Google doodles

[9A]

26 January 2022

Recognizing Eastern Spinebill




Today’s Doodle recognizes January 26 with a depiction of the Eastern Spinebill, a species of honeyeater recognizable by its long, down-curved bill and energetic flight patterns. From Cooktown in northern Queensland to the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, the Eastern Spinebill can be found hastily collecting nectar from flowering trees across forested areas and suburban gardens.

Australia is home to one of the most diverse collections of avian life on the planet. Songbirds, pigeons, and parrots all evolved in the country’s rich ecosystem. Today, there are over 830 native species of birds inhabiting the island continent. From the iconic emu to the elusive night parrot—and of course, the tiny Eastern Spinebill—Australia’s unique avian population makes it a paradise for bird lovers.

So if you spot an Eastern Spinebill darting between trees or hear its signature piping whistle, take a moment and appreciate the bird song!

[9A]

26 January 2020

India Republic Day 2020




On the 71st Republic Day of India, today’s Doodle, illustrated by Singapore-based guest artist Meroo Seth, highlights the rich cultural heritage that permeates and unites the diverse Asian subcontinent—from its world-famous landmarks like the Taj Mahal and India Gate; to the wide array of fauna such as its national bird [the Indian peafowl]; to classical arts, textiles, and dances—all coming together to find harmony amongst their differences.

Republic Day marks the completion of India’s transition from the British Raj to an independent republic. It also represents the anniversary of the declaration of Purna Swaraj, which translates to “complete freedom,” by the Indian National Congress in 1929.

Festivities embody the essence of diversity found in one of the world’s most populous nations, celebrated over a three-day period with cultural events displaying national pride.

Happy Republic Day, India!

[9A]

1 Feb 2020

Lelia Gonzalez's 85th birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates Brazilian anthropologist and activist Lélia Gonzalez, widely known as one of the most influential figures of the 20th-century black civil rights and feminist movements of Brazil.

Born in Belo Horizonte on this day in 1935, at a young age Gonzalez moved to Rio de Janeiro and entered a high school that forced her to deny her black-indigenous heritage to be accepted by teachers and white classmates. Experiences such as this inspired Gonzalez to preserve her Afro-Brazilian culture and become the first in her family to pursue higher education. She continued on to earn her PhD in Social Anthropology and started her acclaimed career as a cultural studies professor.

Gonzalez utilized her academic work to advocate against racial and gender discrimination and outside of universities, she was a dedicated activist. In 1978, she co-founded the Unified Black Movement which is considered to be among the most impactful black civil rights organizations in Brazil. Gonzalez began to travel around the world as a representative of the group and spread its message of social justice. She recognized the power of these movements to propagate change and co-founded Brazil’s first women’s rights group, the Nzinga Collective of Women, in 1983.

Gonzalez’s passion to free the world of racism and sexism will be remembered by many generations to come. In honor of her landmark achievements, The United Nations of Brazil named a new building after Lélia Gonzalez in 2015.

[9A]

1 February 2018

Celebrating Kamala Das





“I speak three languages, write in two, dream in one.”

Today we celebrate poet and author Kamala Das on the the publication date of her autobiography, “My Story,” released in 1976. Das’ life and work had a boldness and shapeshifting quality, whether it was the many genres she wrote in or the various languages in which she expressed herself. She was determined to live life on her own terms, resisting labels such as “feminist” and choosing different names for herself over the course of her life. When she began publishing, she used the pseudonym Madhavikutty; Ami was her pet name; and Suraiyya, the name she gave herself upon her conversion to Islam.

Das originally wrote her autobiography in English, but translated it to Malayalam along the way. The story captures her life from childhood to marriage and beyond, describing the rich inner world of a creative soul. While some found the book to be controversial, including relatives who tried to block it from being published, many readers were enchanted by the lyricism and honesty of her writing.

Through all her transitions and personal reinventions, Das continued to write poetry and prose that was unflinching and passionate. Today’s Doodle by artist Manjit Thapp celebrates the work she left behind, which provides a window into the world of an engrossing woman.

[9A]

1 February 2022

Dr Sabire Aydemir's 112th birthday


Today’s Doodle celebrates the first woman to become a veterinary doctor in Turkey, Dr. Sabire Aydemir. Born on this day in 1910 in Kastamonu, Turkey, Aydemir followed her love for animals to pave her own path in the then-exclusive field of veterinary medicine.

During an era when women were not encouraged to pursue higher education, Aydemir attended the Erenköy Girls’ High School Istanbul in 1933 and set her sights on a career in medicine. She furthered her studies at Ankara University Veterinary Faculty. Despite social challenges, she graduated as Turkey’s first woman veterinarian in 1937.

In turn-of-the-century Turkey, conditions in the field of veterinary medicine were far from comfortable—most vets attended to cattle in the rugged countryside only accessible by horseback. Her career blossomed as a laboratory assistant in bacteriological research—a field in which she soon became an expert. Aydemir spent a lifetime promoting animal health and welfare, retiring as a specialist at the Samsun Atakum’s Veterinary Control Research Institute.

To honor her pioneering achievements, the Turkish government awarded Aydemir with the First Female Veterinarian of the Republic of Turkey plaque in 1984. And in 2016, she was given the Turkish Veterinary Medical Association Honor Award posthumously.

Thank you, Dr. Sabire Aydemir, for inspiring future generations of women!

[9A]

1 February 2020

60th anniversary of the Greensboro sit-in




In honor of Black History Month, today’s diorama Doodle, created by Compton-based guest artist Karen Collins of the African American Miniature Museum, remembers the Greensboro sit-in on its 60th anniversary. Organized by four Black college freshmen who became known as the “Greensboro Four,” this protest against segregation was a key part of the Civil Rights Movement, sparking a series of similar demonstrations throughout the nation.

Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s nonviolent protests for racial equality, North Carolina A&T State University freshmen Ezell Blair Jr. [a.k.a. Jibreel Khazan], David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil, met at the local Woolworth’s department store in Greensboro, North Carolina on this day in 1960. The group requested service at the “whites-only” lunch counter—a common discriminatory and segregation practice by US businesses and institutions allowed by Jim Crow era laws. Denied service, the four continued to peacefully occupy their seats and refused to leave until the store closed at night.

In the days and weeks that followed, the “Greensboro Four'' were joined by hundreds of other protesters. As the movement grew however, so too did the opposition, who routinely verbally harassed protesters with racial slurs—even resorting to spitting and throwing food at the nonviolent demonstrators. Undaunted, protestors were willing to repeat the sit-ins for as long as necessary, in hopes that the establishment would feel pressured to desegregate.

As a result of the movement’s passion and resilience, Woolworth's fully integrated their dining area on July 25th, 1960. Catalyzing a much larger nonviolent sit-in movement across the country, the protests played a definitive role in the fight for civil rights. In its wake, segregation of public places became illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In recognition of this historic demonstration, the Woolworth’s Department Store in Greensboro is now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, and part of the counter is housed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

[9A]

1 February 2013

María Elena Walsh's 83rd Birthday




María Elena Walsh was an Argentine poet, novelist, musician, playwright, writer and composer, mainly known for her songs and books for children. Her work includes many of the most popular children's books and songs of all time in her home country.

