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14 August 2009
Hans Christian Ørsted's Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zM...jUn8ixi6a=s660
Hans Christian Ørsted [ 14 August 1777 – 9 March 1851] was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, which was the first connection found between electricity and magnetism. Oersted's law and the oersted unit [Oe] are named after him.
A leader of the Danish Golden Age, Ørsted was a close friend of Hans Christian Andersen and the brother of politician and jurist Anders Sandøe Ørsted, who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1853 to 1854.
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14 August 2018
27th Anniversary of Bunaken National Park
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...6418432-2x.jpg
The Indonesian government set aside five islands and surrounding waters in 1991, providing protection to the 58 different types of coral and more than 90 species of fish located in Bunaken National Park. Located to the north of the island of Sulawesi, Bunaken National Park is a place where Hawksbill turtles forage on reefs amid colorful schools of damselfish, clownfish, angelfish, and a dazzling array of marine dwellers.
Spectacular sea creatures are not the only inhabitants of the 280-square-mile marine park, located in the northern part of Sulawesi province. There are some 20,000 human beings, most of whom rely on fishing for at least part of their daily nutrition. Groupers, snappers, and napoleon wrasse feed along the vast coral walls that contain an impressive amount of biodiversity—nearly 70% percent of the marine species found in this part of the world.
Although illegal fishing still occurs, and coral is vulnerable to climate change, the Indonesian government applied for the park to be listed as one of UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites, which provides additional protections. Indonesian schools educate students about the fragility of the ecosystem they live within, ensuring that future generations learn how to safeguard this national treasure.
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5 July 2018
Venezuela Independence Day 2018
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From the beaches of Margarita Island to the villages of the Andes mountains, Venezuela National Day is celebrated with fireworks and most importantly, family. Today’s Doodle celebrates Venezuela’s festive culture with a couple in traditional garb dancing the joropo.
A lively dance derived from the Spanish fandango, joropo developed into a distinctly Venezuelan fusion of South American and Caribbean influences. Widely considered Venezuela’s national dance, the joropo is usually accompanied by stringed instruments — guitars, harps, and the cuatro — a four-stringed Venezuelan guitar played by cuatristas.
Dancing joropo on this day also comes in handy to work off the calories from feasting on some of the country’s traditional dishes including: arepas, plantains, griddled white cheese, and the national dish: pabellon criollo — beans, rice, plantains, and spicy shredded beef with an egg on top. On Independence Day it’s often plated to look just like the national flag!
¡Feliz día de la independencia, Venezuela!
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23 August 2022
Anna Mani's 104th birthday
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Today’s Doodle celebrates the 104th birthday of Indian physicist and meteorologist Anna Mani, one of the country’s first female scientists. Her life’s work and research made it possible for India to make accurate weather forecasts, and laid the groundwork for the nation to harness renewable energy.
Born on this day in 1918, Mani grew up in the former state of Travancore [present-day Kerala]. She spent her formative years immersed in books. By age 12, Mani had read almost every book at her public library! She remained an avid reader all her life.
After high school, she did her Intermediate Science course at Women’s Christian College [WCC] and went on to complete a Bachelor of Science with honours in physics and chemistry from Presidency College, Madras. After graduation, she taught at WCC for a year and won a scholarship for post-graduate studies at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Here, under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Sir C. V. Raman, she studied spectroscopy, specializing in diamonds and rubies.
Between 1942 and 1945, she published five papers, completed her Ph.D. dissertation, and began a graduate program at Imperial College, London, where she learned to specialize in meteorological instrumentation.
She began working for the India Meteorological Department upon her return to India in 1948, where she helped the country design and manufacture its own weather instruments. She excelled so much in this male-dominated field that by 1953, she became head of the division. Under her leadership, more than 100 weather instrument designs were simplified and standardized for production.
Mani was also an early advocate of alternative energy sources. Throughout the 1950s, she established a network of solar radiation monitoring stations and published several papers on sustainable energy measurement.
Mani later became Deputy Director General of India Meteorological Department, and held several key positions in the United Nations World Meteorological Organization. In 1987, she won the INSA K. R. Ramanathan Medal for her remarkable contributions to science.
After her retirement, she was appointed as a Trustee of the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore. She also founded a company that manufactured solar and wind energy devices.
Happy 104th birthday, Anna Mani! Your life’s work inspired brighter days for this world.
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23 August 2012
Chinese Valentine's Day 2012
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Dl...00xrefWmw=s660
Qi Xi, sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day, Magpie Festival, or the Double Seventh Festival is a traditional romantic festival in China. It take places on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month and often goes into August on the Gregorian calendar.
Scholars have shown the Double Seventh Festival originated from the Han Dynasty [206 BC-AD 220]. Historical documents from the Eastern Jin Dynasty [AD 371-420] mention the festival, while records from the Tang Dynasty [618-907] depict the grand evening banquet of Emperor Taizong and his concubines. By the Song [960-1279] and Yuan [1279-1368] dynasties, special articles for the Qi Xi were seen being sold on markets in the capital. The bustling markets demonstrated the significance of the festival.
