Google doodles

[9A]

20 July 2009
40th Anniversary of Moon Landing








A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959.
The United States' Apollo 11 was the first crewed mission to land on the Moon, on 20 July 1969. There were six crewed U.S. landings between 1969 and 1972, and numerous uncrewed landings, with no soft landings happening between 22 August 1976 and 14 December 2013.
The United States is the only country to have successfully conducted crewed missions to the Moon, with the last departing the lunar surface in December 1972. All soft landings took place on the near side of the Moon until 3 January 2019, when the Chinese Chang'e 4 spacecraft made the first landing on the far side of the Moon.

A total of twelve men have landed on the Moon. This was accomplished with two US pilot-astronauts flying a Lunar Module on each of six NASA missions across a 41-month period starting 20 July 1969, with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11, and ending on 14 December 1972 with Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt on Apollo 17. Cernan was the last man to step off the lunar surface.

All Apollo lunar missions had a third crew member who remained on board the command module. The last three missions included a drivable lunar rover, the Lunar Roving Vehicle, for increased mobility.

[9A]

23 Jul 2009
The 40th Anniversary of Comic-Con - Designed by Jim Lee © DC Comics







A comic book convention or comic con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels, or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Comic book conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which publishers, distributors, and retailers represent their comic-related releases.

Comic book conventions may be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s.

Comic-cons were traditionally organized by fans on a not-for-profit basis, though nowadays most events catering to fans are run by commercial interests for profit. Many conventions have award presentations relating to comics [such as the Eisner Awards, which have been presented at San Diego Comic-Con International since 1988; or the Harvey Awards, which have been presented at a variety of venues also since 1988].

At commercial events, comic book creators often give out autographs to the fans, sometimes in exchange for a flat appearance fee, and sometimes may draw illustrations for a per-item fee.

Commercial conventions are usually quite expensive and are hosted in hotels. This represents a change in comic book conventions, which traditionally were more oriented toward comic books as a mode of literature, and maintained a less caste-like differentiation between professional and fan.

The first official comic book convention was held in 1964 in New York City and was called New York Comicon. Early conventions were small affairs, usually organized by local enthusiasts [such as Jerry Bails, later known as the "Father of Comic Fandom", and Dave Kaler of the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors], and featuring a handful of industry guests. The first recurring conventions were the Detroit Triple Fan Fair, which ran from 1965–1978, and Academy Con, which ran from 1965–1967. Many recurring conventions begin as single-day events in small venues, which as they grow more popular expand to two days, or even three or more every year. Many comic-cons which had their start in church basements or union halls now fill convention centers in major cities.

Nowadays, comic conventions are big business, with recurring shows in every major American city. Comic book conventions in name only, the biggest shows include a large range of pop culture and entertainment elements across virtually all genres, including horror, animation, anime, manga, toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels.

San Diego Comic-Con International, a multigenre entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego since 1970, is the standard bearer for U.S. comic-cons. According to Forbes, the convention is the "largest convention of its kind in the world;"^[5] and is also the largest convention held in San Diego. According to the San Diego Convention and Visitor's Bureau, the convention has an annual regional economic impact of $162.8 million, with a $180 million economic impact in 2011. However, in 2017, SDCC lost its record of the largest annual multigenre convention to São Paulo's Comic Con Experience [first held in 2014].

Internationally, the world's largest comic book convention, in terms of attendees, is Japan's Comiket [first held in 1975], which boasts annual attendance of over half a million people. Italy's Lucca Comics & Games [first held in 1965] and France's Angoulême International Comics Festival [first staged in 1974] are the world's second and third largest comic festivals, respectively.

[9A]

23 July 2019
60th Anniversary of 'The Land Of Crimson Clouds' Publication






Today’s Doodle celebrates The Land of Crimson Clouds, a novel by Russian authors Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, published on this day in 1959. Perhaps the most influential science fiction writers in Russian history, the pair was inspired to collaborate on their first book together through a friendly bet. Arkady wagered his wife Yelena that he and his brother, who studied astronomy in Leningrad, could write a better science fiction novel than those being published in Russia at the time.

