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January 11, 2017
100th Anniversary of The Russian Nature Reserves
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...104.3-hp2x.png
A century ago, Russia established its first Zapovednik [[nature reserve), Barguzinsky Nature Reserve, located in Buryatia, on the northeast shores of Lake Baikal. On January 11, the country marks the 100th anniversary of its pioneering system of protecting natural areas with Nature Reserves and National Parks Day.
Today, the country’s stewardship of its wild landscapes continues to gain ground, with over 13,000 specially protected natural areas occupying millions of acres—about 11.4 percent of Russia’s vast territory. Ranging from tiny to titanic, they include 103 reserves, 49 national parks, and 68 national nature sanctuaries, with initiatives underway to expand old areas and develop new protected territories. Expansion is in sync with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree to make 2017 the Year of Ecology in the Russian Federation.
Our Doodle is rendered in a woodblock style reminiscent of Russian postage stamps issued for Barguzin’s half-centennial, and inspired by six specially protected natural areas: Barguzin Nature Reserve, Ergaki National Park [[aka Yergaki), Russian Arctic National Park, Lake Baikal [frozen], Kronotsky Nature Reserve, and Dalnevostochny Morskoy Nature Reserve [Far East Marine Nature Reserve].
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December 6, 2018
Zeki Müren’s 87th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...5132416-2x.png
Hailed as “The Sun of Art” and the “Pasha of Turkish Music,” Zeki Müren was a singer, composer, actor, and poet who became one of the most important artists in Turkish classical music history.
Born in the historic Hisar district of Bursa on this day in 1931, Müren was the only child of a Macedonian timber merchant. While a student at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, he won first place in a contest sponsored by Turkish Radio and Television. In 1951 he gave his first live performance on Istanbul Radio. That same year he recorded “Muhabbet Kuşu” [Parakeet] with clarinetist Sükrü Tunar, the first of hundreds of songs he’d release on phonograph and cassette over the course of his career. His 1955 release “Manolyam” was the first Turkish recording to be certified gold.
For his first live concert in 1955 Müren took the stage in typical stage clothes, but over time began designing his own wardrobe, expressing a personal style that sometimes included thigh-high boots, sparkling tights, jeweled capes, miniskirts, and a peacock tail—as well as wigs and makeup. His fearlessly flamboyant look became known as a symbol of his strength of character and individuality.
Müren transcended music by beginning an acting career in the 1950s with a role in the film or Beklenen Sarki “Awaited Song” [1953]. He would go on to appear in 18 films, often composing the scores as well, and played the lead in Robert Anderson’s stage drama Tea and Sympathy [1960].
In 1991, Müren was named an official State Artist of Tukey. Today, Müren’s legacy lives on through the Zeki Müren Fine Arts Anatolian High School in Bursa, which opened in 2002. His house in Bodrum became the Zeki Müren Art Museum and his Zeki Müren Scholarship Fund has supported thousands of students over the past 20 years.
Doğum günün kutlu olsun, Zeki Müren!
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Jun 7, 2004
Transit of Venus
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/K5...sz2Sc0-kX=s660
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against [and hence obscuring a small portion of] the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black dot moving across the face of the Sun. The duration of such transits is usually several hours [[the transit of 2012 lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes). A transit is similar to a solar eclipse by the Moon. While the diameter of Venus is more than three times that of the Moon, Venus appears smaller, and travels more slowly across the face of the Sun, because it is much farther away from Earth.
Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena. They occur in a pattern that generally repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits eight years apart separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. The periodicity is a reflection of the fact that the orbital periods of Earth and Venus are close to 8:13 and 243:395 commensurabilities.
The last transit of Venus was on 5 and 6 June 2012, and was the last Venus transit of the 21st century; the prior transit took place on 8 June 2004. The previous pair of transits were in December 1874 and December 1882. The next transits of Venus will take place on 10–11 December 2117 and 8 December 2125.
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June 7, 2019
Dragon Boat Festival 2019
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...2112.2-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Jie, which begins on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The exciting three-day event has occurred for over 2,000 years, and 10 years ago was inscribed on UNESCO’s list representing the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
The festival’s practice of racing boats originated from stories of people rowing on China’s Miluo River to try and rescue the ancient poet Qu Yuan from drowning during the third century B.C. Since then, the races have grown in popularity and spread throughout the world.
