Google doodles

[9A]

At last!!! I've been waiting for you to post this since Friday! Willi was someone I had a friendly acquaintance with; such a wonderful guy. Thank you so much for acknowledging this honor!!!!

Sans,

I would have done it sooner, had I found it sooner. As you may have noticed, I often repeat Goodle Doodles of the past, because they are not offered in the US everyday. Occasionally, I find interesting new ones that have been posted on Google's homepage in other countries, but not in the US.

Thank you for the feedback. Willi Ninja must have been so much fun to know. Here are some additional photos --



Photographed: Willi Ninja wearing a vest made from flyers that had images of Octavia St. Laurent, Luna Khan, Jose Xtravaganza, Pepper Labeija, and himself. This photo was taken at a panel discussion about ballroom.

Courtesy of Luna Luis Ortiz





Photographed: Willi Ninja at The House of Khan Heritage Ball at NYU [February 2004]

Willi Ninja was being honored with an award from The House of Khan and New York University for his brilliance in all communities.

Courtesy of Luna Luis Ortiz






Photographed: Luna Khan, House of Khan, Willie Ninja, and Jose Xtravaganza in Chicago [2005]

Courtesy of Luna Luis Ortiz

Learn more about Willi Ninja and Ballroom culture on Google Arts & Culture.
[Thanks, Google people.]

[sansradio]

^^^I know Luna and José as well! Thanks again!!!

[Pop Alexandra]

Awesome look and artists!
Thanks for sharing.
______________________
Alexandra
art transport company

[9A]

May 9, 2022

Celebrating the Birthday of Kiyoshi Kuromiya




Continuing the company’s celebration of Pride Month, the latest Google Doodle honors Kiyoshi Kuromiya, a Japanese American activist for civil rights and gay liberation.

Kiyoshi Kuromiya was born on May 9, 1943, in Wyoming, though his family’s home was in California. At the time, tensions were high between Japan and America, and the United States put those of Japanese descent into internment camps around the country. As such, Kuromiya was born inside of the Heart Mountain Concentration Camp.

After living on the West Coast for most of his life, Kuromiya moved to the eastern US to attend the University of Pennsylvania starting in 1961. There, Kuromiya felt a need to get involved as an activist both for human rights and antiwar efforts. Among other protest events, the next year, he participated in the Congress for Racial Equality’s sit-ins at diners in Maryland.

In 1963, Kiyoshi Kuromiya had the privilege of being in attendance for Dr. Martin Luther KingJr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and in time Kuromiya became one of Dr. King’s aides.

Kuromiya formally came out as gay in 1965, at the first “Annual Reminder,” a yearly protest using picket signs to remind the public of the rights that the gay community simply did not have. Four years later, after the Stonewall Riots, Kiyoshi Kuromiya helped cofound the Gay Liberation Front, a group meant to help men deal with the loneliness of having a different sexual identity.

Kuromiya continued his activism work for decades after that, including boosting public awareness of the AIDS epidemic in the ’80s all the way through to the late ’90s. Kiyoshi Kuromiya died due to cancer-related complications on May 10, 2000, at the age of 57.

To get a more in-depth look at Kuromiya’s life, be sure to check out the special exhibit from the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation on Google Arts & Culture, which includes pictures of the man himself.

The Google Doodle honoring Kiyoshi Kuromiya depicts a building in the city, painted with a mural of Kuromiya. In a vignette to the left, you can see a protest in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, while the right-side shows a phone and the Progress Pride flag. As for why Google chose this day to honor the respected activist, Kiyoshi Kuromiya was inducted into the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor on June 4, 2019.

[9A]

4 June 2019

Celebrating 50 Years Of Pride









Today's slideshow Doodle celebrates 50 years of Pride by taking us through five decades of Pride history—all told through the lens of a growing, evolving, and international Pride parade!

The Pride Parade is a symbol of celebration and liberation for the entire LGBTQ+ community. From its early days of activism on Christopher Street in New York City, to the worldwide celebrations of today, it has empowered and given voice to a bright and vibrant community.

[9A]

4 June 2018

Tom Longboat’s 131st Birthday




Today we celebrate the 131st birthday of Tom Longboat, a Canadian long-distance runner celebrated as one of the greatest marathoners of all time. Longboat was a member of the Onondaga Nation, born in 1887 on Six Nations Reserve, south of Brantford, Ontario. He first began racing in his early teenage years, inspired by Bill Davis, another First Nations runner who finished second in the Boston Marathon in 1901.

It didn’t take long for Longboat to chase Davis’ legacy. He began racing in 1905 as an amateur and won his first Boston Marathon just two years later, in 1907, making Longoat the first member of the First Nations to win the Boston Marathon. In fact, during his career as an amateur racer, Longboat only lost a total of three races! Two years after winning the Boston Marathon, he went on to become a professional racer. Longboat was one of the first athletes to use a training technique involving rotating training days of hard workouts, easier workouts and recovery days. While these training methods are widely accepted today, he faced skepticism from coaches and media despite consistent victories and multiple world records.

During his professional racing career, Longboat also served in the Canadian Army as a dispatch runner in World War I. He largely ran across France, delivering messages between military posts. This was dangerous work, and he was actually mistakenly declared dead twice during his service! Once he finished his service for the military, he retired to the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, where he lived for the remainder of his life.

Tom Longboat’s legacy lives on as one of Canada’s greatest athletes. Not only is today his birthday, it is officially “Tom Longboat Day” in Ontario!

[9A]

15 January 2023

Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav’s 97th Birthday




Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 97th birthday of Indian wrestler, Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav. Khashaba became independent India’s first individual athlete to win an Olympic medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.

Khashaba Dadasheb Jadhav was born on this day in 1926, in the village Goleshwar in Maharashtra, India. His father was one of the village's best wrestlers, and Jadhav inherited his athleticism. After shining as a swimmer and runner, 10 year-old Jadhav started training as a wrestler with his father.

Although Jadhav only grew to 5’5”, his skillful approach and light feet made him one of the best wrestlers at his high school. With further coaching from his father and professional wrestlers, Jadhav won multiple state and national titles. He was especially great at dhak—a wrestling move where he held his opponent in a headlock before throwing him to the ground.

Jadhav’s continued success earned the attention of the Maharaj of Kolhapur, during the 1940s. After he dominated an event at the Raja Ram college, the Maharaj of Kolhapur decided to fund his participation in the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Jadhav wasn’t used to international wrestling rules and rarely wrestled on regulation mats. The Olympics pitted him against the best and most-experienced flyweight wrestlers in the world. Despite this, he managed to place 6th, the highest-ever finish for an Indian wrestler at the time.

