Google doodles

[9A]

18 Nov 2020

Celebrating Fanny Eaton





Today’s Doodle celebrates Jamaican-British artist muse Fanny Eaton. Eaton modelled throughout the 1860s for a variety of notable English painters in work that helped redefine Victorian standards of beauty and diversity. On this day in 1874, it is recorded that Eaton sat for life classes at the Royal Academy of London, sessions which were integral to the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

Fanny Eaton was born Fanny Matilda Antwistle in Surrey, Jamaica on July 13, 1835. She moved with her mother to Britain during the 1840s, towards the beginning of the Victorian Era. In her 20s, she began modelling for portrait painters at the Royal Academy of London, and she soon captured the attention of a secret society of rising young artists called the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Eaton made her public debut in Simeon Solomon’s painting The Mother of Moses, which was exhibited in 1860 at the Royal Academy. Over the following decade, she was featured by a variety of prominent Pre-Raphaelite artists such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and Rebecca Solomon. The group held Eaton up as a model of ideal beauty and featured her centrally at a time when Black individuals were significantly underrepresented, and often negatively represented, in Victorian art.

Eaton’s modeling career lasted through much of the decade, and Millais’ 1867 work Jephthah is believed to feature her last known appearance in a painting.

Thank you Fanny Eaton, for helping move artistic inclusion forward.

[9A]

18 November 2012

Morocco National Day 2012



Independence Day, also known as Fete de l'Independence, is a public holiday in the Kingdom of Morocco, celebrated on November 18th each year.

It is Morocco's National Day and commemorates Moroccan independence on the date King Mohammed returned from exile in 1955.

The kingdom gained independence from French colonial rule on March 2nd 1956, and from Spain on April 7th of the same year.

[9A]

9 July 2021

Argentina Independence Day 2021





Today’s Doodle celebrates Argentina’s Independence Day. On this day in 1816, a group of regional leaders assembled in the city of Tucumán to proclaim the South American nation’s freedom.

If you plan on celebrating Independence Day in true Argentinian fashion, get ready for a day full of huge portions of traditional food and drink. Authentic feasting for today’s festivities isn’t complete without “locro,” a robust stew consisting of beans, corn, squash, potato, and varieties of meat. Traditionally served piping hot, locro is a perfect meal for keeping celebrants warm, as Independence Day falls in the midst of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.

The go-to Argentinian beverage is “mate,” a caffeine-rich tea depicted brewing in the Doodle artwork. Approximately 98% of the nation’s citizens keep this caffeine-rich tea stocked at home, and it's estimated that most Argentines consume close to 14 pounds annually!

Happy Independence Day, Argentina!

[9A]

9 July 2013

Saturnino Herrán's 126th Birthday




Saturnino Herrán Guinchard [July 9, 1887 – October 8, 1918] was a Mexican painter influential to Latin culture in the late 19th and early 20th century. Born a mix of Indigenous Mexican and Swiss descent, Saturnine Herrán was raised in Aguascalientes, a city in North-Central Mexico ingrained with Spanish culture.

Herrán completed majestic paintings of Mexican Indigenous people, giving them heroic strength, beauty, and dignity. In 1910 he participated in the exhibition commemorating the Centennial Anniversary of Mexico's Independence. A desire to be a mural painter appeared during his career, and in 1911 he completed commissioned large-scale, mural-like paintings.

[9A]

20 November 2021

Edmond Dédé's 194th birthday



Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Brooklyn, NY-based guest artist Lyne Lucien, celebrates Creole classical musician and composer Edmond Dédé. The melody to his 1851 composition “Mon Pauvre Cœur” [My Poor Heart] remains one of the oldest surviving pieces of sheet music by a Black Creole composer in New Orleans.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. on this day in 1827, Dédé picked up the clarinet from his father, a bandmaster in a local military band. He switched to the violin, which soon became Dédé’s instrument of choice as he developed into a musical prodigy. Apprenticing under prominent New Orleans musicians, Dédé left home for Mexico to escape the increasing racial prejudice in the American South.

He returned home in 1851 and published “Mon Pauvre Cœur.” He worked briefly to save money before leaving again to continue his classical studies in France. In the late 1850s, he landed a position at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, where his creativity thrived. He also worked at the Théâtre de l'Alcazar and the Folies Bordelaises. His ballets, operettas, overtures, and over 250 songs achieved massive success in France yet gained little traction in the U.S. In 1893, en route to his only musical appearance back in New Orleans, Dédé lost his favorite Cremona violin in a shipwreck but managed to find a replacement just in time for his performance!

Despite living in a time of severe racial discrimination, Dédé’s talent led him to become a world-class composer. Most of Dédé’s sheet music is preserved in the National Library of France and several American universities. His story continues to inspire contemporary classical musicians to take pride in their heritage and honor the contributions of musicians from historically overlooked communities.

[9A]

9 July 2015

Aiga Rasch’s 74th Birthday





Happy Birthday Aiga Rasch!