Censorship guidelines had restricted some of their predecessors, but in the 1950s a “thaw” was taking place, allowing writers greater freedom of expression. Completed in 1957, the same year as Russia’s historic Sputnik mission, Strana bagrovykh tuch [The Land of Crimson Clouds] is the story of a voyage to the planet Venus, set in the late 20th century. Presenting an optimistic view of the future, the Strugatsky brothers foresaw a world where technology and social progress went hand in hand, with photon-drive rockets carrying explorers to Venus in search of uranium to help generate nuclear power.

Although they lived hundreds of miles from each other, the Strugatskys went on to collaborate on over 25 novels. Their follow-up, Noon: 22nd Century, introduced the “Noon Universe,” interpreted by some as an allegory for the ideals of the Soviet Union, a world filled with intelligent, hard-working people happily engaged in interesting work.

By the late 1960s, the brothers increasingly used their writing to offer subtle critiques of authoritarian government, setting the action in faraway universes. Although some of their later works were censored for political reasons, their family has since made all their work available online as the writers originally intended.

[9A]

23 July 2014
Opening of Glasgow Commonwealth Games






The Commonwealth Games are underway! Hosted in Glasgow this year, this international sporting event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years. In addition to many typical Olympic sports, the games also include sports popular in the British Commonwealth like netball.

[9A]

24 Jul 2014
Robot Taekwon V's 38th Birthday








Only one man … er, robot can save our homepage from total domination—and that robot is Robot Taekwon V! Our doodle marks the 38th anniversary of the popular Korean animated film. Released in 1976, the movie went on to become a smash hit and inspired seven sequels, all the while embedding itself deeply into Korean culture.

[9A]

24 July 2010
Alfonse Mucha's 150th Birthday





Alfons Maria Mucha known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist, living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, best known for his distinctly stylized and decorative theatrical posters, particularly those of Sarah Bernhardt. He produced illustrations, advertisements, decorative panels, and designs, which became among the best-known images of the period.

In the second part of his career, at the age of 43, he returned to his homeland of Bohemia-Moravia region in Austria and devoted himself to painting a series of twenty monumental canvases known as The Slav Epic, depicting the history of all the Slavic peoples of the world, which he painted between 1912 and 1926. In 1928, on the 10th anniversary of the independence of Czechoslovakia, he presented the series to the Czech nation. He considered it his most important work. It is now on display in Prague.

[9A]

1 Aug 2010
Swiss National Day 2010

[9A]

12 Aug 2010
Mother's Day/Doodle 4 Google 2010 - Thailand Winner

[9A]

15 Aug 2010
National Liberation Day of Korea 2010

[9A]

17 Aug 2010
Indonesia Independence Day - 2010

[9A]

30 Aug 2010
Mary Shelley's 213th Birthday





Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus [1818], which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin and her mother was the philosopher and feminist activist Mary Wollstonecraft.

[9A]

14 Sept 2010
Akatsuka Fujio's 75th Birthday






Fujio Akatsuka was a pioneer Japanese artist of comical manga known as the Gag Manga King.

He was born in Rehe, Manchuria, the son of a Japanese military police officer. After World War II, he grew up in Niigata Prefecture and Nara Prefecture. When he was 19, he moved to Tokyo.

While working at a chemical factory, he drew many manga. After that, Tokiwa-so accepted him. He started his career as a shōjo artist, but in 1958, his Nama-chan became a hit, so he became a specialist in comic manga. He won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1964 for Osomatsu-kun and the Bungeishunjū Manga Award in 1971 for Tensai Bakabon. He is said to have been influenced by Buster Keaton and MAD magazine.

In 1965, Akatsuka established his own company "Fujio Productions Ltd.".

In 2000, he drew manga in braille for the blind.

Many of his manga featured supporting characters who ended up becoming more popular and more associated with their series than the main character, such as Papa [Tensai Bakabon], Iyami, Chibita [Osomatsu-kun], and Nyarome [Mōretsu Atarō].

