Today in History: Thomas Edison Introduces the Electric Light Bulb to the Public

December 31 is the 365th (366th in leap years) and last day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar.

Railways

• 31 December 1892 The first train of the Anatolian Railway Company reached Ankara with flowers and flags.
• 31 December 1928 The Konya-Yenice part bonds of the Baghdad Railways, which are owned by Deutshe Bank and seized by the Treaty of Versailles under the law of 1375, were purchased from Deutsche Orient Bank for 74 Swiss francs with 241.992.412 year-end. .

Events

• 1759 – Irish entrepreneur Arthur Guinness founded St. He took the first step towards transforming an empty brewery in James Gate into the world's largest brewery by renting it for 9000 years.
• 1808 - French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac put the gas law, later known by his name, into an equation.
• 1879 - Thomas Edison introduced the electric light bulb to the public.
• 1890 - Ellis Island in New York opens its doors to all immigrants who want to come to the United States.
• 1892 – The railway built by the group, of which Deutsche Bank is also a participant, reached Ankara.
• 1921 – Mustafa Kemal instructed the Western Front Command to disperse the Circassian Ethem forces.
• 1939 – Regular flights between Istanbul and Berlin started.
• 1946 - US President Harry Truman, World War II. It officially announced the end of World War II.
• 1960 – Demirköprü Dam and hydroelectric power plant came into service.
• 1977 – The government was overthrown with a no-confidence vote for the first time in Turkey: The Second Nationalist Front (MC) government was overthrown with 218 votes of no confidence against 228 votes of confidence.
• 1979 – The Autonomous Region of Catalonia was established in Spain.
• 1985 – The martial law in Pakistan, which has been in effect for 8,5 years, is lifted.
• 1986 – President Kenan Evren's New Year's message: “New Year's Eve is not just a night celebrated by the Christian world, as some ultra-conservative circles claim. We should not confuse the night that connects December 25, celebrated as Christmas by Christians, and December 31, celebrated as New Year's, to January 1."
• 1989 - Day of Solidarity of World Azerbaijanis
• 1990 - Windows 3.0 was released by Microsoft.
• 1994 – Austria, Finland and Sweden became members of the European Union. The number of members of the union was 15.
• 1998 – The Council of State dismissed the mayorship of former Sincan Mayor Bekir Yıldız, who was dismissed by the Ministry of Interior after the Jerusalem Night held in Xinjiang and was sentenced to 4 years and 7 months of heavy imprisonment as a result of the trial.
• 1999 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin abruptly resigned and said he would hand over his post to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
• 2012 - The last day of the Mayan calendar, prepared by the Mayan people.

