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December 18, 2009
Jan Evangelista Purkyne's Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ND...DdaEw7Grx=s660
Jan Evangelista Purkyně was a Czech anatomist and physiologist. In 1839, he coined the term 'protoplasm' for the fluid substance of a cell. He was one of the best known scientists of his time. Such was his fame that when people from outside Europe wrote letters to him, all that they needed to put as the address was "Purkyně, Europe".The Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, bore his name from 1960 to 1990, as did the standalone military medical academy in Hradec Králové [1994–2004.] Today, a university in Ústí nad Labem bears his name: Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem [Univerzita Jana Evangelisty Purkyně v Ústí nad Labem.]
The crater Purkyně on the Moon is named after him, as is the asteroid 3701 Purkyně.
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Dec 17, 2009
Discovery of the Aztec Sun Stone
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/o6...IJQx3Rjle=s660
The Aztec sun stone [Spanish: Piedra del Sol] is a late post-classic Mexica sculpture housed in the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, and is perhaps the most famous work of Mexica sculpture. It measures 358 centimetres [141 in] in diameter and 98 centimetres [39 in] thick, and weighs 24,590 kg [54,210 lb]. Shortly after the Spanish conquest, the monolithic sculpture was buried in the Zócalo, the main square of Mexico City. It was rediscovered on 17 December 1790 during repairs on the Mexico City Cathedral. Following its rediscovery, the sun stone was mounted on an exterior wall of the cathedral, where it remained until 1885. Early scholars initially thought that the stone was carved in the 1470s, though modern research suggests that it was carved some time between 1502 and 1521.
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Dec 8, 2009
E.C. Segar's Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/os...zGOEz96uz=s660
Elzie Crisler Segar, known by the pen name E. C. Segar, was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Popeye, a pop culture character who first appeared in 1929 in Segar's comic strip Thimble Theatre.Segar is among the first to combine humor with long-running adventures. A revival of interest in Segar's creations began with Woody Gelman's Nostalgia Press. Robert Altman's live-action film Popeye [1980] is adapted from E. C. Segar's Thimble Theatre comic strip. The screenplay by Jules Feiffer was based directly on Gelman's Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye the Sailor, a hardcover reprint collection of 1936-37 Segar strips published in 1971 by Nostalgia Press. In 2006, Fantagraphics published the first of a six-volume book set reprinting all Thimble Theatre daily and Sunday strips from 1928 to 1938, beginning with the adventure that introduced Popeye.
In 1971, the National Cartoonists Society created the Elzie Segar Award in his honor. According to the Society's website, the award was "presented to a person who has made a unique and outstanding contribution to the profession of cartooning." The NCS board of directors chose the first winners, while King Features selected recipients in later years. Honorees have included Charles Schulz, Bil Keane, Al Capp, Bill Gallo and Mort Walker. The award was discontinued in 1999.
In 1977, Segar's hometown of Chester, Illinois, named a park in his honor. The park contains a six-foot-tall bronze statue of Popeye. The annual Popeye Picnic, a weekend-long event that celebrates the character with a parade, film festival and other activities, is held the first weekend after Labor Day. In 2006, Chester launched the "Popeye & Friends Character Trail", which links a series of statues of Segar's characters located throughout town. Each stands on a base inscribed with the names of donors who contributed to its cost and is unveiled and dedicated during the Popeye Picnic. The 2006 debut sculpture of hamburger-loving Wimpy stands in Gazebo Park. A statue of Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea and the Jeep, located near the Randolph County Courthouse, followed in 2007. In 2008, a Bluto statue was dedicated at the corner of Swanwick and W. Holmes Streets, in front of Buena Vista Bank. The 2009 statue of Castor Oyl and Bernice the Whiffle Hen stands in front of Chester Memorial Hospital. One additional statue has been unveiled each year.
Spinach Can Collectibles/Popeye Museum is located in the center of the city.[Opera House]
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April 1, 2017
Payut Ngaokrachang’s 88th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...62368-hp2x.gif
Today’s Doodle celebrates renowned Thai cartoonist and animation pioneer Payut Ngaokrachang with a depiction of one of his best-known animations, and Thai cinema's first cel-animated feature film, “The Adventure of Sudsakorn.”
Released in 1979, “Sudsakorn” was one of Thailand’s earliest full-length animations, and was based on author Sudthornpu’s book Pra Apai Manee. It follows the exploits of the boy hero as he battles with mythical creatures and other dangerous adversaries. The animation was created on a very tight budget, and the innovative Payut was said to have crafted some of his movie-making equipment using discarded military machinery to keep costs low.