The boats are traditionally made of teak wood and can range up to 100 feet in length, accommodating as many as 80 rowers. Boats are usually decorated with dragon heads at the bow and scaly tails at the stern. A sacred ritual is held before the race when the eyes are painted on, which is said to “bring the boat to life.” During the race, a drummer sits in the front of each boat, helping the rowers to work in unison.
Families clean their homes and property in preparation for the festival, hanging bunches of mugwort and calamus on doors to ward off bad luck and disease. Aside from the race itself, there are many time-honored customs associated with the festival: eating sticky rice dumplings wrapped in lotus leaves, called zongzi; drinking wine made with the ruby-colored crystal realgar; and wearing “perfume pouches,” colorful silk bags filled with fragrant medicinal herbs.
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July 8, 2018
Celebrating Shirley [Mum Shirl] Smith
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...1757824-2x.jpg
Today marks the start of NAIDOC week, a time when Australia recognizes the culture of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. In keeping with this year’s theme, “Because of Her, We Can!” guest artist Cheryl Moggs, a proud descendant of the Bigambul people of Goondiwindi, created this Doodle celebrating the vibrant spirit of “Mum Shirl.”
Colleen Shirley Perry Smith was born on November 22, 1921, in Erambie Mission, an Aboriginal community in New South Wales. Diagnosed with epilepsy at an early age, Shirl dedicated her life to community activism that resulted in social reform for Aboriginal Australians and other minority communities throughout the country.
After her brother Laurie was arrested, Shirl began visiting Sydney’s Long Bay Correctional Complex to check on him and other Aboriginal inmates. When guards asked how she was related to the prisoners she wanted to visit, she’d say she was their “mum”—and a legend was born.Her work was not limited to prisons, however; Shirl was a founding member of the Aboriginal Children’s Service, the Aboriginal Housing Company, the Aboriginal Medical Service, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, and the Aboriginal Legal Service.
Mum Shirl resided in Sydney for the majority of her life, often travelling to educate Australians on issues affecting Aboriginal communities. Revered for her humanitarian work, this captivating speaker was recognized as a National Living Treasure by Australia’s National Trust in 1998. “Many people have told me they think I’m an exception,” she wrote in her autobiography. “I’m not… There are many fine Aboriginal people who, with half a chance, would be doing what I am now doing.” Thanks to her, many more have.
Guest art by Cheryl Moggs.
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October 8, 2018
Croatia Independence Day 2018
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...041920-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle celebrates Croatian National Day, which marks the anniversary of Croatia’s independence from the former Yugoslavia. With a people stemming from the Roman and Byzantine Empires as well as middle Europe and the Mediterranean, Croatia has always embodied a blend of different cultures.
While the red, white, and blue of the Croatian flag draws inspiration from that of Russia, the five shields are emblems of Croatia and its major areas. Each correspond to regions of Croatia proper including Croatia, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria, and Slavonia.
Celebrations on this day take place throughout the regions, including a parade through the capital city of Zagreb. Many citizens also take the day to visit the hundreds of miles of stunning coastline Croatia shares with the Adriatic Sea. Those celebrating at home may feast on brodet, a fish stew made possible by plentiful access to seafood.
Happy National Day, Croatia!
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October 8, 2013
William John Swainson's 224th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1o...nSIjH19rw=s660
William John Swainson, was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist.
Apart from the common and scientific names of many species, it is for the quality of his illustrations that he is best remembered. His friend William Elford Leach, head of zoology at the British Museum, encouraged him to experiment with lithography for his book Zoological Illustrations [1820–23].
Swainson became the first illustrator and naturalist to use lithography, which was a relatively cheap means of reproduction and did not require an engraver. He began publishing many illustrated works, mostly serially. Subscribers received and paid for fascicles, small sections of the books, as they came out, so that the cash flow was constant and could be reinvested in the preparation of subsequent parts. As book orders arrived, the monochrome lithographs were hand-coloured, according to colour reference images, known as 'pattern plates', which were produced by Swainson himself. It was his early adoption of this new technology and his natural skill of illustration that in large part led to his fame.
