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6 October 2012
Francisco Gabilondo Soler's 105th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FD...34gOcklIp=s660
Francisco Gabilondo Soler [October 6, 1907, Orizaba, Veracruz Mexico – December 14, 1990, Texcoco, State of Mexico] was a Mexican composer and performer of children's songs. He recorded and performed those songs under the name of Cri-Cri: El Grillito Cantor ["Cri-Cri: The Little Singing Cricket"].
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6 October 2017
Meret Oppenheim’s 104th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...3485696-2x.png
Although it might not seem so unusual today for a woman to become a professional artist, it was nearly unheard of a century ago. But Meret Oppenheim, born on this date in 1913, knew from an early age that she wanted to make art and challenge accepted ideas. She became one of the foremost surrealists of her time, and she was the first woman to have a piece acquired by the Museum of Modern Art.
Oppenheim grew up in Switzerland in an intellectual family who supported her ambitions. One day Oppenheim's grandmother, also an artist, did a tarot reading for her granddaughter. The cards said it was time to try something new, and that's how Oppenheim ended up moving to Paris to attend art school.
In Paris, Oppenheim kept company with the rising stars of the abstract and surrealist movements: Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and René Magritte - to name a few. They often asked Oppenheim to model or serve as a muse — women were seen as inspirations for art, not artists in their own right. Despite these expectations and obstacles, Oppenheim believed in herself and worked hard to make a name for herself as an artist.
Today's Doodle, created by guest artist Tina Berning, celebrates Meret Oppenheim on what would have been her 104th birthday. The Doodle nods to one of her most known works, Object, and honors the surrealist tradition of combining unexpected elements to create something new.
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6 October 2018
2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...717760-2xa.gif
Let the games begin! Today’s Doodle celebrates the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, held this year in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Over 200 countries will take part this year, sending thousands of athletes age 15-18 to the summer games.
Described by the International Olympic Committee as “an elite sporting event for young people from all over the world,” the Youth Olympic Games [YOG] are much like the Olympic Games [OG] in many respect. They have a mascot—this year it’s Pandi the teen jaguar, who loves sports and is native to Argentina. The games occur every four years in a different city and country with summer and winter editions. Gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded for first, second, and third place — this year designed by 18-year-old Farid Husen from Indonesia.
This year kiteboarding and BMX freestyle park will make their debuts, as well as a new version of handball that’s played on the beach. Football [aka soccer] is out, in favor of futsal — an indoor game played on a smaller hard court. This year will also feature mixed gender events as well as mixed National Olympic Committee events, bringing athletes from different countries together on the same team. Athletes are not the only young people who can get involved in YOG. There are also opportunities for Young Reporters, Ambassadors and Athlete Role Models. Besides showing off their athletic skills, participants take part in workshops and other activities designed to expose young people to different cultures and instill the Olympic Values: Friendship, Respect and Excellence as well as Determination, Inspiration, Courage and Equality.
Good luck to all the athletes at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games!
Doodle by Cynthia Yuan Cheng and Vrinda Zaveri
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4 April 2018
2018 Commonwealth Games
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...5344.2-2xa.gif
The 2018 Commonwealth Games are officially underway on Australia’s Gold Coast. Over the next two weeks, thousands of athletes from 70 Commonwealth countries and territories will compete in 18 sports and 7 para-sports. Today’s Doodle jumps right into the action as one of the Google “Os” takes us through various sports in the Games, including boxing, lawn bowls, para-cycling, and netball.
This multi-sport event started in 1930, when 11 countries from the Commonwealth of Nations sent athletes to Ontario, Canada to partake in what were then called the British Empire Games. The inaugural Games included six sports: athletics, boxing, lawn bowls, rowing, swimming and diving, and wrestling.
Though competitive by nature, the Games were meant to foster camaraderie and sportsmanship. Since 1930, they’ve taken place every four years, excluding 1942 and 1946, and have grown in teams, athletes, events, and traditions.
2018 is already setting records: this year features the largest integrated program of events and para-events, and for the first time, women will compete for the same number of medals as men.
Let the Games begin!
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23 August 2021
Aimé Painé's 78th birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7109043-2x.png
Today’s Doodle celebrates the 78th birthday of Argentinian activist and singer Aimé Painé, a member of the Mapuche nation who devoted her life to preserving the traditional music of her community.
On this day in 1943, Aimé Painé was born in Ingeniero Luis A. Huergo, Argentina as Olga Elisa, a name she had to adopt due to a law that barred the use of Indigenous names. After being separated from her family at the age of three, Painé’s adoptive parents recognized her unique vocal talent and enrolled her in music school. She joined the National Polyphonic Choir in Buenos Aires in her late 20s. During one of the group's international recitals, she learned that Argentina was among the only nations in attendance that didn’t perform Indigenous music. This denial of native heritage prompted Painé to embark on a journey to southern Argentina to reconnect with her Indigenous roots.
Her quest led to a reunion with her biological, Mapuche father who inspired Painé to carry on their ancestral heritage through music. She reinterpreted ancient Mapuche songs in the native language of Mapudungun while playing traditional instruments, such as the cultrun and the cascahuillas. As one of the first musicians to popularize Mapuche music, Painé traveled across Argentina dressed in traditional Mapuche garb through the 1980s, singing stories of her people and denouncing their marginalization.