[9A]

Feb 1, 2015

Langston Hughes’ 113th Birthday






What does “I Dream A World” mean to you? To doodler Katy Wu, Langston Hughes’ poem is a message of equality and hope. “This poem has a hopeful message and I like that. It comes from a time where there was a lot of work to be done for civil rights,” says Katy. That’s a sentiment Hughes also shared when writing his poem, which first originated as a lyric in the the opera Troubled Island by William Grant Still. As Hughes experienced and witnessed the failings of his society, he never lost the desire and belief that a better world would eventually appear.




But Hughes’ era was also filled with passion and cultural innovation, characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance and a source for Wu’s inspiration. She looked to the soulful artwork that adorned 1930s-40s Jazz albums for her design. The doodle’s music, serving as a tour guide through each verse of the poem, features Adam Ever-Hadani on the piano and the The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, a 6 member musical ensemble that make music using manual typewriters.




As the poem and music flowed together, Wu used it to influence for her drawings, ultimately leading her to the streets of Manhattan and Harlem–which make vital cameos in the doodle and anchor the spirit of “I Dream a World” to Hughes’ roots.

[9A]

1 February 2014

Celebrating Harriet Tubman




Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist and social activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 slaves, including family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War, she served as an armed scout and spy for the Union Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the movement for women's suffrage.


Harriet Ross Tubman

[9A]

1 February 2018

Celebrating Carter G. Woodson




Today’s Doodle by Virginia-based illustrator Shannon Wright and developed in collaboration with the Black Googlers Network [one of the largest employee resource groups at Google], marks the beginning of Black History Month by celebrating Carter G. Woodson - the man often called the “Father of Black History.” Woodson’s legacy inspired me to become an African American Studies major in college, and I am honored to kick off Google’s celebration this month by highlighting the life of this great American scholar.

Woodson was born in 1875 in New Canton, Virginia, to former slaves Anne Eliza and James Henry Woodson. His parents never had the opportunity to learn to read and write, but he had an appetite for education from the very beginning. As a young man, he helped support his family through farming and working as a miner, which meant that most of his education came via self-instruction. He eventually entered high school at the age of 20 and earned his diploma in less than two years!

Woodson went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, after which he became the second African-American ever to receive a doctorate from Harvard University. He was also one of the first scholars to focus on the study of African-American history, writing over a dozen books on the topic over the years.

In addition to studying it himself, Woodson was committed to bringing African-American history front and center and ensuring it was taught in schools and studied by other scholars. He devised a program to encourage this study, which began in February of 1926 as a weeklong event. Woodson chose February for this celebration to commemorate the birth months of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln. This program eventually expanded to become what we now today as Black History Month.

Woodson’s commitment to achieve an education for himself and spread awareness and pride in Black history inspired me and continues to do so in so many ways. As a black woman from an underserved, underperforming public school in Richmond, California, many in my community didn’t expect me to achieve much beyond the four corners of my neighborhood. When I voiced my ambition to go to Harvard, I was told by teachers, guidance counselors, and even some family members that “people like me” didn’t go to schools like that. Fortunately, my parents believed in me and supported ambitions beyond their vision and experience. That support, along with the inspiration of great American leaders like Woodson, gave me the confidence to follow my dreams and achieve more than I’ve ever imagined.

This Black History Month, I encourage others to learn more about the incredible legacy, contribution, and journey of black people in the United States. I also hope they will be inspired by the example of Carter G. Woodson and challenge themselves to push beyond any perceived limitations to achieve a goal they may think is just out of reach.

-Sherice Torres, Director of Brand Marketing at Google & Black Googlers Network member

[9A]

1 February 2016

Celebrating Frederick Douglass





There is scarcely a finer example of the power of education than Frederick Douglass. To celebrate the 198th birthday of one of American history’s most important thinkers, we invited guest artist Richie Pope to illustrate today’s homepage. For historical perspective, we turned to the Gilder Lehman Institute’s curator and director, Sandra Trenholm, who offered this biographical sketch:

Born Frederick Bailey in Maryland in February 1818, Frederick Douglass was the son of an enslaved woman and an unknown white father. His early life was spent on a plantation. However, when Douglass was eight years old, he was sent to Baltimore to work for the family of Hugh and Sophia Auld. In the Auld household, he learned a very valuable and life-changing lesson: education was the key to his freedom.






In the sketches above, artist Richie Pope initially explored ideas around Douglass’s historic speech on the meaning of the 4th of July and his career in publishing

Sophia Auld had not owned slaves before and treated Douglass with great kindness, taught him the alphabet, and awakened his love of learning. In his autobiographies, Douglass later wrote, “The frequent hearing of my mistress reading the Bible aloud… awakened my curiosity in respect to this mystery of reading, and roused in me the desire to learn.” When Hugh Auld learned of his wife’s activities, he warned that “if you teach him how to read, he’ll want to know how to write, and this accomplished, he’ll be running away with himself.” It was a statement that burned itself into Douglass’s mind. “From that moment, I understood the direct pathway from slavery to freedom.”

Although Sophia now refused to teach him, Douglass would not be thwarted in his quest for an education. His duties in the Auld household frequently had him running errands in the city. Away from the scrutiny of his masters, he obtained a copy of Noah Webster’s spelling book and made friends with a group of white boys who gave him spelling lessons. At the age of thirteen, he made a little extra money shining boots and bought a copy of the Columbian Orator for fifty cents [just over fourteen dollars now].

This collection of political speeches, poems, and essays introduced Douglass to the ideals of the American Revolution.





Further sketch ideas by Richie Pope showing Douglass in front of one of his newspapers and in his study with his collection of books.

At the age of fifteen, Douglass’s legal owner died and he was forced to return to plantation life. He spent the next five years assigned to several harsh masters, and endured severe hunger and beatings. After two unsuccessful attempts, he escaped from slavery in 1838 at the age of twenty and changed his name to Frederick Douglass.

Despite being at great risk of capture as a runaway slave, Douglass spoke about his experiences frequently at anti-slavery meetings. A truly gifted, eloquent, and articulate speaker, Douglass quickly became a leading figure in the abolitionist movement. He published his first autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave, in 1845. His fame attracted slave catchers which prompted him to leave the United States. In 1847, a group of British supporters raised money to purchase his freedom, and Douglass was able to return to the United States a free man. Upon his return, Douglass continued to advocate the abolition of slavery. He also championed equal rights for all Americans, regardless of race or gender. He published two additional autobiographies, founded five newspapers, and served as the US Consul General to Haiti.




An in-progress draft of Richie's illustration showing Douglass in front of a newspaper background that was inspired by the layout of The North Star which Douglass published from 1847 to 1851.

