Google doodles

[9A]

August 17, 2018

Indonesia Independence Day 2018



Few countries have more fun on Independence Day than Indonesia, the southeast Asian island nation whose Proclamation of Independence was first read in Jakarta on this day in 1945.

All throughout the country, from cities to villages, Independence Day starts early with gotong-royong, a collective effort to clean up and beautify neighborhoods. Red and white banners and buntings decorate houses, shops, and schools in preparation for a range of lively games, such as the Lomba Balap Karung seen in today’s Doodle. This classic sack race is just one of Indonesia’s traditional Independence Day pastimes. You can’t use your hands in the Kerupuk eating contest, where the fried starch and shrimp crackers hang from strings. First to finish their cracker wins. Panjat Pinang involves climbing up greased palm trees to claim prizes suspended at the top.

All this friendly competition is really just a fun way to spend time with friends and family, so remember to keep it light as you enjoy Indonesian Independence Day.

Dirgahayu Indonesia!

[9A]

August 17, 2010

Indonesia Independence Day - 2010

[9A]

August 17, 2017

Indonesia Independence Day 2017




Today we celebrate Indonesia’s Independence Day, known locally as Hari Kemerdekaan.

In the country’s capital of Jakarta and other large cities throughout the archipelago, this historically significant day is celebrated with elaborate parades including marching bands and floats festooned with Indonesia’s red-and-white flag. Flag-raising ceremonies also dominate the day, while performers sing the national anthem of Indonesia. Friends and families bond over activities like sack racing and climbing palm trees [panjat pinang] and show their culinary chops in cooking competitions featuring dishes from a myriad of cultures.

Using whimsical figures and rich colors and patterns, today’s Doodle by guest artist Aditya Pratama encapsulates the spirit of “unity in diversity” [Bhinneka Tunggal Ika] the national motto of Indonesia [derived from a 14th-century Javanese poem] that defines the joy of this landmark day.

[9A]

August 17, 2016

Indonesia Independence Day 2016




August 17th marks the anniversary of Indonesia’s Declaration of Independence from the Netherlands in 1945. This important event is celebrated across the country with the raising of the red and white national flag, the “Sang Saka Merah Putih,” and the singing of the national anthem “Indonesia Raya.” Local communities also come together to take part in competitions, games, and parades. One popular tradition is palm tree climbing, where the aim is to reach the top of the tree first to claim a prize. Sounds easy enough except that the trunk is often greased and slippery!

Today’s Doodle shows an iconic Paskibraka ceremony, held annually on Independence Day at the Presidential Palace. Dressed in a red and white uniform and wearing a traditional peci hat, a group of specially selected high school students become “flag troops” as part of a patriotic ceremony to mark this most significant day in the Indonesian calendar.

[9A]

Aug 19, 2016

To Be'Ab 2016




An ancient Jewish holiday that’s been revived in modern-day Israel [and pockets of America], Tu B’Av began as a joyous matchmaking day before falling into near-obscurity for almost 19 centuries. In recent times, it’s been reclaimed as a holiday similar to Valentine’s Day and is considered an auspicious day for weddings or marriage proposals.

On this day of love, some women dress in white, much as they did in the second century, when they took part in a courtship dance in the vineyards. Many lovebirds will exchange flowers and chocolates, celebrate in Israel’s restaurants and bars or attend love-themed parties.

Today’s Doodle captures the romantic spirit of of Tu B’Av, which falls on the 15th day of the Hebrew month Av, and begins at sundown on Thursday, August 18th, the night of the full moon.

[9A]

October 18, 2021

Yoram Gross' 95th Birthday



Today’s Doodle celebrates the 95th birthday of Polish-born, Australian director, scriptwriter, producer, and animation giant Yoram Gross—a survivor of the Holocaust who became the creative mastermind behind some of Australia’s most iconic cartoons. Gross captivated generations with stories that surpassed mere entertainment as each passed down a lesson drawn from a lifetime of optimism and overcoming hardship.

Yoram “Jerzy” Gross was born on this day into a Jewish family in 1926 in Krakow, Poland. After the near collapse of the Polish film industry during World War II, Gross worked as an assistant on his first movie in 1947. He moved to Israel in 1950, where his independent film work garnered renown globally, especially in Australia.

He heeded the enthusiastic praise of Australian critics and migrated down under in 1968 to further evolve his production repertoire by founding Yoram Gross Film Studios with his wife, Sandra Gross. To address the lack of Australian-made children’s movies, Gross combined animation with live-action backgrounds—a style that became his trademark—to produce the full-length 1977 animated blockbuster “Dot and the Kangaroo.” This quintessential Aussie story became the nation’s first animated feature to achieve commercial success.

The film’s excellent reception set the stage for Gross to create an empire of family-friendly animated television series. His work has since been aired in over 70 countries and continues to entertain and inspire millions with beloved characters such as Blinky Bill, the mischievous Koala. Gross and his legacy live on in the Yoram Gross Animation Award, an annual award acknowledging the best animated feature at the Sydney Film Festival.

Happy Birthday, Yoram Gross—here’s to an animated life!

[9A]

October 18, 2018

Laura Esther Rodríguez Dulanto’s 146th Birthday



Born in the Supe District of Lima on this day in 1872, Laura Esther Rodríguez-Dulanto was a physician who broke many barriers for women in Peru. Though she excelled in school from a very young age, her parents were frustrated that educational options were limited for women—no matter how gifted or motivated they might be.

There were no secondary schools for girls, much less universities or postgraduate programs. Nevertheless, Rodríguez-Dulanto’s parents persisted, appealing to local authorities until a special jury was appointed by the Ministry of Education to allow the gifted young student to advance her studies. With help from her older brother Abraham, who would teach her everything he learned after returning home from school, Rodríguez-Dulanto passed her high school exams. With a combination of intelligence, motivation, and a very supportive family, Laura Esther Rodríguez-Dulanto became the first Peruvian woman to attend college as well as the first female physician in the nation’s history.

