Today in History - December 22 | Man's idea changed Christmas trees forever
December 22
Edward H. Johnson became the first person to decorate a Christmas tree with electric lights at his home in New York City in 1882.
Johnson was an associate of inventor Thomas Edison and the vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company.
The company bought ads to promote the use of lights on Christmas trees.
The advertisement read: "No danger from the lights on Christmas trees when Edison Miniature Lamps are used. No smoke, smell or grease. Lamps can be either bought or rented at a low cost.
"Anyone can readily wire and put up lamps if there is electric current in the house. Our leaflet on Christmas lighting tells all about it."
German astronomer and pioneer in the field of astrophotography Max Wolf discovered almost 230 asteroids throughout his career.
But he found his first on December 22 in 1891 when he was 28 years old.
323 Brucia became the first asteroid to be discovered with the use of astrophotography.
Wolf named the asteroid in honour of Catherine Wolfe Bruce, a patroness of the science of astronomy, who had donated US$10,000 for the construction of the telescope which Wolf used.
The asteroid is a member of the Phocaea family, which is a large family of stony S-type asteroids with almost 2000 members.
John Wayne Gacy confessed to killing more than two dozen boys and young men on December 22 in 1978.
The serial killer told police he buried their bodies under his suburban home in the US city of Chicago.
Gacy was later convicted of 33 sex-related murders, committed between 1972 and 1978.
He was given the death penalty.
The well-known community figure, who sometimes dressed up as a clown to entertain sick children, was later dubbed by the media as the killer clown.
Colo was the first gorilla in the world to be born in captivity on December 22, 1956.
She was born at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in the US state of Ohio to mother Millie Christina and father Baron Macombo.
After she was rejected at birth by her mother, zookeepers hand-raised Colo.
The gorilla, pictured on her 60th birthday, lived at the zoo her entire life before her death in January 2017.
New York City resident Bernhard Goetz, a 37-year-old white man, shot four young Black men on December 22 in 1984 after they surrounded him and asked for $5.
Goetz later said after injuring three of the unarmed men, he pointed his gun at a terrified and unwounded 18-year-old Darrell Cabey.
Goetz shot Cabey in the back, which severed his spinal cord.
Three of the young men recovered but Cabey suffered permanent brain damage and was paralysed.
Goetz fled the scene and turned himself in to police nine days later.
During his subsequent interrogation, Goetz admitted on videotape that when one of the threatening young men smirked at him, he wanted to "kill them all."
The racially-motivated shooting caused controversy in the US after Goetz pleaded innocent to charges of attempted murder in the subsequent criminal trial.
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