Unsatisfied with his performance, Jadhav spent the next four years training harder than ever before. He moved up a weight class to bantamweight, which featured even more international wrestlers. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Jadhav defeated wrestlers from Germany, Mexico, and Canada before losing to the eventual champion. He earned a bronze medal, becoming the first medal winner from independent India. Crowds awaited his return home and a parade of bullock carts carried him through his hometown village.

Jadhav injured his knee before the next Olympics, which ended his wrestling career. He later worked as a police officer. The Maharashtra Government posthumously awarded him the Chhatrapati Puraskar in 1992-1993. The wrestling venue built for the 20210 Delhi Commonwealth Games was named in his honor.

Happy Birthday to Khashaba Dadasheb Jadhav [aka the “Pocket Dynamo”]!

[9A]

7 September 2022

Louise 'Miss Lou' Bennett-Coverley's 103rd birthday




Today's Doodle, illustrated by Jamaican guest artist Robyn Smith, celebrates Louise “Miss Lou” Bennett-Coverley’s 103rd birthday. The Jamaican poet, folklorist, activist and entertainer empowered the country to take pride in its language and culture. Known by many Jamaicans as “Miss Lou,” Bennett's social commentary and sense of humor made her a popular personality in the country.

Bennett was born on September 7, 1919 in Kingston, Jamaica. She developed a passion for literature and Jamaican folklore in school and began writing poetry. Fascinated by her native language, Bennett wrote in the local dialect. Her first public appearance was her recital of a poem in Jamaican patois at a concert.

Soon, Bennett was given a weekly column in The Gleaner, the island’s newspaper at the time, though they originally rejected Bennett’s poems. The majority of Jamaicans speak patois, but critics denounced it as an inferior and improper language. Her column, which captured the experiences of Jamaicans in their own language, gained support across the country.

In 1942, Bennett published her first book of poetry, Dialect Verses. It earned her a British Council scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. As the school's first Black student, Bennett worked for the British Broadcasting Commission [BBC] where she hosted the radio program Caribbean Carnival. After completing her degree, she hosted other programs like West Indian Guest Night and acted in theater companies.

Returning to Jamaica in 1956, Bennett worked as a Drama Officer and later Director of the Jamaica Social Welfare Commission. On behalf of the commission, she moved around the country to train village instructors and regional officers with workshops like playmaking, improvisation and mime. She gave lectures on Jamaican folklore in the United States and England. Bennett also hosted radio programs like Laugh with Louise and Miss Lou's Views, and Ring Ding, a beloved Saturday morning children’s TV show airing on Jamaica Broadcasting Commission [JBC].

In 1998, the Jamaican government appointed Bennett as the country’s Cultural Ambassador at Large. She was also inducted into the Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II. Bennett was a champion of her country’s language and culture, inspiring Jamaicans to take pride in both.

Happy Birthday, Miss Lou!

[9A]

15 December 2022

Celebrating Claudio Kano




Today’s Doodle celebrates Japanese Brazilian table tennis player Claudio Kano. He is widely considered one of the greatest Brazilian players of all time and helped popularize the sport.

Kano was born on December 18th in São Paulo, Brazil. At 10 years old, he started playing table tennis at Clube Showa where the best local players hung out. Kano’s skill and work ethic impressed the players, who recommended that he join the São Bernardo club—one of the best table tennis teams in the country.

A few years later, Kano was playing against some of the most competitive players in the world. Fluent in English, Japanese, and Spanish, Kano quickly made friends with professional players on the international circuit. After playing with Olympic champions in Sweden for four years, Kano returned to Brazil as one of the most talented players in the country.

At just age 17, Kano became the unofficial manager of Brazil’s national team and mentored younger players. With charisma and discipline beyond his years, Kano also became a role model for children across Brazil. He went on to win two gold medals in men’s doubles and men’s team table tennis at the 1983 Pan American Games, which catapulted him to a national hero status. Kano won 10 more medals, including five golds, at the Pan American Games.

Kano also competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 1993 Barcelona Olympics, placing in the top 20 in both games.

At age 30, he was on the cusp of competing in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when he passed away in a tragic motorcycle accident. The star table tennis player leaves behind a shining legacy and thanks to his success, table tennis is now a celebrated sport in Brazil. The country's top players continue to look to Kano as an inspiration.

[9A]

13 May 2022

Manfredo Fest's 86th birthday





Manfredo Fest was a blind jazz pianist and bandleader who helped create the Brazilian bossa nova movement. Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the musician’s 86th Birthday.

Fest was born in Brazil to parents who immigrated from Germany in the 1920s. He began studying classical music at age five with his father, the chairman of the music department at the University of Porto Alegre. Legally blind since birth, Fest learned to read music in Braille and play the piano, keyboards and saxophone. He developed a strong interest in jazz during college, graduating with a degree in music from the University of Rio Grande do Sul.

He spent his early musical career playing in bars and clubs around São Paulo and took part in Brazil’s emergent bossa nova movement, a style of music where samba is fused with jazz. In 1963, Fest composed and recorded his first album, Bossa Nova, Nova Bossa. A few years later, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and toured the United States as an arranger and keyboard player with fellow countryman Sergio Mendes’ Brazil ’66 band. Fest went on to work with a variety of noteworthy musical groups, including the Flecktones

Fest released 19 albums over the course of his career, experimenting with combinations of both Brazilian and American styles. Fest’s music—including the 1976 jazz funk gem, Brazilian Dorian Dream—are still performed by jazz musicians and groups around the world.

Happy birthday to an innovative musician, composer and who filled our lives with all that jazz.

[9A]

15 December 2015

Chico Mendes’ 71st Birthday





Rubber tapping requires serious patience. You strip the bark, then wait — drip, drip, drip — as the liquid appears. Eventually, the waiting pays off, and the drops unite into a beautiful, valuable collection.

Chico Mendez’s life was similar. A second-generation tapper, he passed his days like most other workers: waiting. But inspiration struck — drip! — and he worked to unite his fellow tappers to fight for rainforest preservation. Then, he went global — drip! — bringing the National Council of Rubber Tappers to life, and speaking for human rights and environmentalism. He saw how his small efforts grew into a movement, saying: “At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now, I realize, I am fighting for humanity.”

Today’s doodle by Kevin Laughlin commemorates Mendez, who was tragically assassinated for his brave efforts.

[9A]

15 December 2014

40th anniversary of the Cycleway programme





Ciclovía, also ciclovia or cyclovia, is a Spanish term that means "cycleway", either a permanent bike path or the temporary closing of certain streets to automobiles for cyclists and pedestrians, a practice sometimes called open streets.

