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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