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30 April 2018
Levi Celerio’s 108th Birthday
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Today's Doodle celebrates prolific Filipino musical phenom, Levi Celerio. The composer and lyricist wrote over 4,000 songs, many still popular today. With his unique talent of playing music with a leaf, Celerio received international attention as the “only leaf player in the world” by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Levi Celerio was born in Manila in 1910. With a scholarship to the Academy of Music in Manila, he became the youngest member of the Manila Symphony Orchestra.
His folk, Christmas, and love songs embodied Filipino life and traditions. Any Filipino born in 1947 and beyond was probably lulled to sleep to the beloved lullaby Sa Ugoy ng Duyan [English: “In the cradle's rocking”]. Fifty years later, Celerio was named National Artist for Music and Literature, the highest national honor recognizing significant contributions to Philippine arts and cultural identity. Many of his songs written for local movies, some becoming the films’ titles, earned him a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Film Academy of the Philippines.
In later years, Celerio became a cultural icon after appearing on The Merv Griffin Show and That’s Incredible! television shows. He continued to play public concerts at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and at a local Quezon City bar. On his 100th birthday, the Philippines honored him with a stamp.
Happy 108th birthday, Levi Celerio!
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30 April 2016
Claude Shannon’s 100th birthday
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It’s impossible to overstate the legacy of Claude Shannon. The paper he wrote for his master’s thesis is the foundation of electronic digital computing. As a cryptographer for the U.S. Government during WWII, he developed the first unbreakable cipher. For fun, he tinkered with electronic switches, and one of his inventions--an electromechanic mouse he called Theseus--could teach itself to navigate a maze. If you’re thinking, “that sounds a lot like artificial intelligence,” you’re right. He regularly brushed shoulders with Einstein and Alan Turing, and his work in electronic communications and signal processing--the stuff that earned him the moniker “the father of information theory”--led to revolutionary changes in the storage and transmission of data.
Notwithstanding this staggering list of achievements in mathematics and engineering, Shannon managed to avoid one of the trappings of genius: taking oneself too seriously. A world-class prankster and juggler, he was often spotted in the halls of Bell Labs on a unicycle, and invented such devices as the rocket-powered frisbee and flame-throwing trumpet.
Animated by artist Nate Swinehart, today’s homepage celebrates the brilliance and lightheartedness of the father of modern digital communication on what would have been his 100th birthday.
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30 April 2019
Last day of the Heisei Period
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Today’s Doodle honors the end of an era in Japan—literally—as the sun sets on the Heisei period, whose name translates to “achieving peace.” The nation’s 247th gengō, or era name, began with the ascension of Emperor Akihito in January 8, 1989, and comes to an end as the emperor steps down to make way for his eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito.
The tradition of naming eras dates back to 645 A.D. when Japan’s Emperor Kōtoku took the throne, ushering in a series of reforms to bring about a fair system of government. To emphasize what he hoped would be a fresh start for Japan he adapted the Chinese practice of giving his era a name. Emperor Kōtoku chose Taika meaning “great change.”
Historically, era names have often been inspired by classical Confucian texts and debated by high-ranking officials of the imperial court in a time-honored process of deliberation known as nanchin. Specifically, the gengō aims to express a vision for the future and speaks to the hopes and dreams of the Japanese people.
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9 May 2012
Howard Carter's 138th Birthday
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Howard Carter [9 May 1874 – 2 March 1939] was an English archaeologist and Egyptologist. He became world-famous after discovering the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh, Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings.
Howard Carter's doodle was so much fun to work on! Researching it and diving into his writing was a claustrophobic process in itself. The rich, detailed account and the anticipation of when he finally chiseled away at the tomb sent chills down my spine... so much so that I couldn't wait to read more. I now seriously hope to visit Tut's tomb someday.
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12 May 2012
Edward Lear's 200th Birthday
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Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, now known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughtsman employed to make illustrations of birds and animals; making coloured drawings during his journeys, which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books; and as a [minor] illustrator of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poems. As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes and alphabets. He also composed and published twelve musical settings of Tennyson's poetry.