Though it was a great achievement to begin her studies at the National University of San Marcos, 19-year-old Rodríguez-Dulanto still faced numerous obstacles. While the male students worked with human cadavers in anatomy class, she would have to sit behind a screen to conceal her presence. During her third year of medical school, she was allowed to perform dissections in a special room, accompanied by her brother who was also studying medicine. In September 1900, her hard work paid off when she earned her Bachelor of Medicine, taking her Hippocratic Oath a month later.

Rodríguez-Dulanto specialized in gynecology, publishing papers on ovarian cysts and uterine fibroids. She went on to co-found Peru’s first nursing school, teaching anatomy, physiology and hygiene, and paving the way for other women to pursue careers in medicine. Her legacy is honored with a bust in a public park in Lima, Peru, as well as a hospital in her home town of Supe, which is named after her.

Happy Birthday Dr. Laura Esther Rodríguez-Dulanto!

[9A]

Oct 22, 2018

Varvara Stepanova’s 124th Birthday



A poet, painter, photographer, and designer of books, magazines, posters, stage scenery, textiles and clothing, Stepanova defied societal norms of “women’s work” as she and other members of the Russian Constructivist movement subverted the notion of art as a rarified activity for elites and intellectuals.

Born in Kovno, Lithuania, on this day in 1894, Stepanova was raised in a peasant family before enrolling in the renowned Kazan art school in Odessa in 1910, a time of great creative and political upheaval in Russia.

In 1918, she published a series of books containing her “nonobjective visual poetry” whose words were chosen for sound and shape as much as meaning. By the 1920s she found herself at the forefront of the Russian avant-garde, co-founding the Constructivist movement along with her partner Aleksandr Rodchenko and such distinguished colleagues as Kasimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin, and Lyubov Popova.

In 1922 Stepanova created the sets for Aleksandr Vasilyevich Sukhovo-Kobylin’s play The Death of Tarelkin. Her clothing designs, using geometric shapes and utilitarian designs suited to particular activities fell into two broad categories: prozodezhda, or production clothing—which provided peasants, industrial workers, and theatrical performers alike with modern stylish and functional garments—and sportodezhda or sports costumes, which were designed to highlight the athletic body in motion. All of her clothing designs pioneered what is now known as “unisex” fashion.

Along with Popova she designed textiles at Tsindel, the state textile factory, using overlapping geometric shapes to create complex patterns in what many considered a lesser art form, later becoming a professor of textile design. Although wartime shortages prevented many of these groundbreaking designs from being realized, Stepanova’s vision and legacy lives on.

C Днём рождения, Varvara Stepanova!

[9A]

October 22, 2021

Celebrating Theodor Wonja Michael




Today’s Doodle celebrates Afro-German author, journalist, actor, government official, and social activist Theodor Wonja Michael, who survived a German labor camp to become the nation’s first Black federal civil service officer. Dedicated throughout his wide-ranging career to the struggle against racism, he lived to become one of the oldest remaining representatives of a historic generation of Black German people. On this day in 2013, Michael published his emotive memoir “Black German: An Afro-German Life in the Twentieth Century.”

In 1925, Theodor Wonja Michael was born on January 15 in Berlin, Germany to a father of Cameroonian birth and a native German mother. After elementary school, he was denied occupational training due to Germany’s discriminatory Nuremberg Laws. He pursued acting instead, but at 18 he was sent to work in a forced labor camp.

After the end of World War II, Michael went on to earn a master’s degree in political science. He pursued a career in journalism and founded and edited the journal “Afrika-Bulletin.” In 1971, he agreed to contribute his expertise of African issues to West Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, where he worked as a secret agent and retired as a director in 1987. Initially hesitant to join, Michael used his government service to fight discrimination from within and open doors for other Black Germans. He eventually returned to acting and became one of Germany’s most renowned Shakespearean stage actors.

In honor of his role as a representative of the Black German community, Michael became the first recipient of the nation’s Black History Month Award in 2009.

Thank you, Theodor Wonja Michael! Your story continues to inspire new generations to stand firm in the fight against racial prejudice.

[9A]

February 15, 2020

Irena Sendlerowa's 110th Birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates the life of Polish social worker Irena Sendlerowa on her 110th birthday. This courageous humanitarian is credited for saving the lives of Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. She proved to be an excellent strategist and became a symbol of courage and justice by organising the help of those in need, regardless of nationality or religion.

Irena Sendlerowa was born on this day in 1910 just outside the Polish capital of Warsaw. From her father’s work treating tuberculosis patients, Sendlerowa learned at an early age that one should always help those in need—no matter their race, religion, or financial status.

Sendlerowa put those principles into practice, becoming a social worker with the Warsaw City Council in 1939. As World War II progressed, her position gave her unusual access to the Warsaw Ghetto, and she became determined to help save as many Jewish people as possible.

Using ambulances, underground tunnels, and fake identities, Sendlerowa and her colleagues from a secret organisation called Żegota risked their lives to sneak hundreds of children to safety. As shown in the Doodle artwork, written records of the children and their families were buried in the jar under the apple tree, in hopes that the families could be reunited at the end of the war.

Poland honored Sendlerowa’s selflessness in 2003, awarding her the Order of the White Eagle, and in 2008, she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Dziękuję, Irena Sendlerowa, for your bravery in saving the lives of many.

[9A]

February 15, 2015

50th Anniversary of the Canadian Flag


The National Flag of Canada consists of a red field with a white square at its centre in the ratio of 1:2:1, in the middle of which is featured a stylized, red, 11-pointed maple leaf charged in the centre. It is the first flag to have been adopted by both houses of Parliament and officially proclaimed by the Canadian monarch as the country's official national flag. The flag has become the predominant and most recognizable national symbol of Canada.

In 1964, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson formed a committee to resolve the ongoing issue of the lack of an official Canadian flag, sparking a serious debate about a flag change to replace the Union Flag. Out of three choices, the maple leaf design by George Stanley, based on the flag of the Royal Military College of Canada, was selected. The flag made its first official appearance on February 15, 1965; the date is now celebrated annually as National Flag of Canada Day.