In 1987, Painé represented the Mapuche people at a United Nations conference, where she brought global awareness to her community’s struggle for equal rights. Today, Painé's legacy is honored each year on September 10 as the “Day of Mapuche Culture” in Argentina.
Happy birthday, Aimé Painé and thank you for safeguarding Mapuche musical traditions!
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23 April 2019
St. George's Day 2019
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...1552.20-2x.png
St. George became a heroic figure of legend who was declared Patron Saint of England in 1348. Today’s Doodle by London-based guest artist Alice Pattullo celebrates St. George’s Day, which became an English feast day in 1415.
April 23 is also the day when the Order of the Garter, England’s highest honor of knighthood, is awarded by the English monarch with a medal bearing an image of St. George in battle with the mythical dragon. In fact, the Order of the Garter banners displayed in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle were a source of inspiration for Alice’s final Doodle concept: "I love the simple applique graphics and the bold heraldic colours," she notes.
St. George’s valor has always held a special significance for the people of England. His flag [a red cross on a field of white] will fly all across the country today and many English people will wear a red rose on their lapel, inspired by the legend that a red bloom grew on the martyr’s grave. Traditional celebrations include parades, dancing, and gatherings at historic sites featuring hog roasts and all manner of medieval-themed merriment.
Happy St. George’s Day 2019!
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3 April 2012
St George's Day/The 30th Anniversary of the ZX Spectrum
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qk...QJpMgdxhQ=s660
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer developed by Sinclair Research. It was first released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982 and went on to become Britain's best-selling microcomputer.
Referred to during development as the ZX81 Colour and ZX82, it was launched as the ZX Spectrum to highlight the machine's colour display, compared with the black and white display of its predecessor, the ZX81. The Spectrum was released as eight different models, ranging from the entry level with 16 KB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128 KB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987; altogether they sold over 5 million units worldwide [not counting unofficial clones].
The Spectrum was among the first home computers in the United Kingdom aimed at a mainstream audience, similar in significance to the Commodore 64 in the US or the MO5 in France. The introduction of the ZX Spectrum led to a boom in companies producing software and hardware for the machine, the effects of which are still seen. Some credit it as the machine which launched the British information technology industry. Licensing deals and clones followed, earning Clive Sinclair a knighthood for services to British industry.
The Commodore 64, Dragon 32, Oric-1, Oric Atmos, BBC Micro and later the Amstrad CPC range were rivals to the Spectrum in the UK market during the early 1980s. The machine was officially discontinued in 1992.
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23 Apr 2011
120th of Birthday of Sergey Prokofiev
http://www.google.com/logos/2011/prokofiev11-hp.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va8Uz6MoKLg
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who later worked in the Soviet Union. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous music genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century.
Sergei Prokofiev's brilliant compositions are numerous and varied, but Peter and the Wolf is definitely the most evocative and delightful. I listened to many adaptations of this famous work, including editions read by Sting, David Bowie, and Basil Rathbone. I also watched the 2006 Oscar-winning stop-motion animated film, which inspired me as well.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/HlL6E0QJAE-avAQ...q3rkZh7nkO0=s0
I wanted to use a visual treatment that evoked folk art and childrens' books, so I worked in a color separation style with a limited palette. Since Peter and the Wolf has such a clear and direct narrative arc, I decided to collaborate with engineer Kris Hom to create a four-image scrolling doodle that covers the entire story of Peter and the Wolf, from Peter's first foray into the forbidden field outside his house, to the eventual parade through the town when the wolf is captured. The scrolling aspect evokes the seamless transition between the different segments of the musical composition. I hope this doodle is as fun to read as it was to make!
posted by Sophia Foster-Dimino
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24 August 2020
Ukraine Independence Day 2020
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7108509-2x.png
Today’s Doodle commemorates Ukraine’s Independence Day, considered one of the most important Ukranian holidays of the year. On this day in 1991, Ukraine officially proclaimed full autonomy from Soviet rule.
Illustrated in today’s Doodle is a wreath that showcases blue knapweeds and yellow sunflowers, colors that reflect the stripes of the Ukrainian flag. The country’s national flower is the sunflower, which saw a boom of cultivation across the rich soil of present-day Ukraine in the early 19th century, due in part to its useful and versatile oil.
Today, sunflowers cover more than 20% of Ukraine’s farmable land, which helps to make the country the largest exporter of sunflower oil in the world.
Happy Independence Day, Ukraine!
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24 August 2017
Ukraine Independence Day 2017
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...4010880-2x.jpg
Today’s Doodle honors Ukraine’s independence day with a colorful celebration of its people. It’s drawn in shades of blue and yellow, Ukraine's national colors, meant to evoke the country's golden wheat fields and blue skies.
Home to nearly 130 different nationalities, Ukraine’s diverse population is represented in each unique letter. Guest artist Sergiy Maidukov says the image is meant to invoke happiness and show different people from across the country working together toward “freedom, peace and respect for each other.” He considers Ukraine’s diversity “a reason to be proud, to meet each other, learn about each other, sing and laugh together, and celebrate.”
Ukrainians may don hutsul shirts, or folk costumes, to attend the parade in Kiev today, or to watch fireworks over the city at night. Other celebrations include art fairs celebrating local craftsmen, historical reenactments, fireworks and live music all over the country.