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Oct 9, 2013
Agnieszka Osiecka's 77th Birthday [Poland]
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Dx...mlhV-48RZ=s660
Agnieszka Osiecka was a poet, writer, author of theatre and television screenplays, film director and journalist. She was a prominent Polish songwriter, having authored the lyrics to more than 2000 songs, and is considered an icon of Polish culture.
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October 14, 2019
Joseph Plateau’s 218th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...580544-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle celebrates the Belgian physicist Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau, whose research on visual perception inspired him to invent a device he called the phénakistiscope, which led to the birth of cinema by creating the illusion of a moving image. Inspired by the mesmerizing animated discs, the animated Doodle art was made to reflect Plateau’s style, with different imagery and themes in them on different device platforms.
Born in Brussels on this day in 1801, Plateau was the son of an accomplished artist who specialized in painting flowers. After studying law, young Plateau became one of the best-known Belgian scientists of the nineteenth century, remembered for his study of physiological optics, particularly the effect of light and color on the human retina.
Plateau’s doctoral dissertation detailed how images form on the retina, noting their exact duration, color, and intensity. Based on these conclusions, he was able to create a stroboscopic device in 1832, fitted with two discs that rotated in opposite directions. One disc was filled with small windows, evenly spaced in a circle, while the other had a series of pictures of a dancer. When both discs turned at exactly the right speed, the images seemed to merge, creating the illusion of a dancer in motion.
Though Plateau lost his vision later in life, he continued to have a productive career in science even after becoming blind, working as a professor of experimental physics at Ghent University with the help of colleagues that included his son Felix Plateau and his son-in-law Gustaaf Van der Mensbrugghe.
Happy Birthday, Joseph Plateau!
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Oct 16, 2019
Celebrating Wanda Rutkiewicz
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...5935360-2x.png
“I adored the physical movement, the fresh air, the camaraderie, and the excitement,” wrote the Polish mountain climber Wanda Rutkiewicz. On this day in 1978, she reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the third woman to ascend the world’s highest peak, and the first Pole, male or female. Rutkiewicz would go on to complete seven more 8,000-meter-plus [26,247-foot-plus] climbs, establishing herself as one of the most celebrated climbers in mountaineering history and one of the greatest female climbers of all time.
Born on February 4, 1943 to a Polish family in the village of Plungiany—now part of Lithuania— Wanda studied electrical engineering at Wroclaw University of Technology. She discovered her passion for climbing by chance after her motorcycle ran out of fuel in 1961. One of the people who stopped to help invited her to join him on a climb of the Falcon Mountains.
Ten years after reaching the peak of Mount Everest, Rutkiewicz became the first woman to climb K2—the world’s second-highest peak—doing so without using supplemental oxygen. Two of her fellow climbers perished on the descent from K2, but she would continue pursuing her dreams.
Rutkiewicz published books and produced documentaries about her climbs, but despite her many accomplishments, she found some male climbers to be condescending. She went on to advocate for women’s climbing and to organize several all-female expeditions. In 1990, she declared her goal of climbing eight 8,000-meter-plus [26,247-foot-plus] peaks in just over a year’s time, a program she called the “Caravan of Dreams.” Although she did not complete that particular mission, Wanda Rutkiewicz has continued to inspire generations of climbers to follow in her footsteps.
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October 16, 2010
Ahmad Shawqi's Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/MU...k6RhzBiRA=s660
English translation:
My homeland is always in my mind even if I were in paradise.
Ahmed Shawqi, nicknamed the Prince of Poets, was an Arabic poet laureate, to the Arabic literary tradition.
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October 16, 2012
Hisashige Tanaka's 213th Birthday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYwcYmA5HTw
Hisashige Tanaka was a great inventor, born in what is today called Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan on October 16th, 1799. Tanaka’s prolific career began in his youth, when he famously engineered a set of handmade karakuri dolls; small, mechanized figurines capable of performing simple tasks, such as shooting a bow and arrow, receiving an empty teacup and returning with a filled one, and writing calligraphy with a miniature brush and inkstone. I was immediately taken by the elegance of the karakuri, and set about developing a sketch in which the calligraphy writing doll completes the Google logo by painting an ‘o’ upon his canvas.
It soon became clear that in order to illustrate the fine motor movement of the doll, a bit of animation on the homepage would not go amiss. I then separated each element of the drawing into layers, which I used to create a animatable, digital puppet.