The Canadian Red Ensign was in unofficial use since the 1860s and officially approved by a 1945 Order in Council for use "wherever place or occasion may make it desirable to fly a distinctive Canadian flag". Also, the Royal Union Flag remains an official flag in Canada, to symbolize Canada's allegiance to the monarch and membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. There is no law dictating how the national flag is to be treated, but there are conventions and protocols to guide how it is to be displayed and its place in the order of precedence of flags, which gives it primacy over the aforementioned and most other flags.

[9A]

February 15, 2020

Nise da Silveira's 115th Birthday



“To navigate against the current, these rare qualities are needed: a spirit of adventure, courage, perseverance, and passion.”
—Nise da Silveira


Today’s Doodle celebrates visionary Brazilian psychiatrist Nise da Silveira on her 115th birthday. One of the few women in medicine in her time, she boldly challenged established psychiatric practices, pioneering a more humane approach to patient care.

Born on this day in 1905, in the northeastern city of Maceió, da Silveira completed her medical degree in 1926 at just 21 years old, as the only woman in her class. When she began work at a national psychiatric center in 1933, she was discouraged by the harsh medical procedures that doctors were relying upon to treat mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.

Bravely challenging the status quo, da Silveira instead began to study and advocate for more compassionate rehabilitative treatments. She developed art workshops for patients to express the inner workings of their minds through painting and sculpting, and she later became one of the first to incorporate animals into her practice as “co-therapists.” Da Silveira’s new approach proved highly successful in her patients’ rehabilitation, paving the way for an entirely new way of thinking about psychiatric care.

Da Silveira’s Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente [“Images of the Unconscious Museum”] remains open to this day, maintaining a collection of over 350,000 pieces of patient-created artwork. Her work has inspired countless others, leading to the establishment of therapeutic institutions both in Brazil and around the world.

[9A]

February 15, 2011

Ernest Shackleton's Birthday





Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton [15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

[9A]

Feb 16, 2011

Miriam Roth's Birthday






Miriam Roth [January 16, 1910 – November 13, 2005] was a preeminent pioneer of Israeli preschool education, author and scholar of children's literature, with a long career as a kindergarten teacher and educator. Many of the children's books she wrote became Israeli best-selling classics.

[9A]

February 16, 2015

Rosenmontag 2015


Rosenmontag is the highlight of the German Karneval [carnival], and takes place on the Shrove Monday before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Mardi Gras, though celebrated on Fat Tuesday, is a similar event. Rosenmontag is celebrated in German-speaking countries, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium, but most heavily in the carnival strongholds which include the Rhineland, especially in Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Aachen and Mainz. In contrast to Germany, in Austria, the highlight of the carnival is not Rosenmontag, but Shrove Tuesday.

The name for the carnival comes from the German dialect word roose meaning "frolic" and Montag meaning Monday.

[9A]

February 16, 2010

2010 Vancouver Olympic Games - Curling



Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite rocks, also called stones, across the ice curling sheet toward the house, a circular target marked on the ice. Each team has eight stones, with each player throwing two. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the centre of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones. A game usually consists of eight or ten ends.

The player can induce a curved path, described as curl, by causing the stone to slowly turn as it slides. The path of the rock may be further influenced by two sweepers with brooms or brushes, who accompany it as it slides down the sheet and sweep the ice in front of the stone. "Sweeping a rock" decreases the friction, which makes the stone travel a straighter path [with less "curl"] and a longer distance. A great deal of strategy and teamwork go into choosing the ideal path and placement of a stone for each situation, and the skills of the curlers determine the degree to which the stone will achieve the desired result. This gives curling its nickname of "chess on ice".

[9A]

February 17, 2012

Agniya Barto's 106th birthday






Agniya Lvovna Barto was a Soviet poet and children's writer of Russian Jewish origin.

[9A]

Nov 14, 2020

Celebrating Maria Tallchief




Go behind-the-scenes of today’s Doodle below!





From your first plié you are learning to become an artist. In every sense of the word you are poetry in motion. And if you are fortunate enough...you are actually the music.”

—Maria Tallchief


In honor of Native American Heritage Month in the U.S., today’s video Doodle—created in partnership with Native American guest artists Lydia Cheshewalla, Chris Pappan, and Yatika Starr Fields— celebrates Maria Tallchief, member of the Osage Nation who was America’s first, major prima ballerina. Not only a trailblazer for Native American dancers, Tallchief is widely considered one of the country’s most influential ballerinas of all time. On this day in 2007, a bronze sculpture of Tallchief and four other Native American ballerinas was unveiled in Oklahoma at the Tulsa Historical Society in a piece titled “The Five Moons” by artist Gary Henson.

Maria Tallchief was born Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief on January 24, 1925 in the town of Fairfax on the Osage Indian Reservation in northern Oklahoma. She began her ballet training at the age of three and continued to do so upon the family's relocation to Beverly Hills in 1933. Determined to become a dancer, she moved to New York after high school and joined the esteemed Russian troupe Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo that same year.

In 1944, Tallchief first worked with the now-legendary choreographer George Balanchine. Her virtuosic skill and electric energy proved a perfect match for Balanchine’s demanding works. After she became the first American to dance with the Paris Opera Ballet, Tallchief returned to New York and joined the Ballet Society, which was co-founded by Balanchine and soon renamed the New York City Ballet. Her prodigious talent was recognized when she was named the company’s first-ever prima ballerina.

Over the course of 18 years with the company, Tallchief starred in acclaimed productions such as “The Firebird” [1949], “Swan Lake” [1951], and “The Nutcracker” [1954]—all of which are depicted in today’s Doodle. In her iconic role as the Sugar Plum Fairy, she helped elevate “The Nutcracker” from relative obscurity into one of ballet’s most popular, long-running productions.

Following Tallchief’s retirement from dancing in 1965, she went on to serve as the artistic director of the Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet and the founder and artistic director of the Chicago City Ballet.

For her enduring impact on American ballet, Tallchief was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1996, received the National Medal for the Arts in 1999, and was posthumously inducted into the National Native American Hall of Fame in 2018.

Here’s to a groundbreaking artist who forever raised the bar of American ballet.

