December 31 in history: Thomas Edison gave 1st public demo of light bulb in 1879

Bengaluru, Dec 31: Today is Wednesday, December 31, 2014. What happened on this day in history? Oneindia takes a look at the past: [December 30 in history]

1706: Founder of Pondichery Francois Martin died.

1738: Lord Charles Cornwallis, the governor general of India between 1786 and 1793, was born.

1861: Cherrapunji saw 22,990 mm of rainfall in 1861, world record.

1879: Thomas Edison gave the first demonstration of an electric incandescent lamp in public.

1915: Germans torpedo Persia, a British liner Persia without any warning, killing 335 passengers.

1929: The Congress adopted a resolution of 'Poorna Swaraj' under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru at the Lahore session.

1938: The first breath test for drivers in drunkometer was introduced in Indianapolis, USA.

1944: Hungary declares war on Germany.

1946: US President Harry S Truman officially announced the conclusion of hostilities in World War II.

1961: The Marshall Plan expired after distributing foreign aid worth over 12 billion.

1966: Bishen Singh Bedi made his Test cricket debut vs the West Indies at Kolkata (then Calcutta).

1963: Central African Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland got formally dissolved.

1964: al-Fatah guerrillas of Yasser Arafat launched their first terrorist raid on Israel.

1977: Cambodia ends relations with Vietnam.

1984: Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as the prime minister of India.

1987: Robert Mugabe became Zimbabwe's president.

1996: India's gold import policy liberalised.

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