The inspiration for Ciclovías is credited to Bogotá, Colombia, although the National Capital Commission in Canada's capital Ottawa already organised open streets for active transportation in 1970. The events have taken place since December 1974 when they started through the efforts of organizer Jaime Ortiz Mariño and others cyclist aficionados. However, it wasn't until 1976 when Bogota's Mayor Luis Prieto Ocampo signed the 566 and 567 decrees that Ciclovia became an official program promoted by the City government and supported by the Transportation Department. In Bogotá, permanently designated bikeways are also known as ciclorrutas, while streets temporarily closed for that purpose are called ciclovías.

Each Sunday and public holiday from 7 am until 2 pm certain main streets of Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, and other cities are temporarily blocked off to cars allowing runners, skaters, and bicyclists to workout in a more comfortable environment. At the same time, stages are set up in city parks. Aerobics instructors, yoga teachers and musicians lead people through various performances. The great variety of traditional food and drinks offered in snack stalls motivates many locals and tourists to go around the Ciclovía. Bogotá's weekly ciclovías are used by approximately 2 million people [about 20% of the population] on over 120 km of car-free streets.

[9A]

6 August 2014

Anna Castelli Ferrieri's 94th Birthday




Our homepage in Italy today celebrates pioneering architect Anna Castelli Ferrieri, born this day in 1918. Ferrieri found success using alternative materials like metal and plastic in her designs.

[9A]

13 April 2022

Ola Rotimi's 84th birthday




Emmanuel Gladstone Olawale Rotimi, also known as Ola Rotimi, was in the spotlight for more reasons than one. Today’s Doodle celebrates the renowned Nigerian playwright, director, actor, choreographer and designer, who used his art to reflect on Nigeria’s rich culture, diversity, and local traditions.

Ola Rotimi was born in 1938 and grew up in a family of artists: His mother managed a traditional dance group and his father organized a community theater. His father also directed and produced a play where Rotimi would show up on stage for the first time at only four-years-old. His family’s passion for the arts, as well as his mixed parentage—an Ijaw mother and Yoruba father—greatly influenced his future work. He would later attend Boston University to study theater and earned an M.F.A. degree at Yale University in playwriting and dramatic literature.

Throughout Rotimi’s career, he wrote and directed dozens of plays and short stories that poignantly examined Nigeria’s ethnic traditions and history. He was known to have a larger-than-life vision and embraced dance, music, and even mime within his productions. Rotimi’s plays pulled back the curtain to unveil traditional Nigerian rituals, songs, and dances to audiences all over the world. Some of his most celebrated and award-winning works include The Gods Are Not to Blame, Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again, and Kurunmi.

Happy birthday to “the father of Nollywood” and one of Nigeria’s foremost dramatists, Ola Rotimi.

[9A]

22 May 2023

Barbara May Cameron's 69th birthday


Today’s Doodle celebrates Barbara May Cameron, a Native American photographer, poet, writer, and human rights activist. The Doodle artwork is illustrated by queer Mexican and Chitimachan artist Sienna Gonzales. On this day in 1954, Barbara Cameron was born in Fort Yates, North Dakota.

Cameron was born a member of the Hunkpapa group, one of the seven council fires of the Lakota tribe, and raised on the Standing Rock Reservation by her grandparents. After graduating high school, she studied photography and film at the American Indian Art Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was here that Cameron began winning awards in theater and media arts.

After coming out as a lesbian, Cameron moved to San Francisco in 1973 and advocated for LGBTQIA+ acceptance in the Native American community and addressed racism in queer spaces. In 1975, she co-founded Gay American Indians — the first ever dedicated Native American LGBTQIA+ group — with her friend and fellow activist Randy Burns.

Cameron took part in various programs to promote human welfare. From 1980 through 1985, she organized the Lesbian Gay Freedom Day Parade and Celebration. She also co-led a lawsuit against the Immigration & Naturalization Service which had a policy of turning away gay people. The case went before the Supreme Court and ruled in favor of Barbara and her co-plaintiffs who made persuasive arguments for change.

A few years later, she became an executive director at Community United Against Violence, where she supported people affected by hate crimes and domestic violence. The San Francisco Mayor appointed Cameron to both the Citizens Committee on Community Development and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission in 1988, and the next mayor appointed her to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

HIV/AIDS disproportionately impacted Native people in the early 1990s, so Cameron stepped up to lead the charge. She was active within the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the American Indian AIDS Institute, and served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control, helping with AIDS and childhood immunization programs.

Cameron is remembered for her passionate writing and speeches, many of which are housed at the San Francisco Public Library. Her words live on through her essay, No Apologies: A Lakota Lesbian Perspective which is featured in Our Right To Love: A Lesbian Resource Book.

Happy birthday Barbara May Cameron, thank you for working tirelessly to improve human rights and for giving queer Indigenous people a place to feel safe and belong.

[9A]

22 March 2017

P. Ramlee’s 88th birthday




Born 88 years ago today, P. Ramlee’s artistic achievements left a permanent mark on the cultural history of Malaysia. P. Ramlee was a prolific actor, director, writer, and musician who contributed to more than 60 films and composed around 250 songs. After his death in 1973, Malaysians kept his legacy alive, honoring him with posthumous awards and naming halls, museums, and other buildings after him.

Today’s Doodle highlights the Malaysian legend’s diverse artistry and shows him as people best remember him — sporting a thin mustache and a checkered suit, his head cocked slightly to the side.

[9A]

23 Mar 2017

Hassan Fathy’s 117th birthday



Today's Doodle celebrates Hassan Fathy, an Egyptian architect known for pioneering new methods, respecting tradition, and valuing all walks of life. Fathy is known to be a poet, musician, and inventor, but he spent his life's work in architecture, after training in Cairo.

At the beginning of his career, Fathy focused on teaching architecture to others, but soon began to take on architectural projects of his own. He was convinced that Egypt could look to its past to create a valuable future. He researched ancient methods of building, and began working with traditional materials like mud and earth. He made use of traditional structures as well, relying on archways for strong support and malqaf, or windcatchers, which take in natural ventilation through open windows and direct air throughout a home.

Beyond preserving Egypt's architectural legacy, Fathy trusted in the power of community to look after itself. He trained community members to create their own materials from scratch and build their own structures, so that they would be able to sustain their homes long after Fathy was gone. In this way, he was invested in more than building homes - he was building communities. For his ambitious New Gourna project in Luxor, he built diverse homes with the understanding that different families would have different needs. He also built a theater, school, market, and mosque, since a community is based on more than houses. His work in Egypt and beyond inspired others all over the world to find innovative ways to respect their local traditions and resources.