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12 May 2014
Dorothy Hodgkin's 104th Birthday
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Today marks the 104th Birthday of Dorothy Hodgkin, a pioneer of the field of X-ray crystallography. A 100 year old technique in chemistry which has revolutionized the way we understand the structure of the universe on a molecular level. By studying the patterns produced by X-rays, scientists are able to surmise the molecular structure of materials. A technique so important that it has had a direct role in producing multiple Nobel Laureates including Dorothy Hodgkin, who was awarded one in 1964 for her work on uncovering the complex structure of Penicillin G [the model in the doodle].
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3 April 2018
John Harrison’s 325th Birthday
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It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention, and without a doubt, British horologist John Harrison brought that age-old proverb to life.
Born on this day in 1693, in Foulby, Yorkshire, England, Harrison was a self-educated clockmaker and carpenter who came to the rescue of countless sailors by creating the first marine chronometer to calculate longitude at sea.
Seeking to remedy naval disasters, the British government created the Board of Longitude in 1714, which offered a reward of £20,000 to anyone who could devise a navigational instrument that could find the longitude within 30 miles of a sea voyage.
Harrison took on the challenge. He set to work on his chronometer in 1728 and completed it in 1735, following up this feat with three watches that were even smaller and more on the money than his first.
Harrison’s extraordinary invention brought him much acclaim. Thanks to him, seamen could determine not only gauge latitude but longitude, making their excursions far safer.
Our colorful Doodle shows the inventor hard at work, surrounded by the tools of his trade. Today, time is on his side.
Happy 325th birthday, John Harrison!
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3 April 2016
ICC – Finals – England v West Indies
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Today, the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 comes to a close. We’d like to take a moment to recognize the home of this year’s tournament: India. A gracious and capable host, India built the exceptional stage upon which today’s finest talent dazzled the world. Cheers to the host cities of Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamshala, Kolkata, Nagpur, Mohali, and Mumbai!
Out of 16 exceptional teams, England and the West Indies made it to the final pitch at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, “cricket’s answer to the Colosseum.” Here’s to an exceptional championship match between two worthy contenders!
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3 April 2019
Sofia Mogilevskaya’s 116th Birthday
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Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and work of Sofia Mogilevskaya, a prolific Russian author of stories for children and young readers.
Born in Moscow on this day in 1903, Mogilevskaya was raised in a musical household. Her father was an accomplished cellist and music teacher who taught her to play piano. Childhood memories of him performing for Leo Tolstoy made a deep impression on her, especially when the young musician changed her focus to journalism and eventually literature.
After ending her studies at the Moscow Conservatory, Mogilevskaya began contributing articles and essays to magazines, translating fairy tales, and writing fiction. Once she settled on becoming a writer, her writing habits remained a daily practice for more than 40 years. In 1941, her first children’s book Mark of the Country Gondelupy was published. Later, her experience working in an orphanage during World War II inspired her 1949 book House in Tsybiknur.
Whether she was writing a fairy tale, a historical work like her books on important figures from Russian music and theater, or educational works like Girls, This Book is for You!, Mogilevskaya’s writing always showed a deep respect for children. Queen Toothbrush was the first of her works to be adapted to the screen as an animated film. Her Tale of the Loud Drum, about a boy during the Russian Revolution, was initially rejected by publishers but later became a bestseller that was also later adapted into a feature film.
“To tell the truth, I am surprised at myself,” the author once wrote, “what a dashing courage I had!”
Happy 116th Birthday, Sofia Mogilevskaya!
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3 April 2011
Anniversary of the Ice Cream Sundae
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When the doodle team heard that the 119th anniversary of the first ever documented ice cream sundae was fast approaching, we couldn't resist the indulgence. The ice cream sundae is a dessert that's rife with opportunities for reinterpretation and restyling, but the prototypical setup – with ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, sprinkles, strawberries, nuts, and cherries all piled into an elegant glass – is still a classic.
Even though the first documented sundae was made in 1892, for this doodle I drew inspiration from vintage 1950s soda shoppe decor and magazine advertisements. I also did a fair amount of research at my local ice cream parlor!
posted by Sophia Foster-Dimino
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3 April 2016
Start of the 100th tour of Flanders
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Today marks the 100th tour of Flanders, or De Ronde van Vlaanderen, an annual springtime road cycling race held in Belgium since 1913. The race was put on hold during World War I, but has been held every year without interruption since 1919. The 2016 race covers 255 km [158 mi] with 18 categorized climbs and 7 flat cobblestoned sections — a notoriously bumpy ride for cyclists.
