TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT Dec. 31, 2019
The health commission in the central Chinese city of Wuhan announced that experts were investigating an outbreak of respiratory illness and that most of the victims had visited a seafood market in the city; the statement said 27 people had become ill with a strain of viral pneumonia and that seven were in serious condition.
ON THIS DATE 1879
Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light by illuminating some 40 bulbs at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
1904
New York’s Times Square saw its first New Year’s Eve celebration, with an estimated 200,000 people in attendance.