On what would be his 88th birthday, we celebrate Payut Ngaokrachang and his significant contribution to animation.
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Mar 31, 2017
Sergei Diaghilev’s 145th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...62336-hp2x.jpg
Born in 1872 to a wealthy Russian family, art critic, visionary, and all-around provocateur Sergei Diaghilev made his mark on the performing arts with his influential Ballets Russes, a trailblazing dance company that united talents from the disciplines of art, fashion, dance, choreography, and music, and vaulted them to dizzying creative heights.
From 1909-1929, the Ballet Russes performed on stages around the globe, mesmerizing, even scandalizing, audiences with its unprecedented costumes, stage sets, compositions, and choreography. In Schéhérazade, which premiered at the Théâtre national de l’Opéra, Paris, in 1910, dancers traded tutus for artist Léon Bakst’s risqué harem pants while Vaslav Nijinsky performed in gold body paint and bejeweled costumes. Firebird, based on Russian fairy tales, marked Diaghilev’s first commissioned score from Igor Stravinsky, kicking off a collaboration that would include the primal work, The Rite of Spring and Pulcinella [with costumes and sets by Pablo Picasso].
Anna Pavlova, Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau—all figured into Diaghilev’s sensational productions.
Today, on Sergei Diaghilev’s 145th birthday, we salute his boundless imagination with a Doodle that depicts the impresario flanked by his vividly costumed Ballets Russes dancers against an onion-domed Russian backdrop. Diaghilev wowed the world, both then and now.
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Mar 22, 2017
Nowruz 2017 [Kazakhstan]
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...06368-hp2x.gif
For more than 3,000 years, people of Persian ancestry have been celebrating Nowruz, the return of spring and the start of a new year. A combination of the Persian words “now” for new and “ruz” for day, it is often celebrated at the exact moment of the vernal [spring] equinox, when the days start getting longer, and the celebrations can continue for up to two weeks.
Nowruz is a time of joyous renewal. Visits with friends and family, a clean house and new clothes, and special spring foods are traditional ways to celebrate the holiday. Perhaps the most enduring image of Nowruz is gathering together with friends and family around a bonfire. People also like to decorate with springtime flowers, like the hyacinths and tulips in today’s Doodle.
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Mar 22, 2017
P. Ramlee’s 88th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...46880-hp2x.jpg
Born 88 years ago today, P. Ramlee’s artistic achievements left a permanent mark on the cultural history of Malaysia. P. Ramlee was a prolific actor, director, writer, and musician who contributed to more than 60 films and composed around 250 songs. After his death in 1973, Malaysians kept his legacy alive, honoring him with posthumous awards and naming halls, museums, and other buildings after him.
Today’s Doodle highlights the Malaysian legend’s diverse artistry and shows him as people best remember him — sporting a thin mustache and a checkered suit, his head cocked slightly to the side.
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August 14, 2008
2008 Beijing Olympic Games - Basketball
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oK...6jCXMELDY=s660
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Aug 16, 2008
2008 Beijing Olympic Games - Football/Soccer
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Pc...vX_APSN5x=s660
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Aug 18, 2008
2008 Beijing Olympic Games - Table Tennis
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/aI...Epr41bakg=s660
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Aug 22, 2008
2008 Beijing Olympic Games - Martial Arts
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m...IZTKMs80A=s660
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Aug 24, 2008
2008 Beijing Olympic Games - Closing Ceremony
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ig...gjy2axDGQ=s660
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Aug 24, 2008
2008 Beijing Olympic Games - Closing Ceremony [Middle East]
https://www.google.com/logos/2008/ol..._closing_a.gif
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Aug 27, 2008
Tomato Festival 2008
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6P...PiPcv9cEw=s660
La Tomatina is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, in the East of Spain 30 kilometres [19 mi] from the Mediterranean, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in a tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes. Since 1945 it has been held on the last Wednesday of August, during a week of festivities in Buñol.
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June 2, 2021
Celebrating Frank Kameny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpvp9-4ZxTY
In celebration of Pride Month, today’s Doodle honors American astronomer, veteran, and gay rights activist Dr. Frank Kameny, widely hailed as one of the most prominent figures of the U.S. LGBTQ rights movement.