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23 August 2012
Alexander Grin's 132th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/W6...nAu6coihI=s660
Aleksandr Stepanovich Grinevsky [better known by his pen name, Aleksandr Green] was a Russian writer, notable for his romantic novels and short stories, mostly set in an unnamed fantasy land with a European or Latin American flavor [Grin's fans often refer to this land as Grinlandia]. Most of his writings deal with sea, adventures, and love.
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23 August 2014
25th Anniversary of the Baltic Way
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qC...HZ79JnzqQ=s660
On August 23, 1989, 2 million people held hands and formed a human chain that stretched 370 miles across the three Baltic states, proving that the call for independence from the Soviet Union was a matter of peace, not violence. Today, we mark the 25th anniversary of the Baltic Way on our homepages in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.
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23 August 2021
Aimé Painé's 78th birthday
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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 August 2015
Mundaneum co-founder Paul Otlet's 147th Birthday
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History’s most prolific thinkers had the vision to see how the world might look a year, a decade, even a century into the future. These innovators thought up today’s most advanced technology well before it was even possible to create it.
For many of us, it’s hard to imagine a world before the Internet. Belgian lawyer Paul Otlet lived in that world. In 1895, he worked with Henri La Fontaine to create the Universal Bibliography in Brussels, a repository of more than 12 million searchable index cards that came to be called the Mundaneum in the early 1900's.
Years later, Paul brought clarity and a future to the project through his vision for the Mundaneum: a universal system of written, visual, and audio information that people could access from the comfort of their own homes. The roots of that vision took hold just a few decades later when engineers planted the technological seeds that brought electronic information sharing to life.
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18 Aug 2015
Olga Cossettini’s 117th Birthday
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Happy 117th Birthday Olga Cossetini!
Olga Cossettini was a groundbreaking influence on children's education in Argentina. She spent her lifetime leading the education system away from corporal punishment and towards acceptance of children as individuals. She worked with her sister Leticia to transform the traditional school into the Serena School, or Active School, which is what her method is called today.
Olga's work was primarily based on respecting each child's unique personality and engaging them in their own education. The two sisters felt that children should be active participants in education, not just passive recipients of information. They broke down barriers between schools and the communities, instilling a passion for both learning and teaching across social and economic groups. Her rejection of discrimination and celebration of the unique gifts of the individual inspire educators and pupils alike around the world.
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15 Aug 2015
Korea Liberation Day 2015
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Today’s Doodle celebrates the 70th anniversary of the independence of Korea with an image of the beloved Hibiscus syriacus flower, known locally as mugunghwa. White, pink and violet variations abound in the late summer and early fall, and its beauty and resilience carry deep symbolic meaning in Korean culture. The flower has been cherished on the Korean peninsula since antiquity, its name appears in the national anthem as a symbol of posterity, and the highest order bestowed by the South Korean government bears its name. It was only fitting, then, that we honor today’s holiday by reimagining our logo with the national flower of the Republic of Korea at its center.
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17 Aug 2012
Indonesia Independence Day 2012
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8p...87W2ztq8x=s660
This is the 67th anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia's independence in 1945. An archipelago that consists of over 17,000 islands, 33 provinces, hundreds of ethnic groups, dozens of dialects and a diverse culture that influences day-to-day life from dance to cuisine, the world's fourth most populous country is a growing global economic power.
Independence day celebrations call for a community gathering in village squares or city neighborhoods to partake in various games where children [and adults] compete in sack races, eating krupuk [an Indonesian cracker] or fruit hanging on a string and climbing a pinang tree to reach for a prize, to name a few. Today's Doodle showcases the traditions of this happy occasion.
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21 August 2010
August Bournonville's 205th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_7...waSvkUn7g=s660
August Bournonville was a Danish ballet master and choreographer. He was the son of Antoine Bournonville, a dancer and choreographer trained under the French choreographer, Jean Georges Noverre, and the nephew of Julie Alix de la Fay, née Bournonville, of the Royal Swedish Ballet.
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21 August 2018
Ismat Chughtai's 107th Birthday
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Today’s Doodle celebrates Ismat Chughtai, the Indian author who championed free speech, social liberation, and gender equality through her writing. The grande dame of Urdu fiction would have been 107 today.
According to Chughtai’s family, she was born August 21, 191 [contrary to most published reports, which cite her birthdate being four years later, in 1915]. The ninth of ten children, Chughtai grew up in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. She began writing at an early age, inspired by her elder brother Mirza Azim Beg Chughtai, a novelist known for his playful humorous works.
In the 1930s, Chughtai attended a meeting of the Progressive Writers Association and became interested in using her talents to advocate for human rights. Raised in a Muslim household, Chughtai’s best-known works questioned double standards and encouraged liberation.Her short story “Lihaf” [The Quilt], narrated in the voice of a young girl, was viewed as controversial given its portrayal of a relationship between an upper class woman and her servant. This was also the case for another of her famous stories, “Gainda” [[Marigold), which told the tale of a domestic worker who falls in love outside the caste system. Chughtai’s character violated the rules prohibiting different castes from associating with one another, as well as the social custom forbidding widows from pursuing a second love.
Chughtai was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1976 In recognition of her literary accomplishments and her fearless dedication to her beliefs.In 1980s and 1990s, a new generation of Indian writers picked up where Chughtai left off. Today, she continues to be regarded as a national feminist icon.
Happy Birthday, Ismat Chughtai!
