Today in history

1631: Death of John Donne, English poet, and a Dean of St Paul?s in London. ("Any man ?s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.")

• 1631: Death of John Donne, English poet, and a Dean of St Paul’s in London. ("Any man ‘s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.")

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• 1836: The first monthly installment of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, by 24-year-old Charles Dickens, was published under the pseudonym Boz. Only 400 copies were printed of the first installment, but by the 15th episode, 40,000 copies were printed. When the stories were published in book form in 1837, Dickens quickly became the most popular author of the day.

• 1889: The Eiffel Tower was dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by Gustave Eiffel, and attended by French Prime Minister. Since the elevators were not completed by Gustave Eiffel ascended the tower’s stairs and raised an enormous French tricolour on the structure’s flagpole. Incredibly, the Eiffel Tower was almost demolished when the International Exposition’s 20-year lease on the land expired in 1909, but its value as an antenna for radio transmission saved it.

• 1991: Indian-American scientist Ananda Chakrabarty patented a new single cell life form-a bacterium called Burkholderia Cepacia, or B Cepacia. The bacterium has the ability to break down crude oil into simpler substances and is a solution for clearing toxic oil spills. B. Cepacia was the subject of a landmark US Supreme Court decision in 1980 that forms of life created in the laboratory can be patented.

• 2001: Sachin Tendulkar became the first cricketer to score 10,000 runs in ODI cricket when he scored 34 in the third one-day match against Australia at Indore. This was his 266th match.