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November 18, 2014
Morocco Independence Day 2014
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/MT...VlS6c6cYL=s660
IndependenceDay, also known as Fete de l'Independence, is a national holiday commemorating Morocco's independence from France on November 18, 1927; a secret treaty in 1904 had divided Morocco between France and Spain.
Throne Day, March 3, was also a public holiday, commemorating the anniversary of King Hassan II's accession in 1961. When King Hassan II died in 1999, his son, Mohammed VI, became king, and now it is his birthday on August 21 that is celebrated, along with July 30, his coronation day.
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Nov 18, 2014
Amalia Eriksson's 190th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6x...sM0NvWgww=s660
Amalia Eriksson was a Swedish business person, known as the inventor of the Polkagris, a type of candy stick which she invented in Gränna, Sweden. She kept the recipe for the Polkagris secret, and it was only revealed upon her death.
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Nov 17, 2014
25th Anniversary of the Velvet Revolution
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/vz...kXzRPSnuA=s660
Today, our homepage in the Czech Republic and Slovakia honors the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. The jingling of keys, depicted in our doodle, became a symbol of support for the demonstration and signified the unlocking of closed doors. This peaceful movement led to Czechoslovakia’s transition from communism to a parliamentary republic.
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Nov 14, 2014
Children's Day/Doodle 4 Google 2014 - India Winner
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8S...elBlOgqLu=s660
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Nov 13, 2014
Mokhtar Dahari's 61st Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_l...djY5jxh2a=s660
Dato' Mohd. Mokhtar Dahari was a Malaysian football player from Setapak, Selangor and had play for F.A. Selangor for the rest of his life. He is considered a legendary footballer in Malaysian football history, especially with F.A. Selangor. A prolific forward, he was nicknamed Supermokh due to his playing skills and strength.
He scored 89 goals in 142 full international matches for Malaysia, and helped the team reach its highest ever Elo ranking of 61 in 1977. Mokhtar is the all-time top scorer for the Malaysian national team.
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Nov 13, 2014
Seok Joo-myung's 106th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IM...oghy1dlLw=s660
In Korea, our doodle features a butterfly in honor of entomologist Seok Joo-myung's 106th birthday. Seok dedicated his life to the study of butterflies and made important contributions to the species’ taxonomy.
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Nov 11, 2014
Kemal Sunal's 70th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/j4...WZkC2-d5a=s660
Today’s doodle in Turkey celebrates the 70th birthday of actor Kemal Sunal. A beloved comedian in his country, Sunal is best remembered for the four stock characters [the funny one, the naive kid, the rebel and the totally confused guy] he portrayed in his films.
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Nov 10, 2014
Zofia Nałkowska's 130th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/5j...Oadz2vwPQ=s660
Zofia Nałkowska was a Polish prose writer, dramatist, and prolific essayist. She served as the executive member of the prestigious Polish Academy of Literature [1933–1939] during the interwar period.
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February 24, 2017
Celebrating Penpan Sittitrai
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...40288-hp2x.jpg
In the skilled hands of Penpan Sittitrai, a watermelon was far more than a refreshing treat on a summer day: it was art.
Using just a carving knife, she magically transformed melons into graceful swans, mangoes into rabbits, and potatoes into ducklings. Nature was a favorite theme, and she often formed lotus flowers from common foods like yam beans and garlic bulbs. Her intricate sculptures were used as showstopping centerpieces and serving vessels.
Even Thailand’s monarchs tapped Sittitrai for her talents. She once carved water chestnuts into 500 jasmine flowers for a royal wedding, and turned 250 coconuts into urns for a royal dining event.
On February 24, 2010, at the age of 83, Sittitrai was awarded the honorary title of National Artist for her outstanding contributions to Thailand’s arts. Instituted in 1985, “National Artist Day” is celebrated in Thailand on February 24.
In recognition of Sittitrai’s contributions to Thailand’s visual arts, today’s Doodle draws inspiration from her many books, including, “The Art of Thai Vegetable and Fruit Carving.”