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26 October 2020
Dolores Cacuango's 139th Birthday
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Today’s Doodle celebrates the 139th birthday of Ecuadorian civil rights pioneer Dolores Cacuango, who spent decades fighting fiercely for the rights of the country’s Indigenous people. Cacuango was a dedicated advocate for accessible education and instrumental in establishing Ecuador’s first bilingual schools, which practiced in Spanish and the Indigenous language of Quichua.
Dolores Cacuango was born on this day in 1881 in the Pesillo hacienda in the northern canton of Cayambe, Ecuador. Like many Indigenous people before her, she began to work at a young age, and at 15 years old was forced to relocate to the Ecuadorian capital of Quito to become a servant. With new insight into the troubling racism and class inequality facing her people, Cacuango returned home committed to the struggle for change.
Back in Pesillo, she became a leader in the movement against the exploitative hacienda system, and through her dynamic speeches, she advocated for causes like land rights, economic justice, and education for the Indigenous community. In 1926, she helped lead the people of Cayambe in challenging the sale of their community land, setting a strong example for future movements. Some two decades later in 1944, she also contributed to the establishment of the groundbreaking Ecuadorian Federation of Indians, which united Indigenous people around economic and cultural issues. She spent the rest of her life advocating for indigenous rights for current and future generations.
Today, Cacuango’s legacy is remembered with a street named in her honor in northern Quito.
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31 August 2018
Malaysia National Day 2018
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Today’s Doodle celebrates Malaysia’s Independence Day. Also known as Hari Kebangsaan or “National Day” it’s a commemoration of the moment in 1957 when Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Chief Minister of Malaya, read the declaration of independence from Great Britain.
This year’s Hari Kebangsaan will be particularly exciting because, for the first time since 1957, Malaysian citizens recently elected a new government. When fireworks explode in the sky above this multicultural southeast Asian country this, proud Malaysian citizens will look forward to the future as they celebrate their nation and their flag, also known as Jalur Gemilang or “Stripes of Glory.”
Malaysia has had many flags over the years, many including the Malayan tiger seen in Today’s Google Doodle. The tiger is part of the national consciousness, representing strength and courage. Of the nine subspecies of tigers, the ones indigenous to Malaysia are slightly smaller, and live in the tropical forest. They are the subject of many Malay folklore. Some stories cast them as humans morphed into animal form: the were-tiger harimau jadian, for example, is a fabled guardian of palm plantations.
The Malaysian flag will be flown today at parades and in households where families celebrate over plates of Nasi Lemak, a fragrant rice dish cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf, Malaysia’s national dish. There are many reasons to celebrate this major holiday, which also coincides with lunar new year, and hari raya, the feast that concludes Ramadan.
Happy National Day Malaysia!
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26 April 2021
Anne McLaren's 94th birthday
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Today’s Doodle celebrates the 94th birthday of British scientist and author Anne McLaren, who is widely considered one of the most significant reproductive biologists of the 20th century. Her fundamental research on embryology has helped countless people realize their dreams of parenthood.
Anne McLaren was born in London on this day in 1927. As a child, she had a small role in the 1936 H.G. Wells’ sci-fi film “The Shape of Things to Come.” In the scene—set in 2054—her great-grandfather lectured her on the advancement of space technology that had put mice on the moon. McLaren credits this formative, albeit fictional, history lesson as one of the early inspirations for her love of science. She went on to study zoology at the University of Oxford, where her passion for science only grew as she learned from talented biologists such as Peter Medawar—a Nobel laureate for his research on the human immune system.
In the 1950s, McLaren began to work with mice to further understand the biology of mammalian development. While the subjects of her research were tiny, the implications of their study proved massive. By successfully growing mouse embryos in vitro [in lab equipment], McLaren and her colleague John Biggers demonstrated the possibility to create healthy embryos outside of the mother’s womb.
These landmark findings—published in 1958—paved the way for the development of in vitro fertilization [IVF] technology that scientists first used successfully with humans twenty years later. However, the development of IVF technology carried major ethical controversy along with it. To this end, McLaren served as the only research scientist on the Warnock Committee [est. 1982], a governmental body dedicated to the development of policies related to the advances in IVF technology and embryology. Her expert council to the committee played an essential role in the enactment of the 1990 Human Fertilization and Embryology Act—watershed, yet contentious, legislation which limits in-vitro culture of human embryos to 14-days post embryo creation.
In 1991, McLaren was appointed Foreign Secretary, and later vice-president, of the world’s oldest scientific institution—The Royal Society—at the time becoming the first woman to ever hold office within the institution’s 330-year-old history.
McLaren discovered her passion for learning at a young age and aspired to spark this same enthusiasm for science in children and society at large. In 1994, the British Association for the Advancement of Science—an institution dedicated to the promotion of science to the general public [now the British Science Association]—elected her as its president. Through the organization and its events, McLaren engaged audiences across Britain on the wonders of science, engineering, and technology with the aim of making these topics more accessible to everyone.
Happy birthday, Anne McLaren. Thank you for all your incredible work and for inspiring many new generations to come because of it!
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26 April 2018
Fanny Blankers-Koen’s 100th Birthday
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On a rainy summer day in 1948, onlookers at London’s Wembley track saw an unexpected athlete make history. Dutch runner and 30-year-old mother of two Fanny Blankers-Koen outstrided her opponents in the women’s 200m by 0.7 seconds—the highest margin in Olympics 200m history and a record that still stands today.
