December 9 Birthday
On December 9, 1979, a WHO commission certified that smallpox had been eradicated. Smallpox had killed 300 million people in the 20th century — more than all wars combined. The eradication campaign, led by Donald Henderson, took eleven years and cost $300 million. The last natural case occurred in Somalia in 1977. The virus now exists only in two laboratories — the CDC in Atlanta and VECTOR in Russia. The decision to preserve rather than destroy the remaining samples has been debated for decades. Kirk Douglas, born this day in 1916 as Issur Danielovitch, was the son of Jewish immigrants from Belarus. He grew up poor in Amsterdam, New York. He served in the Navy in World War II. He broke the Hollywood blacklist by hiring Dalton Trumbo to write Spartacus (1960) and giving him screen credit. He lived to be 103. People born on December 9 fall under the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. The birthstone is Tanzanite and the birth flower is Holly. Historical events on December 9 include 1992: US Marines land in Somalia (Operation Restore Hope), 1979: WHO commission confirms smallpox eradicated, 1965: A Charlie Brown Christmas premieres on CBS. Famous people born on December 9 include John Milton (1608), Kirk Douglas (1916), Judi Dench (1934).