2009

2009 (MMIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2009th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 9th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 10th and last year of the 2000s decade.

2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy[1][2] by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Johannes Kepler.[3] It was also declared as the International Year of Natural Fibres[4] by the United Nations General Assembly, as well as the International Year of Reconciliation and the Year of the Gorilla (UNEP and UNESCO).[5]

The year also marked the deaths of many prominent entertainers including Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Brittany Murphy, Patrick Swayze, David Carradine and Ricardo Montalbán, as well as prominent politicians like Jack Kemp and Corazon Aquino.

Air France Flight 447First inauguration of Barack Obama2009 Iranian presidential election protests2009 swine flu pandemicUS Airways Flight 15492009 L'Aquila earthquakeBitcoinDeath of Michael Jackson
From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests erupt over the 2009 Iranian presidential election; US Airways Flight 1549 crash-lands in the Hudson River with no fatalities, with the event becoming known as the "Miracle on the Hudson"; The "King of Pop" Michael Jackson died in 2009; Bitcoin is initially launched by the pseudonymous name Satoshi Nakamoto; the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake strikes central Italy; The H1N1 virus was responsible for the 2009 swine flu pandemic.