[9A]

Nov 14, 2001

Claude Monet's 161st Birthday


Oscar-Claude Monet was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of impressionism's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein air [outdoor] landscape painting. The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant, exhibited in the 1874 Salon des Refusés ["exhibition of rejects"] initiated by Monet and his associates as an alternative to the Salon.

His ambition to document the French countryside led to a method of painting the same scene many times so as to capture the changing of light and passing of the seasons. Among the best known examples are his series of haystacks [1890–91], paintings of the Rouen Cathedral [1894] and the paintings of water lilies in his garden in Giverny that occupied him continuously for the last 20 years of his life.

Frequently exhibited and successful during his lifetime, his fame and popularity soared in the second half of the 20th century when he became one of the world's most famous painters and a source of inspiration for burgeoning groups of artists.

[9A]

November 22, 2018

Thanksgiving 2018




For almost 400 years, Americans across the country have gathered with family and friends on the last Thursday in November for a harvest season feast. It’s a time of many traditions, including the preparation of Thanksgiving staples like turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, as well as a time of reflection and appreciation for all of life’s blessings.

Today’s Doodle aims to capture the spirit of the day and hopes to be a grate reminder that blessings can come in all shapes and sizes—even mouse-sized ones!

Happy Thanksgiving 2018!

[9A]

Nov 23, 2018

Valdemar Poulsen’s 148th Birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates Valdemar Poulsen, a Danish engineer whose innovations made magnetic sound recording and long-range radio transmission possible. Many modern conveniences, from telephone answering machines to cassettes, even VHS tapes and floppy disks, used the basic technology that he developed by stringing a steel piano wire at a slight angle between two walls. By sliding an electromagnet down the wire he was able to record sound using a microphone and play it back through a telephone earpiece.
Born in Copenhagen on this day in 1869, Poulsen studied medicine for a time before joining the Copenhagen Telephone Company as a technician. During his time he invented the telegraphone—or telegrafon in Danish–– and was awarded a patent. The cylindrical electromagnetic phonograph was capable of recording up to thirty minutes of speech. In 1900 he showed off his device at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, where he recorded the voice of Austrian emperor Francis Joseph—still the earliest surviving magnetic recording. After winning a Grand Prix in Paris, he founded the American Telegraphone Company, but sales were sluggish as the device was truly ahead of its time.

That same year brought another breakthrough, a “singing arc” radio that would transmit up to 150 miles. Subsequent improvements of this design, capable of reaching 2,500 miles, were eventually used by the U.S. Navy.

Although he dropped out of medical school, Poulsen was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Leipzig. He was also a Fellow of the Danish Academy of Technical Science and the Swedish Institute for Engineering Research, and won the Gold Medal of the Royal Danish Society of Science and the Danish Government Medal of Merit. A stamp was issued in his honor and the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences established an annual award in his name.

Happy Birthday, Valdemar Poulsen!

[9A]

Nov 23, 2010
Thanksgiving 2010 by Ina Garten, part 1


[Ina Rosenberg Garten is an American author, host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa, and a former staff member of the White House Office of Management and Budget. She was primarily mentored by Eli Zabar [owner of Eli's Manhattan and Eli's Breads], Anna Pump, and food connoisseur Martha Stewart. Among her dishes are cœur à la crème, celery root remoulade, pear clafouti, and a simplified version of beef bourguignon. Her culinary career began with her gourmet food store, Barefoot Contessa; Garten then expanded her activities to several best-selling cookbooks, magazine columns, self-branded convenience products, and a popular Food Network television show.]

[9A]

Nov 24, 2010

Thanksgiving 2010 by Ina Garten, part 2

[9A]

August 31, 2018

85th Anniversary of the Biskupin Settlement Discovery


Leading a group of students across some marshy fields 90 kilometers northeast of Poznan, Poland, school teacher Walenty Szwajcer noticed some fragments of pottery and wooden poles. The water levels had gone down that summer. At first he believed them to be the roofs of sunken houses, but what he discovered 85 years ago today was actually a window into a lost world.

The oak and fir poles were part of a fortified settlement dating from the Iron Age, around 780 B.C. Its builders had lived on the Biskupin peninsula raising sheep, goats, pigs, cattle and tarpan horses. The site was so well-preserved that Biskupin would soon be nicknamed “the Polish Pompeii.” The teacher would received numerous accolades from the Polish government for his extraordinary discovery, which is celebrated in today’s Doodle.

Eminent archaeologist Józef Kostrzewski, who began the excavation of Biskupin in 1933, uncovered streets, more than 100 houses, a breakwater and the palisades that protected the settlement. The sophistication of the settlement’s architecture transformed our understanding of the Iron Age, winning Biskupin a place in scholarly articles and textbooks, even today.

In later excavations, teams of conservationists meticulously recovered more than 5 million artifacts dating from the Paleolithic Age to the Middle Ages. Objects made of bronze, stone, and iron provide crucial insights into the lives of the people who lived there centuries ago. Biskupin remains one of the most important historic sites in Europe, demonstrating the accomplishments of early Lusatian culture.

A museum there welcomes more than 150,000 visitors a year, many of whom first learned of Biskupin in classrooms and an annual festival keeps the history of this ancient settlement alive.

[9A]

April 11, 2018

K. L. Saigal’s 114th Birthday





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

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

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

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

Happy 114th Birthday, K.L. Saigal!

[9A]

July 6, 2021

Shusaku Arakawa's 85th Birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates the 85th birthday of Japanese-American author, conceptual artist, and trans-humanist architect Shusaku Arakawa. Together with his wife, Arakawa chased a philosophical quest for immortality through experimental paintings, literature, and, at the grandest scale, architectural oddities—a concept coined Reversible Destiny.

Shusaku Arakawa was born on this day in 1936 in Nagoya, Japan. His early life was defined by mathematics and medicine studies before he pursued surrealist painting at Tokyo’s Musashino Art University. As an early adopter of the international conceptual art movement, he joined similarly minded artists after his 1961 move to New York City. Soon after, Shusako met a poet who became his lifelong artistic collaborator and spouse: Madeline Gins.