Births

• 695 – Mohammed bin Qasim, Syrian general (d. 715)
• 1096 – Amir, Fatimid caliph (d. 1130)
• 1378 – III. Callixtus, Spanish cleric and Pope (d. 1458)
• 1491 – Jacques Cartier, French navigator and explorer (d. 1557)
• 1514 – Andreas Vesalius, Dutch anatomist (d. 1564)
• 1668 – Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (d. 1738)
• 1720 – Charles Edward Stuart, second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland (d. 1788)
• 1738 – Charles Cornwallis, (I. Marquess Cornwallis), English general (d. 1805)
• 1741 – Isabella Maria of Parma, future Holy Roman Emperor consort (d. 1763)
• 1763 Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (d. 1806)
• 1805 – Marie d'Agoult, German writer (d. 1876)
• 1808 – Henry Fitz, American scientist and businessman (d. 1863)
• 1814 Jules Simon, French politician (d. 1896)
• 1815 – George Meade, American Civil War general (d. 1872)
• 1820 Helene Demuth, steward of Karl Marx (d. 1890)
• 1830 – Ismail Pasha, Ottoman Egyptian Khedive (d. 1895)
• 1830 Alexander Smith, Scottish poet (d. 1867)
• 1838 – Émile Loubet, President of France (d. 1929)
• 1851 Henry Carter Adams, American economist (d. 1921)
• 1864 – Robert Grant Aitken, American astronomer (d. 1951)
• 1868 Charles Wallace Richmond, American ornithologist (d. 1932)
• 1869 – Henri Matisse, French painter (d. 1954)
• 1880 – George Marshall, American soldier, statesman, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 1954)
• 1880 – Zenón Díaz, Argentinean former international football player (d. 1948)
• 1881 – Max Pechstein, German painter and printmaker (d. 1955)
• 1890 – Walther Krause, German general (d. 1960)
• 1896 – Israel Rokah, Mayor of Tel Aviv (d. 1959)
• 1898 – István Dobi, Hungarian politician (d. 1968)
• 1901 – Karl-August Fagerholm, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1984)
• 1902 – Paul Anxionnaz, French politician (d. 1997)
• 1905 Guy Mollet, Prime Minister of France (d. 1975)
• 1905 – Yusuf Mammadaliyev, Soviet-Azerbaijani chemist (d. 1961)
• 1908 – Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Jewish Nazi hunter (d. 2005)
• 1917 – Suzy Delair, French actress and singer (d. 2020)
• 1921 – Maurice Yaméogo, Burkina Faso politician (d. 1993)
• 1921 – Gilbert Stork, American scientist (d. 2017)
• 1929 – Mies Bouwman, Dutch television presenter (d. 2018)
• 1929 – Doug Anthony, Australian politician (d. 2020)
• 1931 – Bob Shaw, Northern Irish science fiction writer (d. 1996)
• 1931 – Michel Bernard, French athlete (d. 2019)
• 1932 – Muhterem Nur, Turkish cinema and sound artist (d. 2020)
• 1932 – Mildred Scheel, former first lady of Germany and doctor (d. 1985)
• 1933 – Mohamed Sayah, Tunisian politician (d. 2018)
• 1935 - Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, 7th King of Saudi Arabia
• 1936 – Siw Malmkvist, Swedish singer
• 1937 – Anthony Hopkins, American actor and winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor
• 1937 – Avram Hershko, Israeli physician and biochemist
• 1938 – Berkant Akgürgen, Turkish composer, musician and actor (owner of the song "Samanyolu") (d. 2012)
• 1938 – Marien Ngouabi, Congolese soldier and politician (d. 1977)
• 1938 – Markku Lehmuskallio, Finnish film director and screenwriter
• 1938 – Robert DeProspero, American intelligence officer and agent (d. 2019)
• 1939 – Sarraf Kasım, Azerbaijani poet and poet (d. 2018)
