilt from William Dean Atbara Class engines, the first ( number 3405 ) being converted in September 1902 and the rest following in 1907 – 1909.

In the United States, the development of conservation can be traced to the Fogg Art Museum, and Edward Waldo Forbes, the Director of the Fogg from 1909 to 1944.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Baekeland a patent for a " Method of making insoluble products of phenol and formaldehyde " on December 7, 1909.

Silhouette effects in location scenes began to appear in 1909 in both the United States and Italy ; though as things developed, European film-makers made more use of this than the Americans did.

* 1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.

Examples that were used in Paris were reported in the pages of Scientific American May 1907 and petrol-driven hearses began to be produced from 1909 in the United States.

By the end of 1909, an agreement had been reached providing for a reduction in the debt and the issuance of new 5 percent bonds: the bankers would control the Honduran railroad, and the United States government would guarantee continued Honduran independence and would take control of customer revenue.

The recommendations of the Brent Commission were endorsed by the United States Department of State and in 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt called for an international conference, the International Opium Commission, which was held in Shanghai in February 1909.

In Edinburgh Hibernian were founded in 1875 and in 1909 another club with Irish links, Dundee United, was formed.

In 1909, well before the Securities Exchange Act was passed, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a corporate director who bought that company ’ s stock when he knew it was about to jump up in price committed fraud by buying while not disclosing his inside information.

In 1909, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Strong v. Repide that a director upon whose action the value of the shares depends cannot avail of his knowledge of what his own action will be to acquire shares from those whom he intentionally keeps in ignorance of his expected action and the resulting value of the shares.

* 1909 – United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish-American War.

* 1909 – Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine from ( Calais to Dover, England, United Kingdom ) in 37 minutes.

* 1909 – U Thant, Burmese diplomat and 3rd United Nations Secretary General ( d. 1974 )

Michael Foot's elder brothers were Sir Dingle Foot MP ( 1905 – 1978 ), a Liberal and subsequently Labour MP ; Hugh Foot, Baron Caradon ( 1907 – 1990 ), a Governor of Cyprus, a representative of the United Kingdom at the United Nations from 1964 to 1970, and father to campaigning journalist Paul Foot ( 1937 – 2004 ) and charity worker Oliver Foot ( 1946 – 2008 ); and Liberal politician John Foot, Baron Foot ( 1909 – 1999 ).

However, following Manchester United's first league title in 1908 and the FA Cup a year later, it was decided that Bank Street was too restrictive for Davies ' ambition ; in February 1909, six weeks before the club's first FA Cup title, Old Trafford was named as the home of Manchester United, following the purchase of land for around £ 60, 000.

In 1909, the United States provided political support to conservative-led forces rebelling against President Zelaya.

* 1909 – Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries ( including two Americans ) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya.

Psychoanalysis started to receive recognition in the United States in 1909, when Sigmund Freud delivered a series of lectures at Clark University in Massachusetts at the invitation of G. Stanley Hall.

* 1909 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the South Africa Act 1909, creating the Union of South Africa from the British Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony.

Theodore " Teddy " Roosevelt ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919 ) was the 26th President of the United States of America ( 1901 – 1909 ).

William Howard Taft ( September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930 ) was the 27th President of the United States ( 1909 – 1913 ) and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States ( 1921 – 1930 ).