Though the karakuri dolls are only one facet of a truly inspiring career, it was truly an honor to have the opportunity to celebrate Tanaka's 213th Birthday.
Posted by Kevin Laughlin, Doodler
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Oct 18, 2012
161st Anniversary of Moby Dick's First Publishing
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IC...sNm0Bu1jQ=s660
When designing a cover for a classic in the book publishing world, there is usually room for some artistic experimentation and subtlety. This is for a couple of reasons. One, the readers are already familiar with the imagery in the book, which gives the artist an opportunity to reinterpret or "refresh" the imagery in a contemporary way. Two, the title itself will usually attract the reader's attention – in many cases, the reader is looking specifically for this title. This relieves some of the burden or obligation for the illustration to portray a key moment of suspense or high drama from the story in order to attract more potential buyers.
Of course, for a Google doodle it is still very important to lend as much context as possible to create a rich and informative user experience, leaving slightly less flexibility than Lustig might have had in his day. So I had my goals: to create a contemporary interpretation of a classic story, rich in context but subtle in its own way.
One idea that surfaced early on was to somehow tie the white space of the homepage into the whiteness of Moby Dick [the whale], so that he wouldn't be immediately visible at first glance.
The sketch itself seemed a little gritty and frightening, and possibly not authentic to the scene either.... although Captain Ahab and his crew spend much of the novel in search of the whale, this moment should be more confrontational. Still, the doodle team encouraged further exploration of this idea. So I played with a second concept, in which Moby Dick is like an overgrown child, happily swimming about in the aftermath of the ship he's just destroyed, with the wreckage spelling out Google.
Casting Google as a shipwreck would probably not go over well, even with the best of lighthearted intentions, so the idea was quickly scrapped!
As I thought more about the theme of "search," I wondered if Moby Dick himself could be a large maze, designed in such a way to resemble the intricate tattoo patterns of another character in the story, Queequeg.
This robbed the user of all narrative context, however, and the team ultimately opted for the "white space" idea in the first concept, echoing my own notes to make it brighter and altogether less frightening. After a couple of compositional studies, I got going on the final, which is what you see at the top of the page today.
by Mike Dutton
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October 18, 2019
Kita Kusunose’s 183rd Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...20576.3-2x.png
“It is strange that despite paying taxes, I do not have the right to vote because I am a woman,” wrote Kita Kusunose in her famous 1878 letter to Japanese officials. “If I don’t have the right to vote then I won’t pay my taxes.” Today’s Doodle celebrates the birth of a self-described “common woman” who’s now fondly remembered as Minken Baasan, “the people’s rights granny.”
Born in Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku on this day in 1836, Kita married at age 21 and took over as the head of her household after her husband’s passing. Denied the right to vote in local elections just because she was a woman, she refused to pay her property tax with the belief that duty and rights should coexist, and sent a letter to the prefectural governor explaining her decision. As the first public petition written by a Japanese woman, Kita’s letter caused quite a stir. When her argument was dismissed by local authorities she took her case to Japan’s national ministry, after which it was reprinted in newspapers.
During the Meiji Era [1868 to 1912], Japanese society was undergoing a period of great transition under Emperor Mutsuhito. Kita’s letter sparked a national debate about women’s rights that led to changes in voting laws for parts of her home prefecture, allowing some women to vote for the first time in 1880. Although the rights were denied four years later, Kita is remembered as a pioneer for women’s suffrage, which was finally extended nationwide in Japan in 1946.
Kita was also an advocate for education and is honored at the Kochi Liberty and Peoples’ Rights Museum, which opened in her hometown in 1990.
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October 20, 2014
Christopher Wren's 382nd Birthday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McJEfxr_xZk&t=11s
It took 33 years to build St. Paul’s Cathedral in London but today, on our homepage in the U.K, it happens in a matter of seconds. Completed in 1720, the cathedral is considered to be English architect Christopher Wren’s magnum opus. But, with a portfolio featuring British landmarks like the Royal Observatory of Greenwich and Kensington Palace, Wren’s legacy stands tall throughout England. Happy 382nd birthday to Christopher Wren!
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October 24, 2016
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s 384th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...56992-hp2x.gif
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, born today in 1632, saw a whole world in a drop of water. Considered the first microbiologist, van Leeuwenhoek designed single-lens microscopes to unlock the mysteries of everything from bits of cheese to complex insect eyes. In a letter to the Royal Society of London, van Leeuwenhoek marveled at what he had seen in a sample of water from a nearby lake: "little animals" that we know now as bacteria and other microbes.