At a time when many argued that slaves did not possess the intellectual capacity to be educated, Douglass stood as stark evidence of enslaved people’s potential. Yet despite all he accomplished in his life, Douglass was haunted by the uncertainty of something most people take for granted--the date of his birth. On March 24, 1894, Douglass wrote to Hugh Auld’s son, Benjamin, hoping to find out how old he was:

The principal thing I desired in making the inquiries I have of you was to get some idea of my exact age. I have always been troubled by the thought of having no birth day. My Mistress Lucretia Auld, said that I was eight or nearly eight when I went to Baltimore in the summer of 1825, and this corresponds with what you have heard your kind mother say on the subject. so I now judge that I am now about 77-years old.

Frederick Douglass died a year later, on February 20, 1895, not knowing the date of his birth. It was not until after his death that historians discovered Aaron Anthony’s plantation ledger recording Douglass’s birth year as 1818. The exact date is still unknown.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a New York–based national nonprofit devoted to the teaching and learning of American history. On February 4, 2016, in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University, the Institute will award the 17th annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize.

To help us commemorate Frederick Douglass’s legacy, the Gilder Lehman Institute curated an exhibit of photographs and ephemera that you can explore here. Through our partnership with Open Road Integrated Media, Google Play Books is offering a free download of Douglass’s seminal autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave, which is available starting today, February 1, 2016.

[9A]

1 February 2017

Celebrating Edmonia Lewis




Edmonia Lewis wasn’t afraid to reshape convention. As the first woman of African American and Native American heritage to achieve international fame as a sculptor, Lewis is known for incorporating African American and Native American cultural themes into her Neoclassical style sculpture.

Born in New York in 1844 to a father of Afro-Haitian descent and a mother of Mississauga Ojibwe and African American descent, Lewis was adopted by her maternal aunts after her parents’ death when she was nine years old. At age 15, Lewis enrolled in Oberlin College, which is where she became passionate about art. Unfortunately however, her time at Oberlin was fraught with discrimination by many of her peers and the surrounding community. It was due to this that she was prevented from enrolling in her final term, and therefore was unable to receive her degree.

After her time at Oberlin, Lewis moved to Boston in 1864 to pursue a career as a sculptor. She was consistently denied apprenticeship until she met Edward A. Brackett, a sculptor whose clients included some of the most well-known abolitionists of the time. Lewis worked under Brackett until 1864, when she launched her first solo exhibition. Her work paid homage to the abolitionists and Civil War heroes of her day, including John Brown and Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Her work was very well received and with her success, she traveled to Rome, Italy.


In Rome, Lewis joined a circle of expat artists and established her own studio. During this time, Lewis began sculpting in marble, focusing on naturalism and themes relating to African American and Native American people. Her work commanded large sums of money, and she continued to receive international acclaim until her death in 1911.


Today’s Doodle art depicts Lewis sculpting one of her most famous works, The Death of Cleopatra, which is on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Her realistic portrayal of Cleopatra’s death received acclaim from critics, who called it “the most remarkable piece of sculpture in the American section" of the show. The vibrant colors of the Google letters also pay tribute to Lewis’s Native American roots - her Native American name was Wildfire.

Decades later, Lewis’s legacy continues to thrive through her art and the path she helped forge for women and artists of color. Today, we celebrate her and what she stands for – self-expression through art, even in the face of adversity.

Doodle by Sophie Diao

[9A]

1 February 2022

Lunar New Year 2022 [multiple countries]





With radiant lanterns, traditional foods, and an air of anticipation for what’s to come, today’s Doodle welcomes the Year of the Tiger on the first day of the Lunar New Year. In contrast to festivities tied to the solar Gregorian calendar, people around the world align their new year’s celebrations based on the ancient lunisolar Chinese calendar system, which follows the cycles of the moon and sun.

A new year symbolizes a fresh start and many traditions capture this concept. Preparations begin ten days before the lunar new year with many cleaning their homes as a way to clear out bad luck from the previous year. Traditional foods that represent good fortune such as fish [abundance] and mandarin oranges [auspiciousness] are prepared. Families decorate their homes with flowers such as peach blossoms; red lanterns; fai chun [red banners with phrases that wish people luck and prosperity]; and exchange lai see [red envelopes filled with money].

Happy Lunar New Year!

[9A]

30 Jan 2017

Fred Korematsu's 98th Birthday






Today Google’s US homepage is celebrating Fred Toyosaburo Korematsu, civil rights activist and survivor of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. January 30th, 2017 would have been his 98th birthday and is officially recognized as Fred Korematsu Day in California, Hawaii, Virginia and Florida.

A son of Japanese immigrant parents, Korematsu was born and raised in Oakland, California. After the U.S. entered WWII, he tried to enlist in the U.S. National Guard and Coast Guard, but was turned away due to his ethnicity.

He was 23 years old and working as a foreman in his hometown when Executive Order 9066 was signed in 1942 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The order sent more than 115,000 people of Japanese descent living in the United States to incarceration.

Rather than voluntarily relocate to an internment camp, Korematsu went into hiding. He was arrested in 1942 and despite the help of organizations like ACLU, his conviction was upheld in the landmark Supreme Court case of Korematsu v. United States. Consequently, he and his family were sent to the the Central Utah War Relocation Center at Topaz, Utah until the end of WWII in 1945.

It wasn’t until 1976 that President Gerald Ford formally ended Executive Order 9066 and apologized for the internment, stating "We now know what we should have known then — not only was that evacuation wrong but Japanese-Americans were and are loyal Americans.”

Fred Korematsu’s conviction was overturned in 1983 after evidence came to light that disputed the necessity of the internment. Five years later President Ronald Reagan signed the The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 citing "racial prejudice, wartime hysteria and a lack of political leadership" as the central motivation for Japanese internment.

In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded Korematsu with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s most distinguished civilian award.

Fred Korematsu can be remembered fighting for civil rights and against prejudice throughout his life, famously saying:

"If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up."

The doodle by artist Sophie Diao–herself a child of Asian immigrants–features a patriotic portrait of Korematsu wearing his Presidential Medal of Freedom, a scene of the internment camps to his back, surrounded by cherry blossoms, flowers that have come to be symbols of peace and friendship between the US and Japan.

[9A]

26 Jan 2017

Bessie Coleman’s 125th Birthday


Bessie Coleman didn’t just chase her dreams – she soared after them.

Born in Texas to a family of 13 children, Coleman walked four miles each day to her segregated, one-room school. She was a proficient reader and excelled in math, and managed to balance her studies while helping her parents harvest cotton. Even from an early age, she had her sights set on something big.

At age 23, Coleman moved to Chicago where she worked two jobs in an effort to save enough money to enroll in aviation school. After working for five years, she moved to Paris to study, as no school in America would admit her due to her race and gender. Just a year later, Coleman became the first female pilot of African-American and Native American descent, and the first to earn an international aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

In order to earn a living, Coleman made a plan to become a stunt pilot and perform for paying audiences. However, she was again denied enrollment in a stunt training program in the US, and in 1922, traveled to Europe where she completed her training in France and Germany.