Today’s Doodle honors Fathy’s legacy on what would have been his 117th birthday. In the Doodle, see if you can find the traditional adobe process, a woman planting shrubs, geese and cows, and Hassan Fathy himself shaking hands with a member of his community!

[9A]

10 September 2021

Tránsito Amaguaña's 112th birthday



Today’s Doodle honors Ecuadorian Quechua activist Tránsito Amaguaña on her 112th birthday. She was an advocate who fought to secure legal rights for Ecuador’s farm workers, Indigenous communities, and women.

Rosa Elena Tránsito Amaguaña Alba or “Mama Tránsito” was born on this day in 1909 in San Miguel de Pesillo, Ecuador. Her family were huasipungueros—farmers who labored seven days a week on a hacienda with no pay except a small plot of land for growing food. Although Amaguaña’s mother hoped she could attend school long enough to become literate, her education was cut short when she was forced into domestic work on the hacienda at a young age. In 1930, Amaguaña walked barefoot for several days to Quito with her small children in tow over 25 times to join protesters in demanding a salary and a day of rest each week for hacienda workers like her family and neighbors.

This event marked the start of Amaguaña’s tireless lifelong activism. She fulfilled her mother’s wish on trips to Cuba where she learned to read and write; and how to organize land collectives and labor unions. She helped organize Ecuador’s first farm worker unions and in 1931, she participated in the unions’ first strike in Olmedo. Amaguaña continued traveling throughout the region but returned to Quito often, where she developed a close friendship with fellow activist Dolores Cacuango. Alongside other Indigenous leaders, they co-founded the Federación Ecuatoriana de Indios [Ecuadorian Indian Federation] in 1944 which advocated for terminating hacienda ownership and returning the land to the local workers.

After years of struggle, labor laws were eventually passed to protect farm workers. Not wanting Indigenous children to face the same education restrictions she experienced, Amaguaña helped found four schools with classes taught in Spanish and Quechua. A school in Guayaquil, Ecuador that bears her name preserves her multifaceted legacy.

Happy Birthday, Tránsito Amaguaña!

[9A]

12 Jun 2013

Dia Dos Namorados 2013



Dia dos Namorados [Brazilian Portuguese: Lovers' Day] is a special date celebrated on June 12 in Brazil. The date is celebrated with gifts, romantic activities, decorations and festivities.

The date is June 12 since it is close to Saint Anthony's Day on June 13. The term "Dia dos Namorados" is also used in other Portuguese-speaking countries to refer to Valentine's Day.

[9A]

12 June 2016

Dia dos Namorados 2016

[9A]

14 June 2003

Father's Day 2003

[9A]

14 June 2016

Karl Landsteiner’s 148th birthday




You might not know the name Karl Landsteiner, but his discoveries have saved the lives of so many millions of us.

In 1901, Landsteiner discovered the existence of blood types A, B, AB and O, and that people of the same or compatible types can receive transfusions from one another. The first successful blood transfusion occurred in 1907 as a direct result of his work, which led to advances in medicine, therapies, and surgery.

Landsteiner is also credited with laying the groundwork, together with fellow scientist Erwin Popper, that led to the discovery of the polio virus. This was the first step towards developing a treatment for the disease which affected millions of children worldwide.

On what would be his 148th birthday, we thank you, Karl Landsteiner, for helping us lead longer, healthier lives.

[9A]

2 September 2021

Rudolf Weigl's 138th birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates the 138th birthday of Polish inventor, doctor, and immunologist Rudolf Weigl. He produced the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus—one of humanity’s oldest and most infectious diseases.

On this day in 1883, Rudolf Stefan Weigl was born in the Austro-Hungarian town of Przerów [modern-day Czech Republic]. He went on to study biological sciences at Poland’s Lwów University and was appointed as a parasitologist in the Polish Army in 1914. As millions across Eastern Europe were plagued by typhus, Weigl became determined to stop its spread.

Body lice were known to carry the typhus-infecting bacteria Rickettsia prowazekii, so Weigl adapted the tiny insect into a laboratory specimen. His innovative research revealed how to use lice to propagate the deadly bacteria which he studied for decades with the hope of developing a vaccine. In 1936, Weigl’s vaccine successfully inoculated its first beneficiary. When Germany occupied Poland during the outbreak of the Second World War, Weigl was forced to open a vaccine production plant. He used the facility to hire friends and colleagues at risk of persecution under the new regime.

An estimated 5,000 people were saved due to Weigl’s work during this period--both due to his direct efforts to protect his neighbors and to the thousands of vaccine doses distributed nationwide. Today, Weigl is widely lauded as a remarkable scientist and hero. His work has been honored by not one but two Nobel Prize nominations!

From studying a tiny louse to saving thousands of human lives, the impacts your tireless work had on the world are felt to this day—Happy Birthday, Rudolf Weigl!

[9A]

17 Jun 2022

Celebrating Amanda Aldridge



Today’s Doodle celebrates British composer, teacher and opera singer Amanda Aldridge. She released over thirty songs and dozens of instrumental tracks under the pseudonym Montague Ring.On this day in 1911, Amanda Aldridge gave a piano recital at London's pre-war principal concert venue, Queens Small Hall, the original home of the BBC Symphony and London Philharmonic Orchestras.

Amanda was born the daughter of Ira Aldridge, a Black American Shakespearean actor and Swedish opera singer in 1866, London. Showing her own musical prowess at a young age, Aldridge pursued a career as a vocalist at London’s Royal Conservatory of Music, where she studied under eminent Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. Aldridge’s singing career was soon cut short by a throat injury, but her talents only continued to grow as a vocal teacher, piano player and composer.

Exploring her mixed ethnic heritage through the lens of music, Aldridge combined various rhythmic influences and genres together with poetry from Black American authors to create romantic Parlour music, a popular genre performed in the livingrooms of middle-class homes. Aldridge’s 1913 piano composition “Three African Dances,” inspired by West African drumming, became her most famous piece. In addition to her compositions, she taught civil rights activist Paul Robeson and one of America’s first great opera singers, Marian Anderson.

Aldridge composed love songs, sambas, and orchestral pieces into her old age, garnering international attention for her fusion of musical styles. At 88, Aldridge appeared for the first time on television on the British show “Music for You,” introducing a new generation to her classic compositions.

[9A]

17 December 2022

Celebrating Ana Mercedes Hoyos




Today’s Doodle celebrates Ana Mercedes Hoyos, a distinguished Colombian artist. She was an award-winning painter and sculptor who won over seventeen national and international awards. Hoyos was a pioneer in modern art who focused on the complexities of Colombian culture. On this day in 1968, Hoyos was awarded first place in the Bogotá Museum of Modern Arts’ “Environmental Spaces” exhibition.