This year’s race starts in Bruges, and Doodler Alyssa Winans has included a famous Belfry in the Grand Place, or Grote Markt where the race begins. Then, riders will head south to Torhout, where De Ronde's founder, Karel Van Wijnendaele was born.
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18 November 2020
Ahmed Zaki’s 71st birthday
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Today’s doodle, illustrated by Cairo-based guest artist Muhammad Mustafa, celebrates the 71st birthday of one of Egyptian cinema’s most iconic leading men, the actor Ahmed Zaki. Nicknamed the “Black Tiger” after his titular role in a 1984 boxing film, Zaki was one of the first dark-skinned actors to play leading roles in Egyptian films and helped to change the face of the Arab film industry forever.
Ahmed Zaki was born on this day in 1949 in the city of Zagazig, roughly 50 miles north of the Egyptian capital of Cairo. Zaki was admitted to study dramatic arts in Cairo based on his evident acting talent, despite lacking the high school diploma the institute required, and he graduated in the early ‘70s. In the beginning of his career he appeared in a number of plays, most notably the comedy Hello, Shalaby and Madrasat al-Mushaghibin [School of the Rowdies], a production that served as a launching pad for many prominent Egyptian actors.
Zaki went on to act in more than 60 films and two dozen plays across his career that spanned over three decades. Today’s Doodle depicts references to some of his contributions to Egyptian film, including boxing gloves for Al Nimr Al Aswad [The Black Tiger], a crab symbolizing Kaboria [The Crab], a camera for Edhak El-Sora Tetlaa’ Helwa [Smile, the Picture Will Come Out Fine, and the animals from Arba’a Fi Muhimma Rasmiya [Four on an Official Mission]. He was known for taking on films that touched upon socio-political issues and earned acclaim for his nuanced portrayals of complex historical figures. A student of the famous acting method of the Russian actor and teacher Konstantin Stanislavsky, Zaki deeply committed to his characters, studying every aspect of their lives and psychology to craft his performance.
In honor of his transformative cinematic achievements, Zaki was honored with Egypt’s prestigious Merit of Arts award.
Happy birthday, Ahmed Zaki, and thank you for
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18 November 2017
Morocco Independence Day 2017
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Happy Independence Day, Morocco!
Today’s Doodle features the outstanding architecture of Ksar Aït-Ben-Haddou — a historic fortified village in the passage between the Sahara Desert and the city of Marrakech that is surrounded by traditional earthen wall defences.
The Ksar of Aït-Ben-Haddou is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Visitors can glimpse the ancient culture of southern Morocco as they visit local souks or tour a few remaining homes inside the walls. If this impressive site looks familiar, it may be because the Ksar of Aït-Ben-Haddou has been featured on many popular television shows and movies in the past few decades!
In celebration of the holiday, you’ll find Moroccan flags flying along streets across the country. Red and green will adorn homes and sidewalks across bustling cities and little villages as everyone proudly celebrates Morocco’s past and future.
Doodle by Cynthia Yuan Cheng
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18 November 2016
James Welch's 76th Birthday
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Today’s Doodle by artist Sophie Diao pays tribute to James Welch, the Blackfeet writer, on what would be his 76th birthday. Through his novels, documentary film, and poems, Welch gave voice to the struggles and humanity of the Native American experience in the United States.
Thirty years ago, Welch published his best known work, Fools Crow, the story of the Blackfeet people during the period of post-civil war encroachment by Europeans. In this award-winning novel, the Blackfeet seek to continue traditional ways, and to avoid both contact and conflict. As a whole, Welch’s works emphasized the humanity of native peoples and their deep attachment to their homelands. He was considered an early part of what was later dubbed the Native American Renaissance, during which native writers celebrated tribal culture and revealed its complex problems in works readily accessible to the larger American public.
Welch, who as a young man described himself as an "Indian who writes," gained an international audience. His works were appreciated universally for both their artistic appeal and ability to bring the experiences of the Native American people to life.
Here’s to James -- thank you for your contributions!
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22 Nov 2016
Cecilia Grierson’s 157th Birthday
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Born in Buenos Aires in 1859, Cecilia Grierson was a physician, activist, author, inventor, reformer, and the first woman to receive a medical degree in Argentina.