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Feb 23, 2017
Weiberfastnacht 2017
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...27936-hp2x.gif
Today's Doodle is all about dressing up in your finest wig and going all out for Weiberfastnacht. Germany welcomes the opening of Karneval every year with Weiberfastnacht, when celebrations and parties erupt through the carnival regions of Germany. Also known as Old Womens Day, these festivities are often led by women, who might cut off men's ties in one tradition, or storm their town hall, in another. However Germans choose to revel on this day, one thing's for certain: this is a time of joy.
Weiberfastnacht traces its roots back to the Middle Ages, when it was one of the only occasions for women to attend parties and have as much fun as their male counterparts. Although its origins lie with women, no one needs an excuse to celebrate, and men are out in the streets just as much to enjoy the holiday. The streets fill up with merrymakers in costume and confetti flies everywhere. The Krapfen, or jam-filled doughnuts, are plentiful, as is the festive Karneval music, and even the Chicken Dance.
There's something for everyone at Weiberfastnacht!
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Nov 3, 2014
114th anniversary of the premiere of The Tale of Tsar Saltan
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Nu...BxlXRoz5W=s660
Our doodle in Russia today depicts a scene from the 20th century opera, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, for the libretto’s 114th anniversary.
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Nov 2, 2014
Day of the Dead 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg-clmeHBrM
The Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated in Mexico and elsewhere associated with the Catholic celebrations of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, and is held on November 1 and 2. The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pray for and to remember friends and family members who have died. It is commonly portrayed as a day of celebration rather than mourning.
Mexican academics are divided on whether the festivity has indigenous pre-Hispanic roots or whether it is a 20th-century rebranded version of a Spanish tradition developed by the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas to encourage Mexican nationalism through an "Aztec" identity. The festivity has become a national symbol and as such is taught in the nation's school system, typically asserting a native origin. In 2008, the tradition was inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
The holiday is more commonly called "Día de los Muertos" outside Mexico. Whereas in Spain and most of Latin America the public holiday and similar traditions are typically held on All Saints' Day [Todos los Santos], the Mexican government under Lázaro Cárdenas attempted to rename the festivity to All Souls' Day [Fieles Difuntos] in an effort to secularize the festivity and distinguish it from the Hispanic Catholic festival.
The Día de Muertos was then promoted throughout the country as a continuity of ancient Aztec festivals celebrating death, a theory strongly encouraged by Mexican poet Octavio Paz. Traditions connected with the holiday include building home altars called ofrendas, honoring the deceased using calaveras, aztec marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.
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Nov 1, 2014
Mariquita Sanchez de Thompson's 228th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3k...Gr1751PaX=s660Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson Y de Mendeville was a patriot from Buenos Aires and one of its leading salonnières, whose tertulias gathered many of the leading personalities of her time. She is widely remembered in the Argentine historical tradition because the Argentine National Anthem was sung for the first time in her home, on May 14, 1813.
One of the first politically outspoken Argentine women, Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson has been considered the most active female figure in the revolutionary process.
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November 1, 2012
L.S. Lowry's 125th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Re...osNce02mQ=s660
Laurence Stephen Lowry was an English artist. His drawings and paintings depict Pendlebury, Lancashire, where he lived and worked for more than 40 years, Salford and its vicinity.
Lowry is famous for painting scenes of life in the industrial districts of North West England in the mid-20th century. He developed a distinctive style of painting and is best known for his urban landscapes peopled with human figures, often referred to as "matchstick men". He painted mysterious unpopulated landscapes, brooding portraits and the unpublished "marionette" works, which were only found after his death.
His use of stylised figures, which cast no shadows, and lack of weather effects in many of his landscapes led critics to label him a naïve "Sunday painter".
Lowry holds the record for rejecting British honours [five], including a knighthood [1968]. A collection of his work is on display in The Lowry, a purpose-built art gallery on Salford Quays. On 26 June 2013, a major retrospective opened at the Tate Britain in London, his first at the gallery; in 2014 his first solo exhibition outside the UK was held in Nanjing, China.
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Oct 29, 2012
Bob Ross' 70th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jc...DszCYwLAo=s660
For more than a decade, Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting welcomed viewers into his minimalist tv studio for inspiration and painting tips.
In less time than it takes to get pizza delivered, Bob Ross would paint a sweeping landscape of mountains, lakes, and, of course, happy little trees, clouds, and bushes.
A child when I first discovered the PBS program, it was the antithesis of the vacuous shows and commercials I voraciously consumed on other channels.