[9A]

15 Sept 2010
Agatha Christie's 120th Birthday








Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap, which was performed in the West End from 1952 to 2020, as well as six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

[9A]

15 Sept 2010
El Salvador Independence Day 2010

[9A]

6 September 2017
Celebrating British Sign Language and the Braidwood Academy






As millions of children head back to school for the start of term, today we celebrate one educational institution in particular: the Braidwood Academy. Opened in 1760 in Edinburgh, Braidwood is considered the UK’s first school for deaf children and the first to include sign language in education.
Thomas Braidwood, the school’s founder, had just one deaf student when the school first opened. It turned out that one student was all it took – by 1780, the number had increased to 20 students as Braidwood found success in his teaching methods.


In addition to helping lay the groundwork for deaf education in Great Britain, Braidwood’s work contributed significantly to the development of British Sign Language [BSL]. He relied on teaching communication through natural gestures, which differed from the focus on speech and lip-reading elsewhere in Europe. His form of sign language ultimately set the standards for BSL as it is known today.


Today’s Doodle features a group of schoolchildren signing the letters below them. It is a celebration of the Braidwood Academy’s work but also of the importance of education for all students with their diversity of needs. Check out the video below to learn how to sign the alphabet using British Sign Language.

[9A]

22 June 2010
Konrad Zuse's 100th Birthday






Konrad Zuse was a German civil engineer, pioneering computer scientist, inventor and businessman. His greatest achievement was the world's first programmable computer; the functional program-controlled Turing-complete Z3 became operational in May 1941. Thanks to this machine and its predecessors, Zuse has often been regarded as the inventor of the modern computer.

[9A]

26 Jun 2010
Sunthorn Phu's 224th Birthday




Phra Sunthonwohan, known as Sunthorn Phu, is Thailand's best-known royal poet. He wrote during the Rattanakosin period.

Phu's career as a royal poet began in the reign of King Rama II, and when the king died, he resigned from the role and became a monk. Twenty years later, in the reign of King Rama III, he returned to court as a royal scribe, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Phu was renowned for composing verse, and his epic poetry is popular in Thailand to the present day. His works include Nirat Phukhao Thong, a collection of poems recounting his journey to the Golden Mountain; Nirat Suphan, his journey to Suphanburi Province; and the Phra Aphai Mani saga.

[9A]

4 Jul 2012
Bastille Day 2012

[9A]

21 Jul 2012
Belgium National Day 2012








In 1830, the southern provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands rebelled against Dutch rule, forcing the Dutch out of the region and securing Belgium’s independence.

This independence was approved by the European powers at the London Conference of 1830-31.

[9A]

29 July 2018
María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández’s 122nd Birthday





Today’s Doodle celebrates what would have been the 122nd birthday of María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández, a civil rights leader integral to advancing Mexican American and Mexican immigrant rights.

Born in Garza García, near Monterrey, Mexico in 1896, Hernández later immigrated to San Antonio, Texas, where she became one of the leading voices speaking against economic discrimination and educational segregation that was faced primarily by women and children of Mexican descent. Among her many contributions, she co-founded the Orden Caballeros de America [Order of the Knights of America] - a benefit societydedicated to educating Mexican Americans about their rights. She also helped organize the Asociación Protectora de Madres [Association for the Protection of Mothers] which provided financial aid to expectant mothers and La Liga de Defensa Pro-Escolar [The School Defense League] which fought to replace segregated educational facilities.

In addition to being a powerful organizer, Hernández was also a talented orator: she became San Antonio’s first Mexican American female radio announcer, and spent much of the rest of her life speaking up against injustice and inequality across both the Mexican and African American communities.

Today’s Doodle illustrates Hernández doing what she did best – using her voice to elevate and benefit her community.

Happy 122nd birthday, María Rebecca Latigo de Hernández!

[9A]

1 August 2018
Meena Kumari’s 85th Birthday





Born on this day in 1933, Meena Kumari grew up on camera, lighting up the silver screen from the age of four when she was known as “Baby Meena.” Over time, she emerged as one of Indian cinema’s foremost actors.