Returning to the US, Coleman excelled at exhibition flying, performing complex stunts in flight for packed audiences. It was during this time that she acquired the nickname “Queen Bessie.” She was an adept, daring, and beloved pilot, until her untimely death at the age of 34.

Although Coleman didn’t live to fulfill her ultimate dream of starting an aviation school to train people of color, she inspired a generation. As Lieutenant William J. Powell writes, "Because of Bessie Coleman, we have overcome that which was worse than racial barriers. We have overcome the barriers within ourselves and dared to dream.”

Today’s Doodle honors Coleman on what would be her 125th birthday.

[9A]

26 Jan 2017

Australia Day 2017



Today’s Doodle celebrates Australia's most awe-inspiring feature: its big, blue backyard and treasured natural World Heritage Site: the Great Barrier Reef.

This vast underwater world is home to a whole host of protected and majestic creatures, including the green turtle, pipefish, barramundi cod, potato cod, maori wrasse, giant clam, and staghorn coral, to name a few. Made up of over 2,900 individual reefs, the earth’s largest coral reef system can be seen from space, and is our planet’s single largest structure made up of living organisms.

The reef is tightly woven into the culture and spirituality of island locals who cherished it long before it became a popular tourist destination. A large part of the reef is now under protection in an effort to preserve the shrinking ecosystem impacted by heavy tourism.

[9A]

28 January 2019

200th Anniversary of Singapore's Founding





Today’s Doodle marks Singapore's Bicentennial. The occasion commemorates the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles in Singapore, a key milestone in the nation’s history. While 1819 was a turning point for the development of the island, the Bicentennial is also a chance for Singaporeans to rediscover the rich history of the island before Raffles—which spans as many as 500 years prior to the British stateman’s arrival. A heptagon surrounds the Singapore skyline in today’s Doodle, in honor of the 700 years of development that the island nation has undergone.

Singapore’s long and diverse history will be at the center of the celebration through a calendar of events and exhibitions spanning most of 2019. The Bicentennial will culminate with a multimedia sensory experience at the Fort Canning Centre where Singaporeans can walk through key historical periods including the settling of early communities, the arrival or Raffles, and augmented reality tours of the Singapore River and Fort Canning Park.

[9A]

28 January 2018

50th Anniversary of Princess Sirindhorn Bird First Sighting




It has been 50 years since the rare white-eyed river Martin was first spotted in Thailand, a bird seen so infrequently it is nearly mythical.
Known locally as the Princess Sirindhorn bird, the white-eyed Martin is one of only two species of birds native to Thailand. This unique Thai treasure is distinguished by gleaming green-black feathers, a white midsection and a tail extending into two delicate black feathers.

Its beauty is hard to find, with only three confirmed sightings since it was first discovered at a wintering site in 1968. The Thai government has honored the mystical species with a stamp and commemorative coin, meant to pique curiosity and raise awareness of the bird.

No one has spotted the Princess Sirindhorn since 1980, stoking unconfirmed speculation that the species has gone extinct. That won’t stop residents and tourists alike this spring from perusing river banks, where the rare bird is known to roost, in the hopes that they’ll spot this rare Thai jewel!

[9A]

28 January 2012

125th Anniversary of the Largest Snowflake




Guinness World Records lists the world's largest aggregated snowflakes as those of January 1887 at Fort Keogh, Montana, which were claimed to be 15 inches [38 cm] wide—well outside the normally documented range of aggregated flakes of three or four inches in width.

[9A]

28 January 2016

Hidetsugu Yagi’s 130th Birthday




Today we celebrate Hidetsugu Yagi's 130th birthday, and thank him for keeping our television and radio signal coming in loud and clear. Because of the Yagi antenna, radios and televisions can receive stronger signals from a specific direction, which helps avoid interference from surrounding signals.

Hidetsugu Yagi was a Japanese electrical engineer. He and his colleague Shintaro Uda developed and spread the technology for this antenna together, which is why the full name is the Yagi-Uda antenna. Their invention was patented in 1926 and is used today on millions of houses throughout the world for radio and television reception. If you look outside, you can probably see one or two of these right in your neighborhood—maybe even on your own roof!

Below, you can see Doodler Alyssa Winans' early sketch animations of how quickly, and broadly, Yagi and Uda's new technology was adopted.

[9A]

30 Jan 2016

Amrita Sher-Gil’s 103rd Birthday




Vivid color, graceful forms, and bold strokes mark the truly remarkable life and work of Indian painter, Amrita Sher-Gil. Today's Doodle honors the "Indian Frida Kahlo," who left no holds barred in her work, or in her life. Her paintings speak volumes of her passionate lifestyle and relentless desire to express herself through her canvasses.

Sher-Gil studied and practiced in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where she got her start as an artist and life consummate bohemian. Over time, her work became a clear salute to the feminine form, and Sher-Gil into an uncompromising talent.

The inspiration for this Doodle, by Jennifer Hom, is Sher-Gil's painting "Three Girls", available to view on the Google Cultural Institute.

To create the final version, Hom reworked the image to match Sher-Gil's style and signature attention to the tone, texture and color of skin and clothing. Sher-Gil, whose parents are Hungarian and Indian, was influenced by both eastern European and South Asian styles and standards of female beauty.

[9A]

30 January 2013

Leonid Gaidai's 90th Birthday





Leonid Iovich Gaidai was a Soviet and Russian comedy film director, screenwriter and actor who enjoyed immense popularity and broad public recognition in the former Soviet Union. His films broke theatre attendance records and were some of the top-selling DVDs in Russia. He has been described as "the king of Soviet comedy".

[9A]

7 Feb 2012

Charles Dickens' 200th Birthday





We have quite a number of characters who showed up today to help celebrate Charles Dickens' 200th birthday. Twelve recognizable ones at least. This naturally made for a pretty busy doodle, and while we managed to squeeze in a few extra pixels to make the logo slightly larger than usual, we thought it'd be kind of nice to show you a couple close-ups here.








Of course, arriving at the final image was a slight technical challenge [as crowd scenes depicted at 500 pixels wide tend to be]. So I worked a bit at making the overall shapes and gestures of each character recognizable even at small sizes. For example, Scrooge's back is drawn exaggeratedly hunched over. Tiny Tim looks even smaller compared to the ghostly apparitions in the sky behind him. Pip's arm is tucked behind him, and he looks meek compared to Estella, who towers over him.





The drawings themselves were actually drawn on several sheets of vellum, then sliced up and arranged just so.

And while good looking art is always a goal, so is authenticity. So we met with other Googlers who happen to be big Dickens' fans, including the Google Books team, to gain a better understanding of Dickens' work – whether is was to learn more about his overarching themes, or which characters could sneak in an appearance. In fact, you can visit the Books blog to read a few of their thoughts as well as to get a little more of an in-depth look at the making of this doodle.

Happy 200th, Charles Dickens!

posted by Mike Dutton

[9A]

8 Feb 2012

Ito Jakuchu's 296th Birthday




Itō Jakuchū was a Japanese painter of the mid-Edo period when Japan had closed its doors to the outside world. Many of his paintings concern traditionally Japanese subjects, particularly chickens and other birds. Many of his otherwise traditional works display a great degree of experimentation with perspective, and with other very modern stylistic elements.

