December 20

1868: American industrialist Harvey Firestone, who founded the tire company that bears his name, was born. 1879: Thomas Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, NJ. 1880: New York's Broadway was first lighted by electricity and became known as the "Great White Way." 1901: American physicist and high voltage experimenter Robert Van de Graaff was born. 1921: German physician Richard Petri, inventor of the Petri Dish, died. 1945: The Office of Price Administration announced the end of tire rationing. 1946: Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," premiered. 1951: At 1:50 p.m., the first electricity ever generated by atomic power was produced by the EBR-1 turbine generator at the Argonne National Laboratory. 1952: Einsteinium (Es, 99) discovered. 1996: American astronomer and writer, producer of the "Cosmos" series, Carl Sagan died (see Butthead Astronomer).