Born to a family of architects in Bogotá, Colombia on September 29, 1942, Hoyos was encouraged to study art history from an early age. She attended Colegia Marymount before studying visual arts at the University of Andes. She first explored more minimalistic and abstract styles, which led to her first series Ventanas [Windows]. Many consider this collection the turning point of her career, as it won the Colombian National Salon of Artists’ Caracas Prize.

In the next few decades, Hoyos ventured into new realms. In the mid 1970s, she released Atmósferas [Atmospheres], a series exploring the parameters of light that won international recognition. She then created works featuring flora and fruit typically found in Cartagena, where she lived in the 1980s.

Hoyos’ artistic journey eventually led her to still-life paintings that examined the multicultural diversity of Colombia. These still lifes combined exaggerated light with explosive tropical colors to capture the Caribbean’s rich cultures and sceneries. Hoyos’ paintings portrayed Afro-Colombian heritage in a magical, mesmerizing way.

Nowadays, people can enjoy her work far and wide at renowned art institutions like the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, the United Nations University in Tokyo, the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C., and perhaps most importantly, the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art, where her journey started.

[9A]

Jun 8, 2020

Marguerite Yourcenar's 117th Birthday






Today’s Doodle, illustrated by London-based guest artist Marguerite Dumans, celebrates the 117th birthday of French writer Marguerite Yourcenar, widely admired for her masterful use of historical settings to explore modern issues and universal themes. Yourcenar’s literary accomplishments positioned her to become the first woman elected to the prestigious Académie Française, an organization founded in 1635 dedicated to the preservation of the French language with a membership limited to only 40 linguistic scholars.

On this day in 1903, Marguerite de Crayencour was born into a wealthy family in Brussels, Belgium. She moved to Paris as a child with her father, who eschewed public education in favor of private tutors, books, and museums. In 1921, she published her first book of poetry, assuming the pen name “Yourcenar,” a close anagram of her surname “Crayencour.”

Considered one of the first notable openly lesbian writers, Yourcenar received critical acclaim for her first novella, “Alexis” [1929], which centered around a title character who comes out as gay to his wife. During the ’30s, she traveled Europe amid a bohemian artistic scene, but with the outbreak of World War II, she settled in the United States with her long-time partner and translator, Grace Frick. There she completed “Mémoires d’Hadrien”, a fictionalized account of the titular Roman emperor that is widely considered her masterpiece.

Yourcenar was honored with many accolades, including two Prix Femina, as well as the Grand Prix de Littérature awarded in 1977 bythe Académie Française, which she historically joined three years later.

[9A]

2 Mar 2023

Lola Cueto's 126th Birthday


Today’s animated Doodle celebrates the 126th birthday of Mexican artist Lola Cueto. This tapestry designer, toy collector, engraver, teacher, and puppet master was born in Mexico City on this day in 1897 as María Dolores Velázquez Rivas.

Lola Cueto’s creativity was evident when she was very young. At age 12, she became one of the first women to enroll at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes [National School of Fine Arts] at San Carlos Academy. Her art training continued after the Mexican Revolution at the Santa Anita Outdoor Painting School, where she was the only woman in her class.

Cueto broke into the male-dominated embroidery field by combining traditional designs from Indigenous culture with new technology in the form of embroidery machines. She moved to Paris in 1927 with her husband, an avant-garde sculptor, where the pair became involved in a community of artists. Cueto’s intricate tapestry work was displayed at their joint exhibitions, and she used the chain technique to depict French cathedrals in her embroidery.

She moved back to Mexico City with her husband and two daughters in 1932, where she mastered engraving, pioneered puppet theater, and began to teach art at Mexico City College. Cueto was one of the artists that founded the League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists [LEAR], a cohort of creatives against the censorship of art. Through this, she created the first glove puppet dolls in Mexico. Her interests spanned into theater as well, with Cueto founding three puppet theater companies called Rin Run, El Nahual, and El Colorín. She used her puppet shows to entertain and educate children in fun ways.

A variety of her work can be viewed and enjoyed today. The dozens of puppets she fashioned are at the National School of Fine Arts, while the Met Museum houses several of her etchings and tapestries. Some of her toy collection and paper cuttings are at the Cultural Center at Santa Domingo.

Happy birthday, Lola Cueto! Thank you for pushing the needle forward for female artists.

[9A]

2 March 2022

Discovery of Thailand's largest dinosaur remains

[9A]

2 March 2019

Desi Arnaz’s 102nd Birthday


Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and legacy of Desi Arnaz, the Cuban-born American actor, musician, comedian, and producer best known for playing Ricky Ricardo in the 1950s hit sitcom I Love Lucy.

Desiderio Alberto Arnaz III was born in Santiago, Cuba on March 2, 1917, where he spent his childhood before immigrating to the United States during the Cuban Revolution. After arriving in America without a penny to his name, the young Arnaz worked hard to eventually find success as a musician. A major turning point in his career came after he landed a role in the 1939 Broadway production Too Many Girls as well as a film adaptation of the same play just one year later. It was on this set that he met his co-star, future wife, and lifelong friend Lucille Ball.

In 1950, after advancing his career as both an actor and a musician, both Arnaz and Ball pitched CBS on what would eventually become the hit American TV sitcom I Love Lucy. Network executives were initially concerned that Arnaz’s accent would affect his credibility as Ball’s husband, so the pair produced a pilot with their own money, ultimately winning support for the creation of the show.

I Love Lucy ran from 1951 to 1957 and was the most popular TV show in America for four of its six prime-time seasons. At one point, it attracted an estimated 44 million viewers for a single episode—more than watched the inauguration of President Eisenhower! As part of their production deal, Arnaz and Ball retained all rights to the content, enabling them to sell the series into syndication.

Today, Arnaz is widely considered a trailblazer in the American entertainment industry, even being credited with inventing the rerun. In 1956 he won a Golden Globe for Best Television Achievement, an award which recognized his impact on American comedy both in front AND behind the camera. He was also awarded not one, but two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to both Television and Motion Pictures.

Here’s to Desi Arnaz, whose beaming joy and laughter continues to bring delight to living rooms and viewers around the globe.

[9A]

6 Jun 2023

Doodle for Google 2023 – US winner




“Sometimes I love them, and sometimes I dislike them very much, but I can't imagine my life without my sisters. I have learned to be a little bit more patient with them, and they have had an enormous impact on me. We help to inspire each other and to help each other grow like the vines and flowers in my picture. I am never lonely with them, and they can cheer me up. I am grateful for them and all that they have done for me. In this drawing, we are having a fun time drinking hot chocolate, which is one of my fondest memories. The rainbow in the background symbolizes one of the first things I helped one of my sisters draw. In one of my family pictures, my sisters [sitting next to me] and I [the one in the middle] are sitting in flowers with a background that I drew, so I thought it would be fun to reference that by drawing us sitting flowers here. The word "Google" is related with the stems of flowers and vines, also following the flower/garden theme. My drawing is composed of all our happiest memories to show just how grateful I am for them.”