• 1939 – V. Balakrishnan, Indian politician (d. 2020)
• 1940 – Birsen Menekşeli, Turkish film actress
• 1940 – Feramerz Zelli, Iranian national football player
• 1941 – Sarah Miles, English film and stage actress
• 1941 – Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish football player and manager
• 1941 – Johnny Leeze, English stage, film and television actor (d. 2020)
• 1941 – Somen Mitra, Indian politician (d. 2020)
• 1943 – Ben Kingsley, English actor (Oscar winner for his role as “Gandhi”)
• 1943 – Yawovi Agboyibo, Prime Minister of Togo (d. 2020)
• 1944 – Iêda Maria Vargas, Brazilian actress, model, and former beauty queen
• 1944 – Yıldız Kültür, Turkish actress
• 1945 – Leonard Adleman, American computer scientist
• 1945 – Ted Monette, American army colonel (d. 2020)
• 1946 – Hikmet Karagöz, Turkish cinema and TV series actor (d. 2020)
• 1946 – Lyudmila Pakhomova, Soviet Olympic champion figure skater (d. 1986)
• 1946 – Roy Porter, British historian (d. 2002)
• 1947 – Tim Matheson, American actor
• 1948 – Donna Summer, American artist (d. 2012)
• 1948 – Sandy Jardine, Scottish international football player and manager (d. 2014)
• 1950 – Nasır Çeşm Azer, Iranian pianist, composer and arranger (d. 2018)
• 1951 – Tom Hamilton, American musician
• 1951 – Andranik Alexandrian, Iranian national football player
• 1951 – Eldar Kuliev, Soviet film director and screenwriter (d. 2017)
• 1952 – Elizabeth Norment, American actress (d. 2014)
• 1953 James Remar, American actor
• 1953 Jane Badler, American actress
• 1953 – Yahya Veled Hademin, Mauritanian politician
• 1953 – Alan Rabinowitz, American zoologist and scientist (d. 2018)
• 1954 – Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, Turkish politician (d. 2009)
• 1954 – Alex Salmond, Scottish politician
• 1954 – Hermann Tilke, German engineer, racing driver and track designer
• 1955 – Göran Söllscher, Swedish guitarist
• 1956 – Mohammed Walad Ghazwani, retired Mauritanian general and politician
• 1956 – Harald Beckmann, German cinematographer
• 1957 – Bahruz Sultani, Iranian national football player
• 1958 – Bebe Neuwirth, American actress, dancer, and singer
• 1958 Peter Hultqvist, Swedish politician
• 1959 - Val Kilmer, American actor
• 1959 - Baron Waqa, President of Nauru
• 1960 – Steve Bruce, English manager and former football player
• 1965 – Gong Li, Chinese actress
• 1965 – Nicholas Sparks, American writer and screenwriter
• 1966 Hiromi Goto, Canadian novelist
• 1968 – Junot Díaz, Dominican-American writer
• 1971 – Ömer Özkan, Turkish plastic surgeon
• 1972 – Gregory Coupet, French former football player
• 1972 – Açelya Akkoyun, Turkish theater and TV series actress
• 1974 – Joe Abercrombie, English fantasy writer
• 1975 – Sendoa Agirre, Spanish football player
• 1976 – Criminal (Bilgin Özçalkan), Turkish rap artist
• 1977 – PSY, South Korean singer-songwriter
• 1977 – Donald Trump Jr., American businessman
• 1981 – Deniz Çakır, Turkish actress
• 1982 – Craig Gordon, Scottish football player
• 1983 – Jaqueline Maria Pereira De Carvalho, Brazilian volleyball player
• 1984 – Édgar Lugo, Mexican football player
• 1985 – Jan Smit, Dutch singer and TV presenter
• 1990 – Patrick Chan, Canadian figure skater
• 1990 – Yosuke Yuzawa, Japanese football player
• 1994 – Ed-Dukali es-Sayd, Qatari football player