The man’s seemingly magical abilities with a brush were mesmerizing – he made painting look so easy! His calm demeanor and relentless optimism put me at ease. And his kind assurances that anyone could do what he did if they believe it and practiced were truly encouraging. [In fact, it was when I got a Bob Ross paint kit for Christmas at age 14 that I realized that I was already on my way to becoming an artist!]
I’ve since learned that painting isn’t easy. But I’m practicing, and it is a joy.
Thank you, Bob Ross!
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Oct 27, 2012
Sugarloaf Cable Car's 100th Anniversary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k70jm4-AyGg
The Sugarloaf Cable Car is a cableway system in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The first part runs between Praia Vermelha and Morro da Urca [at 722 feet [220 m]], from where the second rises to the summit of the 1,299-foot [396 m] Sugarloaf Mountain.
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Oct 21, 2012
Jonas Maciulis-Maironis' 150th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/I3...sBKkZ2LBc=s660
Maironis is one of the most famous Lithuanian poets and was also a Catholic priest and educator.
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Oct 18, 2012
161st Anniversary of Moby Dick's First Publishing
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/IC...sNm0Bu1jQ=s660
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee.
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Oct 15, 2012
107th Anniversary of Little Nemo in Slumberland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZRLNKF9lwo
A true pioneer and master draftsman, Winsor McCay is an artist and visionary. As a storyteller, his imagination reaches beyond the confines of reality and even the technology of his time.
Among his most famous works is his weekly comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland." This series follows the journeys of Nemo through a fantastic dreamworld. Nightly, he finds himself thrown into a topsy turvy, overgrown, and colorful mess that often leaves him tumbling out of bed. McCay's mastery of perspective, bold use of color, and sheer creativeness yield a series that is visually stunning and immersive. Though not popular in its time, "Little Nemo in Slumberland" became celebrated in the mid 20th century. Since its "rediscovery," the comic has inspired artists, feature animated films, and operas. Original pages have also drawn attention at the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
If drawing painfully intricate comic strips every week isn't enough, McCay is also a pioneer in animation. His short film, "Gertie the Dinosaur" is regarded to have the first character designed for animation with a unique personality. His groundbreaking achievements in animation, art, and storytelling make McCay a perfect candidate for a doodle.
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Oct 11, 2012
Alicia Moreau de Justo's 127th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ul...zYz8wZ-6c=s660
Alicia Moreau de Justo was an Argentine physician, politician, pacifist and human rights activist. She was a leading figure in feminism and socialism in Argentina. Since the beginning of the 20th century, she got involved in public claims for opening rights for women. In 1902, joined by a fellow activists, she founded the Feminist Socialist Center of Argentina and the Feminine Work Union of Argentina.
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December 10, 2020
Zinaida Serebriakova's 136th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7108645-2x.png
Today’s Doodle honors 20th-century Russian painter Zinaida Serebriakova, who was renowned for her joyful realist style and thrived at a time when female painters were seldom recognized. Born on this day in 1884, Serebriakova left an indelible mark on her nation’s culture through masterful paintings of the contemporary life and landscapes of her Russian homeland.
Zinaida Serebriakova was born on an estate in the Kursk Province of Russia [present-day Ukraine] into a lineage full of respected artists. At a young age, she moved with her family to St. Petersburg but spent her summers back at the estate, whose bountiful natural landscapes inspired her early paintings. Over the following years, she studied the paintings of the Venetian masters in Italy and the French impressionists in Paris, and also apprenticed under the eminent Russian artist Osip Braz.
Serebriakova made her exhibition debut in 1910, where her painting ”Self-Portrait at the Dressing Table” [1909] was the talk of the show, and has since become one of her most famous works. In 1911, she joined the Russian art movement known as the World of Art and emphasized the group’s focus on national art and stylistic beauty in her work, including in her often rosy depictions of peasant life. After a move back to Paris in 1924, Serebriakova continued to paint landscapes and portraits throughout the remaining decades of her career.
In 1965, a retrospective exhibition honored Serebriakova’s work in Moscow and Kiev and the next year in Leningrad and Novosibirsk.
