Today in History: October 9, Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

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Today is Thursday, Oct. 9, the 282nd day of 2025. There are 83 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 9, 2009, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Also on this date:

In 1910, a coal dust explosion at the Starkville Mine in Colorado left 56 miners dead.

In 1962, Uganda won independence from British rule.

In 1963, a mega-tsunami triggered by a landside at Vajont Dam in northern Italy destroyed villages and caused approximately 2,000 deaths.

In 1967, Marxist revolutionary guerrilla leader Che Guevara, 39, was executed by the Bolivian army a day after his capture.

In 1985, Strawberry Fields in New York’s Central Park, a memorial to former Beatle John Lennon, was dedicated.

In 1992, the highly visible Peekskill Meteorite streaked through Earth's atmosphere for hundreds of miles over the U.S. Northeast before a small chunk of it crashed into the trunk of a parked car in Peekskill, New York. The car, a bright red 1980 Chevrolet Malibu, later went on exhibition at several museums worldwide.

In 2010, a drill broke through into an underground chamber where 33 Chilean miners had been trapped for more than two months.

In 2012, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, to 30 to 60 years in prison following his conviction on 45 counts of sexual abuse of boys.

Today’s Birthdays: Musician Nona Hendryx is 81. Musician Jackson Browne is 77. Actor Robert Wuhl is 74. TV personality Sharon Osbourne is 73. Actor Tony Shalhoub is 72. Actor Scott Bakula is 71. Actor-TV host John O’Hurley is 71. Football Hall of Famer Mike Singletary is 67. Jazz musician Kenny Garrett is 65. Film director Guillermo del Toro is 61. Singer PJ Harvey is 56. Film director Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”) is 56. Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam is 55. Musician Sean Lennon is 50. Actor Brandon Routh is 46. Author-TV presenter Marie Kondo is 41. Comedian Melissa Villasenor is 38. Actor Tyler James Williams is 33. NFL tight end George Kittle is 32. Country singer Scotty McCreery (TV: “American Idol”) is 32. Model Bella Hadid is 29. Actor Jharrel Jerome is 28. Tennis player Ben Shelton is 23.