When Rebecca was thinking about how to answer this year’s Doodle for Google contest prompt, “I am grateful for…”, her mind instantly went to her sisters. She decided to highlight the ways in which they support each other using the metaphor of a garden growing. She thinks gratitude is important because it allows us to look beyond the negative to focus on the positive.





Photo of 3 young girls sitting on grass with trees in the background. The girl in the center is holding a sign with the Google logo with an illustration below.

Pictured: Rebecca celebrates being named a state winner with her two sisters.

As the U.S. 2023 Doodle for Google contest national winner, Rebecca wins a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology package for her school.

Check out the Google Keyword Blog to learn more about Rebecca.

Congratulations, Rebbecca! We’re grateful to you and the thousands of other students across the U.S. who shared their Doodles with us!

[9A]

18 July 2022

Oskar Sala’s 112th birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates what would have been the 112th birthday of Oskar Sala, an innovative electronic music composer and physicist. Recognized for producing sound effects on a musical instrument called a mixture-trautonium, Salas electrified the world of television, radio and film.

Sala was born in Greiz, Germany, in 1910 and was immersed in music since birth. His mother was a singer and his father was an ophthalmologist with musical talent. At 14, Sala began creating compositions and songs for instruments like the violin and piano.

When Sala first heard a device called the trautonium, he became fascinated by the tonal possibilities and the technology the instrument offered. His life mission became mastering the trautonium and developing it further which inspired his studies in physics and composition at school.


This new focus led Sala to develop his own instrument called the mixture-trautonium. With his education as a composer and an electro-engineer, he created electronic music that set his style apart from others. The mixture-trautonium’s architecture is so unique that it was capable of playing several sounds or voices simultaneously.


From behind the door of a recording studio, Sala composed musical pieces and sound effects for many television, radio and movie productions, such as Rosemary [1959] and The Birds [1962]. The instrument created noises like bird cries, hammering and door and window slams.

Sala received several awards for his work—he gave many interviews, met numerous artists and was honored in radio broadcasts and movies. In 1995, he donated his original mixture-trautonium to the German Museum for Contemporary Technology.

Sala also built the Quartett-Trautonium, Concert Trautonium and the Volkstrautonium. His efforts in electronic music opened the field of subharmonics. With his dedication and creative energy, he became a one-man orchestra.

Happy birthday, Oskar Sala!

[9A]

20 Jul 2011

Gregor Mendel's 189th Birthday



Gregor Johann Mendel was a German-Czech biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas' Abbey in Brünn [Brno], Margraviate of Moravia. Mendel was born in a German-speaking family in the Silesian part of the Austrian Empire [today's Czech Republic] and gained posthumous recognition as the founder of the modern science of genetics.

Mendel worked with seven characteristics of pea plants: plant height, pod shape and color, seed shape and color, and flower position and color. His experiments led him to make two generalizations, the Law of Segregation and the Law of Independent Assortment, which later came to be known as Mendel's Laws of Inheritance.

[9A]

20 July 2009

40th Anniversary of Moon Landing



A Moon landing or lunar 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.

[9A]

1 Jun 2022

Celebrating José de Almada Negreiros




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by guest artist Melissa Crowton, celebrates the life, works and creative legacy of José de Almada Negreiros. He was a multi-faceted artist, writer and choreographer of Futurism, and widely considered one of the most influential Portuguese and European artists of the 20th century. On this day in 1911, Almada Negreiros made his artistic debut at the age of 18 by publishing a cartoon titled “A Weighty Reason” in the 4th issue of A Sátira, a Lisbon magazine.

He was born on the island of São Tomé and Príncipe in 1893, and began his creative journey as a caricaturist. What started off with satirical sketches turned into a self-taught love for all things art. At just 20 years old, Almada Negreiros hosted his first exhibition in Lisbon. A year later, in 1914, he published his first poem and, in 1915, started a progressive literary magazine called Orpheu, which promoted Portuguese Modernism.

In the 1920’s, Almada Negreiros lived in Paris and Madrid, honing his craft and skills through collaboration and sometimes even isolation. When he returned to Portugal in 1932, he expanded his artistic repertoire to include stained-glass pieces, mosaic panels, theater plays, ballets, graphic designs and more.

Almada Negreiros was awarded the Columbano Prize by the National Secretariat of Propaganda in 1942 and the Domingos Sequeira Award in 1946, as well as numerous other honors and decorations throughout his lifetime. His works are displayed far and wide around Europe, most notably in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, the port terminals of Alcântara and Rocha do Conde de Óbidos, and in the lounge bar of the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon.

[9A]

24 June 2017

2017 World Taekwondo Championships Muju


Integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit — all of these are on display at the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships in Muju, South Korea. Oh, and some pretty impressive knee strikes and reverse round kicks!

The World Taekwondo Championships have taken place every other year since 1973. Outside of the Olympics, they’re the most prestigious event for those who practice the sport — in fact, the seven days feature more competitors from a greater number of nations than does the four-day Olympic event. Many talented athletes will make names for themselves at the championships this year, and their careers will be carefully followed by taekwondo enthusiasts as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics approach.

Though taekwondo is an intensely physical sport, its philosophical roots center on the building of a more peaceful society. By cultivating a foundation of respect, humility, and control in the individual, practitioners of taekwondo aim to inspire this sense of responsibility and spirituality in others through their actions and teachings.

Today’s Doodle was created with community and diversity in mind. Who will emerge victorious in this year’s Worlds? We can’t wait to find out!

[9A]

24 June 2016

Juan Manuel Fangio’s 105th birthday





As a child, he was El Chueco – ”the bandy-legged one” – due to his gravity-bending soccer skills. But a lifetime of racing victories made him El Maestro – The Master. Such was the transformation of legend Juan Manuel Fangio, who would be 105 today.

A native son of Balcarce, near Buenos Aires, Fangio’s command of the wheel emerged while driving for the military. Post-service, he kept at it, dedicating himself to punishing routines to make up for lost time and compete with his younger opponents. The result: winning the World Championship of Drivers not once, but a record-breaking five times in the 1950s.

Today’s vintage, poster-inspired Doodle commemorates his dedication and commitment to Balcarce, Argentina, and the timeless art of racing.