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May 26, 2015
Sally Ride’s 64th Birthday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwD2377KZe8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvfpnyRW8Io&t=6s
Today’s guest blog post is from Tam O’Shaughnessy—life partner of astronaut Sally Ride, and co-founder & CEO of Sally Ride Science. Over the past few months, Tam worked with our Doodle team to create a doodle for Sally’s 64th birthday. In this post, she tells us more about Sally’s life, her flight aboard the space shuttle Challenger, and her passion for helping kids stay excited about science and technology.
As the first American woman in space, Sally Ride—who would have been 64 today—captured the nation’s imagination as a symbol of the ability of women to break barriers. But her historic flight represented just one aspect of a remarkable and multifaceted life. She was also a physicist, a science writer, and an inspirational advocate for keeping kids excited about science as they go through school.
Sally was born on May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles. She grew up playing with a chemistry set and small telescope—and playing football in the streets with the neighborhood kids. Later she considered playing professional tennis, but decided instead to study science.
In 1977, Sally was finishing her Ph.D. in physics at Stanford University when she saw an article in the student newspaper saying that NASA was looking for astronauts—and for the first time was allowing women to apply. Sally didn’t hesitate to send in her application, and became one of six women selected as part of the new crop of astronaut candidates. On June 18, 1983, she soared into history as the first American woman in space.
Looking back at Earth through the window of the space shuttle, Sally was moved by the view of our beautiful blue planet wrapped in its thin blanket of air. She realized how important it is for all of us to take care of our fragile home in space, and became an environmentalist. Many years later, we wrote books for young adults about Earth’s changing climate.
After leaving NASA, Sally became a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego. She loved being a scientist, but she was concerned that many young people—especially girls and minority students—abandon their early interest in science and math.
Studies show that the reason kids turn away from STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math] is not that they don’t like it or aren’t good it. Instead, young people get turned off because society sends false messages about who scientists are, what they do, and how they work. So Sally decided to use her high profile to motivate young people to stick with their interest in science and to consider pursuing STEM careers.
In 2001, Sally and I and three friends started Sally Ride Science to create programs and publications that bring science to life and show young people that STEM is fascinating, creative, and fun. Since then, we’ve trained thousands of teachers on how to spark and sustain interest in STEM and reached millions of students with our books and programs.
Sally died almost three years ago on July 23, 2012, from pancreatic cancer. But I know she would be honored by today’s Google Doodle. With whimsy, it expresses Sally’s sense of fun and adventure, and her ability to inspire young people. And who knows—maybe her Doodle will motivate some girl or boy somewhere in the world to become a scientist and adventurer just like Sally.
Sally said it best . . .
Everywhere I go I meet girls and boys who want to be astronauts and explore space, or they love the ocean and want to be oceanographers, or they love animals and want to be zoologists, or they love designing things and want to be engineers. I want to see those same stars in their eyes in 10 years and know they are on their way!
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May 26, 2012
Rafael Escalona's 85th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2T...bqpyr1rbS=s660
Rafael Calixto Escalona Martinez was a Colombian composer and troubadour. He was known for being one of the most prominent vallenato music composers and troubadours of the genre and for being the co-founder of the Vallenato Legend Festival, along with Consuelo Araújo and Alfonso López Michelsen.
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May 23, 2012
Robert Moog's 78th Birthday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgZL0iVU7SA
https://www.google.com/doodles/rober...-78th-birthday
In the mid-1960s, Dr. Robert Moog unleashed a new universe of sounds into musicdom with his invention of the electronic analog Moog Synthesizer. The timbre and tones of these keyboard instruments [[true works of art in and of themselves) would come to define a generation of music, featuring heavily in songs by The Beatles, The Doors, Stevie Wonder, Kraftwerk and many others.
When people hear the word “synthesizer” they often think “synthetic”—fake, manufactured, unnatural. In contrast, Bob Moog’s synthesizers produce beautiful, organic and rich sounds that are, nearly 50 years later, regarded by many professional musicians as the epitome of an electronic instrument. “Synthesizer,” it turns out, refers to the synthesis embedded in Moog’s instruments: a network of electronic components working together to create a whole greater than the sum of the parts.