Happy 26th Independence Day, Ukraine!
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24 August 2015
Ukraine Independence Day 2015
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...64768-hp2x.jpg
Today we honor Ukrainian heritage with a reimagining of our logo as a traditional Ukrainian rushnyk. Embroidery has ancient roots in Ukraine, and so does the cultural significance of the kalyna digitally stitched into the center of today’s Doodle. This flowery shrub features prominently in Ukrainian literature, music, and folklore as a symbol of posterity and irrevocable family bonds, and often appears on the rushnyks sewn to celebrate Ukrainian births and weddings.
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24 August 2019
Independence Day of Ukraine 2019
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...737664-2xa.gif
The flag seen in today’s Doodle—with colors representing peace and prosperity, a bright blue sky, and golden wheatfields—will fly throughout Ukraine today in honor of the Eastern European nation’s 28th Independence Day. The national holiday marks Ukraine’s emergence as a sovereign state.
On this day in 1991, a coup attempt in Moscow inspired Ukraine’s declaration of independence, leading to a referendum in which Ukrainian citizens voted to cut ties with the Soviet Union and elect a new president.
Living in the second largest country in Europe aside from Russia, Ukrainians have their own rich language and culture. Many time-honored traditions are celebrated on this day. At festive concerts and fairs, many participants wear the vyshyvanka, an embroidered shirt popularized nearly 1000 years ago, during the days of the Kievan Rus.
З Днем Незалежності, Україно!
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8 Feb 2019
Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge’s 225th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...189056-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle celebrates Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, a German analytical chemist whose place in history resulted in large part from an accident followed by a chance encounter.
Runge was born outside of Hamburg on this day in 1795. The son of a Lutheran pastor, he expressed interest in chemistry from an early age and began conducting experiments as a teenager.
During one such experiment, Runge accidentally splashed a drop of belladonna extract in his eye, taking note of its pupil-dilating effects. Ten years later, while studying under renowned chemist and inventor Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner at the University of Jena, Runge was asked to reproduce belladonna’s effects as part of a demonstration for one of Döbereiner’s friends: the writer and polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Impressed by the 25-year-old chemist, Goethe handed Runge a bag of rare coffee beans and suggested he analyze their chemical makeup. Shortly thereafter, Runge isolated the active ingredient we know today as caffeine!
After earning his doctorate from the University of Berlin, Runge went on to teach at the University of Breslau until 1831 when he left academia to take a position at a chemical company. During this time, he invented the first coal tar dye and a related process for dyeing clothes. His contributions to the world also include: being one of the first scientists to isolate quinine [a drug used to treat malaria], being considered an originator of paper chromatography [an early technique for separating chemical substances], and even devising a method for extracting sugar from beet juice.
Here’s to Runge, without whom the pain of forgoing one’s morning cup of coffee might never have had a scientific explanation!
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8 February 2013
Jagjit Singh's 72nd Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_K...sIacduHj8=s660
Jagjit Singh was an Indian composer, singer and musician. Dubbed "The Ghazal King" or "King of Ghazals", he composed and sang in numerous languages and is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazal, an Indian classical art form, by choosing poetry that was relevant to the masses and composing them in a way that laid more emphasis on the meaning of words and melody evoked by them. In terms of Indian classical music, his style of composing and gayaki [singing] is considered as Bol-pradhan, one that lays emphasis on words. He highlighted this in his music for films such as Prem Geet [1981], Arth [1982], and Saath Saath [1982], and TV serials Mirza Ghalib [1988] and Kahkashan [1991]. Singh is considered to be the most successful ghazal singer and composer of all time in terms of critical acclaim and commercial success. With a career spanning five decades and many albums, the range and breadth of his work has been regarded as genre-defining.
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15 August 2021
India Independence Day 2021
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7109034-2x.png
At the stroke of midnight on this day in 1947, India’s decades-long movement for independence culminated as the nation became a sovereign republic. Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Kolkata, India-based guest artist Sayan Mukherjee, celebrates India’s Independence Day and its cultural traditions forged in centuries of historical progress.
Home to over an estimated 1.3 billion people, India is inhabited by one-sixth of the total global population and is characterized by the thousands of distinct languages and ethnic groups within its borders. Indians across the subcontinent’s 29 states celebrate their freedom and multicultural spirit with customs such as traditional dance performances, which vary depending on regional culture.
The Doodle artwork illustrates these diverse forms of dance. From the classical tradition of Bharatnatyam depicted on the far left to the oldest Indian dance style with origins stretching back 3000 years in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Depicted third from the right, the masked reenactments from Indian epics known as Chhau dance have origins in the eastern state of Jharkhand, the Purulia Chau, and the Seraikella Chau regions. The far right dancer depicts dance from Kathakali.
Happy Independence Day, India!