As shown in today’s Doodle, Kumari captivated audiences with her beautiful, expressive eyes. Appearing in more than 90 films during her 38 year career, she portrayed strong yet vulnerable women who made their own way through life, although they were often devastated by romance. Leading men were so bedazzled by Meena’s presence that Bollywood star Raaj Kumar admitted to flubbing his lines when shooting scenes with her. Today, her screen appearances are studied for flawless moments and the complex emotions she could evoke without uttering a word.

In addition to being a talented actress Kumari was also a accomplished poet who recorded an album of her compositions in Urdu titled I Write, I Recite, with music composed by Khayyam. Her legacy as a screen actress in unrivaled in Bollywood history. At India’s prestigious Filmfare awards in 1963, Kumari was the only best actress nominee for her performances in three different films.

Janmadin Mubarak Meena Kumari!

[9A]

1 August 2018
Gerda Taro’s 108th Birthday





Though she was tiny in stature, Gerda Taro had the heart of a giant. Known as “the little red fox,” the ginger-haired photographer fearlessly turned her camera lens to capture sensitive and critical images of conflict around the world, producing powerful black-and-white images that informed readers of the newspaper Ce Soir. In fact, Taro is considered to be the first female journalist in the world to cover the front lines of conflict.

Born on this day in 1910 in Stuttgart, Germany, Taro moved to France shortly after Adolf hitler was appointed the chancellor of Germany 1933. In Paris she met Robert Capa, a fellow refugee three years her junior who taught her the basics of photography. They became friends, changed their names [[she was originally named Gerta Pohorylle), and were enamored for a time. Capa would go on to co-found the Magnum Photo agency while Taro became known for her fearless reportage. “The troops loved her and she kept pushing,” said Taro’s biographer Jane Rogoyska. “Capa warned her not to take so many risks.”

During the last five months of Taro’s short career, she worked alone in Spain before tragically losing her life near El Escorial, northwest of Madrid, while capturing images on the front line of the Spanish Civil War in July 1937. By the age of 26, her searing battlefield images made her a household name, even though many of those images were misattributed to Capa.

Here’s to Gerda Taro, who had a photographer’s eye, a journalist’s soul, and a warrior’s courage.

[9A]

1 August 2003
Swiss National Day 2003

[9A]

4 October 2017
Violeta Parra’s 100th Birthday







Today we celebrate the 100th birthday of Violeta Parra, the Chilean composer, folk singer, social activist, author, and artist.

Born in the small, southern Chilean town of San Fabián de Alico, Parra picked up the guitar at an early age and began writing songs with her siblings. She started her career performing in small venues, later traveling across Chile to record a large breadth of traditional Chilean folk music. Her increasing popularity eventually earned her her own radio show and an invitation to perform at a youth festival in Poland. While in Europe, she also explored the visual arts, creating oil paintings, wire sculptures, ceramics, and burlap tapestries called arpilleras which were exhibited in the Louvre Palace in Paris in 1964.

She is perhaps best remembered as the “Mother of Latin American folk,” pioneering the Nueva canción chilena, a renewal of Chilean folk traditions that blossomed into a movement which celebrated the fight for social justice throughout Latin America. Upon her return to Chile in 1965, she established Centro Cultural La Carpa de La Reina, a community center for the arts and political activism.

[9A]

4 October 2016
434th Anniversary of the Introduction of the Gregorian Calendar







From October 5–October 14, 1582, time was erased. Not literally, of course; just on the calendar.
These ten days were declared non-existent by then-pope Gregory XIII as part of a realignment of the Julian calendar, implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. In the mid-1570s, it was discovered that the Julian calendar was actually 10 days behind the seasons of the year. For example, Easter began falling later in the spring than it should have and eventually would have drifted into summer. The calendar creep was the result of the solar year [the time it takes Earth to make one revolution around the sun] being around 11 minutes shy of the full Julian calendar. To be precise, the solar year is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds.