[9A]

1 Apr 2012

13th Anniversary of the 4 unit VLT telescope: Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun







The Very Large Telescope [VLT] is a telescope facility operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It consists of four individual telescopes, each with a primary mirror 8.2 m across, which are generally used separately but can be used together to achieve very high angular resolution. The four separate optical telescopes are known as Antu, Kueyen, Melipal, and Yepun, which are all words for astronomical objects in the Mapuche language. The telescopes form an array complemented by four movable Auxiliary Telescopes [ATs] of 1.8 m aperture.

The VLT operates at visible and infrared wavelengths. Each individual telescope can detect objects roughly four billion times fainter than can be detected with the naked eye, and when all the telescopes are combined, the facility can achieve an angular resolution of about 0.002 arc-second. In single telescope mode of operation angular resolution is about 0.05 arc-second.

The VLT is the most productive ground-based facility for astronomy, with only the Hubble Space Telescope generating more scientific papers among facilities operating at visible wavelengths. Among the pioneering observations carried out using the VLT are the first direct image of an exoplanet, the tracking of individual stars moving around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, and observations of the afterglow of the furthest known gamma-ray burst.

[9A]

1 April 2017

Payut Ngaokrachang’s 88th birthday







Today’s Doodle celebrates renowned Thai cartoonist and animation pioneer Payut Ngaokrachang with a depiction of one of his best-known animations, and Thai cinema's first cel-animated feature film, “The Adventure of Sudsakorn.”

Released in 1979, “Sudsakorn” was one of Thailand’s earliest full-length animations, and was based on author Sudthornpu’s book Pra Apai Manee. It follows the exploits of the boy hero as he battles with mythical creatures and other dangerous adversaries. The animation was created on a very tight budget, and the innovative Payut was said to have crafted some of his movie-making equipment using discarded military machinery to keep costs low.

On what would be his 88th birthday, we celebrate Payut Ngaokrachang and his significant contribution to animation.

[9A]

31 Mar 2017

Sergei Diaghilev’s 145th birthday





Born in 1872 to a wealthy Russian family, art critic, visionary, and all-around provocateur Sergei Diaghilev made his mark on the performing arts with his influential Ballets Russes, a trailblazing dance company that united talents from the disciplines of art, fashion, dance, choreography, and music, and vaulted them to dizzying creative heights.

From 1909-1929, the Ballet Russes performed on stages around the globe, mesmerizing, even scandalizing, audiences with its unprecedented costumes, stage sets, compositions, and choreography. In Schéhérazade, which premiered at the Théâtre national de l’Opéra, Paris, in 1910, dancers traded tutus for artist Léon Bakst’s risqué harem pants while Vaslav Nijinsky performed in gold body paint and bejeweled costumes. Firebird, based on Russian fairy tales, marked Diaghilev’s first commissioned score from Igor Stravinsky, kicking off a collaboration that would include the primal work, The Rite of Spring and Pulcinella [with costumes and sets by Pablo Picasso].

Anna Pavlova, Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau—all figured into Diaghilev’s sensational productions.

Today, on Sergei Diaghilev’s 145th birthday, we salute his boundless imagination with a Doodle that depicts the impresario flanked by his vividly costumed Ballets Russes dancers against an onion-domed Russian backdrop. Diaghilev wowed the world, both then and now.

Doodle by Sophie Diao

[9A]

26 March 2019

Bangladesh Independence Day 2019





Today’s Doodle celebrates Independence Day in Bangladesh, the South Asian nation situated on the Bay of Bengal and a deltaic nation with almost 700 rivers flowing through it!

On this day in 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, often titled Bangabandhu [which translates to “friend of Bengal”], signed a declaration that made the former East Pakistan the sovereign and independent country of Bangladesh with its own unique language and culture. This founding document followed Bangabandhu’s historic speech, delivered on March 7.

A public holiday in Bangladesh, Independence Day is commemorated with parades, fairs, and concerts as well as patriotic speeches. A festive spirit fills the capital city of Dhaka, where the Bangladesh flag flies proudly, and many government buildings are lit up with the national colors: green and red. The green symbolizes Bangladesh’s abundant flora and the potential of the nation’s youth while the red circle in the middle of the flag represents the sun rising over the relatively new and developing country.

Joy Bangla!

[9A]

23 April 2020

St. George's Day 2020





Today’s Doodle, illustrated by British guest artist Robin Davey, commemorates St. George’s Day. On the annual celebration of the patron saint, England celebrates St. George and his representation of values like bravery, integrity, and leadership.

According to legend, St. George single-handedly slew a dragon to rescue a city under siege. For centuries, he captured the English imagination; in fact, King Henry V’s veneration for St. George was even immortalized in William Shakespeare’s eponymous play about the monarch.

St. George was declared England’s patron saint in 1348, and in 1415 St. George’s Day was inaugurated as a national feast day in his honor. Today, the special day lives on as a testament to England’s culture and unique traditions through activities like morris dancing [a rural folk custom] and medieval jousting.

Happy St. George’s Day!

[9A]

23 April 2016

Celebrating William Shakespeare





Genius. There are many examples throughout human history, but today we celebrate one particularly brilliant one: William Shakespeare — writer, playwright, and one of the most eloquent voices of all time. Today, we celebrate his life and work.

A creative tour de force, Shakespeare officially wrote 38 plays in his 52 years, performing most of them at The Globe Theatre in London. Over the past four centuries, Shakespeare's poems, plays and other works have taken on a life of their own on stage, screen, and page. You can explore some of his works and those he has has inspired in the Shakespeare gallery of the Google Cultural Institute.

Here's to many more lifetimes of the Bard's great verse.

[9A]

15 April 2021

Eugène Poubelle’s 190th birthday



Today’s Doodle celebrates Eugène Poubelle, the French lawyer, administrator, and diplomat credited with revolutionizing Paris’s waste management system in the late 19th century. Never afraid to get his hands dirty, Poubelle is forever immortalized in the French word for the trash can: la poubelle.

Born in Caen, France on this day in 1831, Eugène René Poubelle earned a law degree and began his career as a professor before transitioning into public service. In 1883, he was appointed prefect of the Seine, and he soon came to the conclusion that Paris needed to clean up its act.

In 1884, Poubelle decreed that Parisian landlords were required to install large, covered receptacles for their tenants’ household trash, and—far ahead of his time—he even mandated three separate bins to facilitate recycling. In 1890, la poubelle was officially inducted into the French dictionary as the term for “garbage can.”

But Poubelle didn’t stop there. Following a severe cholera outbreak in 1892, he also required all buildings to be connected directly to the city’s sewers, another huge step in the name of urban hygiene. Poubelle’s mandates also catalyzed the development of household waste removal vehicles, early versions of which came in the form of horse-drawn carriages. With the advent of the first automobiles, these prototypical garbage trucks evolved into motorized vehicles in 1897; by the dawn of the 20th-century, this sanitation technology cleared the path for garbage collection to become commonplace not just in French urban centers but nationwide.