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15 August 2013
Ivan Mestrovic's 130th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/MD...s588UyJ1Y=s660
Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pavle Bilinić's Stone Workshop in Split and at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where he was formed under the influence of the Secession. He traveled throughout Europe and studied the works of ancient and Renaissance masters, especially Michelangelo, and French sculptors Auguste Rodin, Antoine Bourdelle and Aristide Maillol. He was the initiator of the national-romantic group Medulić [he advocated the creation of art of national features inspired by the heroic folk songs]. During the First World War, he lived in emigration. After the war, he returned to Croatia and began a long and fruitful period of sculpture and pedagogical work. In 1942 he emigrated to Italy, in 1943 to Switzerland and in 1947 to the United States. He was a professor of sculpture at the Syracuse University and from 1955 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
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15 August 2012
Julia Child's 100th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8x...RsW73yITQ=s660
The scene in our living room in the early ‘60s will be familiar to many. I can picture my dad sitting in his chair, glued to the new black-and-white miracle of technology in our house, watching The French Chef... for the sheer fun of the show. Fast-forward nearly 15 years and I would find myself, as a young student at La Varenne cooking school in Paris, standing in front of Julia Child herself. At that first meeting, for a moment, I had Julia’s undivided attention and her intent interest in my goals and plans as a cook.
[Happily, that encounter would lead to opportunities to work as a member of Julia’s team, to travel with her around the U.S. and in France, and to a treasured friendship until her death in 2004. I would even become executive director of that esteemed cooking school – due, in large measure, to her influence and support.] Countless times throughout the years that’s the scene which would became familiar to me – Julia engaging and encouraging both professional chefs and home cooks. She would rarely leave a restaurant without a visit to the kitchen or exit a book signing without having communed with everyone in line; she was an active mentor to many of us.
Julia was so approachable that people felt they knew her – no one hesitated to stride right up and start a conversation – and in fact, they did know her. After all, she’d been in our living rooms taking us by the hand in the kitchen for years. [Ever-embracing of new technologies, I believe Julia would be thrilled to know that she’s now literally in people’s hands, on digital devices.] But more than that, what people saw on camera was what they’d experience in person.
It was all pure Julia. Especially on the occasion of what would have been her 100th birthday, it’s clear that Julia Child is simply someone we love to love. For good reason – there are many qualities that endear her to us. She came into her own later in life and helped to redefine age. [One of her secrets to aging, I discovered, is that she never saw herself as old. After attending a Smith College reunion in her late 70s, she told me she’d never go to another. “Too many old people,” she said.] Julia loved hard and worked hard [more than anyone I have ever known] and accomplished great things that endure.
[How many authors have a New York Times best seller nearly 50 years after publication?] She was opinionated, utterly authentic, and a self-professed ham. She managed to be both serious and a showman, making things look easy while never compromising her incredibly disciplined approach. She demystified and democratized French cooking [the gold standard and height of sophistication when she took the stage] and appeared to have a ball doing it. Julia dedicated her support to the organizations and causes that mattered to her most, particularly those related to cooking and the pleasures of the table. In 1995, Julia created the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts [juliachildfoundation.org] for the purpose of continuing that support after she’d “slipped off the raft”, as she would often refer to dying.
The Foundation is proud to help further Julia’s life’s work. Julia believed in all of us. She felt that if she could show us how to cook well, we’d do just that. She wanted us to experience the pleasures – in both life and work – that she had, and to revel in good food. “The thing about food,” she said in a 1966 Time Magazine cover story, “is you’re a much happier person if you eat well and treasure your meals.” So to quote Julia once again – on the occasion of her 100th birthday – “Bon Appétit!”
Susy Davidson Executive Director, The Julia Child Foundation
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30 March 2019
María Moliner’s 119th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...6631552-2x.png
María Moliner devoted her whole life to working with words, and making their power accessible to all. Born in Paniza [a province of Zaragoza] on this day in 1900, the Spanish librarian, philologist, and lexicographer labored single-handedly to create a new kind of reference book, which was hailed as “the most complete, most useful, most accurate, and funniest dictionary of the Spanish language” by novelist Gabriel García Márquez.
Moliner began working as a librarian at age 22 and was elected head of the University of Valencia library in 1936. She took a special interest in the popular libraries project, developing a plan for Bibliotecas Rurales [Rural Libraries] to help promote literacy and culture. Following the Spanish Civil War, her family was penalized by the new authoritarian government, causing her to be passed over for faculty promotions.
Moliner began compiling her Diccionario de Uso del Español [Dictionary of Spanish Use] in 1952, working at home before and after her day job. A mother of four as well as a grandmother, she had extraordinary powers of concentration. Moliner would research words read in newspapers or heard on the street, aiming to outdo the dictionary published by the Real Academia Española. “The Academy dictionary is the dictionary of authority,” she once said. “Mine has not had much regard for authority.”
Instead of alphabetical organization, Moliner’s dictionary was grouped in families of words, offering not only detailed definitions, but also synonyms, and guidance on usage. When she began the project she estimated it would take two years, but the first edition of the two-volume dictionary was not published until 1966—a total of 15 years later!
Her life inspired a stage drama, The Dictionary, as well as a documentary film, Tending Words. However, the dictionary itself, sometimes referred to as “The María Moliner,” is widely considered her greatest legacy.
¡Feliz cumpleaños, María Moliner!
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30 March 2021
Children's Day 2021 [30 March] [Mexico]
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7108898-2x.png
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4 April 2016
Cazuza’s 58th birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...84128-hp2x.jpg
Like so many great rock musicians, Agenor Miranda Araújo Neto, better known as Cazuza, began his career rattling the walls of neighborhood garages. A native of Rio de Janeiro, he fell in with the fledgling rock group Barão Vermelho when a friend urged him to audition for their open lead vocalist position. After landing a song on the soundtrack for a local film, the group played at the first ever Rock in Rio music festival, and their popularity soared.