In his rooms on the Market Square in Delft, Netherlands, van Leeuwenhoek was a DIY-er supreme. Like Galileo, he ground and polished his own lenses. Some of his lenses attained a magnification of more than 200 times, allowing him to examine capillaries, muscle fibers, and other wonders of the microscopic universe.
Doodler Gerben Steenks noted, "I chose to make it an animated Doodle to show the 'before and after' experience that Antoni van Leeuwenhoek had — looking through a microscope and seeing a surprising new world." Here's to celebrating a true visionary!
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October 24, 2015
R. K. Laxman's 94th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...976.5-hp2x.jpg
A humorist and illustrator with an uncommon talent, R.K. Laxman was one of India’s most celebrated cartoonists. His daily political cartoon, You Said It, ran on the front page of The Times of India for more than 50 years. Laxman was best known for his Common Man character, who he drew into his cartoons as a witness to the kinds of hypocrisies and societal inequalities Laxman wanted to silently expose.
Today’s Doodle honors R.K. Laxman for his deft artistic hand and sharp, incisive wit. Doodler Olivia When in collaboration with Local Googlers wanted to salute the legendary cartoonist by creating a Doodle that payed homage to both Laxman [making sure to capture his wild shock of hair and distinctive grin] and his most popular character, who watches in his trademark checked shirt as the beloved illustrator sketches him one more time.
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October 25, 2002
Pablo Picasso's 121st Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0o...f4ESp8DYd=s660
Pablo Ruiz Picasso [25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973] was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon [1907], and Guernica [1937], a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War.
Exceptionally prolific throughout the course of his long life, Picasso achieved universal renown and immense fortune for his revolutionary artistic accomplishments, and became one of the best-known figures in 20th-century art.
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January 28, 2019
200th Anniversary of Singapore's Founding
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...014080-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle marks Singapore's Bicentennial. The occasion commemorates the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles in Singapore, a key milestone in the nation’s history. While 1819 was a turning point for the development of the island, the Bicentennial is also a chance for Singaporeans to rediscover the rich history of the island before Raffles—which spans as many as 500 years prior to the British stateman’s arrival. A heptagon surrounds the Singapore skyline in today’s Doodle, in honor of the 700 years of development that the island nation has undergone.
Singapore’s long and diverse history will be at the center of the celebration through a calendar of events and exhibitions spanning most of 2019. The Bicentennial will culminate with a multimedia sensory experience at the Fort Canning Centre where Singaporeans can walk through key historical periods including the settling of early communities, the arrival or Raffles, and augmented reality tours of the Singapore River and Fort Canning Park.
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January 28, 2009
Jackson Pollock’s Birthday - Courtesy of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation / ARS, NY
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jH...GBFaZpNAY=s660
Jackson Pollock was an American painter. He became famous for painting in the abstract expressionist style. Pollock's most famous paintings were made by dripping and splashing paint on a large canvas. His nickname was Jack the Dripper. Because of the method, this style is often called action painting. Pollock was helped by his wife, artist Lee Krasner, and her style was very new at the time.
His real name is Paul.Jackson is his middle name.Pollock was introduced to the use of liquid paint in 1936 at an experimental workshop operated in New York City by the Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. He later used paint pouring as one of several techniques on canvases of the early 1940s, such as "Male and Female" and "Composition with Pouring I." After his move to Springs, New York, he began painting with his canvases laid out on the studio floor, and he developed what was later called his drip technique.
Pollock described this use of household paints, instead of artist’s paints, as "a natural growth out of a need". He used hardened brushes, sticks, and even basting syringes as paint applicators. With this technique, Pollock was able to achieve a more immediate means of creating art, the paint now literally flowing from his chosen tool onto the canvas. By defying the convention of painting on an upright surface, he added a new dimension, literally, by being able to view and apply paint to his canvases from all directions.
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January 28, 2008
50th Anniversary of the Lego Brick
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6r..._ju4l0toB=s660
Legois a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks accompanying an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Lego pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Anything constructed can be taken apart again, and the pieces reused to make new things.