In 19th century Argentina, medical school was off limits to women—in fact, very few women enrolled in secondary education of any kind. Grierson’s perseverance earned her a degree, and the struggles she faced fueled her work as a human rights activist. As vice president of the International Council of Women, a suffragist organization, she fought tirelessly for social causes like welfare benefits, maternity leave for working women, and the end of the slave trade, to name a few.
As a physician, Grierson founded the first nursing school in Argentina and helped to advance studies in gynecology and kinesiology. She was also the first person to suggest that medical service vehicles should have alarm bells — resulting in what we now know as the ambulance. Today, many medical institutions bear her name.
Today’s Doodle honors Grierson, a true pioneer, on wh
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28 Nov 2016
Drs. Suyadi's 84th Birthday
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Drs. Suyadi, known widely by his alter-ego's name: Pak Raden, created books and animated films for children. His career spanned many years, creating his first book in 1952 at university and completing his last book, Petruk Jadi Raja, in 2008 at the age of 76.
In addition to books and films, Suyadi is perhaps best known for creating a children's puppet show called “Unyil.” The show aired on the Indonesian national station TVRI every Sunday from 1981 - 1993. To this day, the puppets are remembered fondly across Indonesia, especially Pak Raden, the grumpy character played by Suyadi himself. Never seen without his cane and false mustache, Pak Raden was one of the Unyil’s most popular puppets.
Today’s Doodle celebrates Drs. Suyadi on what would be his 84th birthday. Thank you for creating joy and inspiring curiosity in children and adults alike!
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16 September 2017
Mexico National Day 2017
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Happy National Day, Mexico!
Not far from the modern metropolis of Mexico City lies another important city—one that’s at least 1,300 years old. Today’s Doodle by guest artist Luis Pinto pays tribute to the ancient city Teotihuacan, constructed between the 1st and 7th centuries. Who actually built the ancient city remains a mystery.
Visitors to Teotihuacan stand in the shadows of the towering Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, and the detailed Temple of Quetzalcoatl. At night, a spectacular light and sound show brings the pyramid carvings to life in brilliant colors. You can also view the city from above in a hot air balloon; just keep an eye out for Quetzalcoatl, the “feathered serpent” responsible for the wind.
Many Mexicans today are descendants of its indigenous people, and the country is a rich mosaic of old and new. On September 16th, people of all ancestries come together to remember the famous Grito de Dolores, or “Cry of Dolores,” that set Mexico on the path to a united country for all.
¡Viva México!
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19 October 2017
S. Chandrasekhar’s 107th birthday
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“Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.” Thanks to Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, we know! Today marks the 107th birthday of the first astrophysicist to win a Nobel Prize for his theory on the evolution of stars.
A child prodigy, Chandra published his first paper and developed his theory of star evolution before turning 20. By age 34, he was elected to the Royal Society of London, and soon after, became a distinguished service professor of physics.
The Indian-American physicist’s honors are astronomical, including the National Medal of Science, the Draper Medal of the US National Academy of Science, and the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. Though originally met with skepticism in the 1930s, Chandra’s theories and equations won the Nobel Prize in Physics 50 years later.
Today’s Doodle illustrates one of the most important of all of S. Chandrasekhar's contributions to our understanding of stars and their evolution: The Chandrasekhar limit. The limit explains that when a star’s mass is lighter than 1.4 times that of the sun, it eventually collapses into a denser stage called a “white dwarf.” When heavier than 1.4, a white dwarf can continue to collapse and condense, evolving into a black hole or a supernova explosion.
Today we honor the original starman whose universal theories propel current space research and modern astronomy on their ambitious missions.
Happy birthday, Chandra!
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19 October 2016
Kamma Rahbek’s 241st birthday
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In Kamma Rahbek's famous salons, the great minds of the Danish Golden Age gathered to discuss and share poetry. Some of Denmark's most celebrated Romantic poets frequented these salons, including Bernhard Severin Ingemann, Adam Oehlenschläger, and Hans Christian Andersen. Here, they encouraged each other in developing works around the history of Denmark and its relationship to nature and the human experience. Rahbek also carried on a rich written correspondence with the great writers and philosophers of the time, including the historian and author Christian Molbech as well as the bishop Jacob Peter Mynster.
Though Rahbek grew up when few women had access to education, she studied a multitude of subjects, from botany to astronomy to languages. This cultivated a deep intellectual curiosity that led her to host the salons and later, cemented her position at the center of Copenhagen's literary circle.