After four years with the band, Cazuza embarked on an enormously successful solo career. His music and profound lyrics were a testament to his travels in the UK and his brushes with Beat poetry in San Francisco. In 1988, Cazuza’s health declined, and in 1989 he announced that he had been living with AIDS. He continued to compose and perform despite the illness. Through his openness, charm, and advocacy, Cazuza helped ease the stigmas surrounding the LGBT and HIV-positive communities in Brazil. When he died in July of 1990, thousands lined the streets of Rio for his funeral procession.
To honor the late singer’s musical career, Doodler Helene Leroux sketched the rocker on stage in his iconic and ever-present bandana.
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4 April 2019
Hugh Masekela's 80th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...3687936-2x.png
“My biggest obsession is to show Africans and the world who the people of Africa really are.”
—Hugh Masekela
Today’s Doodle celebrates the world-renowned South African trumpeter, singer, bandleader, composer, and human rights advocate Hugh Masekela. Born 80 years ago today in the coal-mining town of Witbank, South Africa, Masakela got his first horn at age 14. He went on to play with a wildly popular group known as the Jazz Epistles, the first all-black jazz band to record an album in South African history. However, within the year, its members were forced out of the country by the apartheid government.
At the age of 21, Masakela began a 30-year exile, traveling to New York where he enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music and dived into the city’s jazz scene, observing jazz giants like John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Mingus, and Max Roach on a nightly basis. “You’re just going to be a statistic if you play jazz,” Miles Davis advised him, “but if you put in some of the stuff you remember from South Africa, you’ll be different from everybody.”
Encouraged by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, Masakela delved into his own unique influences to create his 1963 debut album, entitled Trumpet Africaine. By the late ’60s he moved to Los Angeles, and performed at the Monterey Pop Festival on a bill that included Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar, and The Who. His 1968 single “Grazin’ in the Grass” hit #1 on the U.S. pop charts.
Masakela would go on to collaborate with the likes of Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, Paul Simon, and Stevie Wonder. In 1990, “Bra Hugh” returned to South Africa in time to see his song “Bring Him Back Home [Nelson Mandela]” come true. When the ANC leader was released from prison and elected South Africa’s first black president, Masakela’s music was the soundtrack.
Happy 80th birthday, Hugh Masekela!
https://i.cbc.ca/1.4499666.151673498...bit-makeba.jpg
From left to right: Hugh Masekela, singer and ex-wife Mariam Makeba, then-African National Congress President Nelson Mandela and Paul Simon are shown at a 1992 event in Johannesburg.
https://i.cbc.ca/1.4500333.151673464...ekela-obit.jpg
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23 January 2020
Luis Alberto Spinetta's 70th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...108268-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle celebrates the 70th birthday of Argentine singer, composer, guitarist, and poet Luis Alberto Spinetta. Also known as El Flaco [“Skinny”], he is often regarded as the father of Spanish-language rock and roll and a Latin American music icon. The Doodle artwork features the color green as an homage to Spinetta’s iconic and irregularly-shaped album cover of Artaud, as well as his famous red and white guitar.
Born on this day in Buenos Aires in 1950, Spinetta learned how to play guitar and sing at a young age. He continued to develop his musical skills, and at age 17 Spinetta formed one of the most influential rock bands in Argentine history, named Almendra, with two of his former high school classmates. Almendra’s self-titled debut studio album revolutionized the genre as the first band to combine Spanish-language lyrics with progressive rock.
During the 1970s and 80s, Spinetta formed and led several impactful bands that inspired the international “Rock en Español” movement, including Pescado Rabioso, Invisible, and Spinetta Jade. In addition to these group projects, he released over twenty albums as a solo artist. In 2016, his latest record Los Amigo won one of the highest honors in Argentinian music, the Gold Gardel Album of the Year award.
His music struck a major chord throughout the world and continues to impact listeners to this day. For instance, in April 2019 it inspired University of Buenos Aires informatics engineer Alex Ingberg to create an artificial intelligence program to generate song lyrics in Spinetta’s style. And in 2014, in honor of Spinetta’s birthday, Argentina moved Día Nacional del Músico [National Musician’s Day] from November to January 23rd.
¡Feliz cumpleaños, Flaco!
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4 April 2018
Dr. Maya Angelou’s 90th Birthday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bda20UYsPdM
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
-Dr. Maya Angelou
In a life rich with experiences and stories, author, poet, memoirist, and activist Dr. Maya Angelou touched the lives of millions around the globe through her teachings, her writings, her voice, and her actions.
Born Marguerite Annie Johnson in 1928, her incredible story began with tragedy when a sexual assault at the age of seven rendered her mute for five years. During those years, however, books and poetry became her solace and constant companions, eventually helping her find her voice again to embark upon an intellectual and creative journey that defies description.
In her her teens and early adult life Dr. Angelou saw more experiences than many do in a lifetime: from motherhood, to becoming San Francisco’s first female and black streetcar conductor, to touring the world as a cast member of the opera Porgy and Bess — all while mastering several languages. She sang and danced in professional cabarets, worked as a journalist in Africa, and became one of the most prominent civil rights activists of her generation.