The Lego Group began manufacturing the interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Movies, games, competitions and eight Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the brand. As of July 2015, 600 billion Lego parts had been produced.
The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934, his company came to be called "Lego", derived from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play well". In 1947, Lego expanded to begin producing plastic toys. In 1949 Lego began producing, among other new products, an early version of the now familiar interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks". These bricks were based on the Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, which had been patented in the United Kingdom in 1939 and released in 1947. Lego had received a sample of the Kiddicraft bricks from the supplier of an injection-molding machine that it purchased. The bricks, originally manufactured from cellulose acetate, were a development of the traditional stackable wooden blocks of the time.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...don_Lester.jpg
Lester mascot at the world's largest Lego store in Leicester Square, London
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Mar 1, 2008
St. David's Day 2008
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bm...f0DLiks-w=s660
Saint David's Day, or the Feast of Saint David, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David's death in 589 AD. The feast has been regularly celebrated since the canonisation of David in the 12th century, by Pope Callixtus II, though it is not a public holiday in the UK.
Traditional festivities include wearing daffodils and leeks, recognised symbols of Wales and Saint David respectively, eating traditional Welsh food including cawl and Welsh rarebit, and women wearing traditional Welsh dress. An increasing number of cities and towns across Wales including Cardiff, Swansea and Aberystwyth also put on parades throughout the day.
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December 21, 2018
Connie Mark’s 95th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...5523072-2x.png
Today’s Doodle honors the life and legacy of trailblazer Connie Mark, who served in the women’s branch of the British army in Jamaica during World War II. Later moving from her native Jamaica to England, she became a community activist, promoting Caribbean culture and ensuring that the women and people of color who contributed to the war effort received equal recognition.
Connie Mark was born Constance Winifred McDonald in Kingston, Jamaica on this day in 1923. While her family tree included ancestors from Scotland, Calcutta, and Lebanon, Mark also had roots in Africa and grew up speaking Jamaican Patois [also known as Jamaican Creole] with roots in the Ghanaian language Twi.
At age 19, Mark was recruited to work in the British Military Hospital of Kingston as a medical secretary, typing reports of battle injuries. Although she was promoted twice during her service spanning a decade, Mark was denied the usual pay raise for unknown reasons. Due to this, she became an unwavering advocate for fair pay and continued advocating for proper recognition of Caribbean servicewomen throughout her life.
After settling in Britain in the 1950s, Mark became even more passionate about Caribbean culture and joined several charitable and educational projects. She organized community events, using oral history and poetry to instill pride in the youth of Caribbean and African descent.
At the age of 68, Mark received the British Empire Medal, and two years later was given a Member of the British Empire [MBE] award in recognition of a lifetime of public service.
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December 21, 2013
100th Anniversary of the Crossword Puzzle
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Rr...glImapFb9=s660
See the interactive version here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4724rzHOGdo
We were lucky and excited to collaborate on our crossword doodle with Merl Reagle, one of the best and most well-known crossword constructors working today. Merl worked with Google engineer/crossword enthusiast, Tom Tabanao, to craft our puzzle grid and write all the clues. Merl's knowledge of the puzzle world—and perspective on crosswords in particular—is considerable. We thoroughly enjoyed the wit and humor he brought to the whole endeavor. Here are Merl's thoughts on the history of the crossword puzzle. -Ed.
First, it was a huge honor to be asked to do this. Many, many thanks to Tom Tabanao for pulling me in and shepherding the project through.
Second, it was a great opportunity to bring Arthur Wynne’s name into the public spotlight. He never made any money off the crossword, but he made tens of millions of puzzle fans around the world very happy. The fact that the first word across in the first-ever crossword was FUN is very appropriate, too.
Crossword puzzles are indeed supposed to be fun—brainy fun, but fun nonetheless. The first puzzle also contained the word DOH, clued as “fiber of the gomuti palm”—but it’s also appropriate today, 100 years later, as something we would say when we don’t get a crossword clue right away. Maybe Arthur could see into the future! In any event, I am thrilled to have been a part of this centennial celebration.
Posted by Merl Reagle, Crossword Constructor
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December 21, 2016
Paco de Lucía’s 69th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...47648-hp2x.gif
Today’s Doodle pays tribute to the masterful strumming of Paco de Lucía, who would’ve been 69 today. Regarded as one of the world’s greatest guitarists, the musical virtuoso is credited with modernizing flamenco and bringing it to the international stage.