Deaths

• 192 – Commodus, Roman emperor (b. 161)
• 335 – Sylvester I, pope from 31 January 314 to 31 December 335
• 1384 – John Wycliffe, English scholastic philosopher, theologian, Bible translator, and reformer (b. 1328)
• 1650 – Dorgon, Manchu prince and regent of the Qing Dynasty (b. 1612)
• 1655 – Janusz Radziwiłł, Grand Duke of Lithuania (b. 1612)
• 1669 – Bogusław Radziwiłł, Polish prince (b. 1620)
• 1705 – Catherine of Braganza, Princess of Portugal and King of England II. Charles' wife (b. 1638)
• 1719 – John Flamsteed, English astronomer (b. 1646)
• 1739 – II. Mengli Giray, Khan of Crimea (b. 1678)
• 1778 – Alvise Giovanni Mocenigo, Duke of Venice (b. 1701)
• 1812 – Jean Baptiste Eblé, French general and engineer (b. 1758)
• 1864 – George M. Dallas, American politician and diplomat (b. 1792)
• 1865 – Fredrika Bremer, Swedish writer and feminist (b. 1801)
• 1866 – Ateş Mehmet Pasha, Ottoman sailor (b. ?)
• 1872 – Alexis Kiwi, Finnish writer (b. 1834)
• 1874 – Julius von Leypold, German painter (b. 1806)
• 1877 – Gustave Courbet, French painter (b. 1819)
• 1880 – Arnold Ruge, German philosopher and political writer (b. 1802)
• 1882 – Léon Gambetta, French politician (b. 1838)
• 1889 – Ion Creangă, Romanian writer, storyteller, and teacher (b. 1837)
• 1907 – Jules de Trooz, Belgian Catholic Party politician (b. 1857)
• 1916 – Alice Ball, American chemist (b. 1892)
• 1916 – Kazimierz Alchimowicz, Polish romantic painter (b. 1840)
• 1919 – Elin Danielson-Gambogi, Finnish painter (b. 1861)
• 1923 – Édouard Jean-Marie Stephan, French astronomer (b. 1837)
• 1931 – İbrahim Tevfik Efendi, son of Sultan Abdülmecid (b. 1874)
• 1932 – Stanisław Narutowicz, Polish lawyer and politician (b. 1862)
• 1934 – Cafer Cabbarlı, Azerbaijani actor, poet and writer (b. 1899)
• 1936 – Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish philosopher and writer (b. 1864)
• 1941 – Abdurrahman Kamil Yetkin, Turkish mufti, professor and preacher (b. 1850)
• 1949 – Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı, Turkish poet, philosopher and statesman (delegates who signed the Treaty of Sevres) (b. 1869)
• 1950 – Karl Renner, former President of Austria (b. 1870)
• 1961 – Tevfik İleri, Turkish politician, former DP minister and Yassıada inmates (b. 1911)
• 1964 – Ólafur Thors, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1892)
• 1980 – Marshall McLuhan, Canadian communication theorist and academic (b. 1911)
• 1980 – Raoul Walsh, American film director (b. 1887)
• 1982 – Otto Hofman, civil servant in Nazi Germany (b. 1896)
• 1983 – Sevim Burak, Turkish writer (b. 1931)
• 1988 – Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi, Turkish social scientist, pedagogue and writer (b. 1932)
• 1990 – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect, urban planner and engraver (b. 1891)
• 1993 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgian dissident, statesman and writer (b. 1939)
• 1995 – Haluk Tezonar, Turkish sculptor and painter (b. 1942)
• 2001 – Eileen Heckart, American actress (b. 1919)
• 2003 – Arthur Von Hippel, German-American physicist (b. 1898)
• 2004 – Gérard Debreu, French-born US naturalized mathematician and economist (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Seymour Martin Lipset, American sociologist (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Yener Süsoy, Turkish journalist and writer (b. 1947)
• 2013 – James Avery, American actor (b. 1945)
• 2013 – John Fortune, English actor, satirist, and author (b. 1939)
• 2014 – Edward Herrmann, American actor, director, and writer (b. 1943)
• 2014 – Nejat Konuk, Turkish Cypriot politician (b. 1928)
• 2015 – Natalie Cole, American singer, songwriter, and actress (b. 1950)
• 2015 – Steve Gohouri, Ivory Coast football player (b. 1981)
• 2015 – Beth Howland, American actress (b. 1941)
• 2015 – Hasan Karakaya, Turkish journalist (b. 1957)
• 2015 – Ekrem Pakdemirli, Turkish politician (b. 1939)
• 2015 – Wayne Rogers, American actor (b. 1933)
• 2016 – William Christopher, American actor (b. 1932)
• 2018 – Kader Khan, Afghan-Indian actor, screenwriter and producer (b. 1937)
• 2018 – Ray Sawyer, American rock singer and musician (b. 1937)
• 2018 – István Seregély, Hungarian Catholic bishop (b. 1931)
• 2018 – Gülriz Sururi, Turkish theater actress and writer (b. 1929)
• 2019 – Serikbolsın Abduldin, Kazakh politician (b. 1937)
• 2019 – Djimrangar Dadnadji, Chadian politician who also served as prime minister (b. 1954)
• 2019 – Ratko Janev, Macedonian and Serbian atomic physicist (b. 1939)
• 2019 – Shahla Riyahi, Iranian actress and film director (b. 1927)
• 2020 – Constantin Bosânceanu, Professional Romanian football player (b. 1966)
• 2020 – Tommy Docherty, Scottish football player and manager (b. 1928)
• 2020 – Jolanta Fedak, Polish politician (b. 1960)
• 2020 – Robert Hossein, Azerbaijani-French actor, director and writer (b. 1927)
• 2020 – Muladi, Indonesian academic, judge and politician (b. 1943)
• 2020 – Joan Micklin Silver, American film director and screenwriter (b. 1935)

Holidays and special occasions

• christmas eve
• Day of Solidarity of World Azerbaijanis