Born near Baarn, the Netherlands, in 1918, Blankers-Koen had set a national record for the women’s 800m by age 17. At 18, she competed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, placing fifth in the 4x100m and sixth in high jump.
After the 1940 and 1944 Olympics were canceled, many thought Blankers-Koen would never make another Olympics. When she declared her intentions to compete in the 1948 London Games, she received letters from many criticizing her for continuing to race despite being a mother and insisting she stay home.
But words couldn’t break Blankers-Koen’s stride. She captured four golds during the 1948 London Games, winning the 100m, 80m hurdles, 200m, and 4x100m relay to become the first woman to win four medals in a single Olympics. Her quick feet didn’t just set records. Blankers-Koen’s accomplishments flattened stereotypes of female athletes at the time, earning her the nickname “The Flying Housewife.”
Today, we celebrate what would’ve been her 100th birthday with a Doodle that imagines her racing down the track, smiling mid-stride.
Happy birthday, Fanny!
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1 May 2011
160th Anniversary of the first World's Fair
https://www.google.com/logos/2011/worldsfair11-hp.jpg
See the interactive version here!
An event that housed the latest and greatest inventions and cultural treasures of its time, the first World's Fair at the Crystal Palace in London was packed with thousands of wonders. This doodle is a sampling of what the visitors saw when they stepped into the glass building. Amongst the trove are the world's largest diamond, a steam engine, high fashion dresses, textiles, indoor trees, and a gigantic fountain. Users can roll over the doodle to zoom in on the scene and catch hidden animations.
posted by Jennifer Hom
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2 May 2011
Hurvinek's 85th Birthday
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Spejbl and Hurvínek Theatre [S+H] is a puppet theatre located in Prague, Czech Republic. Founded in 1930 by puppeteer Josef Skupa, Spejbl and Hurvínek was the first professional puppet theatre established in Czechoslovakia and the present-day Czech Republic.
Helena Štáchová, a puppeteer who played the well known roles of Manicka and Mrs Katerina in the company, served as the head of Spejbl and Hurvínek from 1996 until her death in 2017, following Miloš Kirschner [1956/1966-1996] and founder Josef Skupa [1930-1956]. In 2008, a court awarded Štáchová the right to use the popular Spejbl and Hurvínek puppet characters after an eight-year legal dispute, which allowed the S+H Theatre to continue its programs.
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2 May 2016
Mario Miranda’s 90th birthday
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Mario Miranda was a beloved cartoonist best known for his works in the Times of India and The Illustrated Weekly of India. Based primarily on the bustling cityscape of Mumbai, Miranda’s works often feature complex, multi-layered scenes. Humanity floods the canvas and yet each character maintains their individuality.
Our guest Doodler today is Aaron Renier, another artist known for portraying large crowds. “I approached Mario’s work by pretending I was drawing with him,” says Renier. “I chose his most popular style, very flat with criss-crossing interactions.” In this homage to Miranda, we see a rich litany of people, each unique in their perspective. “That is what I liked most about his work,” Renier explains, “trying to pick out who knows who, who's watching who, who's annoyed by who, who's enamored by who. Hopefully people will see something of [Miranda’s] spirit in it.”
Mario Miranda’s works live on throughout India, and on what would have been his 90th birthday, we honor his legacy.
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17 September 2018
Respect for the Aged Day 2018
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Today Japan celebrates Respect for the Aged Day, a time for honoring elder citizens that dates back to 1947, when the small town of Taka started Toshiyori no Hi or Old Folks’ Day. The idea caught on quickly and soon the celebration spread all over Japan, becoming a national holiday in 1966. It’s now celebrated every third Monday in September.
On this day restaurants provide complimentary meals to seniors, children present gifts to older family members, and volunteers deliver free bento boxes to the homebound, while public musical performances are organized for free.
For years it was tradition for the Japanese government to give a silver sakazuki plate to anyone who lived to be 100. But too many people were turning 100 and the program became too expensive! People in Japan have the second longest lifespan in the world next to Monaco.
Respect for the Aged Day is more about thought and consideration than any gift, though. Handmade creations from a child are often gifted to older members of their family. Even phone calls or simple acts of kindness are great ways to celebrate this holiday.
Happy Respect for the Aged Day!
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12 Sept 2018
Caio Fernando Abreu’s 70th Birthday
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Born on this day in 1948 in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, Caio Fernando Abreu is one of his country’s most celebrated contemporary writers, whose work explored the LGBTQ+ experience and sensitive themes such as loneliness, alienation, and AIDS.
Abreu studied dramatic arts in college and worked as an editor and pop culture journalist before focusing on writing stories, novels, and plays. In 1975 he won honorable mention in a national fiction contest, but he is best known for his collection of stories Os dragões não conhecem o paraíso, which translates from Portuguese as “Dragons do not know the paradise.” First published in 1987, it was eventually translated into French and English and retitled simply ‘Dragons...’
I’ve got a dragon living with me.
No, it’s not true.
I haven’t really got a dragon. And even if I did have, he wouldn’t live with me.
