On Dec. 31, 1879, Thomas Edison first demonstrated his electric incandescent lights for the public by illuminating some 100 bulbs in and around his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

In 1904, New York’s Times Square saw its first New Year’s Eve celebration, with an estimated 200,000 people in attendance.

In 1972, baseball player Roberto Clemente, 38, was killed when a plane he had chartered crashed after takeoff from Puerto Rico.

In 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned, making Prime Minister Vladimir Putin acting president.

In 2019, the health commission in the Chinese city of Wuhan announced they were investigating an outbreak of respiratory illness that would eventually be known as COVID-19.

In 2022, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died at age 95.