FRIDAY, Dec. 29, 2023

1813 — British burn Buffalo New York during the War of 1812

1848 — Gas lights first installed at White House (Polk's administration)

1862 — Bowling ball invented

1885 — Gottlieb Daimler patents first bike (Germany)

1891 — Edison patents "transmission of signals electrically" (radio)

1903 — French Equatorial Africa separates into Gabon, Chad & Ubangi-Shari

1920 — The netherlands/Venezuela recover diplomatic relations

1931 — Identification of heavy water publicly announced, HC Urey

1934 — Japan renounces Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 & London Treaty of 1930

1940 — Germany begins dropping incendiary bombs on London (WWII)

1947 — Ship carrying Jewish immigrants driven away from Palestine

1948 — Canada recognizes Israel

1954 — Kingdom of the Netherlands, with Netherlands & Netherlands Antilles as autonomous parts, comes into being

1983 — U.S. announces withdrawal from UNESCO

1997 — Hong Kong begins slaughtering all its chickens to prevent bird flu

1997 — Russia signs agreement to build a $3B nuclear power plant in China