These enigmatic and evocative lines from ‘Dragons…’ reflect the central theme of this work. In Abreu’s fiction “Dragons” represent individuals living at the margins of society—drag queens, gay teens, bisexual men, and a range of others —unknowable, lonely, powerful, untamable, invisible, and perceived by the mainstream as dangerous. Today’s Doodle pays tribute to Abreu’s courageous and compassionate spirit, and his insightful and emotionally charged body of work.
Like many Brazilian artists and writers at the time he ran afoul of the DOPS, the "Department for Political and Social Order," a government agency that maintained files on anyone considered a potential enemy of the state. His novel Onde Andara Dulce Veiga [Whatever Happened to Dulce Veiga?] won the Best Novel award in 2000 from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics and he won won three Jabuti Prizes, Brazil’s most prestigious literary honor. Two of Abreu's short stories were adapted into films and plays, and his novel Onde Andará Dulce Veiga became a 2008 feature film, directed by his friend Guilherme de Almeida Prado.
Happy Birthday Caio Fernando Abreu!
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11 Sept 2018
Joanna Baillie’s 256th Birthday
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The prolific yet soft-spoken Scottish writer, born on this day in 1762, was compared to Shakespeare during her lifetime and is often hailed as one of the greatest female poets of all times. Her first poem, “Winter Day,” evoked the natural beauty of her native Scotland. Her cottage outside London was a hub of the literary scene, where she maintained friendly relationships with many of the important British writers of her time, including William Wordsworth, and Lady and Lord Byron.
In the "Introductory Discourse" to her 1798 Plays on the Passions, Baillie set the tone for what would come to be known as English Romanticism. She spent fourteen years working on her ambitious three-part project, a series of comedies and tragedies about love, hatred and jealousy with the stated goal of “unveiling the human mind under the dominion of those strong and fixed passions.” Today’s Doodle depicts some of her best-loved ‘Plays on the Passions’: Ethwald, De Monfort, The Tryal, Basil, and Orra.
First published anonymously, Baillie’s plays were the talk of London as readers tried to guess the author’s identity. Despite her obvious talents, she was reluctant to publish at all—"were it not that my Brother has expressed a strong wish that I should publish a small vol: of poetry,” she wrote in a letter, ”I should have very little pleasure in the thought”— but she was determined that her plays [psychological dramas featuring strong female characters] be performed by actors on stage rather than simply read. “I have wished to leave behind me in the world a few plays,” she wrote in the preface to her 1804 collection ‘Miscellaneous Plays,’ “some of which might have a chance of continuing to be acted even in our canvas theatres and barns.”
Baillie’s literary legacy is rivaled only by her philanthropy. Though born into a well-off Scottish family, her mother saw hard times following her father’s sudden death. A wealthy uncle’s inheritance helped her and her sister purchase the cottage where she lived and worked for most of her life, but she never forgot the less fortunate, donating half of the earnings from her writing to charity. She wrote an essay in support of chimney sweeps, and advocated for women writers as well as other authors who struggled to provide for themselves.
Happy Birthday Joanna Baillie!
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10 Sept 2018
Professor Dorothy Hill’s 111th Birthday
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“I couldn’t really see why a woman couldn’t run a university,” said Dorothy Hill, the trailblazing Australian geologist and paleontologist who became president of the Professorial Board at her alma mater, the University of Queensland, in 1971. A pioneer in her field, Hill was the first woman to become a professor at any Australian university as well as the first female president of the Australian Academy of Science.
After studying chemistry in at university, Hill took an early interest in the geology of coral. After graduating with honours, she won a scholarship to earn her PhD at Cambridge University, where she published papers on the structure and morphology of coral and earned a pilot’s license in her spare time. In 1939, Hill worked with the Geological Survey of Queensland studying early core samples of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Following the war, Hill continued to win prestigious accolades, becoming president of the Royal Society of Queensland, Chairman of the Geological Society of Australia, Queensland Division, and the first female fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1956. She edited the Journal of the Geological Society of Australia and published more than 100 research papers in various respected journals. In 1964, Hill was awarded the Lyell Medal for scientific research and became the first Australian woman to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.
Professor Hill retired from the University in late 1972, returning to research her landmark Bibliography and Index of Australian Paleozoic Coral, which was published in 1978. A Dorothy Hill chair in Paleontology and Stratigraphy was endowed in her honor, and the Australian Academy of Sciences now bestows the Dorothy Hill Award for female researchers in earth sciences. Her colleagues at the University of Queensland created a 3D model of her rock hammer for an exhibition at the School of Earth Sciences. Her name was also given to numerous species of invertebrate fossils, including Acanthastrea hillae, Australomya hillae, Filiconcha hillae, and Reticulofenestra hillae.
Born on this day in 1907, Professor Hill’s accomplishments inspire countless other young women to pursue careers in academia. Today’s Doodle celebrates the intrepid field researcher, scholar and inspirational role model for future generations.
Happy Birthday Professor Hill!
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10 September 2011
Teachers' Day 2011 - Multiple Countries on Various Days
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2 Sept 2008
Birthday of Richard B. Smith - Inventor of the Stump Jump Plough
https://www.google.com/logos/2008/au...ump-plough.gif
The stump-jump plough, also known as stump-jumping plough, is a kind of plough invented in South Australia in the late 19th century by Richard Bowyer Smith and Clarence Herbert Smith to solve the particular problem of preparing mallee lands for cultivation.