In 1963, the couple began the ambitious “The Mechanism of Meaning” series—an assemblage of 83 large panel paintings crafted with the aim of investigating the mysteries of human consciousness that required over a decade to bring to fruition. Global exhibitions of the masterwork funded the couple’s next lofty endeavor: extending life expectancy by fostering a novel relationship with the built world called “procedural architecture.” They hypothesized that engaging residents with challenging interior designs, such as steep and uneven floor plans, would boost immunity and fight aging by promoting an active and thoughtful relationship with one’s surroundings. Their first residential works of procedural architecture can be found at Reversible Destiny Lofts, a complex in Tokyo and the inspiration for today’s Doodle artwork.

Arakawa and Gins devoted their lives to designing an architectural fountain of youth and founded multiple institutions to advance this project, including the Reversible Destiny Foundation. Today, several installations of their eccentric architecture remain open to the public, such as the Reversible Destiny Lofts. This renown project comprises a brightly colored residential complex in Tokyo that served as the couple’s first work of procedural architecture, which they dedicated to Helen Keller.

Happy birthday, Shusaku Arakawa!

[9A]

July 6, 2010

Frida Kahlo's 103rd Birthday



Mexican painter and activist Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderón was born on July 6, 1907 in Mexico City, in her parents’ home, “La Casa Azul,” or “The Blue House.” Although she contracted polio at the age of 6 and continued to have significant health issues throughout her life, Kahlo never stopped working and striving.

At the age of 18 she was involved in a tragic bus crash, breaking several bones and causing significant damage to her spine. After the accident, she found herself bedridden in a full body cast and unable to move. To help her pass the time, her mother brought her a portable easel and box of paints -- and it was then that an artist was born. Around the same time that she began painting, she also became more politically active. She fought for justice for women, Latinos, and workers.

Kahlo's paintings are mostly known for being personal in the extreme; she tells her stories through vivid and surreal images that are both shocking and inviting. "I painted my own reality," she said. Kahlo's work has encouraged many women to give voice to their experiences and pursue their passions, whatever obstacles life might pose along the way.

Doodle by Jennifer Hom

[9A]

Jul 15, 2010

Josef Frank's 125th Birthday



Some people see things in an entirely unique way. Josef Frank's work was equal parts inspiring and surprising when I first came across this doodle proposal. Famous in Austria and Sweden for his vivid textiles and patterns, Frank's work delighted the doodle team so much that we decided to launch this doodle in other countries as well!

posted by Jennifer Hom

[9A]

July 15, 2016

Roger Raveel’s 95th birthday



One of Belgium’s most revered painters in the period following World War II, Roger Raveel used white space to great effect. From the mid-20th century until the early 2000’s, Raveel created a body of work that extended beyond the canvas to include ceramics and installations. Drawing inspiration from the world around him, he returned to the same universal motifs, depicting everyday objects in vivid colors and contoured lines. Raveel’s playful, thought-provoking style evolved throughout his career, from abstract to figurative, and is often identified with the pop art movement.

Born on July 15, 1921 in Machelen-aan-de-Leie, Belgium, today’s Doodle celebrates what would have been Raveel’s 95th birthday. His singular work is showcased at the Roger Raveel museum in his hometown, surrounded, of course, by plenty of white space.

[9A]

November 2, 2021

Day of the Dead 2021




Mexico’s Indigenous communities have long practiced the tradition of honoring death as part of the cyclical nature of life and reconnecting families with deceased loved ones. Today’s Doodle celebrates a holiday handed down from the nation’s Indigenous ancestors—Día de los Muertos [Day of the Dead], an annual celebration of life in honor of those that have passed.

The Aztec people, who are from what is today central Mexico, are believed to be the first to celebrate the Day of the Dead by using skulls to honor their dead over 3,000 years ago. Skull symbology has remained an essential element of the day’s celebrations, often seen in the form of colorful calaveras de azúcar [sugar skulls] or paper maché calaveras [skulls] laid on altars in family homes to welcome the spirits of the departed. In today's Doodle artwork, a family member drops marigold petals for loved ones to follow home.

Although many common themes connect Mexican communities celebrating the Day of the Dead, each region across the nation observes the holiday with a unique spin, as cultural traditions continue to evolve every year.

iFeliz Día de los Muertos, México!

[9A]

November 2, 2011

Day of the Dead 2011

[9A]

August 5, 2021

Soraya Jiménez’s 44th Birthday




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Mexico-based guest artist Carolina Martínez, celebrates the 44th birthday of Mexican Olympic-champion weightlifter Soraya Jiménez, the first Mexican woman to ever win an Olympic gold.

Soraya Jiménez Mendivil was born on this day in 1977 in Naucalpan de Juárez, Mexico. As a child, she swam competitively and played basketball and badminton but ultimately found her true athletic calling in weightlifting. She secured her first podium win at just 17 years old, placing third at the 1994 NORCECA Cup in Colorado Springs.

In 1996, Jiménez earned her first major championship win at the Simón Bolívar International in Venezuela, where her performance proved her to be a serious contender on the international circuit. The years that followed were decorated with titles from across the Americas, which included a weight-class win in the Central American and Caribbean Games as well as a silver at the Pan American Games. A combination of 1999 championship wins at the NORCECA Cup, the Greek Tofalos International, and the Bulgarian National Championships established Jiménez as a favored front-runner heading into the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Jiménez’s athletic career reached its apex when she lifted a staggering total of 497 pounds, taking home the gold in the 58 kg [128 lbs] class weightlifting event at the 2000 Summer Games. Although she retired in 2004, Jiménez continued to share her passion for sports as a broadcaster for Televisa, the world’s largest Spanish-language media company.

Happy birthday, Soraya Jiménez—thanks for using your strength to make history!

[9A]

August 5, 2015

101st Anniversary of the First Electric Traffic Signal System



The early twentieth-century intersection was a strange scene. While the world’s largest automobile manufacturer sold over 20,000 cars a month in 1914, horse-drawn wagons and carts still crowded the streets, and accidents became increasingly frequent. Intersections in major cities were congested, and traffic was directed by police officers who stood in the middle of chaotic highways waving their arms--an unenviable beat, to say the least, especially during a blustery winter in the Midwest.

