◆ On this day

December 9

4 sourced moments from December 9 in history: A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired on television (1965); The Mother of All Demos unveiled the computer mouse (1968); Smallpox eradication: last case 1977, certified 1979, plus 1 more.

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4 things happened on December 9

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1990 Society & Economy · Politics & Law

Lech Walesa won Poland's first direct presidential election

The shipyard electrician who toppled communism became the first Polish leader ever chosen directly by the people.

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1979 Human Body & Mind · Medicine & Disease

Smallpox eradication: last case 1977, certified 1979

The last natural case was in 1977, a WHO commission certified eradication on 9 December 1979, and the World Health Assembly confirmed it in 1980.

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1968 Technology · Computing & AI

The Mother of All Demos unveiled the computer mouse

In 90 minutes in 1968, one engineer showed a stunned audience the mouse, hypertext, and video calls decades before anyone else.

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1965 Culture & Arts · Film & TV

A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired on television

Network executives braced for a flop; instead nearly half of America's TV sets tuned in to a jazz-scored cartoon.

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