Pope Gregory saved the day [and season] by appointing a commission to solve the problem. It took five years, but eventually the group, led by physician Aloysius Lilius and astronomer Christopher Clavius, proposed eliminating three leap years every 400 years to keep the calendar on track. To transition to the Gregorian calendar, ten days were declared officially non-existent, with the day after October 4, 1582 declared October 15th. First implemented by Italy, Spain, and Portugal, the Gregorian calendar is today’s most widely used system.

[9A]

10 Oct 2016
50th Anniversary of Health and Sports Day







On Japan’s annual Health and Sports Day, everyone wins! That spirit inspired today’s Doodle, which shows Google-hued characters of all ages crossing the finish line together. First celebrated 50 years ago today, the holiday commemorates the opening of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Since the occasion is all about promoting an active lifestyle, Japanese people both young and old celebrate by going for the gold. Many schools host field days that resemble mini Olympics, featuring events like the relay, long jump, and shot put, along with obstacle courses and tug of war.

For decades, Health and Sports Day was held on October 10th, but it was officially moved to the second Monday in October back in 2000. This year, the holiday happens to fall on its original date — just in time for its 50th birthday.

[9A]

11 Oct 2016
Edgar Negret’s 96th birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates Edgar Negret, a Colombian sculptor known for depicting abstract nature scenes out of intricate metalwork. The second "o" in “Google” features some of his signature sculptures.

In 1957 Negret created one of his most famous sculpture series, “Aparatos mágicos,” or Magical Apparatuses. The magical realism of these sculptures showcase Negret’s style, which would become a major part of Colombia’s fine arts scene.

Many of Negret’s sculptures can now be found in his hometown of Popayán, Colombia, in the house where he lived, which now serves as the Negret House Museum. On the 96th anniversary of Negret’s birth, we remember his dedication to art, nature, and Colombia.

[9A]

14 Oct 2016
Celebrating Mary Seacole




Today we celebrate Mary Seacole, the Jamaican/Scottish nurse widely known to the British Army as “Mother Seacole.” She learned the ways of herbal medicine from her mother, a “doctress” well-versed in traditional Caribbean and African herbal remedies. Despite the challenges she faced as a woman of mixed race in the 1850s, she began experimenting with medicine under her mother’s guidance at one of the best facilities in Kingston, Jamaica. She moved to Gorgona, where she briefly ran a women’s-only hotel before she set off on a journey that would cement her place in history.

When the Crimean War broke out, Mary’s application to assist was refused despite her nursing experience. Determined to help, she used her own limited resources to travel and set up a hotel behind the lines in Crimea. Here, she tirelessly tended to the curing and comforting of wounded soldiers coming off the battlefield and people from all walks in need: “The grateful words and smiles which rewarded me for binding up a wound or giving a cooling drink was a pleasure worth risking life for at any time.”

Here’s to Mary’s legacy as an empowered healer and humanitarian, which will continue to live on and inspire.

[9A]

14 October 2014
Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin's 135th Birthday







Sybylla from the novel My Brilliant Career gazes upon her grandmother's house in our doodle in Australia for writer Miles Franklin's 135th Birthday. Franklin made a lasting impact on Australian literature and captivated readers with her tales of life in the rural countryside.

[9A]

14 October 2013
Katherine Mansfield's 125th Birthday





Kathleen Mansfield Murry [née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923] was a prominent modernist writer who was born and brought up in New Zealand. She wrote short stories and poetry under the pen name Katherine Mansfield. When she was 19, she left colonial New Zealand and settled in England, where she became a friend of D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Lady Ottoline Morrell and others in the orbit of the Bloomsbury Group. Mansfield was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in 1917, and she died in France aged 34.

[9A]

11 April 2018
K. L. Saigal’s 114th Birthday







K.L. Saigal left an indelible mark on the early days of Indian cinema, establishing himself as one of the first true Bollywood superstars with 36 films spanning three languages over fifteen years. Singing 185 songs over his career, Saigal’s distinct vocal style helped establish his legacy as an inspirational figure for many stars that came after him.