Born Francisco Sánchez Gómez into a family of musicians in southern Spain, he was fascinated with the guitar from an early age. Although he received his first lessons from his father, it was his mother, Lucía, who inspired his stage name. After winning his first international flamenco competition at the age of 14, de Lucía went on to collaborate with Camarón de la Isla, one of the genre’s most celebrated singers. In 1973, he released one of his career-defining songs, Entre Dos Aguas, which received international acclaim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oyhlad64-s
De Lucía spent many years touring the world, introducing new instruments to the genre, like the Peruvian cajón, and infusing it with jazz and other styles along the way. His revolutionary approach to flamenco left an indelible mark on music both in Spain and beyond.
Doodle by Sophie Diao
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Jan 6, 2015
Victor Horta’s 154th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ie...vYINultC2=s660
Victor Pierre Horta was a Belgian architect and designer, and one of the founders of the Art Nouveau movement. His Hôtel Tassel in Brussels built in 1892–1893, is often considered the first Art Nouveau house, and, along with three of his other early houses, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The curving stylized vegetal forms that Horta used influenced many others, including architect Hector Guimard, who used it in the first house he designed in Paris and in the entrances he designed for the Paris Metro. He is also considered a precursor of modern architecture for his open floor plans and his innovative use of iron, steel and glass.
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Jan 6, 2015
Gaspar Henaine [Capulina]’s 89th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8t...SnL9twbeC=s660
Gaspar Henaine, more commonly known by his pseudonym Capulina, was a Mexican comedian, actor, singer, film producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for partnering with Marco Antonio Campos as the double act Viruta and Capulina and for his subsequent solo career. He was later given the nickname "El Rey del Humorismo Blanco" [The King of White Humor], due to his clean, innocent style of comedy.
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January 6, 2021
Juliano Moreira's 149th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7108834-2x.png
Today’s Doodle celebrates the Brazilian psychiatrist, scientist, professor, and social reformer Juliano Moreira. Throughout his early 20th-century career, Moreira revolutionized the treatment of people with mental illnesses in Brazil and fought tirelessly to combat scientific racism and the false linkage of mental illness to skin color.
Juliano Moreira was born on this day in 1872 in Salvador, Brazil to a mother who was a slave at an aristocratic residence. Based on his exceptional intelligence, Moreira was allowed to matriculate at the Bahia School of Medicine at just 13 years old. He earned his medical degree while he was still a teenager, and in 1896 the University of Bahia appointed him as a professor of psychiatry.
Moreira turned his attention to the treatment of mental illness, and he traveled the world to study other countries’ approaches. He gained the opportunity to apply his newfound knowledge in 1903 when he was appointed to run a national hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for patients with mental illnesses. Over nearly three decades in the position, he implemented sweeping reforms to provide a more humanistic and scientific approach to patient care. He also co-authored a 1903 law that compelled the humane treatment of people with mental illnesses in the country.
To honor Moreira’s legacy, a hospital in his hometown of Salvador was renamed the Juliano Moreira Hospital in the mid-’30s.
Happy birthday, Juliano Moreira, and thank you for your dedication to a brighter future of psychiatric care!
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January 6, 2009
La Befana 2009
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/P3...0enR5u0IL=s660
In Italian folklore, Befana is an old woman who delivers gifts to children throughout Italy on Epiphany Eve [the night of January 5] in a similar way to St. Nicholas or Santa Claus.
A popular belief is that her name derives from the Feast of Epiphany [Italian: Festa dell'Epifania]. Epifania is a Latin word with Greek origins meaning "manifestation [of the divinity]." Some suggest that Befana is descended from the Sabine/Roman goddess named Strenia.
In popular folklore, Befana visits all the children of Italy on the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany to fill their socks with candy and presents if they are good, or a lump of coal or dark candy if they are bad. In many poorer parts of Italy and in particular rural Sicily, a stick in a stocking was placed instead of coal. Being a good housekeeper, many say she will sweep the floor before she leaves. To some the sweeping meant the sweeping away of the problems of the year. The child's family typically leaves a small glass of wine and a plate with a few morsels of food, often regional or local, for the Befana.
