Calcutta (now Kolkata) was seized by the nawab (deputy ruler) of Bengal in 1756, who imprisoned several British individuals. However, British agent Robert Clive recovered the city from the nawab on January 2nd, 1757. The two signed the Treaty of Alinagar on this day and officially restored the city to the East India Company. The Treaty was a prelude to the British seizure of Bengal.
Other notable events on February 9th:
In 1996, German physicist Peter Armbruster and his team synthesize chemical element 112, copernicium.
In 1969 the Boeing 747, aka the “Jumbo Jet”, the largest passenger plane, flies for the first time.
In 1950 U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the State Department of being filled with communists and launches his anti-communist campaign.