Thank you, Eugène Poubelle, for refusing to let your visionary ideas be thrown out!

[9A]

15 April 2012

Wilhelm Busch's 180th Birthday







Heinrich Christian Wilhelm Busch [15 April 1832 – 9 January 1908] was a German humorist, poet, illustrator, and painter. He published wildly innovative illustrated tales that remain influential to this day.

Busch drew on the tropes of folk humour as well as a profound knowledge of German literature and art to satirize contemporary life, any kind of piety, Catholicism, Philistinism, religious morality, bigotry, and moral uplift.

His mastery of drawing and verse became deeply influential for future generations of comic artists and vernacular poets. Among many notable influences, The Katzenjammer Kids was inspired by Busch's Max and Moritz. Today, the Wilhelm Busch Prize and the Wilhelm Busch Museum help maintain his legacy. The 175th anniversary of his birth in 2007 was celebrated throughout Germany. Busch remains one of the most influential poets and artists in Western Europe.

[9A]

10 November 2021

Celebrating Ismail Marzuki




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Indonesia-based guest artist Ykha Amelz, celebrates Indonesian composer Ismail Marzuki, whose patriotic songs established him as a national hero during the nation’s independence movement. On this day in 1968, the Indonesian government honored his legacy with the inauguration of what is now the Jakarta Art Center - Taman Ismail Marzuki [TIM], which serves as a hub for the preservation of Indonesia’s cultural heritage and creative innovation in fine arts, music, theatre, dance, and film.

Ismail Marzuki was born in Kwitang, Central Jakarta, Indonesia on May 11, 1914, when the region was under Dutch colonial rule. Although musical professions were uncommon in this community, Marzuki grew up practicing up to five hours a day to master eight instruments: harmonica, mandolin, guitar, ukulele, violin, accordion, saxophone, and piano. At 17, he composed the first of the over hundreds of songs he would produce throughout his career.

Marzuki’s songs captured the Indonesian struggle for independence with melancholic overtones while representing the nation’s resilience through soaring melodies. He filled Indonesian hearts with pride for years by broadcasting his songs [nine of which became national anthems] on public radio. In 1955, Marzuki took over as the leader of the prestigious Jakarta Studio Orchestra and composed the General Election song, the musical theme of Indonesia’s first independent elections.

To honor his cultural contributions, the Indonesian government named Marzuki a National Hero in 2004. Today, visitors can learn more about Marzuki at TIM, which exhibits his personal collection including handwritten songs and a few of his many instruments.

Here’s to you Ismail Marzuki—thank you for writing the soundtrack for Indonesian independence!

[9A]

16 December 2014

Wassily Kandinsky's 148th Birthday






Today, our homepage around the world marks the 148th birthday of influential Russian painter Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky. Kandinsky is credited with painting the first purely abstract work of art.

This Google doodle was inspired by the work of Wassily Kandinsky and was used with special permission of the Estate of Wassily Kandinsky, which is represented by Artist Rights Society.

[9A]

12 Jan 2015

11th Anniversary of Kimani Maruge's First Day of School




It’s never too late to learn something new. On this day 11 years ago, Kenyan Kimani Maruge enrolled in primary school at the ripe age of 84, becoming the world’s oldest person to start elementary school.

Maruge attended Kapkenduiywo Primary School in Eldoret, Kenya; he said that the government's announcement of universal and free elementary education in 2003 prompted him to enroll.

In 2005 Maruge, who was a model student, was elected head boy of his school.

In September 2005, Maruge boarded a plane for the first time in his life, and headed to New York City to address the United Nations 2005 World Summit on the importance of free primary and secondary education for all.

[9A]

May 26, 2012

Rafael Escalona's 85th Birthday









Rafael Calixto Escalona Martinez [May 26, 1926 – May 13, 2009] was a Colombian composer and troubadour. He was known for being one of the most prominent vallenato music composers and troubadours of the genre and for being the co-founder of the Vallenato Legend Festival, along with Consuelo Araújo and Alfonso López Michelsen.

Vallenato is a popular folk music genre from Colombia. It primarily comes from its Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in north-east Colombia. The name also applies to the people from the city where this genre originated: Valledupar [from the place named Valle de Upar – "Valley of Upar"].In 2006, vallenato and cumbia were added as a category in the Latin Grammy Awards. Colombia’s traditional vallenato music is Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, according to UNESCO.

[9A]

June 13, 2016

Theodosia Okoh’s 94th birthday




Happy Birthday Theodosia Salome Okoh! Affectionately known as “Dosia, Mama Maa” or simply “Maa,” she was a very influential Ghanaian, best known for designing the country’s national flag.

For today's blog post, the Google team collaborated with Okoh's family who shared Okoh’s vision for the flag. From her family: “She always said that the ends of the Black Star must touch the bottom line of the red band and the top line of the green band in the flag.”

Fifty nine years after Okoh first designed the flag, the vibrant stripes of red, yellow, and green behind a black star, remain a strong symbol of national pride and identity for the Ghanaian people.

Okoh, who would have been 94 years old today, was not only an artist but an athlete who led the Ghanaian hockey team to their first ever World Cup appearance. The team also won the Fair Play Award, Ghana's first ever international hockey award, during her tenure. She went on to become the first female chairman of the Ghana Hockey Association and later, served as President of the Ghana Hockey Federation for 20 years. To honor her contributions, the hockey stadium in the center of Accra is named after her.

When the Mayor of Accra sought to change the name, she defended it with the same zeal she showed during games. According to Okoh's family, "Many people in Ghana will remember the infamous cartoon of her pulling the mayor of Accra’s beard in one hand with an oversize pair of scissors in the other, threatening to cut off his beard for having the gall to try and change the name of the hockey stadium."

We hope today’s Doodle by Alyssa Winans inspires people everywhere to pursue their passions, and Ghanaians to celebrate their magnificent flag and the powerful woman behind it.

[9A]

Jun 28, 2012

Sergiu Celibidache's 100th Birthday








Sergiu Celibidache was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures as principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Sicilian Symphony Orchestra and several other European orchestras. Later in life, he taught at Mainz University in Germany and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Celibidache frequently refused to release his performances on commercial recordings during his lifetime, claiming that a listener could not have a "transcendental experience" outside the concert hall. Many of the recordings of his performances were released posthumously. He has nonetheless earned international acclaim for his interpretations of the classical repertoire and was known for a spirited performance style informed by his study and experiences in Zen Buddhism. He is regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century.