Today's Doodle celebrates Rahbek's 241st birthday and her famous salons, by portraying her in her most beloved setting: at a desk in her parlor, surrounded by good company, and stimulating conversation.
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24 Oct 2016
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s 384th Birthday
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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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8 April 2017
Mary Pickford’s 125th birthday
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Lights, camera, action! Today’s doodle honors the “Queen of the Movies,” Mary Pickford. An actress, a film director, and a producer, Mary Pickford proved that actors weren’t relegated to careers in front of the camera. She co-founded the film studio United Artists and was one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Before she became one of the most powerful women who has ever worked in Hollywood, she was “the girl with the curls,” and one of the most beloved stars of the silent film era. She appeared in as many as 50 films per year, and eventually negotiated wages that were equal to half of each of her films’ profits. She went on to demand full creative and financial control of her films, a feat still unheard of to this day.
She used her stardom to bring awareness to causes close to her heart. She sold Liberty Bonds during World War I, created the Motion Picture Relief Fund, and revolutionized the film industry by giving independent film producers a way to distribute their films outside the studio system. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress, for her role in Coquette [1929], and an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 1976.
Today, we pay tribute to Mary Pickford’s enterprising leadership on what would be her 125th birthday.
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11 Apr 2014
Percy Julian's 115th Birthday
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If you are intrigued by today's doodle on the U.S. Google homepage, celebrating organic chemist, Dr. Percy Julian, I can provide no better recommendation than to watch the PBS documentary, Forgotten Genius, illustrating both his personal life and life's work.
It's no scientific revelation that it's the experiences from our everyday lives that inform our work, and in Dr. Julian's case, he used these experiences, overcoming tremendous challenges and racial barriers [[and even a couple happy accidents) to become one of the most renowned and highly respected chemists in history.
As I read more about his work, I became fascinated with his process in the specific field of organic chemistry, and how he discovered ways to take rare and exotic components and synthesize them or discover alternate organic substances in place of more cost-prohibitive resources. Yep, that's a mouthful! So here are two key examples: His most well known triumph was the synthesis of the alkaloid, physostigmine, found in the african calabar bean, which led to a more readily available treatment of ailments such as glaucoma and Alzheimer's Disease. He also pioneered many uses from the soybean and soybean oil, developing a better process for obtaining cortisone to treat arthritis or to aid the body in the receiving of organ transplants.
Happy 115th birthday to the NOT Forgotten Genius, Dr. Percy Lavon Julian!
posted by Mike Dutton, Doodler
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12 April 2011
50th Anniversary of the First Man in Space
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Yuri Gagarin made headlines and history as the first man to launch into space back in 1961. This doodle was a particularly fun project because it allowed me to research everything from mid-century toy packaging to vintage space-race posters. Together with one or our engineers, we made the Vostok spacecraft launch when users roll over the doodle.
posted by Jennifer Hom
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12 April 2000
Antonio Meucci's 200th Birthday
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Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci was an Italian inventor and an associate of Giuseppe Garibaldi, a major political figure in the history of Italy. Meucci is best known for developing a voice-communication apparatus that several sources credit as the first telephone.
Meucci set up a form of voice-communication link in his Staten Island, New York, home that connected the second-floor bedroom to his laboratory. He submitted a patent caveat for his telephonic device to the U.S. Patent Office in 1871, but there was no mention of electromagnetic transmission of vocal sound in his caveat. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for the electromagnetic transmission of vocal sound by undulatory electric current. Despite the longstanding general crediting of Bell with the accomplishment, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities supported celebrations of Meucci's 200th birthday in 2008 using the title "Inventore del telefono" [Inventor of the telephone]. The U.S. House of Representatives also honored Meucci in a resolution in 2002 for having had some role in the development of the telephone, although the U.S. Senate did not join the resolution and the interpretation of the resolution is disputed.
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11 May 2008
Florence Nightingale's Birthday
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Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople. She gave nursing a favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.
Nightingale was a prodigious and versatile writer. In her lifetime, much of her published work was concerned with spreading medical knowledge. Some of her tracts were written in simple English so that they could easily be understood by those with poor literary skills. She was also a pioneer in data visualization with the use of infographics, effectively using graphical presentations of statistical data. Much of her writing, including her extensive work on religion and mysticism, has only been published posthumously.