[9A]

8 February 2016

Dmitri Mendeleev’s 182nd Birthday


Around 400 BC, the ancient Greeks organized the worldly elements into four groups: air, water, earth, and fire. In the seventeenth century, Robert Boyle explained the material world in terms of elements, mixtures, and compounds. And in 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev made sense of the 56 elements known at the time, showing how they related to each other in a distinct pattern. His periodic table let elements fall into "periods" according to atomic mass and valence [the power that determines how they combine].

Scholars had attempted to organize the elements into a table before, but Mendeleev's work extended beyond mere chart-making. Mendeleev used the logic of his table to argue for the existence of yet-to-be discovered elements [like gallium and germanium], and even to predict their behaviors. Some of these predictions were wrong, but the basic principles behind his periodic organization continue to stand at the foundation of modern chemistry. The periodic table of the elements [now with 118 elements and counting] adorns science classrooms worldwide.

In the final illustration, artist Robinson Wood imagines Mendeleev in the act of setting down the logic of his table [which reportedly came to him in a dream]. Today, on Mendeleev's 182nd birthday, we celebrate how this visionary helped us order and understand our world.

[9A]

8 February 2016

Lunar New Year 2016



Happy Lunar New Year!

Lunar New Year is celebrated in many countries such as China, Korea, Mongolia, and Vietnam. Though not officially used in the United States, the lunar calendar plays an important role in global timekeeping.

The calendar is marked by the Shēngxiào or Chinese Zodiac, which is used to predict health, wealth, and compatibility. You've probably heard of the animal designations prescribed to various years: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, pig or dog. Each year is also associated with one of five fixed elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, or water.

2016 is the year of the Fire Monkey, which is the 9th in the 12 year cycle of the zodiac. The monkey sign represents quick-wittedness and smarts, and people born under it are thought to be adaptable and flexible in their thinking.

For today, Doodler Alyssa Winans illustrated a family of monkeys in the traditional fiery red which matches the lucky envelopes families give and receive on Lunar New Year — and the explosions of the firecrackers.

[9A]

8 February 2018

Paula Modersohn-Becker’s 142nd Birthday





Renowned German expressionist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker was born on this day in 1876. Her art bears witness to her courage, boldness, and ambition — a temperament that greatly influenced her short but prolific career.

Exposed to the intellectual world from the time she was a young child growing up in Dresden-Friedrichstadt, Modersohn-Becker began her artistic endeavors as a student in Bremen, and at the age of 18, moved to an artist’s colony in Worpswede. There she met her future husband, but hungry to learn more, she moved to Paris to study and urged him to join her.

In the years that followed, her personal life underwent many changes. But through all the turbulence, she continued to paint, producing more than 80 pictures in 1906 alone. Her writings explain this frenetic pace as a necessity to make up for the first two ‘lost’ decades of her life.

An early expressionist, she joined the likes of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse in introducing modernism to the world. Modersohn-Becker was known for her bold choices as an artist — be it her depictions of nude female figures [among the very first women artists to do so], or those of women breastfeeding their children. She tenaciously resisted the strict expectations held of women of her era, preferring exploration and painting over more traditional pastimes.

Today’s Doodle reflects her artistic style depicting domestic subjects, and is illustrated by Berlin-based duo Golden Cosmos.

Happy Birthday, Paula Modersohn-Becker!

[9A]

7 Feb 2018

Aysel Gürel’s 89th Birthday





There will never be another Aysel Gürel. Born on this day in 1929, in Sarayköy in the Denizli Province of Turkey, Aysel Gürel lived life to the hilt. Buoyant and daring, Gürel ruled the Turkish pop music scene from the late 1970s through the 2000s, penning lyrics about love lost and found for both legendary singers as well as up-and-comers including Sezen Aksu, Nilüfer, Tarkan, and Sertab Erener. New songs are produced from the trove of lyrics she left behind even today!

At heart, Gürel was a poet who found her audience through her songs, but she was also a gifted actress, Turkologist, and witty provocateur. She also made her mark as a feminist and animal rights activist.

While stars gave voice to her songs, Gürel wasn’t one to hide in the background. She, too, was made for the limelight. Dressed in her oversized red glasses, pink wigs and head-turning outfits, flirting, and always quick with clever repartee, Gürel was as unforgettable as she was unpredictable.

Today’s Doodle celebrates Gürel’s inner [and outer] wild child. Wearing those signature specs, her hair colored in hues of fuschia, her joy is hard to contain on the screen.

Happy 89th birthday, Aysel Gürel!

[9A]

3 Feb 2018

Elizabeth Blackwell’s 197th Birthday




“It is not easy to be a pioneer – but oh, it is fascinating!”
-Elizabeth Blackwell

As the first woman in the United States to earn a medical degree, an active champion of women’s rights, and an abolitionist, Elizabeth Blackwell was nothing if not a pioneer.

Blackwell grew up in Bristol and emigrated to the United States with her family, where she began her professional life as a teacher. Early on, she asserted her moral convictions: when a teaching position in Kentucky exposed her to the brutality of slavery for the first time, she set up a Sunday school for slaves and became a staunch abolitionist.

Years later, the death of a friend prompted her foray into medicine, as Blackwell believed a female physician might have lessened her friend’s suffering. She persisted through seemingly endless rejections from medical schools – at least once being told that she should dress as a man in order to gain admittance. Finally, she was accepted into the Geneva Medical College by a unanimous vote of the all-male student body. She went on to establish a women-governed infirmary, found two medical colleges for women, and mentor several physicians.

Today’s Doodle is by illustrator Harriet Lee Merrion – who happens to be based in Bristol and regularly cycles past the house where Elizabeth grew up! Her illustration shows Blackwell in the midst of her pioneering practice and celebrates the significant positive impact she had on the lives of people around the world.

[9A]

3 February 2014

Anniversary of the coldest temperature ever recorded in Canada





The coldest temperature ever recorded in Canada was −63.0 °C or −81.4 °F in Snag, Yukon.

[9A]

12 February 2022

Lou Andreas-Salomé's 161st birthday




Today’s Doodle illustrated by Berlin, Germany-based guest artist Isabel Seliger celebrates the first woman in history to become a psychoanalyst, Russian-born German poet, essayist, biographer, and novelist Lou Andreas-Salomé. Pursuing a career in philosophy in a time when women’s opportunities in the field were restricted, Andreas-Salomé broke convention by becoming a central figure in prominent intellectual circles in late 19th and early 20th century Europe.

Lou Andreas-Salomé was born Louise Salomé on this day in 1861 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Raised in an intellectual family of Russian, German, and French heritage, Andreas-Salomé developed a fascination with French and German literature as a young adult. In 1880, she furthered her academic studies at the progressive University of Zurich, one of the few schools at the time that did not exclude women.