The success of her first book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” in 1969 brought her mainstream attention as an author. Six other autobiographical works followed, in addition to poetry, children’s literature, and non-fiction [even cookbooks!].
Through her works, Dr. Angelou gave a voice to millions. She championed women’s rights and gender equality. She redefined black beauty and celebrated African-American oral traditions. She advocated against war and campaigned for universal peace.
She was also the recipient of numerous honors during her lifetime. She became the first poet to make an inaugural recitation in three decades when Bill Clinton became President in 1992. Her vast impact on popular culture was also felt through a host of award nominations, public accolades, and more than 50 honorary degrees.
Today’s video Doodle celebrates Dr. Maya Angelou on what would have been her 90th birthday. Set to her poem “Still I Rise,” the Doodle includes her own voice along with the voices of other individuals whose lives she has inspired, and who aspire to live by her legacy today.
Special thanks to these project partners who include [in order of appearance]:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cF...6KTAho1NacA=s0
“Maya Angelou, I love her so much. Everything she represented as a woman, her creativity, her story, who she is. She was a renaissance woman of all types, she recreated though levels, all angles, all places in her mind. She is brilliant...I am honored to be able to say her words."
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Zt...BMtJzMxfVEC=s0
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Kk...W3-A8rYKlDr=s0
"Being around Maya was so powerful and inspiring. I count myself very blessed to be one of the ones chosen to be a part of this. For some reason she took a liking to me and went out of her way to extend herself to me and I am forever grateful for that."
"Dr. Angelou's work is filled with such incredible wisdom and spiritual teachings. It feels like the ultimate privilege to have the opportunity to speak her words. She is a national treasure we should always celebrate.”
“Maya Angelou is not what she has done or written or spoken, it's how she did it all. She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence, and a fiery, fierce grace and abounding love.”
Here’s to Dr. Maya Angelou for her courage, compassion, and words, which continue to inspire hope around the world.
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4 April 2011
100th Birthday of Vaclav Ctvrtek
https://www.google.com/logos/2011/ctvrtek11-hp.jpg
Václav Cafourek [4 April 1911, in Prague, Austria-Hungary – 6 November 1976, in Prague, Czechoslovakia], commonly known under his pen name of Václav Čtvrtek was a Czech poet and author. His most famous works include Křemílek and Vochomůrka, Rumcajs, Manka and Cipísek, and Víla Amálka. He primarily wrote fairy tales for children, and some of his works have been adapted on the Czech children's television program Večerníček. On 4 April 2011, Google celebrated his 100th birthday by replacing the original Google logo with a doodle celebrating his works for a day on Google Czech Republic.
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3 Apr 2011
Anniversary of the Ice Cream Sundae
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/j-...Aox_Oxc45=s660
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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17 Mar 2011
Sayed Darwish's Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IV...FJQ918RRF=s660
Sayed Darwish was an Egyptian singer and composer who was considered the father of Egyptian popular music and one of Egypt's greatest musicians and seen by some as its single greatest composer.
Darwish believed that genuine art must be derived from people's aspirations and feelings. In his music and songs, he truly expressed the yearnings and moods of the masses, as well as recording the events that took place during his lifetime. He dealt with the aroused national feeling against the British occupiers, the passion of the people, and social justice, and he often criticized the negative aspects of Egyptian society.
His works, blending Western instruments and harmony with classical Arab forms and Egyptian folklore, gained immense popularity due to their social and patriotic subjects. Darwish's many nationalistic melodies reflect his close ties to the national leaders who were guiding the struggle against the British occupiers. His music and songs knew no class and were enjoyed by both the poor and the affluent.
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17 March 2020
Olga Orozco’s 100th birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7108318-2x.png
“Mi historia está en mis manos y en las manos con que otros las tatuaron.
De mi estadía quedan las magias y los ritos,
unas fechas gastadas por el soplo de un despiadado amor,
la humareda distante de la casa donde nunca estuvimos,
y unos gestos dispersos entre los gestos de otros que no me conocieron.”
["My story is on my hands and on the hands of others who etched it upon me.
The rituals and magic from my stay remain,
times worn away by the breath of a ruthless love,
the distant smoke from the house we never entered,
and some vague gestures among the gestures of others who never knew me."]
—Olga Orozco, “Yo, Olga Orozco”
Today’s Doodle celebrates Argentine poet Olga Orozco, a master of the surreal, on her 100th birthday. With 18 published volumes, she is widely considered a pivotal figure in 1940s Argentine and Latin American poetry.
Olga Nilda Gugliotta Orozco was born on this day in 1920 in Toay, a small town in central Argentina. The mystery she felt in the region’s endless flat plains had a strong creative influence on her throughout her life.
Orozco took an early interest in poetry and went on to study literature at the University of Buenos Aires. She successfully published her early work in the literary magazine, Canto, and found creative company among a like-minded group of writers that came to be referred to as “The Generation of ‘40.”
In 1946, she published her first book of poetry, “Desde lejos” [“From Far Away”], sparking a prolific creative period that lasted decades and solidified her status among Argentina's great poets. Her work was marked by a sense of magic and spirituality, exploring possible dimensions beyond the everyday physical world.
In honor of her work, Orozco received many notable awards, including the 1998 FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages—one of the most prestigious honors in Latin American and Caribbean literature.