Due to his modest background, as a child Saigal earned his music education informally, singing along with people at a local shrine or at religious ceremonies with his mother. He dropped out of school and held odd jobs as a timekeeper, salesman, and manager, pursuing singing on the side.

His big break came in 1932 when he was cast in three movies by the film studio New Theatres. The very next year, the songs he sang in the film Puran Bhagat [1933] grew wildly popular in India, breaking him to the mainstream. New Theatres churned out Saigal-led hits through 1940, when he moved to Mumbai to work with Ranjit Movietone. After successful movies like Bhukt Surdas [1942] and Tansen [1943], Saigal returned to New Theatres for his final films. His final film Parwana [1947] was released posthumously.

Created by guest artist Vidhya Nagarajan, today’s Doodle celebrates Saigal’s illustrious career with a portrait of the singer doing what he does best.

Happy 114th Birthday, K.L. Saigal!

[9A]

11 April 2017
Misuzu Kaneko’s 114th birthday








Simple and expressive enough for children yet deep and accessible enough for adults, the works of Misuzu Kaneko were nearly lost to time until they were rediscovered four decades later. Misuzu is known throughout Japan as a poet who expressed childlike wonderment and humility simply and beautifully through her words.

Born Teru Kaneko in the fishing village of Senzaki, twenty-year-old Misuzu sent her first poems to several Tokyo children’s magazines in 1923. Her mother, who ran a bookstore in the small town of Shimonoseki, ensured her daughter was highly educated. Misuzu became a voracious reader, in turn inspiring her to try her own hand at writing. What resulted were internationally read poems beloved by several generations.

Today’s Doodle took its inspiration from Misuzu’s poem “A Bell, A Bird, and Me.”

No matter how I spread my arms
I can not fly at all,
But unlike me, a flying bird
Can not run fast on ground.
Though I rock my body back and forth
It makes no pretty sounds,
Yet unlike me, a ringing bell
Does not know many songs.
A bell, a bird, and also me,
All are different, all are good.

The poem exemplify Misuzu’s insatiable curiosity about nature and her ability to find the good in adversity. Another early Doodle sketch captures the spirit of her poem “Are You An Echo?”, aired by TV stations to inspire volunteers helping in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

[9A]

11 April 2014
Percy Julian's 115th Birthday






If you are intrigued by today's doodle on the U.S. Google homepage, celebrating organic chemist, Dr. Percy Julian, I can provide no better recommendation than to watch the PBS documentary, Forgotten Genius, illustrating both his personal life and life's work.
It's no scientific revelation that it's the experiences from our everyday lives that inform our work, and in Dr. Julian's case, he used these experiences, overcoming tremendous challenges and racial barriers [and even a couple happy accidents] to become one of the most renowned and highly respected chemists in history.

As I read more about his work, I became fascinated with his process in the specific field of organic chemistry, and how he discovered ways to take rare and exotic components and synthesize them or discover alternate organic substances in place of more cost-prohibitive resources. Yep, that's a mouthful! So here are two key examples: His most well known triumph was the synthesis of the alkaloid, physostigmine, found in the african calabar bean, which led to a more readily available treatment of ailments such as glaucoma and Alzheimer's Disease. He also pioneered many uses from the soybean and soybean oil, developing a better process for obtaining cortisone to treat arthritis or to aid the body in the receiving of organ transplants.


Happy 115th birthday to the NOT Forgotten Genius, Dr. Percy Lavon Julian!

[9A]

11 April 2007
Yuri Gagarin's Birthday





Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin  [9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968] was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour.

[9A]

22 Apr 2007
Earth Day 2007

[9A]

22 April 2010
Earth Day 2010

[9A]

22 April 2009
Earth Day 2009

[9A]

22 April 2014
Earth Day 2014






I had a lot of hair-brained ideas for Earth Day 2014, before at last stumbling upon the solution you see before you. My desk was littered with hastily scrawled notes and sketches involving old tractor tires, the number of water bottles consumed by north americans per annum, and sea turtles wearing plastic shopping bags like waist-coat travesties.