In 1882, Andreas-Salomé joined the literary salon of eminent feminist Malwida von Meysenburg in Rome, where she met Friedrich Nietzsche. The German philosopher fell in love with Andreas-Salomé, and many believe her intellectual prowess inspired Nietzsche’s 1883 masterwork “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.” Through the turn of the 20th century, Andreas-Salomé published numerous psychological essays and novels—many based on her experiences as a woman navigating societal norms and the growing intellectual movement of her time.

In 1911, Andreas-Salomé met and began an apprenticeship under Sigmund Freud, known today as the father of psychoanalysis. She integrated Freud’s training with her decades of experience writing on the psyche to become the first woman psychoanalyst. Although Andreas-Salomé's story was little-known during her lifetime, a dramatic reimagining of her encounters with Nietzche shed light on her story in the 1981 eponymous opera, “Lou Salome.”

[9A]

12 February 2018

Rosenmontag 2018





Floats and candies and costumes, oh my!

While Carnival is observed by countries all across the world, celebrations in Germany are marked by delightful traditions, and take on different names in different parts of the country.

For Karneval celebrators in Rhineland, the Rosenmontag [Rose Monday] parade takes center stage on the Monday before Ash Wednesday. Every town hosts a parade complete with floats and candy-tossing, while participants dress up in Funkenmariechen [traditional costumes]. Shouts of "Alaaf!" [the fool’s call], which translates roughly to “may he live well” and "Helau!" [a call representing the fun of joy] fill the streets until Veilchendienstag, [Violet Tuesday] the next day.

In Berlin, Brandenburg or Saxony, Fasching celebrations take a similar form, but begin in earnest on Schmutziger Donnerstag, or ‘Fat Thursday’. In southwestern Germany and northern Bavaria, you may find yourself celebrating Fastnacht, sporting elaborately carved masks depicting witches and other animals in the wild.

Today’s Doodle is by German illustrator Sebastian Schwamm. No matter where you find yourself this Carnival season, or what you call the festivities, may your days be full of candy, flowers, and celebrations. Alaaf!

[9A]

12 February 2013

Carnival 2013




The Carnival of Brazil is an annual Brazilian festival held the Friday afternoon before Ash Wednesday at noon, which marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period before Easter. During Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival", from carnelevare, "to remove [literally, "raise"] meat."

[9A]

12 February 2014

230th anniversary of Prague's existence as a single capital city





Prague is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with relatively warm summers and chilly winters.

Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of central Europe, with a rich history and Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architectures. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and residence of several Holy Roman Emperors, most notably Charles IV

It was an important city to the Habsburg monarchy and Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city played major roles in the Bohemian and the Protestant Reformations, the Thirty Years' War and in 20th-century history as the capital of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars and the post-war Communist era.

[9A]

9 October 2020

Mary Ann Shadd Cary’s 197th Birthday




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Alberta, Canada-based guest artist Michelle Theodore, celebrates the 197th birthday of American-Canadian newspaper editor and publisher, journalist, teacher, lawyer, abolitionist, and suffragist Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Credited as the first Black female newspaper editor and publisher in North America and the second Black woman to earn a law degree in the United States, Shadd Cary is renowned as a courageous pioneer in the fight for abolition and women’s suffrage.

Mary Ann Shadd was born on this day in 1823 in Wilmington, Delaware. Her parents were dedicated abolitionists and used their home as a station on the Underground Railroad to provide a safe haven to escaped slaves. Following her graduation from a Pennsylvania boarding school, she became a teacher. Frederick Douglass published her first work in his newspaper in 1848, which was a bold call to action for the abolitionist movement.

In the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850—a major threat to Black people in the U.S.— the Shadd family moved north to Canada. It was there in 1853 that Shadd launched her historic newspaper, The Provincial Freemen, a weekly Black publication geared especially toward escaped slaves. Following her marriage, Shadd Cary moved back to the U.S. and, in 1883 earned her trailblazing law degree from Howard University.

For her invaluable contributions to Canadian history, Shadd Cary was honored by the country in 1994 as a Person of National Historic Significance.

Happy Birthday, Mary Ann Shadd Cary!

[9A]

9 October 2012

Ivo Andrić's 120th Birthday




Ivo Andrić was a Yugoslav novelist, poet and short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under Ottoman rule.

[9A]

9 October 2018

Lucy Tejada’s 98th Birthday



"My art was always more imaginative.,I would think through the composition and capture it, the colors emerging according to my state of mind.”

-Lucy Tejada

Contemporary painter Lucy Tejada was born on this day in Pereira, Colombia. She attended Javeriana University in Bogota, where she discovered the work of Columbian artist Alejandro Obregón Rosės, which had a profound impact on her life. “I started going to the teacher's exhibitions all the time,” she recalled in an interview, “until one day he came out and asked me: ‘Why do you come so much?’” The elder artist encouraged her to enroll in the School of Fine arts, and she continued her artistic education at the School of Graphic Arts of Madrid, achieving her first solo exhibition in 1947.

During the 1950s Tejada traveled through Europe, immersing herself in great collections like the Madrid’s Prado Museum and the Louvre in Paris. She exhibited her work in the Venice Biennial as well as in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, emerging as an important figure in South American contemporary art. After her travels through Europe she returned to Colombia, building a house in Cali where she raised her two children.

Alejandro Obregón Rosės described her as “painter of the tenderness.” In 2007, Colombia’s Culture Ministry awarded her the Medal of Cultural Merit in recognition of her 50 year career. Her legacy lives on with the Lucy Tejada Cultural Center, which opened this year in Pereira. In accordance with the artist’s wishes, Tejada’s family donated a collection of 163 pieces of her work to be exhibited in the city as well..

Feliz Cumpleaños, Lucy Tejada!

[9A]

3 June 2022

Dragon Boat Festival 2022




Today’s Doodle celebrates the annual Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Jie. The festival always occurs on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. This year, June 3rd marks the day when people across Asia gather to watch dragon-shaped boats race along river banks and lakes.

The holiday originated over 2,000 years ago in China to commemorate a beloved poet named Qu Yuan. When the Chu State was defeated in 278 B.C., Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River as a final act of loyalty to the King of Chu. As legend has it, villagers boarded their boats and threw rice dumplings in the water to keep fish away from the body of the poet. The fifth lunar month is also considered a “poisonous” month in Chinese agriculture since summer is the high season for insects and pests. That’s why traditional Duanwu Jie customs involve hanging mugwort leaves and herbs on doors and windows to repel insects.

Today, the festival’s most popular tradition is, of course, the exciting dragon boat race. The boats seat a crews of up to 90, which includes a drummer for morale and pace setting. Locals often watch the race while drinking realgar wine and eating zongi, a sticky rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves.

Happy Dragon Boat Festival to all! Let’s get ready to row.

[9A]

21 November 2022

Celebrating Marie Tharp




https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-marie-tharp
[Interactive]





Today’s Doodle celebrates the life of Marie Tharp, an American geologist and oceanographic cartographer who helped prove the theories of continental drift. She co-published the first world map of the ocean floors. On this day in 1998, the Library of Congress named Tharp one of the greatest cartographers of the 20th century.