She is usually portrayed as a hag riding a broomstick through the air wearing a black shawl and is covered in soot because she enters the children's houses through the chimney. She is often smiling and carries a bag or hamper filled with candy, gifts, or both.
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Feb 11, 2009
Tadataka Ino's Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6c...6kyHWMOSt=s660
Inō Tadataka was a Japanese surveyor and cartographer. He is known for completing the first map of Japan using modern surveying techniques.
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Feb 12, 2009
Charles Darwin's 200th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pF...zg6hf7MMp=s660
Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. His proposition that all species of life have descended from common ancestors is now widely accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.
Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. By the 1870s, the scientific community and a majority of the educated public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favoured competing explanations which gave only a minor role to natural selection, and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.
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February 12, 2019
Celebrating Jacques Plante
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...1684352-2x.jpg
Born in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Jacques Plante, aka “Jake the Snake,” was a record-setting French-Canadian hockey player who fell in love with the game early. Called up from the minor leagues to the Montreal Canadiens on this day in 1954, Plante soon became the starting goalie, helping the Canadiens achieve one of the most dominant runs in the history of the sport.
A pioneer of modern goaltending, Plante introduced a free-roaming style, often skating behind the net to help his defense control the puck. But it was an unfortunate incident that inspired perhaps his most important contribution to the sport.
In November 1959, he was hit in the face three minutes into a game against the New York Rangers. After being stitched up, Plante returned wearing a fiberglass mask that he used in practice.
“When I first put on the mask, the boys all told me I would scare the women,” Plante once joked. “If I went on the way I was going, pretty soon my face would look worse than the mask.”
Ignoring his coach’s objections, Plante continued wearing his mask for the rest of his NHL career - becoming the first goalie to regularly wear a protective mask during games. Other goalies soon followed suit.
The only NHL goalie to ever win five Stanley Cups in a row, Plante won the NHL's Vezina Trophy — awarded to the NHL’s best goalkeeper — seven times during his career. He also won the Hart Trophy for being the league’s most valuable player. In 1978, three years after his retirement, Plante was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
His legacy lives on through his book, On Goaltending, which broke down his innovations in detail, leaving a lasting impact on the game he loved.
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February 12, 2011
Naomi Uemura's 70th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Bo...uQriKY9_C=s660
Naomi Uemurawas a Japanese adventurer who was known particularly for his solo exploits. For example, he was the first man to reach the North Pole solo, the first man to raft the Amazon solo, and the first man to climb Denali solo. He disappeared a day after his 43rd birthday while attempting to climb Denali in the winter.
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February 12, 2016
475 Anniversary of Santiago City Foundation
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...824.2-hp2x.jpg
A lot can happen in the 475 years of a city’s existence. Since its foundation on February 12th, 1541 by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia, Santiago de Chile has emerged as a cultural icon and landmark city of South America. It's now the sixth largest city on the continent, with just over 5.5 million people.
The city was originally named after St. James, the patron saint of Spain. The name Santiago actually derives from a colloquial Latin pronunciation of St. James: Sanctu Iacobu. That’s why St. James in English is Santiago in Spanish. Write that one down for your next trivia night.
Today, we honor all the people who have called Santiago their home over the years. Doodler Mark Holmes chose to portray the varied architecture of the city, layered against the august backdrop of Chile’s astounding Andes mountain range. WIth deep admiration, we wish you a happy birthday, Santiago!
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February 12, 2014
Clara Campoamor's 126th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/SD...Qm6KoyBgt=s660
Clara Campoamor Rodríguez was a Spanish politician and feminist best known for her advocacy for women's rights and suffrage during the writing of the Spanish Constitution of 1931. Her advocacy led to the inclusion of constitutional language that sought to guarantee equality between men and women.
She was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1931, before women were allowed to vote themselves. She later lost her parliamentary seat and briefly served as a government minister, before fleeing the country during the Spanish Civil War. Campoamor died in exile in Switzerland, and was later buried at the Polloe Cemetery in San Sebastian, Spain.
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Feb 4, 2016
Weiberfastnacht 2016
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...656.3-hp2x.gif
A holiday celebrated mostly in the Rhineland on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. Originally a special day for women’s carnival, but now celebrated by both sexes as the beginning of the six-day peak of the carnival season. Remnants of the original purpose are that women are allowed to cut off men's ties and to kiss [on the cheek] whomever they want.