Aiga Rasch was a German illustrator, graphic designer and painter. Though her best-known work covered the youth mystery book series Die drei ??? [The Three Investigators], it doesn't take a detective to identify Aiga Rasch's signature style. In Germany, the book series gained a wide following, with Rasch's cover art propelling the books into unmistakeable icons. Her illustrations are concise and powerful, and the colorful covers impeccably translate the stories within.

[9A]

28 Oct 2021

Kanō Jigorō's 161st birthday





Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Los Angeles, CA-based artist Cynthia Yuan Cheng, celebrates Japan’s “Father of Judo,” Professor Kanō Jigorō, on his 161st birthday. The name Judo means “the gentle way” and the sport is built on principles such as justice, courtesy, safety, and modesty. Kanō saw the martial art as a way to bring people together, even while throwing opponents to the mat.

Born in 1860 in Mikage [now part of Kobe], Kanō moved to Tokyo with his father at age 11. Though he was known as a child prodigy in school, he often faced adversity. To build strength, he became determined to study the martial art of Jujutsu. During his time as a student at Tokyo University, he finally found someone who would teach him—Jujutsu master and former samurai Fukuda Hachinosuke.

Judo was first born during a Jujutsu sparring match when Kanō incorporated a western wrestling move to bring his much larger opponent to the mat. By removing the most dangerous techniques used in Jujutsu, he created “Judo,” a safe and cooperative sport based on Kanō’s personal philosophy of Seiryoku-Zenyo [maximum efficient use of energy] and Jita-Kyoei [mutual prosperity of self and others]. In 1882, Kanō opened his own dojo [a martial arts gym], the Kodokan Judo Institute in Tokyo, where he would go on to develop Judo for years. He also welcomed women into the sport in 1893.

Kanō became the first Asian member of the International Olympic Committee [IOC] in 1909, and in 1960, the IOC approved Judo as an official Olympic sport.

お誕生日おめでとうございます

Happy birthday, Kanō Jigorō!

[9A]

27 March 2021

Celebrating Tawhida Ben Cheikh





Today’s Doodle celebrates the Tunisian physician, magazine editor, and social activist Tawhida Ben Cheikh, widely credited as the first female physician in Tunisia. A feminist pioneer both in and out of the medical field, Ben Cheikh helped transform Tunisian medicine by providing women better access to contemporary healthcare. On this day in 2020, the Tunisian government issued a new 10-dinar note emblazoned with Ben Cheikh’s portrait—the world’s first ever banknote to feature a female doctor.

Tawhida Ben Cheikh was born on January 2, 1909 in Tunis, the present-day capital of Tunisia, at the time a French protectorate. Supported by her mother, in 1928 she became the first Tunisian female to graduate secondary school, but she didn’t stop there. In a break from traditional expectations of women, she went on to earn her medical degree in Paris in 1936 at the age of 27.

Upon her return to Tunis that year, Ben Cheikh made history when she opened her own free medical practice. With primary specialties in gynecology and obstetrics, she went on to become the head of the maternity department of the city’s Charles-Nicolle hospital in 1955. Then in the ‘70s, she founded Tunisia’s first family planning clinic. Ben Cheikh also contributed to numerous women’s organizations and founded Leïla, the country’s first French-language women’s magazine.

Here’s to a medical trailblazer who made huge strides for gender equality in Tunisia and beyond.

[9A]

16 September 2021

Mexico Independence Day 2021




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Mexico-based guest artist Magdiel Herrerra, depicts a collection of elements symbolizing Mexico’s rich, cultural heritage in honor of its Independence Day. This year’s holiday holds special significance for the international Mexican community as it commemorates the 200th anniversary of the nation’s step toward independence—officially declared on September 27, 1821.

On the left of the Doodle artwork, a folklórico [folkloric] dancer is dressed in the emblematic red, green, and white of the Mexican flag. A common meal prepared to celebrate this holiday is pozole, a spiced soup traditionally made with hominy and pork that is depicted in the red bowl with radishes and lime. In the center, the artwork recreates a bell that rang before El Grito de la Independencia [The Cry for Independence], a famous speech considered the spark of the Mexican independence movement. A sombrero follows with a handwoven rebozo scarf, next to a cactus standing tall.

On the far right of the artwork, an Indigenous musician [known as a quiquizoani in the Uto-Aztecan language of Nahuatl] blows into a conch shell—a scene similar to an image found in the ancient Aztec Codex Magliabechi—filling the air with the sounds of celebration.

Happy Independence Day, Mexico!

[9A]

16 September 2019

B.B. King’s 94th Birthday





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




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Little Rock-based guest artist Steve Spencer and animated by Brooklyn-based guest animator Nayeli Lavanderos, celebrates B.B. King—the iconic “King of the Blues” who brought blues music from cotton fields and street corners to grand halls and arenas across the world.

Born on this day in 1925 on a Mississippi Delta plantation near Berclair, Mississippi, Riley B. King was a sharecropper’s son whose soulful, piercing guitar solos became recognizable with a single note. Often imitated but never duplicated, B.B. King became a blueprint for many of the world’s biggest rock stars who followed. “I wish I could just do like B. B. King,” said John Lennon of The Beatles. “If you would put me with B. B. King, I would feel real silly.”