My colleague, cohort, and coder extraordinaire Corrie Scalisi had recently been on holiday in East Africa, and after a brainstorm session during which I had expounded on the ways I could spell 'Google' using trash, related to me some truly moving facts about the horticultural tendencies of garden-variety dung beetles.

Most of us are aware of the beetles' propensity for whisking away lumps of dung for their own purposes. Perhaps less known, is the most marvelous side effect dung-rolling has of bolstering soil quality and richness, which in turn fosters tree growth in areas where the beetles live.

The notion that the 'animals' we share our planet with can cause such positive repercussions within their habitat moved me to focus on the many and varied beings that the Earth has given rise to.

With that, I set about sketching out ways I could incorporate a diverse range of fauna into the google logo, with specific emphasis on not giving to much importance to members of my own class: Mammalia.

[9A]

22 April 2015
Earth Day 2015








WHICH ANIMAL ARE YOU? TAKE THE GOOGLE DOODLE EARTH DAY QUIZ!

You can search Google for answers to all kinds of animal questions: What does an aye-aye eat? Where do narwhals live? How long is a toco toucan's beak? And this Earth Day, you can turn to Google for the answer to something that you’ve always needed to know: which animal are you???

Clicking on this year’s Earth Day logo [or searching for “Earth Day quiz”] presents one of the Internet’s favorite pastimes: a totally scientific and 1,000% accurate personality quiz. Take the time to answer a few questions to determine and share your Earth Day animal. And, of course, you’re only a search away from learning more about nature’s precious pals and interesting inhabitants [fyi: kakapo is the heaviest parrot].

[9A]

24 Jun 2018
Saloua Raouda Choucair’s 102nd Birthday






Today we celebrate the Lebanese sculptor Saloua Choucair, a trailblazer of modern art.
Fascinated with science and mathematics, Choucair explored mathematical patterns through her abstract sculptures, known for their interlocking parts. Works like her Structure with One Thousand Pieces [1966-68] are renowned for their intricacy. A series she called “poems” was composed of numerous movable pieces that could be appreciated as separate pieces or as an assemblage, much like the verses of a Sufi poem.

After visiting the studio of the renowned French artist Fernand Léger, she was inspired to push even farther into abstraction. A small 1947 show of her work at Beirut’s Arab Cultural Gallery is widely recognized as the earliest exhibition of abstract art in the Arab world. “It’s a universal influence,” Choucair once said of her work, which ranged from sculpture and installation to design and architecture. “What I experience, everyone in the world experiences.”

Like many great artists, Choucair gained recognition and acclaim later in life, creating until she was 90 years old. A tireless worker, she filled up her sketchbooks with endless designs before prototyping ideas in stone, wood, metal, plastic or fiberglass. She was 97 years old when London’s Tate Modern put on a retrospective spanning her 70-year career, her first outside of Lebanon.
Happy birthday, Saloua Choucair!

[9A]

25 Jun 2018
Eloisa Díaz’s 152nd Birthday




Today we celebrate the 152nd birthday of Chilean trailblazer, Eloisa Díaz. Born in 1866, Díaz spent most of her life in her native Santiago. Chile was one of the first Latin American countries to create policies designed to expand and improve the quality of women’s education. As a result, Díaz was able to attend the Universidad de Chile. After graduating with her Bachelor’s degree, Díaz enrolled in the Escuela de Medicina [school of medicine]. In 1887, she became the first woman in all of Latin America, to earn the professional title of physician.

During Díaz’s early career, she worked as a physician and teacher. In 1898, she became the School Medic Supervisor of Santiago. Later, Díaz was promoted to the position of School Medic Supervisor of Chile, where she remained for more than 30 years.

In addition to practicing medicine, Díaz was an avid philanthropist. She used her position and influence to create reforms focused on helping the children of Chile, including founding kindergartens, creating polyclinics for students with limited resources, and organizing school camps.

Today’s Doodle celebrates Díaz as a pioneer for women in the medical field and depicts her commitment to social initiatives for children. Her legacy still serves as inspiration for women around the world looking to break barriers and pursue higher education.Happy birthday, Eloisa Díaz!