With his passion for high-tech toolmaking in the service of creativity, Bob Moog is something of a patron saint of the nerdy arts and a hero to many of us here. So for the next 24 hours on our homepage, you’ll find an interactive, playable logo inspired by the instruments with which Moog brought musical performance into the electronic age. You can use your mouse or computer keyboard to control the mini-synthesizer’s keys and knobs to make nearly limitless sounds. Keeping with the theme of 1960s music technology, we’ve patched the keyboard into a 4-track tape recorder so you can record, play back and share songs via short links or Google+.
Much like the musical machines Bob Moog created, this doodle was synthesized from a number of smaller components to form a unique instrument. When experienced with Google Chrome, sound is generated natively using the Web Audio API—a doodle first [for other browsers the Flash plugin is used]. This doodle also takes advantage of JavaScript, Closure libraries, CSS3 and tools like Google Web Fonts, the Google+ API, the Google URL Shortener and App Engine.
Special thanks to engineers Reinaldo Aguiar and Rui Lopes and doodle team lead Ryan Germick for their work, as well as the Bob Moog Foundation and Moog Music for their blessing. Now give those knobs a spin and compose a tune that would make Dr. Moog smile!
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May 18, 2012
Omar Khayyam's 964th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rL...w5iWo8k14=s660
Omar Khayyam was a Persian polymath, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. He was born in Nishapur, in northeastern Persia, and was contemporary with the rule of the Seljuks around the time of the First Crusade.
As a mathematician, he is most notable for his work on the classification and solution of cubic equations, where he provided geometric solutions by the intersection of conics. Khayyam also contributed to the understanding of the parallel axiom. As an astronomer, he designed the Jalali calendar, a solar calendar with a very precise 33-year intercalation cycle that provided the basis for the Persian calendar that is still in use after nearly a millennium.
The poetry attributed to Omar Khayyam has contributed greatly to his popular fame in the modern period as a direct result of the extreme popularity of the translation of such verses into English by Edward FitzGerald [1859]. FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam contains loose translations of quatrains from the Bodleian manuscript. It enjoyed such success in the fin de siècle period that a bibliography compiled in 1929 listed more than 300 separate editions,[56] and many more have been published since
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August 6, 2017
Luang Pradit Phairoh’s 136th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...5973376-2x.jpg
136 years ago, Luang Pradit Phairoh was born Sorn Silapabanleng to a musician's family in the Amphawa District of Thailand. As a young boy, he accompanied his father and performed as part of a traditional Thai piphat [musical ensemble] across the countryside. At one of these soirees, his musical genius was discovered by a nobleman, and he encouraged 19-year-old Sorn to move to the capital to study music.
Today, he is regarded as the greatest composer of traditional Thai music.
Luang Pradit tutored some of Thailand’s finest musicians and composers, including King Rama VII and Her Majestic Queen Rambhai Barni. In 1925, he was titled ‘Luang’ [a title similar to ‘Sir’], and in keeping with the tradition of the times, was also renamed with the honorific, Pradit Phairoh – loosely translated as ‘Master of Symphony’.
Today’s Doodle depicts Luang Pradit Phairoh, against the backdrop of the ranat ek – a type of xylophone that forms the centerpiece of a traditional piphat. Luang Pradit was particularly known for his mastery of this instrument.
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Aug 3, 2017
Celebrating Dolores del Río
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...3132288-2x.jpg
When Dolores Del Río met American filmmaker Edwin Carewe, her talent was so captivating that he convinced her to move to California. Once there, Del Ríos acting career would establish her as an iconic figure during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Considered the first major Latin American crossover Hollywood star, she would pave the way for generations of actors to follow.
Just a year after her first film, Del Río’s first major success came in the 1926 comedy-drama war film What Price Glory? When she moved from silent films to “talkies” in the 1930s, she earned starring roles and appeared in films opposite stars like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, eventually returning to Mexico where she quickly became one of the top actresses in the Mexican film industry.
Del Río is also remembered as a philanthropist and advocate for the arts. She was the first woman to sit on the jury of the Cannes film festival. She co-founded the Society for the Protection of the Artistic Treasures of Mexico, a group dedicated to preserving historical buildings and artwork in her home country. In 1970, she helped open a center to provide childcare for members of the Mexican Actor’s Guild, which bears her name and still operates to this day.
A trailblazer for women in Hollywood and beyond, Dolores Del Río’s legacy endures in American and Mexican cinema.