Mallee scrub originally covered large parts of southern Australia, and because of its growth habit, the trees were difficult to remove completely, because the tree would shoot again after burning, cutting down or other kinds of damage. The large roots, known as lignotubers, remained in the ground, making it very difficult to plough the soil.
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10 November 2019
Friedrich von Schiller’s 260th Birthday
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Today’s Doodle celebrates the birthday of German dramatist, poet, historian, and philosopher Friedrich von Schiller, widely regarded as the country’s most important playwright and one of the leading lights of German literature. Schiller's theories of aesthetics influenced the thinking of great European philosophers such as Jung, Nietzsche, and Hegel, while his 1785 hymn An die Freude [“Ode to Joy”] inspired Beethoven's famous Symphony No. 9 in D minor, which was later adopted as the official anthem of the European Union.
Born in the town of Marbach on this day in 1759, Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller was the son of an army officer and attended a strict military academy in Stuttgart. He spent his free time reading the works of Rousseau, Seneca, and Shakespeare while writing his first play, Die Räuber [“The Robbers”], which he self-published in 1781. He managed to get the play produced at a Mannheim theater, delighting audiences, but angering the local Duke with its critical view of authority.
The dramatic Sturm und Drang [“Storm and Stress”] of Schiller’s early work eventually gave way to a mature style in Don Carlos, his first play in blank verse. Taking a break from drama and poetry, he focused on philosophy, working towards his belief that art’s true purpose was not just to delight readers, but to edify and uplift them.
In 1794, Schiller developed a friendship with the prominent writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who recommended him to become a professor of history at the University of Jena. The horrors of the 30 Years’ War served as the backdrop for Schiller’s masterpiece of the Wallenstein trilogy, which was soon followed by his popular historical drama Maria Stuart, based on the life of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Made a nobleman in the early 1800s, von Schiller is considered a national icon. His stature in German literature comparable to Shakespeare’s in English literature.
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Friedrich von Schiller!
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9 Nov 2019
Celebrating the Edmonton Grads
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The Edmonton Commercial Graduates Basketball Club, better known as “The Grads,” started as a high school girls basketball team and became a sports dynasty. Today’s Doodle celebrates The Grads’ induction into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame on this day in 2017. It was a fitting honor for a team that holds arguably one of the best winning percentages in North America—approximately 95 percent over 25 years—in any sport.. With outstanding sportsmanship and determination, The Grads also defeated stereotypes that had discouraged women from participating in competitive sports.
Teacher Percy Page started the team in 1914 as a physical education program for the 60 girls at McDougall Commercial High School in the Canadian city of Edmonton. In their first season, they won the provincial championship, and when some of the graduating seniors indicated that they’d like to continue playing, Page was inspired to set up The Grads after they graduated in 1915.
During the next quarter century, The Grads went on to win 23 of 24 Provincial Championships and racked up stats that would be the envy of any team, including earning winning streaks of 147 and 78 games, separated by just a single loss. They went undefeated in the Western Canadian Championships from 1926 to 1940 and won 29 of 31 games in the Canadian Championships, never losing a series. After the Grads won the Underwood International tournament, also known as the “North American championship,” for 17 years straight, tournament organizers decided to let them keep the trophy permanently.
The Grads additionally won seven of nine games against men's teams and went unbeaten in 27 exhibition games at four Olympic Games—though they never won a medal since women’s basketball was not yet an Olympic sport.
When The Grads first started, basketball was a fairly new sport, having been invented in 1891 by Canadian James Naismith. He would later recognize the Grads as “the finest basketball team that ever stepped out on a floor.”
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9 November 2012
Paul Abadie's 200th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HY...Fprb-iLl0=s660
Paul Abadie was a French architect and building restorer. He is considered a central representative of French historicism. He was the son of architect Paul Abadie Sr.
Abadie worked on the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris, Église Sainte-Croix of Bordeaux, Saint-Pierre of Angoulême and Saint-Front of Périgueux. He won the competition in 1873 to design the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on Montmartre in Paris, and saw construction commence on it, though he died long before its completion in 1914.
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5 Nov 2009
40th Anniversary of Sesame Street - Cookie Monster
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/H_...dcG2qRy5Y=s660
Cookie Monster is a blue Muppet character on the long-running PBS/HBO children's television show Sesame Street. In a song in 2004, and later in an interview in 2017, Cookie Monster revealed his real name as "Sid". He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating catchphrases, such as "Me want cookie!" As his name suggests, his preferred food is cookies; though he eats almost anything, including normally inedible objects. Chocolate chip cookies are his favorite kind. His speech is often grammatically incorrect; he always uses "Me" to refer to himself in place of "I","My", and "Mine". Despite his voracious appetite for cookies, Cookie Monster shows awareness of healthy eating habits for young children and also enjoys fruits and vegetables.
He is known to have a mother, a younger sister, and an identically-designed cousin [who does not like cookies]. All three share his characteristic blue fur and "googly eyes". He also has a father, who appeared in a Monsterpiece Theater sketch promoting energy conservation, water conservation and environmentalism. Cookie Monster's mother and father both share his enormous appetite and craving for cookies.