[9A]

25 June 2015
Mozambique Independence Day 2015








Mozambique succeeded in achieving independence on June 25, 1975, after a civil resistance movement known as the Carnation Revolution backed by portions of the military in Portugal overthrew the Salazar regime, thus ending 470 years of Portuguese colonial rule in the East African region.

[9A]

25 June 2013
Antoni Gaudí's 161st Birthday






Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Catalan architect known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, sui generis style. Most are located in Barcelona, including his main work, the church of the Sagrada Família.

Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion. He considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces.

Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the Modernista movement which was reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work transcended mainstream Modernisme, culminating in an organic style inspired by natural forms.

Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and moulding the details as he conceived them.

Gaudí's work enjoys global popularity and continuing admiration and study by architects. His masterpiece, the still-incomplete Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Spain. Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Gaudí's Roman Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname "God's Architect" and led to calls for his beatification.

[9A]

29 Jun 2013
The 100th Tour de France






The illustration for the 100th Tour De France seemed like a great opportunity to unify design, illustration and animation. From rough drawings to finished animation the choices boiled down to combining 2 key views of a rider. At one point there was no bike at all!

Concerning the event itself the illustration was a great opportunity to take the tour back in time to an era of moustaches and wheel tubing over shoulders! It's a moving graphic that points to the future yet recognises the nostalgia and heritage of early 20th century tour posters.

[9A]

30 Jun 2013
Herta Heuwer's 100th Birthday





Herta Charlotte Heuwer owned and ran a food kiosk in West Berlin. She is frequently credited with the invention of the take-out dish that would become the world-renowned currywurst, supposedly on 4 September 1949. The original Currywurst was a boiled sausage, fried, with a sauce of tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, curry powder and other ingredients.

Heuwer was born in Königsberg. In January 1951, she registered a trademark for her sauce, Chillup.

Heuwer moved her business to a larger facility at Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße 59, which, during its heyday, was open day and night and employed 19 saleswomen. On 29 June 2003, the day before what would have been her 90th birthday, a plaque was dedicated in her honor at this address.
Heuwer died in Berlin, aged 86.

[9A]

30 June 2008
Doodle 4 Google 2008 - Israel Winner

[9A]

30 June 2016
165th Anniversary of First Firefighter's Corp in Chile






Since 1851, Chile’s bomberos have risked life and limb to keep citizens safe from fire. There are 307 individual fire departments across Chile bonded together by Chile’s National Board of Fire Departments. What makes the bomberos especially unique is that they all serve on a volunteer basis.

It all started on this day in the bustling seaport of Valparaiso, where the city’s most influential citizens came together to form the First Firefighter’s Corp. More fire departments followed, each created by and for the community it represented.

Today’s Doodle was inspired by those who’ve served the people of Chile through their dedication and selflessness. Though they operate independently, the country’s bomberos share a common goal of working hard to protect local neighborhoods and communities.

[9A]

1 Jul 2016
Canada Day 2016






Break out the Canadian flags and barbecue - today is Canada Day! Also known as the fête du Canada and Canada’s birthday, today celebrates July 1, 1867, when three British North American provinces joined to create the confederation of Canada.

While July 1 became a holiday in Canada in 1879, it wasn’t officially celebrated until its 50th anniversary in 1917. Celebrations this year [and most] include parades, outdoor concerts, and air shows from Canada’s Air Force.

Today’s Doodle commemorates the holiday with a depiction of aurora borealis, or the Northern Lights. Arguably one of nature’s most beautiful sights, the Northern Lights are best viewed on a crisp Canadian night. Happy birthday, Canada!

[9A]

1 July 2014
Canada Day 2014








One of the things Canadians are most proud of is that their country is a cultural mosaic, where people from different cultures live together but retain their strong ethnic identities. In the spirit of uniting countries for the World Cup games, we wanted to celebrate the cultural melting pot that is Canada. The doodle itself resembles a mosaic or patchwork quilt, with various walks of life represented through dress and textile patterns.

[9A]

5 Jul 2014
World Cup 2014 #51