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Aug 1, 2017
Switzerland National Day 2017
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...445504-2xa.gif
Switzerland National Day commemorates the founding of the Swiss Confederation in 1291, when the three cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden formed an alliance upon which modern Switzerland was formed.
Across Switzerland, communities and cities celebrate the First of August with bonfires, fireworks, and plenty of Swiss flags, like the one depicted in today’s Doodle. Families head to farms to enjoy a hearty farmer’s breakfast of fresh cheeses and crispy rösti. Bakeries serve special bread rolls called “Zopf.” In the evening, all the church bells in Switzerland ring out for a quarter of an hour while houses are decorated with paper lanterns.
Whether you call it Schweizer Bundesfeier in German, Fête nationale suisse in French, Festa nazionale svizzera in Italian, or Fiasta naziunala Svizra in Romansh, happy celebrating!
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Jul 28, 2017
Perú National Day 2017
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...0321920-2x.jpg
June 28th is the first of two national holidays commemorating Perú's independence. The festivities begin in Lima with a presidential address, 21-cannon salute, and flag-raising ceremony. Regional celebrations include musical performances in plazas and parks, and street fairs offering delights like ceviche and pisco. And the red-and-white Perúvian flag flies above cities and countryside, saluting General José de San Martín's declaration of independence on this date in 1821.
Today's Doodle, by guest artist Elliot Tupac, captures Perú's breathtaking natural beauty — from the tiniest flutter of hummingbird wings to the soaring peaks of Machu Picchu. Happy Fiestas Patrias!
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Jul 28, 2017
100th Anniversary of the Silent Parade
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...9340416-2x.jpg
There was no singing, no chanting — just silence.
On July 28, 1917, the only sound on New York City’s Fifth Avenue was the muffled beat of drums as nearly 10,000 African American children, women, and men marched in silence in what came to be known as the Silent Parade. It was one of the first mass protests of lynching and anti-black violence in the United States. The parade was precipitated by the East St. Louis Riots of 1917, during which between 40 and 250 Black people were killed and thousands more displaced by white mobs.
Organized by the NAACP, including leaders James Weldon Johnson and W.E.B Du Bois, the protest demanded that President Woodrow Wilson take the legislative action to protect African Americans that he had touched on during his presidential campaign. Although the demonstrators marched in silence, their message was very clear. One sign read, “Mr. President, why not make America safe for democracy” — a challenge at a time where the President was promising to bring democracy to the world through World War I while Black Americans were being stripped of their civil rights at home.
Today's Doodle commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Silent Parade, and honors those whose silence resonates a century later.
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Jul 28, 2017
Albert [Elea] Namatjira’s 115th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...28352.4-2x.jpg
Today is the 115th birthday of renowned Aboriginal Australian artist Albert [Elea] Namatjira. Born in 1902 near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia, he joined the Arrernte community at the age of 13 where he developed his love for the rough and wild Australian landscape.
Namatjira loved sketching from the time he was a young boy, and quickly took to painting the natural beauty around him in the bush. His landscape images earned recognition in Australia and around the world. Namatjira also inspired the Hermannsburg School for his community in Alice Springs, teaching aspiring young artists to depict the Australian landscape.
Today’s Doodle is a painting created by Albert’s granddaughter, Gloria Pannka. To represent her grandfather, Gloria chose to paint the beautiful hills between Hamilton Downs and the West MacDonnell Ranges in central Australia. Albert’s homeland is not far away from this area, and Gloria says that visiting this landscape connects her to her grandparents.
Gloria is also a member of an artistic community, Iltja Ntjarra / Many Hands Art Centre inspired by her grandfather’s works. The art centre works to maintain and promote Aboriginal cultural heritage.
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Jul 21, 2017
Belgium National Day 2017
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...2815232-2x.png
On this day, Belgium commemorates the inauguration of King Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians. Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a German prince, embraced his royal role on June 26th, 1831, and pledged his allegiance to the fledgling country just a few weeks later, on July 21.
Previously known as Southern Netherlands, Belgium had been governed by various foreign countries over the centuries, including Spain and France. It also withstood the Dutch Period [1815 – 1830] under King William I, a vigorous advocate of industrialization, before finally attaining its longed-for freedom from the United Kingdom of Netherlands.