Franklin Edward Kameny was born in Queens, New York, on May 21, 1925. Gifted from a young age, Kameny enrolled at Queens College to study physics at just 15 years old. He saw combat during World War II and upon his return to the U.S . obtained a doctorate in astronomy at Harvard University. In 1957, Kameny accepted a job as an astronomer with the Army Map Service, but he was fired just months later based on an executive order effectively barring members of the LGBTQ community from federal employment.
In response to his termination, Kameny sued the federal government and in 1961 filed the first gay rights appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Denied but undeterred, Kameny embarked upon a lifelong fight for equal rights. Years before the Stonewall Riots, he organized one of the country’s first gay rights advocacy groups. In the early ‘70s, he also successfully challenged the American Psychiatric Association’s classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, and in 1975, the Civil Service Commission finally reversed its ban on LGBTQ employees.
In 2009, over 50 years after his dismissal, Kameny received a formal apology from the U.S. government. In June 2010, Washington D.C. named a stretch of 17th Street NW near Dupont Circle “Frank Kameny Way” in his honor.
Thank you, Frank Kameny, for courageously paving the way for decades of progress!
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Jun 1, 2021
Celebrating Daniel Balavoine
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7109208-2x.png
Today’s Doodle celebrates French singer, songwriter, and activist Daniel Balavoine, a rebellious yet sensitive champion of pop music and human rights. On this day in 1978, Balavoine released his third album “Le Chanteur” [“The Singer”], an emotional reflection on the preciousness of life that skyrocketed his career.
Daniel Balavoine was born on February 5, 1952, in Alençon, France. In his teens, he fought passionately for social causes with energy he began to channel into music in 1970. Although his early musical efforts flew under the radar of mainstream success, Balavoine’s career began to pick up steam when Swiss pop star Patrick Juvet featured him on one of his albums.
In 1975, Balavoine continued to build momentum with the release of his debut solo album “De Vous à Elle en Passant Par Moi” [“From You to Her Through Me”]. A televised performance in 1977 of one of his sophomore album’s hit songs, “Lady Marlène,” captivated French pop icon Michel Berger, who commissioned Balavoine to play Johnny Rockfort in his cyberpunk rock opera “Starmania.” The role was a smash hit that set the stage for Balavoine to become a successful innovator of French electronic pop.
In 1980, he released a hit album, “Un Autre Monde” [“Another World”], featuring some of his most famous songs, such as “Je Ne Suis Pas un Héros” [“I’m not a Hero”], “Mon Fils, ma Bataille” [“My Son, My Battle”], and “La Vie ne M’Apprend Rien” [“Life Teaches me Nothing”]. In that same year, on television he issued a call to action to politician François Mitterrand with a challenge to do more for the youth. This was a defining moment for Balavoine’s legacy as not only a musician, but a vocal activist for the community and symbol for France’s next generation.
In addition to the over 20 million records he sold, Balavoine was a devoted humanitarian. He focused much of his efforts on improving the lives of residents in remote villages of the African Sahara, especially in Mali, where he planned to supervise the installation of water pumps near the route of the 1986 Paris-Dakar rally car race. Balavoine tragically lost his life during this trip, but his legacy has lived on. That same year, Balavoine’s final album “Sauver L'Amour” [“Save Love”] won a posthumous Victoire de la Musique award, one of French music’s highest honors.
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Jun 2, 2021
Italy Republic Day 2021
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...108948-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle celebrates Italy’s 75th Republic Day, or Festa della Repubblica as it is known locally. On this day in 1946, Italians voted in a referendum that formed the great nation into a republic.
Ceremonies begin with the laying of a laurel wreath atop the Tomb of Unknown Soldier in the Altare della Patria [Altar of the Fatherland]. Also known as the Vittoriano, this massive white marble monument stands at the symbolic center of ancient Rome as a representative of Italian unity and identity.
To express national pride, a giant Italian flag is mounted on the Roman Colosseum, the world’s largest surviving ancient amphitheater. The Italian flag is depicted in today’s Doodle and features three vertical stripes of red, white, and green, earning its nickname as the tricolore.
Buona Festa della Repubblica, Italia!
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2 June 2014
Dragon Boat Festival 2014
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/c-...Qa12-Dz4E=s660
Take a ride in our dragon boat for the Duanwu Festival in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan today. During this festival people eat “zongzi” [sticky rice dumplings], drink realgar wine and race dragon boats.
