On this day in:

1639 Connecticut established as a self-ruled colony (Jan 14 OS).

1894 Lobster Thermidor is created at the Paris restaurant Maire, to honor the opening of Victorien Sardou's play, 'Thermidor', at Comedie-Francaise.

1922 Eskimo Pie Patent Day. Christian K. Nelson, an ice cream salesman in Onawa, Iowa, was issued patent #1,404,539 for the Eskimo Pie.  Described as "in its simplest form, a block or brick or frozen confection within an edible container or shell. The core or center may be an ice cream, sherbet, sorbet, ice, or other material congealed by refrigeration." The shell "like that used in coating chocolate candies, although preferably modified to harden at a lower temperature."

1930 Bernard Matthews was born (died Nov 25, 2010).  Founder of Bernard Matthews Farms Ltd., Britain's largest turkey processor.

1935 The beer can (created by the American Can Co.) was introduced in Richmond, Virginia by the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company of Newark, New Jersey. The products were Krueger's Finest Beer and Krueger's Cream Ale.

1939 Maximilian Bircher-Benner died. He was a Swiss doctor who developed the cereal product 'Muesli,' which is similar to Granola.

1940 The movie 'The Grapes of Wrath' premiers in New York.  Based on John Steinbeck's novel about a poor Midwest family forced off their land during the Great Depression

1950 Percy L. Spencer received a patent (No. 2,495,429) for the microwave oven, "Method of Treating Foodstuffs."

1956 Procter & Gamble introduces Jif Peanut Butter.

1984 The first Apple Macintosh computers were sold.

1985 Coca-Cola announced it had received permission to sell Coca-Cola in the Soviet Union.

1988 Charles Glen King died. King was a biochemist who discovered vitamin C in 1932. He extracted and isolated it from lemon juice.

1996 The U.S. FDA approved the fat substitute Olestra (brand name 'Olean').  Olestra is unapproved for sale in many countries, including the European Union and Canada.  Side effects include abdominal cramps, and inhibition of vitamin absorption.

2006 Nicholas Shackleton died (born June 23, 1937).  English geologist and paleoclimatologist who helped identify carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.