Today’s Doodle features an interactive exploration of Tharp’s life. Her story is narrated by Cate Larsen, Becky Nesel, and Dr. Tiara Moore , three notable women who are currently living out Tharp’s legacy by making strides in the traditionally male-dominated ocean science and geology spaces.

Marie Tharp was an only child born on July 30, 1920, in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Tharp’s father, who worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gave her an early introduction to mapmaking. She attended the University of Michigan for her master’s degree in petroleum geology—this was particularly impressive given so few women worked in science during this period. She moved to New York City in 1948 and became the first woman to work at the Lamont Geological Observatory where she met geologist Bruce Heezen.

Heezen gathered ocean-depth data in the Atlantic Ocean, which Tharp used to create maps of the mysterious ocean floor. New findings from echo sounders [sonars used to find water depth] helped her discover the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. She brought these findings to Heezen, who infamously dismissed this as “girl talk”.

However, when they compared these V-shaped rifts with earthquake epicenter maps, Heezen could not ignore the facts. Plate tectonics and continental drift were no longer just theories—the seafloor was undoubtedly spreading. In 1957, Tharp and Heezen co-published the first map of the ocean floor in the North Atlantic. Twenty years later, National Geographic published the first world map of the entire ocean floor penned by Tharp and Heezen, titled “The World Ocean Floor.”

Tharp donated her entire map collection to the Library of Congress in 1995. On the 100th anniversary celebration of its Geography and Map Division, the Library of Congress named her one of the most important cartographers in the 20th century. In 2001, the same observatory where she started her career awarded her with its first annual Lamont-Doherty Heritage Award.

Click on today’s Doodle to begin your journey through Tharp’s extraordinary life and scientific contributions!

[9A]

21 November 2022

Virgínia Leone Bicudo's 112th birthday





Today’s Doodle celebrates Brazilian psychoanalyst Virgínia Leone Bicudo’s 112th birthday and was illustrated by Brazil-based guest artist Bárbara Quintino. As a psychoanalyst who pioneered race studies in Brazil, she made sure Black perspectives were heard in academia.

Bicudo was born on this day in 1910 in São Paulo. Her mother was an Italian immigrant and housemaid, and her father, a Black man, dreamed of becoming a doctor. After Medical schools denied his application on the basis of his skin color, her father decided to invest in his children’s education.

Bicudo inherited her parent’s ambitions and prioritized studying at a young age. In 1930, she graduated from Escola Caetano de Campos. She completed a course in public health education before taking a job as a psychiatric attendant. Bicudo quickly earned a promotion and worked as a supervisor in the Infant Oriented Clinic in São Paulo.

In 1936, Bicudo enrolled in the Free School of Sociology and Politics, Brazil’s first higher education institution that taught social sciences. She was the only woman in the program. During her time at this school, she learned about Sigmund Freud.

She graduated two years later with a bachelor’s degree. Bicudo believed she could use psychoanalysis to better understand racial tensions in Brazil, which had significantly impacted both her and her father’s lives.

Bicudo also pursued graduate studies at the same school. Her dissertation was the first postgraduate work in Brazil that focused on race relations. This earned her an invitation to participate in a UNESCO research project analyzing race in different countries. Her research concluded Brazil was not a racial democracy, which contradicted her advisor’s beliefs, and caused her work to go unpublished.

After returning to Brazil, Bicudo was treated like an imposter in academic circles because she did not have a medical degree. In 1959, she moved to London and studied with some of the most prominent psychoanalysts of the time. She transmitted lectures to Brazil through the BBC to publicize her work.

After returning to Brazil in 1959, Bicudo founded the Institute of Psychoanalysis of the Brasília Society of Psychoanalysis. She also hosted “Our Mental World,” one of Brazil’s most popular radio programs, while writing a column in the newspaper under the same title. Bicudo’s efforts and resilience laid the groundwork for generations of women psychoanalysts to come. You can find her thesis online if you’d like to learn more!

Happy birthday, Virgínia Leone Bicudo!

[9A]

23 Nov 2022

Celebrating Myrtle Gonzalez




Today’s Doodle celebrates Mexican American actress, Myrtle Gonzalez and was illustrated by Bay Area-based guest artist, Ana Ramírez González. Myrtle Gonzalez starred in an astounding 80 silent films in just five years between 1913 and 1917. On this day in 1914, one of Myrtle Gonzalez’s most well-known films, The Level, was released.

Gonzalez was born in Los Angeles, California, on September 28, 1891. She had a lovely soprano voice, often singing in church and at local charity events as a young girl.


As movie production shifted from New York to Los Angeles, which offered more diverse scenic landscapes for filmmakers, Gonzalez seized the opportunity to get involved in film. She participated in a few local plays before joining a silent motion picture studio called Vitagraph Company of America, where she made her film debut in The Yellow Streak.


After a few years, she moved to Universal Studios and performed in feature films like The Secret of the Swamp and The Girl of Lost Lake. Many of the bold, outdoorsy heroines she played lived in the wilderness, forcing the city girl to adapt to filming in new, treacherous climates. As shown in today’s Doodle, Gonzalez once acted in three feet of snow!

Gonzalez was proud of her Hispanic heritage, and throughout her career, she played strong women who persevered through adversity with strength and dignity.

While much of her work was lost over the years, the Library of Congress preserved a few of her films. She is remembered as one of the first Latina actresses to break into Hollywood.

[9A]

6 Dec 2018

Zeki Müren’s 87th Birthday


Hailed as “The Sun of Art” and the “Pasha of Turkish Music,” Zeki Müren was a singer, composer, actor, and poet who became one of the most important artists in Turkish classical music history.

Born in the historic Hisar district of Bursa on this day in 1931, Müren was the only child of a Macedonian timber merchant. While a student at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, he won first place in a contest sponsored by Turkish Radio and Television. In 1951 he gave his first live performance on Istanbul Radio. That same year he recorded “Muhabbet Kuşu” [Parakeet] with clarinetist Sükrü Tunar, the first of hundreds of songs he’d release on phonograph and cassette over the course of his career. His 1955 release “Manolyam” was the first Turkish recording to be certified gold.

For his first live concert in 1955 Müren took the stage in typical stage clothes, but over time began designing his own wardrobe, expressing a personal style that sometimes included thigh-high boots, sparkling tights, jeweled capes, miniskirts, and a peacock tail—as well as wigs and makeup. His fearlessly flamboyant look became known as a symbol of his strength of character and individuality.

Müren transcended music by beginning an acting career in the 1950s with a role in the film or Beklenen Sarki “Awaited Song” [1953]. He would go on to appear in 18 films, often composing the scores as well, and played the lead in Robert Anderson’s stage drama Tea and Sympathy [1960].

In 1991, Müren was named an official State Artist of Tukey. Today, Müren’s legacy lives on through the Zeki Müren Fine Arts Anatolian High School in Bursa, which opened in 2002. His house in Bodrum became the Zeki Müren Art Museum and his Zeki Müren Scholarship Fund has supported thousands of students over the past 20 years.