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4 Jun 2014
Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė's 169th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NR...2dWa0cl_C=s660
Writer Julija Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė is best remembered for her stories about life among the peasantry. Our homepage in Lithuania depicts a scene from her book Marti [[“Daughter-in-law”), in which the main character realizes she may have made a huge mistake.
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4 June 2014
25th anniversary of first free elections in Poland
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Xd...W8FaPdTRw=s660
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30 May 2014
35th Anniversary of Nezha Conquers the Dragon King
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh7lAQEtDyw
Our homepage in Hong Kong and Taiwan marks the 35th anniversary of Nezha Conquers the Dragon King. A source of pride in China, Nezha was the first Chinese-language animated film to be screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
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29 May 2014
Norman Frederick Hetherington's 93rd Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FS...zEEvFRmsk=s660
Mr. Squiggle and Friends are up to their old tricks on our homepage in Australia for Norman Frederick Hetherington’s 93rd birthday. Hetherington was a cartoonist and puppeteer, best known for creating Mr. Squiggle, Australia's longest-running children's television series.
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27 May 2014
Rachel Louise Carson's 107th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_j...Wu07kStWg=s660
This global doodle celebrates famed marine biologist and conservationist Rachel Louise Carson on what would be her 107th birthday. The doodle was originally more aspirational in concept, much like the figure it celebrates. Carson could be seen perched on a seacliff, staring toward the sea with a light animation of her scarf flowing in the wind.
But doodler Matthew Cruickshank eventually went for a different approach.
“As much as I liked the image itself, as well as a chance to do a small piece of animation, I thought it shifted the focus away from the wildlife she sought to learn about and protect,” Matt explains. In the final illustration, Rachel Louise Carson is shown surrounded by a variety of species that dwell within the marine ecosystem, seemingly inspired by this quote from her book, Silent Spring:
“In nature nothing exists alone.”
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30 May 2012
Peter Carl Fabergé's 166th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/m6...iN2gYipN_=s660
An artist whose ornate sensibility earned him royal regard, Peter Carl Fabergé is a jeweler worthy of a doodle! Best known for his intricate eggs, Fabergé caught the attention of the Russian court. The Tsar commissioned eggs from him every year, and each time he crafted gems that were more surprising and florid than the previous. With such a reputation, he even represented his home country in the 1900 World's Fair in Paris.
His discriminating eye did not stop at detail, he and his studio were also perfectionists.
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6 Jun 2014
Honinbo Shusaku's 185th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Vd...Diu25c2Pd=s660
Today in Japan and other countries, we’re marking the 185th birthday of Honinbo Shusaku, widely considered to be one of the greatest players of the ancient Chinese board game Go. Shusaku rose to prominence during Go’s golden age in the 19th century and is known for his perfection of the Shusaku opening, which is depicted in our doodle.
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12 Jun 2014
World Cup 2014 #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YENN1sfhSA
Anything can happen during the World Cup. Who’ll win? Who’ll score? Which super psychic animal will replace Paul the Octopus?
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13 Jun 2014
World Cup 2014 #2
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wN...sU48Ukh6s=s660
The World Cup opening ceremony was so inspiring–and what an unbeleafable coincidence–our next doodle has a dancing tree person too. Congrats Brazil!
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13 Jun 2014
World Cup 2014 #3
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nm...30EKt-y7Q=s660
We were so startled by the luchador in this doodle we got the Cameroon flag wrong on the first go! #realTimeDoodleProblems
Well played, Mexico!
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16 October 2015
57th Anniversary of Elderly Gentleman's Cabaret's TV premiere
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...920.2-hp2x.jpg
Today's Doodle marks the 57th Anniversary of the first episode of the polish television show, Elderly Gentleman's Cabaret or Kabaret Starszych Panów.
The show premiered October 16th, 1958 and was titled "Afternoon Old Men", starring the two creators: poet Jeremi Przybora and composer Jerzy Wasowski. Elegantly dressed in now-iconic dinner jackets and top hats, the pair performed satirical musical acts that addressed major cultural changes of the 50's and 60's.
The show aired late at night, and though not many people owned TVs, it was a smashing success. Soon it was a nation-wide household name — friends and families congregated around TV sets in their neighbor's homes to watch two gentlemen cavort and sing.
The legendary cabaret-style show aired during primetime on Polish public television for 8 years, and featured cameos from top Polish actors and singers. The program brought humor, wit and artistic excellence to the small screen and garnered die-hard followers for decades to come.