¡Feliz cumpleaños, Olga Orozco!
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1 March 2020
St. David's Day 2020
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...108303-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle pays homage to the annual commemoration of cultural heritage in Wales, St. David’s Day. Every year the country comes together in honour of their patron saint to celebrate Welsh history, culture, and identity.
Recognised since the 18th century, St. David’s Day is a time for the Welsh to show their national pride. Many may wear pins of leeks, daffodils, or both as historical emblems of Wales, which have come to be associated with the day. The leek is said to have been worn by medieval Welsh warriors to differentiate themselves from their enemies, and the daffodil coincides with the holiday’s arrival as winter gives way to spring.
From Wales’ largest city, Cardiff, to its smallest, St. Davids, locals hold parades and concerts. Schools host Eisteddfodau, a traditional festival of poetry and music, and children often dress up in 18th and 19th century-inspired clothing or even dress as the Welsh flag’s red dragon.
To get into the Welsh spirit, you can enjoy a speciality like the Welsh Rarebit. Or, simply take in this year’s first daffodils to welcome the spring season!
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! [Happy St. David’s Day!]
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1 March 2016
St. David's Day 2016
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...17248-hp2x.jpg
Today is St. David’s Day in Wales, commemorating the life and death of Wales’ patron saint. We’re celebrating this important national holiday with today’s Doodle. Each component in the illustration represents a unique aspect of Wales’ culture and national symbology.
The ancient lettering and Celtic knot are a nod to Celtic art’s importance in Welsh culture. The daffodil, Wales’ national flower, features prominently in St. David’s Day celebrations across the world. No St. David’s Day Doodle would be complete without the Welsh dragon, which adorns the national flag. The dragon is quite possibly Wales’ most enduring national symbol.
We’d like to wish a Happy St. David’s Day to everyone celebrating today, throughout Wales and beyond.
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1 March 2018
St. David's Day 2018
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...6475392-2x.jpg
March 1st is celebrated in the UK as St. David’s Day [Dewi Sant], named after the patron saint of Wales. The musical country earned the title “Land of Song” through its rich history of choral singing, dating all the way back to the 19th century.
Today’s Doodle was created by Sander Berg, an illustrator from Sweden who now makes his home in Wales. It features a woman in historic Welsh dress—now traditionally worn on St. David’s Day—plays the Welsh National Anthem on a Welsh Triple Harp. The harpist plays in front of Mt. Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, and is surrounded by Cenhinen Pedr [St. Peter’s Leek], also known as the daffodil. As one of the first signs of spring, the cheerful flowers are an important symbol on Welsh National Day, and can be seen popping up in fields and on lapels throughout the country.
Wales boasts several well-known musical institutions, including The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the Welsh National Opera, the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, and a myriad of Welsh Male Voice Choirs. Eisteddfod, an eight-day festival of literature, music, and performance, is a common way for Welsh communities around the world to honor their patron saint and celebrate their musical heritage.
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! Happy St. David’s Day!
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1 March 2010
Frederic Chopin's 200th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AP...dwvSJ8r4I=s660
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era, one whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation."
Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola in the Duchy of Warsaw and grew up in Warsaw, which in 1815 became part of Congress Poland. A child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed his earlier works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising. At 21, he settled in Paris. Thereafter – in the last 18 years of his life – he gave only 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and by giving piano lessons, for which he was in high demand. Chopin formed a friendship with Franz Liszt and was admired by many of his other musical contemporaries, including Robert Schumann.
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8 January 2022
Stephen Hawking's 80th birthday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb0MSve7i7M
Today’s video Doodle celebrates one of history’s most influential scientific minds, English cosmologist, author, and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. From colliding black holes to the Big Bang, his theories on the origins and mechanics of the universe revolutionized modern physics while his best-selling books made the field widely accessible to millions of readers worldwide.
Stephen William Hawking was born on this day in 1942 in Oxford, England. Fascinated by how the universe functioned from a young age, his curiosity and intellect earned him the nickname “Einstein.” Following a diagnosis with a neurodegenerative disease at 21, the music of composer Richard Wagner and the loving support of his future wife Jane Wilde motivated Hawking to dedicate himself to physics, math, and cosmology.
In 1965, Hawking defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Cambridge, “Properties of Expanding Universes,” which presented the revolutionary theory that space and time originated from a singularity, a point both infinitely small and dense, best known today as the key characteristic of black holes. That year, Hawking was accepted as a research fellow at Cambridge’s Gonville and Caius College—his academic home for a lifetime of research. Hawking’s obsession with black holes led to his 1974 discovery that particles could escape black holes. This theory, coined Hawking radiation, is widely considered his most important contribution to physics.
In 1979, Hawking’s groundbreaking work on black holes prompted Cambridge to appoint him as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position held by Isaac Newton in 1669. Hawking’s doctoral thesis was released to the public in 2017 on a University of Cambridge website, which crashed due to enormous amounts of traffic.
Here’s to an innovator whose astronomical impact changed how the world understands the universe!
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27 September 2021
Google's 23rd birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...109087-2xa.gif
It’s said that one chance encounter can change the course of your life. In Google’s case, a chance encounter between two computer scientists changed the course of the Internet and the lives of millions.