Doğum günün kutlu olsun, Zeki Müren!

[9A]

4 February 2016

Weiberfastnacht 2016



A holiday celebrated mostly in the Rhineland on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. Originally a special day for women's carnival, but now celebrated by both sexes as the beginning of the six-day peak of the carnival season.

[9A]

4 Feb 2013

Josef Kajetán Tyl's 205th Birthday






Josef Kajetán Tyl was a significant Czech dramatist, writer, and actor. He was a notable figure in the Czech National Revival movement and is best known as the author of the current national anthem of the Czech Republic titled Kde domov můj?.

[9A]

4 February 2013

Manuel Alvarez Bravo's 111st Birthday




Manuel Álvarez Bravo was a Mexican artistic photographer and one of the most important figures in 20th century Latin American photography. He was born and raised in Mexico City. While he took art classes at the Academy of San Carlos, his photography is self-taught. His career spanned from the late 1920s to the 1990s with its artistic peak between the 1920s and 1950s. His hallmark as a photographer was to capture images of the ordinary but in ironic or Surrealistic ways. His early work was based on European influences, but he was soon influenced by the Mexican muralism movement and the general cultural and political push at the time to redefine Mexican identity. He rejected the picturesque, employing elements to avoid stereotyping. He had numerous exhibitions of his work, worked in the Mexican cinema and established Fondo Editorial de la Plástica Mexicana publishing house. He won numerous awards for his work, mostly after 1970. His work was recognized by the UNESCO Memory of the World registry in 2017.

[9A]

4 February 2013

Last day of the Canadian Penny


In Canada, a penny [minted 1858–2012] is a coin worth one cent, or 1⁄100 of a dollar. According to the Royal Canadian Mint, the official national term for the coin is the "one-cent piece", but in practice the terms penny and cent predominate. Penny was likely readily adopted because the previous coinage in Canada [up to 1858] was the British monetary system, where Canada used British pounds, shillings, and pence as coinage alongside U.S. decimal coins and Spanish milled dollars.

[9A]

8 Feb 2013

Jagjit Singh's 72nd Birthday



Jagjit Singh was an Indian composer, singer and musician. He composed and sang in numerous languages and is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazal, an Indian classical art form, by choosing poetry that was relevant to the masses and composing them in a way that laid more emphasis on the meaning of words and melody evoked by them. In terms of Indian classical music, his style of composing and gayaki [singing] is considered as Bol-pradhan, one that lays emphasis on words.

[9A]

8 February 2019

65th Anniversary of the Quebec Winter Carnival



What better way to liven up Canada’s coldest season than to host a big celebration amidst the snowfall and subzero temperatures? The tradition of winter festivals dates back to the 17th-century colonies known as New France, but the first organized carnivals in modern times occurred 125 years ago in Québec City, setting the blueprint for more than a century of frosty fun.

The Québec Winter Carnival, which became an annual tradition starting in 1954, is also the oldest of the festivals held across Canada to relieve the routine of short days and chilly nights. Frank Carrel, proprietor and managing editor of the Quebec Daily Telegraph, devised the Carnival as a way to raise spirits during the winter season. Erecting an ice palace in front of the Parliament building, the Carnaval de Québec also featured a parade, concerts, sporting competitions, and a number of other activities across the city.

Now attended by more than half a million people each year, the carnival has its own official representative named Bonhomme, a large snowman who always wears a red cap, black buttons, and a ceinture fléchée, or “arrowed sash.” He lords over his own ice palace and leads a night parade along Grande Allée, which is decorated with lights and ice sculptures.

Over the years the carnival soundtrack has evolved from polkas and waltzes to rock and dance music. Today, the 65th anniversary of the Québec Winter Carnival kicks off and children throughout the city can be seen enjoying the snowy celebrations while paying homage to their favourite snowman —a scene depicted in today’s Doodle by Canadian-born, New-York-based guest artist Randeep Katari. Other festivities include the annual ice canoe race on the St. Lawrence River, axe throwing, and—for the truly intrepid—the Snow Bath, a rare convergence of snowdrifts and swimming trunks.

Joyeux Carnaval!

[9A]

6 Feb 2019

Waitangi Day 2019



Waitangi Day is the national day of New Zealand, commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In honour of Waitangi Day, today’s Doodle celebrates the unique native flora of the island nation.

Geographically isolated in the South Pacific Ocean, New Zealand has evolved a diverse variety of plant life. Some 80 percent of the islands’ fern, flower, and tree species are native to the country and, most can be found nowhere else in the world.

The silver fern has long been a symbol of New Zealand’s identity, appearing on the uniforms of national sports teams as well as military troops. To Māori, it has been a symbol of strength and resilience.. Known to grow up to 10 meters in height, the underside of the silver fern’s leaves reflects moonlight, making it helpful when following forest trails at night.

New Zealand’s unofficial national flower, the bright yellow blossoms of the Kōwhai tree, appear near the end of winter. The tree’s bark is renowned for its medicinal properties, useful for treating everything from dandruff to seal bites.

The Pōhutukawa’s crimson flowers bloom around the holiday season, leading to the name “New Zealand Christmas Tree.” The plant also figures prominently in Māori legends as a bridge between the living and the spirit world. Aside from decorating homes and churches, the Pōhutukawa’s nectar can be used to make delicious honey and treat sore throats.

Happy Waitangi Day 2019!​

[9A]

8 April 2021

Helen Joseph's 116th birthday



In recognition of her 116th birthday, today’s Doodle celebrates English-born, South African activist, Helen Joseph. A leading figure of white dissent of the unjust practice of apartheid, Joseph is widely considered one of South Africa’s most influential freedom fighters and women's rights advocates.

Born on this day in 1905, Joseph spent her early years living in London. She completed a degree in English at King’s College London in 1927, and later settled in Durban, South Africa.

Apartheid laws, which were enacted in 1948, divided South Africa along racial lines and extended to many facets of daily life. In 1951, Joseph took a position with the Garment Workers Union where she met Solly Sachs, who educated Joseph on South Africa’s political landscape and the realities of apartheid. Joseph soon became a founding member of the Congress of Democrats [COD], a white political ally of the African National Congress [ANC], and on August 9, 1956, Joseph co-led a march of 20,000 women with the Federation of South African Women [FEDSAW] on Pretoria’s Union Buildings. Joseph’s fearless opposition resulted in government-led attempts to silence her but despite the backlash, Joseph remained active, taking in the children of exiled or imprisoned political activists, including Nelson and Winnie Mandela’s children.

Helen Joseph faced harsh repercussions for her actions, and yet, she persisted. Her lifelong fight to unite the people of South Africa was recognized by the ANC in 1992 with the Isitwalandwe/Seaparankwe Award. In honor of the historic women’s march on Pretoria and the unwavering advocacy of women like Helen Joseph, August 9 was commemorated annually as Women’s Day in South Africa.

Happy birthday, Helen Joseph!