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5 Nov 2020
Martín Chambi's 129th Birthday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5N7fes9JU
Today’s Doodle celebrates Peruvian photographer Martín Chambi, widely credited as one of Latin America’s first Indigenous photographers and one of the greatest Peruvian photographers of the 20th century. Considered a pioneer of portrait photography, Chambi showcased the intangible essence of Peru’s Andean people, the dramatic landscape they inhabit, and their inimitable culture and heritage.
Martín Jerónimo Chambi Jiménez was born into an Indigenous Quechua family on this day in 1891 in the town of Coaza in the southern Peruvian Andes. He fell in love with photography as a teenager and soon moved to the city of Arequipa to pursue the craft. In 1917, he photographed the newly-discovered citadel of Machu Picchu, and his panoramas helped to ignite the site’s worldwide reputation.
In 1920, Chambi relocated with his family to Cusco [the ancient capital of the Inca empire] and there established a studio where he worked for more than 40 years. From images of cultural festivals in the surrounding mountains to impeccable portraits of Cusco residents from all walks of life, Chambi’s iconic black-and-white photos provided a stunning window into the unique universe of the Peruvian highlands. A true innovator, Chambi is also credited as the first person to publish a photographic postcard in Peru.
Chambi’s photography experienced a surge in international exposure in the late ‘70s, leading to a posthumous solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1979.
Happy birthday, Martín Chambi!
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9 November 2020
Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's 140th birthday
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Today’s Doodle, illustrated by UK-based guest artist Jing Zhang, celebrates British architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who is widely regarded as one of the country’s most significant architects of the 20th century. Renowned for designs such as the Battersea Power Station and the now-iconic red telephone box illustrated in today’s Doodle, Scott combined traditional and modern styles to craft some of London’s most familiar landmarks.
Giles Gilbert Scott was born into a lineage of significant architects on this day in 1880 in London, England. When he was young, his mother encouraged him to carry forward the family legacy, and took him and his brother on bicycle trips to view church architecture throughout the English countryside. He went on to apprentice as an architect, and at just 21 he won a contest that landed him the largest commission of his life: the Liverpool Cathedral–one of many churches he designed throughout his career.
Yet Scott’s most famous creation may be his smallest–the red telephone box he designed in 1924 and simplified in 1935. The updated version was so popular that 60,000 units were installed across the United Kingdom. Today, many of the beloved booths have been reoutfitted to serve new purposes, from defibrillator stations to miniature libraries.
For his exceptional achievements in the field of architecture, Scott was knighted in 1924, and in 1944 he was awarded one of Britain’s highest honors—the Order of Merit.
Happy birthday, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott!
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10 November 2018
Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu’s 131st Birthday
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“The future of women in engineering is great,” declared a 1912 edition of Romania’s daily newspaper Minerva, reporting the news that “Miss Elisa Leonida passed the last final exam with great success, obtaining a Diploma in Engineering.”
On this day in 1887, Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu was born in the Romanian port city of Galați. After graduating with high marks from the Central School of Girls in Bucharest, she earned a baccalaureate from Mihai Viteazul High School. But when she applied to the School of Highways and Bridges, she was rejected because of her gender.
Undeterred, she applied to the Royal Technical Academy in Berlin, where one of the deans said she would be better off focusing on “Kirche, kinder, and kuche” [Church, children, and cooking]. She persisted in earning her degree in three years to become one of the first woman engineer in Europe.
Becoming the first female member of A.G.I.R. [General Association of Romanian Engineers], eventually running laboratories for the Geological Institute of Romania. Zamfirescu oversaw numerous Economic Studies analyzing Romania’s supply of natural resources like coal, shale, natural gas, chromium, bauxite and copper. She was known for paying special attention to the training of staff and spending long hours mentoring young chemists.
The mother of two daughters, she also taught physics and chemistry at the Pitar Moş School of Girls as well as at the School of Electricians and Mechanics in Bucharest. In 1993, her legacy was commemorated in Romania’s capital city by naming a street in her honor.
Happy Birthday, Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu!
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10 November 2012
Hachiko's 89th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Jv...rYKrmhUDo=s660
Hachikō [[ハチ公, 10 November 1923 – 8 March 1935) was a Japanese Akita dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, for whom he continued to wait for over nine years following Ueno's death.[2]
Hachikō was born on November 10, 1923, at a farm near the city of Ōdate, Akita Prefecture. In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University, brought him to live in Shibuya, Tokyo, as his pet. Hachikō would meet Ueno at Shibuya Station every day after his commute home. This continued until May 21, 1925, when Ueno died of a cerebral hemorrhage while at work. From then until his death on March 8, 1935, Hachikō would return to Shibuya Station every day to await Ueno's return.
During his lifetime, the dog was held up in Japanese culture as an example of loyalty and fidelity. Well after his death, he continues to be remembered in worldwide popular culture, with statues, movies, books, and appearances in various media. Hachikō is known in Japanese as chūken Hachikō [忠犬ハチ公] "faithful dog Hachikō", hachi meaning "eight" and -kō which originates as a suffix once used for ancient Chinese dukes; thus, Hachikō could be roughly translated as either "Mr. Eight" or "Sir Eight".
