WEDNESDAY, Jan. 3, 2024

1868-Meiji Restoration returns authority to Japan's emperors

1871-Oleomargarine patented by Henry Bradley, Binghamton, N.Y.

1872-First patent list issued by U.S. Patent Office

1876-First free kindergarten in U.S. opens in Florence MA

1888-First wax drinking straw patented, by Marvin C. Stone in Washington,D.C.

1890-First U.S. college-level dairy school opens at University of Wisconsin

1924-British Egyptologist Howard Carter finds sarcophagus of Tutankhamun

1976-U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1977-Apple Computer incorporated

1984-Syria frees captured U.S. pilot after appeal from Jesse Jackson

1985-Israel government confirms resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews

1987-Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducts first female artist Aretha Franklin

1988-Margaret Thatcher becomes longest-serving British PM this century

1989-Russian newspaper Izvestia gets its first commercial advertisement

1991-Israel reopens consulate in USSR after 23 years

1994-100s killed in Venezuela in prison revolt