A solution to the problem was woefully overdue. Gas-lit stoplights appeared in England before the turn of the century, but these had a tendency to explode, and mechanically operated signs that displayed the words “stop” and “move” still relied on traffic attendants. Enter the inspiration of today’s Doodle, the electric traffic signal, which was first installed at the corner of 105th and Euclid in Cleveland, Ohio on August 5th, 1914.

Doodler Nate Swinehart hearkens back to an earlier time with shades of black and white, and uses the background colors to make the red and green signals particularly luminous. It’s not an artistic coincidence that the cars leap forward and screech wildly to a halt, either--the yellow light wouldn’t appear for several years, and overzealous motorists had to stop on a dime.

[9A]

Aug 6, 2015

Adoniran Barbosa’s 105th Birthday






Versão em português veja abaixo

Music tells stories, stirs emotions, and inspires change, all while getting us to nod our heads along or burst into wild swings. The right mix of melody and message is a language all its own.

Adoniran Barbosa spoke that language fluently. In Brazil, he’s known as one of the most influential samba singers the genre’s ever seen. But he did more than craft toe-tapping tunes. Adoniran uplifted the working men and women of São Paulo with his expressive storytelling, bringing the city’s malocas and cortiços to life through iconic songs like Saudosa Maloca ["Shanty of Fond Memories"].

In his time, other artists and composers criticized Adoniran for using “wrong” Portuguese, the vernacular of the common people. Like most of history’s influencers, his unique musical identity resonated with his listeners through its brand of honesty and authenticity, vindicating his art as a musical milestone and a cherished relic of Brazilian samba. Adoniran’s drive to be different is why his music continues to inspire generations of samba composers.

Today’s doodle takes its inspiration from Trem das Onze [“The 11 p.m. Train”], one of Adoniran’s most beloved and recognizable songs. In Doodler Leon Hong’s early sketches, you can see all of the concepts come together visually: the hands of the clock pointing to 11, the approaching train on its music staff train tracks, and the cartoon of Adoniran himself as a part of his creation.

[9A]

August 6, 2016

Bolivia Independence Day 2016




Today Bolivians come together for carnivals, marches and other patriotic festivities to celebrate “Dia de la Patria” or Independence Day. The country’s Declaration of Independence was signed on August 6th,1825 following centuries of Spanish occupation and 16 years of conflict. It was at this time that Bolivia was officially named in honor of Venezuelan resistance leader Simón Bolívar for his role in leading the fight for independence.

Today’s Doodle features an illustration of Bolivia’s ancient Incallajta ruins, once an Incan fortress, located in a remote site surrounded by mountains to the east of Cochabamba city.

[9A]

September 24, 2018

Mid-Autumn Festival 2018





Today, many east Asian nations celebrate Mid-Autumn Festivals, timed with the harvest moon – including China, Taiwan, Hong Hong, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. This shared holiday is generally a day off work for the whole country, and jumps around on the Roman calendar because it’s based on the lunar one.

Going under various names, Mid-Autumn Festivals occur on the first full moon after the Fall equinox. The position of the moon is important for rice farming, and mid-Autumn festivals are linked this way to agriculture. East Asian countries have their own mythologies and folk traditions associated with Mid-Autumn festivals. Japan has a story about a visible goddess and rabbit in the moon. Koreans believe it’s a day to celebrate their ancestors. China’s traditions, carried out in several other countries as well, involve lighting thousands of red paper lanterns.

All Mid-Autumn Festivals involve food, and most include some form of “moon cakes.” Chinese and Vietnamese moon cakes are baked and branded with characters; Korean mooncakes are made from rice flour and steamed over pine needles; Japanese mooncakes are spherical, like little moons.

In general these Mid-Autumn Festivals are about families getting together to express gratitude, and celebrate seasonal change. They often stretch to three days, incorporating the days before and after, and rank among the biggest holidays of the year.

So to East Asia and the entire diaspora: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Doodle by Cynthia Yuan Cheng

[9A]

September 13, 2019

Mid Autumn Festival 2019 [Vietnam]




“A glass of wine, a game of chess
Admiring the beauty of flowers,
waiting for the moon to rise”
—Vietnamese poet Nguyễn Du [1765-1820], "The Tale of Kiều"

Today’s Doodle represents the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important annual holidays in East Asia. The event, also known as the Moon Festival, takes place every year on the first full moon after the fall equinox, traditionally the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. Originally celebrated in China for thousands of years, over time the festival spread from the royal classes to the common folk and eventually all across the region, including Vietnam, where the local culture developed its own special customs and traditions.

No Moon Festival is complete without mooncakes, traditionally baked or steamed at home but now sold everywhere in a range of flavors from savory—roast pork, egg—to sweet—red bean paste, fruit, nuts, seeds, even chocolate. They are usually round like the full moon, a shape that reflects the concept of a family reunion. When a mooncake is shared after a traditional family meal, it must be cut into a specific number of equal parts. At times a piece or two will be saved for an absent loved one to enjoy when they come home.

In Vietnam, the festival is known as Tết Trung Thu and focuses mainly on the children. Much of the population lives in rural areas, many working in agriculture. For them, Tết Trung Thu is all about celebrating the end of the harvest season and spending precious time with family. Preparations for the joyful season begin weeks in advance, as mooncake stalls offer soft sticky bánh dẻo or thicker bánh nướng, often elaborately decorated. During the festival, households make offerings to the God of Earth, while children carry carp-shaped lanterns or go door-to-door performing lion or unicorn dances.

[9A]

September 13, 2016

Yma Sumac’s 94th birthday





Born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo in the mountains of Peru, Yma Sumac, or the “Peruvian songbird,” came into the world on this day in 1922. As a young girl, Yma would sing to rocks on her mountainside home, pretending they were her audience. As a teenager, Yma’s audience became very real when she was invited to sing on an Argentine radio station. After that moment, her astonishing five-octave vocal range captivated audiences in South America and beyond.

Yma arrived in the United States in 1946 and was signed by Capitol Records shortly after. During her 1950s prime, she sung at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and Royal Albert Hall - to name a few.