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10 November 2020
Celebrating Umeko Tsuda
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Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Japan-based guest artist Kano Nakajima, celebrates the pioneering Japanese educator and reformer Umeko Tsuda. Tsuda broke new ground as one of the first girls sent by the Japanese government to study abroad and went on to found what is today one of Japan’s oldest colleges for women. On this day in 1915, the Japanese government awarded Tsuda the prestigious Order of the Precious Crown for her achievements in women’s education.
Ume Tsuda was born in 1864 in what is now the Japanese capital of Tokyo, and at just seven years old was sent along with four other girls to the U.S. to study American culture. Over a decade later, she returned to Tokyo and became an English teacher, but she was disillusioned with the limited educational opportunities afforded to the country’s women at that time. Tsuda returned to the U.S. to attend Bryn Mawr College, where she became inspired to commit her life to the improvement of women’s higher education in her home country.
To that end, Tsuda created a scholarship for Japanese women to study in the United States, with the goal of helping to foster a new generation of educational leaders. With renewed vision, Tsuda again returned home and in 1900 opened her own school called Joshi Eigaku Juku [The Women’s Institute for English Studies].
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10 November 2021
Celebrating Ismail Marzuki
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Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Indonesia-based guest artist Ykha Amelz, celebrates Indonesian composer Ismail Marzuki, whose patriotic songs established him as a national hero during the nation’s independence movement. On this day in 1968, the Indonesian government honored his legacy with the inauguration of what is now the Jakarta Art Center - Taman Ismail Marzuki [[TIM), which serves as a hub for the preservation of Indonesia’s cultural heritage and creative innovation in fine arts, music, theatre, dance, and film.
Ismail Marzuki was born in Kwitang, Central Jakarta, Indonesia on May 11, 1914, when the region was under Dutch colonial rule. Although musical professions were uncommon in this community, Marzuki grew up practicing up to five hours a day to master eight instruments: harmonica, mandolin, guitar, ukulele, violin, accordion, saxophone, and piano. At 17, he composed the first of the over hundreds of songs he would produce throughout his career.
Marzuki’s songs captured the Indonesian struggle for independence with melancholic overtones while representing the nation’s resilience through soaring melodies. He filled Indonesian hearts with pride for years by broadcasting his songs [[nine of which became national anthems) on public radio. In 1955, Marzuki took over as the leader of the prestigious Jakarta Studio Orchestra and composed the General Election song, the musical theme of Indonesia’s first independent elections.
To honor his cultural contributions, the Indonesian government named Marzuki a National Hero in 2004. Today, visitors can learn more about Marzuki at TIM, which exhibits his personal collection including handwritten songs and a few of his many instruments.
Here’s to you Ismail Marzuki—thank you for writing the soundtrack for Indonesian independence!
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8 Nov 2021
Professor Okoth Okombo's 71st birthday
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Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Kenya-based guest artist Joe Impressions, celebrates the 71st birthday of acclaimed Kenyan professor and author Okoth Okombo, an eminent researcher of Nilotic linguistics [from the Nile River region] who is widely considered the founder of African sign language studies.
Duncan Okoth Okombo was born on November 8, 1950 in Kaswanga, a village on the remote Kenyan island of Rusinga. As a member of the Suba tribe raised during a time of colonial rule, Okombo witnessed firsthand how the elevation of the English language eroded his ethnic identity by pushing his mother tongue of Omusuba to near extinction. These experiences inspired Okombo’s lifelong mission to preserve indigenous African heritage through academia with a major focus on educating children in their native languages.
While pursuing his linguistics doctorate in 1983, Okombo published Masira ki Ndaki [“Misfortune is Inevitable”] in Dholuo, which is considered one of the first novels published in a Kenyan language. He continued to pass down his expertise as a professor of linguistics and literature at his alma mater of the University of Nairobi, where Okombo founded the Kenyan Sign Language [KSL] Research Project in 1991. This project led to the widespread adoption of KSL across Kenya, allowing the nation’s deaf community to secure new opportunities in society.
For his achievements, the World Federation of the Deaf elected Okombo as its international president from 1992 to 1995. Today, Okombo’s students remember him as a great listener, storyteller, and even a great dancer as his legacy lives on in the ongoing advocacy work of the Kenyan Sign Language Research Project.
Happy birthday, Professor Okombo!
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8 November 2013
Hermann Rorschach's 129th Birthday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHc6cwyQXkA
Today we celebrate the 129th birthday of Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach who created the iconic inkblot test. Subjects are presented a pattern and asked to give their interpretation. Interpretations can aid in the examination of a person's personality and emotions.
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8 November 2011
Edmond Halley's 355th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/iR...trJBBc0ho=s660
Edmond [or Edmund] Halley FRS was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720.
From an observatory he constructed on Saint Helena in 1676–77, Halley catalogued the southern celestial hemisphere and recorded a transit of Mercury across the Sun. He realised that a similar transit of Venus could be used to determine the distances between Earth, Venus, and the Sun. Upon his return to England, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society, and with the help of King Charles II, was granted a master's degree from Oxford.
Halley encouraged and helped fund the publication of Isaac Newton's influential Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica [1687]. From observations Halley made in September 1682, he used Newton's laws of motion to compute the periodicity of Halley's Comet in his 1705 Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets. It was named after him upon its predicted return in 1758, which he did not live to see.