In 1997, Sergey Brin, a graduate student at Stanford University, just so happened to be assigned to show Larry Page, who was considering Stanford for graduate school at the time, around campus. By the next year, the two Google co-founders were building a search engine together in their dorm rooms and developing their first prototype. In 1998, Google Inc. was officially born.
Every day, there are billions of searches on Google in more than 150 languages around the globe, and while much has changed from the early days of Google, from its first server housed in a cabinet built out of toy blocks to its servers now being housed in more than 20 data centers globally, its mission of making the world’s information accessible to everyone remains the same.
Happy 23rd Birthday, Google!
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12 April 2011
50th Anniversary of the First Man in Space
https://www.google.com/logos/2011/fi...ce11-hp-js.jpg
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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All Google doodles 2011 [global]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJEQQfgH24M
All global Google Doodles 2011 - the best Doodles and the most important persons and things to remember in 2011:
Jan 1, 2011 - New Year's Day
Jan 19, 2011 - 172nd birthday of Paul Cezanne [artist]
Feb. 8, 2011 - 183rd birthday of Jules Verne [author]
Feb 11, 2011 - 164th birthday of Thomas Edison [inventor]
Feb 19, 2011 - 135th birthday of Constantin Brancusi [artist]
Mar 24, 2011 - 137th birthday of Harry Houdini [magican]
Mar 31, 2011 - 200th birthday of Robert Bunsen [chemist]
Apr 3, 2011 - Anniversary of the Ice Cream Sundae
Apr 12, 2011 - 50th Anniversary of the First Man in Space [Juri Gagarin]
Apr 16, 2011 - 122nd Birthday of Charles Chaplin
Apr 22, 2011 - Earth Day
Apr 26, 2011 - 226th Birthday of John James Audubon [ornithologist]
May 1, 2011 - 160th Anniversary of the frist World's Fair
May 9, 2011 - 76th Birthday of Roger Hargreaves [illustrator]
May 11, 2011 - 117th Birthday of Martha Graham [modern dancer]
Jun 9, 2011 - 96th Birthday of Les Paul [guitar pioneer]
Jun 15, 2011 - Total Lunar eclipse
Jun 21, 2011 - First day of summer by Takashi Murakami
Jul 12, 2011 - 450th Anniversary of St. Basil's Cathedral [Moskwa]
Jul 20, 2011 - 189th Birthday of Gregor Mendel [scientist]
Jul 22, 2011 - 113th Birthday of Alexander Calder [artist]
Aug 17, 2011 - 410th Birthday of Pierre de Fermat [mathematician]
Aug 24, 2011 - 112th Birthday of Jorge Luis Borges [author]
Sep 5, 2011 - 65th Birthday of Freddie Mercury [Queen]
Sep 16, 2011 - 118th Birthday of Albert Szent-Gyorgyi [scientist]
Sep 24, 2011 - 75th Birthday of Jim Henson [Muppets]
Sep 27, 2011 - 13th Birthday of Google
Oct 12, 2011 - 90th Birthday of Art Clokey [clay animator]
Oct 21, 2011 - 100th Birthday of Mary Blair [illustrator]
Nov 7, 2011 - 144th Birthday of Mary Curie [scientist]
Nov 18, 2011 - 144th Birthday of Louis Daguerre [Photo pioneer]
Nov 30, 2011 - 176th Birthday of Mark Twain [Author]
Dec 8, 2011 - 125th Birthday of Diego Rivera [artist
Dec 12, 2011 - 84th Birthday of Robert Noyce [Computer pioneer]
Dec 23, 2011 - Happy Holidays
35 global doodles, 13 interactive with animation. Of course Google has shown some more doodles in each country. Thanks Google for these nice little doodles. ours [and more past doodles].
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4 March 2022
Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 begins!
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7109596-2x.png
Today’s Doodle celebrates the Women’s Cricket World Cup, which officially begins today at Bay Oval Stadium in New Zealand.
The world’s first international cricket match took place in 1844 between Canada and the United States. The first women’s World Cup tournament was held in 1973, also won by this year’s defending champions, England. This year, eight teams from around the world will compete for tournament victory.
No matter how heated the competition may get, cricket is highly respected for maintaining high standards of fair play and good sportsmanship. Hence the phrase “It’s just not cricket,” which describes anything considered unfair.
Best of luck to all the competing teams!
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4 March 2016
42nd Anniversary of Rio-Niteroi Bridge Opening
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...088.2-hp2x.jpg
Completed 42 years ago today, Brazil’s Rio–Niterói Bridge beautifully exemplifies the ingenuity of the human spirit. It met with great international praise when it opened in 1974 as the second-longest bridge in the world, spanning the vast Guanabara Bay. Guest Doodler Patrick Leger has crafted a lovely recreation of the bridge on the bay with the Brazilian coast visible in the background.
At 13.29 km [8.3 mi], it remains the longest bridge in Latin America and one of the longest in the world. On the day it opened it was second only to the near-infinite Lake Pontchartrain Bridge in Louisiana [38.35 km, 28.3 miles long].
But this structure’s greatest accomplishment is connection. Carrying over 100,000 passengers daily, it unites Nieterói and Rio de Janeiro, cities with populations of 487,000 and 6.5 million respectively. With that kind of impact, the Rio–Niterói Bridge reminds us that nothing lies beyond the reaches of the human imagination.