Here’s to Yma, whose captivating voice will always be remembered.

[9A]

Sep 15, 2016

Jean Batten’s 107th birthday




In the 1930s, female aviator Jean Batten took the skies by storm and brought the winds of change with her. After two failed attempts to fly from England to Australia, Jean made her comeback with a record-breaking return journey in 1934.

Her success elevated in 1935 when she became the first woman to ever fly solo across the south Atlantic, and then it soared in 1936 when Jean and her lucky black cat, Buddy, made the first-ever direct flight from England to New Zealand. She described the moment the wheels hit the turf as “the very greatest moment of my life,” proving to the world that the sky’s only the limit if you let it.

Today we celebrate what would have been this pioneering pilot’s 107th birthday with a reminder to fly fiercely towards our boldest dreams.

Doodle by Sophie Diao

[9A]

September 15, 2019

Celebrating Ynés Mexía




In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, today’s Doodle celebrates Mexican-American botanist and explorer Ynes Mexía, who braved earthquakes, bogs, and poisonous berries to reach a remote volcano on the border of Colombia and Ecuador—all for the sake of botanical discoveries. “We started on the long journey back,” she wrote after collecting samples of the rare wax palm, “very tired, very hot, very dirty, but very happy.”

On this day in 1925, Mexía embarked on her first plant collection trip, travelling with a group from Stanford University to Sinaloa, Mexico in search of rare botanical species. The 55-year-old had joined the local Sierra Club just a few years earlier, enrolling in special classes at UC Berkeley soon after. Despite falling off a cliff and fracturing her hand and some ribs, Mexía brought home around 500 specimens—50 of them previously undiscovered.

Born in Washington D.C. in 1870 as a daughter to a Mexican diplomat, Mexía moved around a lot before becoming a social worker in California and falling in love with nature. At age 51, she began studying botany. After her inaugural plant discovery trip in 1925, Mexía continued journeying to uncover more species throughout Mexico, many of which were then named after her. The first was a flowering plant from the daisy family named Zexmenia mexiae in 1928, now referred to as Lasianthaea macrocephala.

Although she never completed her degree, Mexía became one of the most celebrated collectors of botanical specimens in history, gathering some 150,000 specimens throughout her career. She went on to travel the world while researching, writing, and lecturing widely.

More than 90 years after she started, scientists are still studying Mexía’s samples, which are now housed in a number of major institutions around the world.

[9A]

September 16, 2017

Emilia Pardo Bazán’s 166th Birthday




A 19th-century novelist, professor, and women’s rights activist, Emilia Pardo Bazán was a trailblazer in more ways than one. Born in A Coruña, Spain to a family who believed in the power of education, she took an early interest in literature – and her academic pursuits didn’t stop there. Despite women being forbidden to study science and philosophy, Pardo Bazán became well versed in both by seeking out information on her own.

She went on to write a number of novels, short stories, and essays, winning her first literary prize in 1876. Her affinity for science also came through in her writing, where her reality-driven descriptions introduced the naturalist movement to Spain. Her signature style was on full display in her two most famous novels, Los pazos de Ulloa [1886] and La madre naturaleza [1887]. In her published works and beyond, Pardo Bazán endlessly championed women’s rights. She also taught at the University of Madrid, where she became the first woman to occupy a chair of literature.

Inspired by the statue of Pardo Bazán that stands in her hometown, today’s Doodle pays tribute to the prolific author on what would’ve been her 166th birthday.

[9A]

August 4, 2020

Bahiga Hafez’s 112th Birthday




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Cairo-based guest artist Mariam ElReweny, celebrates the 112th birthday of a pioneer in Egyptian cinema, the multi-hyphenate actor, producer, director, editor, costume designer, and composer Bahiga Hafez on her 112th birthday. Hafez was widely known as a prodigious talent on camera as well as behind the scenes and helped bring some of Egypt’s earliest feature films to the big screen.

Bahiga Hafez was born on this day in 1908 in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria on the Mediterranean Sea. She earned a degree in music composition in Paris in 1930 and then returned to Egypt, where she had success crafting music for the record companies of the day. Her career soon took a turn when she was cast as the female lead in the film “Zeinab” [1930], for which she also composed the soundtrack.

Before long, Hafez was inspired to tell her own stories and opened Fanar Film Company with her husband Mahmoud Hamdi. In 1932, the company released its first film, “al-Dahaya” [“The Victims”], and Hafez shaped the entire film process as lead actor, producer, editor, costume designer, and composer.

Hafez went on to produce and direct numerous films over the following two decades and later established an influential cultural salon in Cairo to support the city’s artistic community. Her work helped pave the way for the start of what is widely considered Egyptian cinema’s golden age in the 1940s, and she is depicted in the Doodle artwork wearing a costume inspired by the many opulent wardrobes she designed from this era of film.

The original version of “al-Dahaya” was rediscovered in 1995 and shown at the National Film Festival in Cairo, introducing a new generation to Hafez’s work.

Shukran, Bahiga Hafez, your efforts set the scene for generations of filmmakers to come!

[9A]

November 10, 2020

Celebrating Umeko Tsuda





Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Japan-based guest artist Kano Nakajima, celebrates the pioneering Japanese educator and reformer Umeko Tsuda. Tsuda broke new ground as one of the first girls sent by the Japanese government to study abroad and went on to found what is today one of Japan’s oldest colleges for women. On this day in 1915, the Japanese government awarded Tsuda the prestigious Order of the Precious Crown for her achievements in women’s education.

Ume Tsuda was born in 1864 in what is now the Japanese capital of Tokyo, and at just seven years old was sent along with four other girls to the U.S. to study American culture. Over a decade later, she returned to Tokyo and became an English teacher, but she was disillusioned with the limited educational opportunities afforded to the country’s women at that time. Tsuda returned to the U.S. to attend Bryn Mawr College, where she became inspired to commit her life to the improvement of women’s higher education in her home country.