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6 Jun 2008
Diego Velázquez's Birthday
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Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period. He began to paint in a precise tenebrist style, later developing a freer manner characterized by bold brushwork. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he painted scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family and commoners, culminating in his masterpiece Las Meninas [1656].
Velázquez's artwork became a model for 19th-century realist and impressionist painters. In the 20th century, artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Francis Bacon paid tribute to Velázquez by re-interpreting some of his most iconic images.
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5 June 2019
Jacques Demy’s 88th Birthday
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Today’s Doodle celebrates French director Jacques Demy, born in Pont-Château, on this day in 1931. Demy fell in love with the movies early and longed to tell his own vividly colored visual stories. As part of postwar French cinema’s New Wave, Demy and other members of the movement, known as the Nouvelle Vague, reimagined filmmaking as a personal artistic expression rather than a commercial industry, inspiring a generation of independent auteurs in the process.
As a child, Demy created his own puppet shows and animated home movies before convincing his parents to let him study film in Paris. After two years at France’s Technical School of Photography and Cinematography, he assisted animator Paul Grimault and director Georges Roquier in the 1950s before getting the chance to direct his first feature.
Set in his childhood hometown of Nantes, Lola starred Anouk Aimée as a heartbroken cabaret singer awaiting the return of a lost love. The bittersweet film debuted in 1961. A year later, Demy married Agnès Varda, who would later direct her husband’s life story in the singular biopic Jacquot de Nantes, based in part on his own diaries.
Inspired by American musicals, Demy created a world of his own in wistfully romantic films like Les Demoiselles de Rochefort [The Young Girls of Rochefort] which featured Hollywood legend Gene Kelly, and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg [[The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), which put Catherine Deneuve in the spotlight and won the grand prize at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival.
A consummate cinephile and audiovisual craftsman, Demy infused his musicals and fantasies with a documentarian’s eye and a poet’s heart.
Bon anniversaire, Jacques Demy!
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10 June 2016
UEFA Euro 2016
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It’s time for UEFA Euro 2016! France plays host to the world’s second-largest football championships from June 10 – July 10. Nearly 2 million fans are expected to travel to France to cheer teams from 24 countries in stadiums across the nation, while over 300 million are expected to tune in from afar. Whether you’re hoping Spain will defend their title or are counting on an upset, here’s to an exciting tournament!
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12 Jun 2016
Philippines Independence Day 2016
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Today marks Philippine Independence Day, and the first month since their national elections. In today's Doodle by Robinson Wood, we can see elated citizens celebrating on a jeepney: an iconic Filipino traveling vehicle. You can see these types of buses all over Manila, which is the capital and the center of many of today's festivities. One of the most important Freedom Day traditions is the raising of the flag, and cities all over the Philippines will proudly hoist the blue, red and white.
As Filipinos rally around their new President, Vice President and senators, we hope today's Doodle inspires a sense of bayanihan — a sense of working together for a common cause. The brilliant colors of the Doodle and the hopeful faces reflect the bright future of this great nation and its people.
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2 Jun 2016
Dia dos Namorados 2016
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Dia dos Namorados [Brazilian Portuguese: Lovers' Day] is a holiday celebrated on June 12 in Brazil. The date is celebrated with gifts, romantic activities, decorations and festivities.
The date is June 12 since it is close to Saint Anthony's Day on June 13. The term "Dia dos Namorados" is also used in other Portuguese-speaking countries to refer to Valentine's Day.
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13 Jun 2016
Theodosia Okoh’s 94th birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...46432-hp2x.jpg
Happy Birthday Theodosia Salome Okoh! Affectionately known as “Dosia, Mama Maa” or simply “Maa,” she was a very influential Ghanaian, best known for designing the country’s national flag.
For today's blog post, the Google team collaborated with Okoh's family who shared Okoh’s vision for the flag. From her family: “She always said that the ends of the Black Star must touch the bottom line of the red band and the top line of the green band in the flag.”
Fifty nine years after Okoh first designed the flag, the vibrant stripes of red, yellow, and green behind a black star, remain a strong symbol of national pride and identity for the Ghanaian people.