Belgian National Day is a festive public holiday celebrated with military parades, air force aerial demonstrations, and free concerts, finished with fireworks. Some Belgians also show their national pride by dressing in red, yellow and black, the colors of the country’s flag.
Our Doodle, illustrated by KHUAN+KTRON, takes us on a joyful tour of Belgium’s iconic Flemish and Wallonian landmarks and sights, from the Royal Palace in Brussels, where Leopold I was sworn in, to the Sint-Truiden, known for its blossoming fruit trees, to Antwerp Cathedral and the Pairi Daiza zoo, home of the giant panda, with stops along the way for such Belgian treats as frieten [fries], cheese and chocolate.
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Jul 17, 2017
Celebrating the ICC 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F7mm0jnAXw
The ICC Women's World Cup is in full swing!" If you haven't yet taken a whack at the whimsical wickets of our Doodle cricket game, prepare to be bowled over!
Ah, summer: the sound of leather on willow, and the spectacle of cricket ... cricket! As the tournament begins, something buzzes outside. A team of crickets sans tickets have set up their own wickets for a game of pest cricket! As they face their arch rivals, the snails, it’s sure to be a match for the centuries. Don’t be fooled by their sluggish looks — these fielders can be fast on their feet!
To celebrate the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup, we’re inviting everyone to tap/click and take a swing at our pocket-size game!
We know that cricket is loved worldwide, so we wanted to make sure our Doodle works for everyone, including those on slower mobile networks. We kept the file size fly-sized, and the result is our smallest interactive Doodle ever — even snail networks can load it in seconds.
Whether you're enjoying the tournament at a snail’s pace or bowling faster than the beat of a hummingbird's wings, here's hoping you hit it out of the park this summer!
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Jul 12, 2017
Tayeb Salih’s 88th Birthday
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“There are many horizons that must be visited, fruit that must be plucked, books read, and white pages in the scrolls of life to be inscribed with vivid sentences in a bold hand,” claims the narrator of Tayeb Salih’s most critically acclaimed novel, Seasons of Migration to the North.
First published in Arabic in 1967, Seasons of Migration to the North was an international hit and is considered a national treasure of Sudan. It was eventually translated into 20 languages, and in 2011 it was deemed the most important Arabic novel of the 20th century by the Arab Literary Academy.
Before his literary successes, Salih was born to a poor family in a village in northern Sudan in 1929. He studied in the capital, Khartoum, before moving to England four years before his country gained its independence in 1956. After leaving Sudan, Salih spent much of his life living in various cities across Europe and the Arab world, but his work always found a firm foundation in his homeland -- mostly the fictional village of Wad Hamid.
Today’s doodle honors his sense of a setting, incorporating recurring elements from some of Salih’s most popular stories, like Seasons, The Wedding of Al Zein [1962], and A Handful of Dates [1964]. Through Salih’s window we can see a boy and his beloved grandfather, the shade of a palm tree, and the river Nile.
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Jul 10, 2017
Eva Ekeblad’s 293rd Birthday
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Today we celebrate Eva Ekeblad’s 293rd birthday. The Swedish scientist brought potatoes, then a greenhouse curiosity, to the people. Eva discovered the starch was humble but mighty – potatoes could be ground into flour or distilled into spirits. Her discovery helped reduce famine in years to come.
For her scientific and delicious work, Eva Ekeblad became the first woman elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1748. She was truly a pioneer - the next woman recognized in those ranks would come 203 years later.
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July 3, 2017
140th Anniversary of Wimbledon
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Today’s Doodle marks the 140th year of the Wimbledon championships, the world’s oldest tennis tournament. Each year, hundreds of players take a shot at winning this Grand Slam event. Wimbledon has drawn crowds since the dawn of professional tennis, way back when players were using handmade wooden rackets. The tournament is known for its grass courts, perfectly maintained to a neat 8mm — a sturdy height for fast-moving feet.
Like all British institutions, Wimbledon has its endearing quirks. Keep an eye out for the beloved Rufus the Hawk [featured in the Doodle], who dutifully shoos away any pigeons who land on the court during a match. And if you're wondering what the spectators are snacking on, it's strawberries and cream — 28,000kg every year!
To many fans and players, Wimbledon is tennis. Good luck to this year's competitors!