To that end, Tsuda created a scholarship for Japanese women to study in the United States, with the goal of helping to foster a new generation of educational leaders. With renewed vision, Tsuda again returned home and in 1900 opened her own school called Joshi Eigaku Juku [The Women’s Institute for English Studies].

[9A]

November 10, 2012

Hachiko's 89th Birthday





Hachikō was a Japanese Akita dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, for whom he continued to wait for over nine years following Ueno's death.

Hachikō was born on November 10, 1923, at a farm near the city of Ōdate, Akita Prefecture. In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University, brought him to live in Shibuya, Tokyo, as his pet. Hachikō would meet Ueno at Shibuya Station every day after his commute home. This continued until May 21, 1925, when Ueno died of a cerebral hemorrhage while at work. From then until his death on March 8, 1935, Hachikō would return to Shibuya Station every day to await Ueno's return.

During his lifetime, the dog was held up in Japanese culture as an example of loyalty and fidelity. Well after his death, he continues to be remembered in worldwide popular culture, with statues, movies, books, and appearances in various media. Hachikō is known in Japanese as chūken Hachikō "faithful dog Hachikō", hachi meaning "eight" and -kō which originates as a suffix once used for ancient Chinese dukes; thus, Hachikō could be roughly translated as either "Mr. Eight" or "Sir Eight".

[9A]

November 10, 2018

Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu’s 131st Birthday




“The future of women in engineering is great,” declared a 1912 edition of Romania’s daily newspaper Minerva, reporting the news that “Miss Elisa Leonida passed the last final exam with great success, obtaining a Diploma in Engineering.”

On this day in 1887, Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu was born in the Romanian port city of Galați. After graduating with high marks from the Central School of Girls in Bucharest, she earned a baccalaureate from Mihai Viteazul High School. But when she applied to the School of Highways and Bridges, she was rejected because of her gender.

Undeterred, she applied to the Royal Technical Academy in Berlin, where one of the deans said she would be better off focusing on “Kirche, kinder, and kuche” [Church, children, and cooking]. She persisted in earning her degree in three years to become one of the first woman engineer in Europe.

Becoming the first female member of A.G.I.R. [General Association of Romanian Engineers], eventually running laboratories for the Geological Institute of Romania. Zamfirescu oversaw numerous Economic Studies analyzing Romania’s supply of natural resources like coal, shale, natural gas, chromium, bauxite and copper. She was known for paying special attention to the training of staff and spending long hours mentoring young chemists.

The mother of two daughters, she also taught physics and chemistry at the Pitar Moş School of Girls as well as at the School of Electricians and Mechanics in Bucharest. In 1993, her legacy was commemorated in Romania’s capital city by naming a street in her honor.

Happy Birthday, Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu!

[9A]

April 27, 2017

Theodor Kittelsen’s 160th Birthday



A nature lover with an affinity for fairy tales, painter Theodor Severin Kittelsen is one of Norway’s most prized artists. Kittelsen was born on April 27, 1857, in the coastal town of Kragerø. At the age of 11, he was apprenticed to a watchmaker, but his budding talent caught the eye of a benefactor. By 17, he was on the path to becoming an accomplished artist, studying in Christiania [now Oslo], Munich, and Paris before returning to his homeland.

Norway agreed with Kittelsen. The artist set up his studio near Prestfoss and dubbed it "Lauvlia." He drew inspiration from the beauty in his midst, including Mount Andersnatten overlooking Lake Soneren. He created scenic paintings in a style described as Neo-Romantic or naive. He also drew illustrations of trolls and animals — sometimes stark and haunting, sometimes whimsical — for children’s books, earning him the nickname “The Father of All Trolls.” In 1908, Kittelsen was named Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav.

Lauvlia is now a private museum that houses Kittelsen’s iconic work. Today we honor his 160th birthday with a Doodle that reflects the lake he loved, as well as some of his more gothic creations.

[9A]

April 27, 2016

Freedom Day 2016




This important day marks the time that South Africa broke long-standing boundaries created by apartheid with its first ever democratic election. On this historic occasion, citizens of all races and backgrounds could finally vote. Freedom Day has become a symbol of peace, unity, and the hard-earned freedom now enjoyed throughout the country.

This year’s doodle is a tribute to the post-apartheid generation, the bright future of South Africa.

[9A]

April 27, 2009

Samuel Morse's Birthday



Samuel Finley Breese Morse [April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872] was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs. He was a co-developer of Morse code and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.

[9A]

May 29, 2017

Nepal Republic Day 2017



The Republic of Nepal is a nation of immense diversity and cultural richness. It’s also the only country in the world whose flag is not rectangular! The flag’s crimson red represents the bravery of Nepal’s people. Its blue borders symbolize peace and harmony for this nation of more than 120 ethnic groups, speaking as many native languages, that were united by the Republic’s formation in 2008.

The biggest ceremonial parades take place in Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu, but Nepalese people around the world celebrate.

Happy Republic Day, Nepal!

[9A]

November 27, 2018

Fe del Mundo’s 107th Birthday




“I’m glad that I have been very much involved in the care of children, and that I have been relevant to them,” says Filipina physician Fe del Mundo. “They are the most outstanding feature in my life.”

Born in Manilla on this day in 1911, del Mundo was inspired to study medicine by her older sister who did not herself live to realize her dream of becoming a doctor. Also known as “The Angel of Santo Tomas,” del Mundo devoted her life to child healthcare and revolutionized pediatric medicine in the process.

A gifted student who became the first woman admitted to Harvard Medical School, del Mundo returned home after completing her studies in the U.S. During World War II, she set up a hospice where she treated more than 400 children and later became director of a government hospital. Frustrated with the bureaucracy, she eventually sold her house and belongings to finance the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines. Del Mundo lived on the second floor of the Children's Medical Center in Quezon City, making early morning rounds until she was 99 years old, even in a wheelchair.


When she wasn’t treating patients she was teaching students, publishing important research in medical journals, and authoring a definitive ‘Textbook of Pediatrics.’ She established the Institute of Maternal and Child Health to train doctors and nurses, and became the first woman to be conferred the title National Scientist of the Philippines and received many awards for her outstanding service to humankind.


Happy Birthday, Fe del Mundo!