Okoh, who would have been 94 years old today, was not only an artist but an athlete who led the Ghanaian hockey team to their first ever World Cup appearance. The team also won the Fair Play Award, Ghana's first ever international hockey award, during her tenure. She went on to become the first female chairman of the Ghana Hockey Association and later, served as President of the Ghana Hockey Federation for 20 years. To honor her contributions, the hockey stadium in the center of Accra is named after her.
When the Mayor of Accra sought to change the name, she defended it with the same zeal she showed during games. According to Okoh's family, "Many people in Ghana will remember the infamous cartoon of her pulling the mayor of Accra’s beard in one hand with an oversize pair of scissors in the other, threatening to cut off his beard for having the gall to try and change the name of the hockey stadium."
We hope today’s Doodle by Alyssa Winans inspires people everywhere to pursue their passions, and Ghanaians to celebrate their magnificent flag and the powerful woman behind it.
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13 June 2011
Fernando Pessoa's 123rd Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QH...9hlhtd9Iw=s660
For this doodle celebrating one of Portugal’s most beloved novelists and poets, I referenced an iconic portrait by José Sobral de Almada Negreiros. Pessoa was an author of many styles and pseudonyms, but his writing was characterized overall by a profound vividness which I hope I’ve captured in this depiction of him.
Posted by Sophia Foster-Dimino
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15 Jun 2013
Kobayashi Issa's 250th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sv...heO-JsWL8=s660
Kobayashi Issa was a Japanese poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū. He is known for his haiku poems and journals. He is better known as simply Issa, a pen name meaning Cup-of-tea.
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15 June 2011
Doodle 4 Google 2011 - Hungary Winner
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Gw...ssPr2tIgw=s660
Featured is the Rubik's Cube, a 3-D combination puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.
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15 June 2015
Edvard Grieg’s 172nd Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...456.2-hp2x.png
Composer and Pianist Edvard Grieg is a familiar face for all Norwegians — his life and work are celebrated with numerous statues, museums, & monuments all across Norway. Our favorite fun fact about Grieg: his most famous and beloved song is the one he despised most: "For the Hall of the Mountain King I have written something that so reeks of cowpats, ultra-Norwegianism, and 'to-thyself-be-enough-ness' that I literally can't bear to hear it, though I hope that the irony will make itself felt".
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1 Jul 2015
Canada Day 2015
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...22432-hp2x.jpg
On this day 148 years ago, the British North America Act was passed, drawing three distinct colonies into a vastly beautiful, endlessly diverse, lake covered union called Canada. As Doodler Robinson Wood sketched at his desk and wondered how to pay homage to the world’s second largest country on the anniversary of its creation, his thoughts drifted to the Yukon, its winding rivers and the smell of its pines.
Here’s to your many natural wonders, Canada! Happy National Day.
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5 Jul 2015
Venezuela National Day 2015
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...91872-hp2x.jpg
Venezuela's landscape is an entrancing one. From tropical waters and the Andes in the north, to rich Amazonian forests in the south, the country’s geographic diversity is nothing less than dazzling. No wonder, then, that one of its national symbols is a stunning natural specimen, a microcosm of Venezuela’s kaleidoscopic coloring: the araguaney. Indigenous to the country, this tree’s leaves explode into shades of gold, similar to the bold yellow hue striped across the Venezuelan flag.
With today’s Doodle, we celebrate the nature, culture and people that call Venezuela home on this Cinco de Julio, Venezuela’s day of independence.
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9 Jul 2015
Aiga Rasch’s 74th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...70688-hp2x.jpg
Happy Birthday Aiga Rasch!
Aiga Rasch was a German illustrator, graphic designer and painter. Though her best-known work covered the youth mystery book series Die drei ??? [The Three Investigators], it doesn't take a detective to identify Aiga Rasch's signature style. In Germany, the book series gained a wide following, with Rasch's cover art propelling the books into unmistakeable icons. Her illustrations are concise and powerful, and the colorful covers impeccably translate the stories within.
From the very beginning of the Doodle, I worked with a team of German Googlers to learn more about Rasch’s work and her place in popular culture. We thought most people would recognize Rasch’s illustrations from Die drei ???, but we weren’t sure how best to present her work.
Hopefully everyone who sees today's doodle is reminded of Aiga Rasch’s talent and skill in encapsulating their favorite mystery adventure in die Drei ???.
Posted by Brian Kaas, Doodler