Raised singing gospel music in church, King performed on street corners before hitchhiking to Memphis and landing a job on the air at radio station WDIA. There, locals began calling him “Beale Street Blues Boy,” later shortened to “Bee Bee” and finally “B.B.”

He began recording in 1949 and never looked back after his first hit, “Three O’Clock Blues.” Records like “The Thrill is Gone” and “Every Day I Have the Blues” have become classics of the genre.

King opened for the Rolling Stones on tour and became the first internationally acclaimed blues artist, winning 15 Grammys, being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, receiving honorary doctorates from assorted universities, and performing at the White House. Embodying the traveling bluesman, King was also known for averaging more than 300 shows a year throughout various points in his career.

In 1949, King ran inside a burning nightclub to save a guitar, risking his own life for his beloved instrument. The fire had been caused by two men fighting over a woman named Lucille, and from that day forward, King referred to all his guitars by that name.

“When I sing, I play in my mind,” he once said. “The minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.”

[9A]

16 September 2014

Mexico Independence Day 2014




There’s no dish that has more pride than “chiles en nogada.” These green chiles are stuffed with picadillo, covered in a white walnut cream and topped with red pomegranate seeds, dressing the meal in the colors of the Mexican flag. Happy Independence Day to Mexico!

[9A]

6 September 2021

Carmen Laforet’s 100th birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates the centennial birthday of Spanish writer Carmen Laforet, best known for her no-frills, realist prose. Carmen Laforet Díaz was born on this day in 1921 in Barcelona, Spain. Her 1945 novel Nada [Nothing] is still widely considered one of Spain’s most significant contemporary novels.

She spent her early years in the Canary Islands—a safe haven from the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War [1936–1939]. At 18, she returned with her family to Barcelona to study philosophy before moving to Madrid where she found a city scrambling to recover from domestic unrest.

It was in this tumultuous climate that Laforet wrote the manuscript for Nada--the story of an 18-year-old orphan’s struggle in post-war Barcelona. The story's candid existentialist narration portrayed the era’s harsh realities from a fresh perspective with a simple writing style, contrasting the convoluted prose that characterized many Spanish works at the time. Laforet’s innovative novel won her the first Nadal Prize, an award for unpublished authors that is today regarded as one of Spanish literature’s most prestigious honors. In addition to celebrating Laforet’s work, the prize included the publication of Nada, which immediately became a national sensation.

Laforet’s frank, realist prose reinvigorated the literary arts of a war-torn country while inspiring a new generation of women novelists. Along with several collections of short stories, a novella and travel books, Laforet published three additional novels into the late 1960s. Nada has never gone out of print, retaining its place in the nation's literary life.

Happy Birthday, Carmen Laforet!

[9A]

17 October 2019

100th Anniversary of Metro de Madrid





On this day in 1919, King Alfonso XIII inaugurated the Metro de Madrid, a new transportation system for Spain’s capital city. The Metro’s distinctive diamond-shaped logo was created by acclaimed Spanish architect Antonio Palacios, who also designed the entrances, corridors, and platforms of some of the early stations. Today’s animated Doodle celebrates the centenary of Madrid’s Metro, now the sixth-longest underground railroad in the world with some 294 kilometers [about 183 miles] of track.

The Metro has come a long way during its first century of operation. On opening day, the route covered a mere 3.48 kilometers [about 2.16 miles], taking 10 minutes to travel 8 stops from Cuatro Caminos to Sol. That first day, just over 56,000 passengers rode what was then called the North-South Line.

Now, close to 2.3 million riders take the Metro every day. Serving over 300 stations, the train remains one of the most efficient ways to move around Madrid

In honor of the Metro’s 100th birthday, the Regional Government of Madrid has installed an educational exhibition throughout the original route, now called the ‘Centenary Line.’ Period photographs will highlight the Metro’s history, and a new vinyl-wrapped train evoking the first train will run along the rails.

Chamartín Station will host a permanent exhibition of vintage trains, and while Palacios’ original entrance to the Metro de la Red de San Luis was dismantled and donated to the architect’s hometown of Porriño, a replica of the striking design will recapture its former glory.

[9A]

15 September 2018

Guatemala Independence Day 2018



Guatemala is situated just south of Mexico and boasts volcanoes, rainforests and Mayan ruins, and a multitude of diverse landscapes. Guatemala’s national day falls on the same date as Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and El Salvador as these countries jointly declared independence from the King of Spain in 1821 in a peaceful exchange of leadership.

Guatemalans celebrate the day by wearing blue and white, the colors of their flag, participating in parades, and carrying freedom torches [Antorchas de la Independencia] from town to town, in processionals. There is a single freedom torch which is initially lit in Guatemala’s capital city of Antigua and goes to all five of the Central American countries with linked independence days.

Today’s Doodle references Antigua’s landmark Santa Catalina Arch. Also depicted is the orchid, one of Guatemala’s best-loved flowers. The white nun orchid, one of 1,000 species native to Guatemala, is officially designated as the national flower, symbolizing peace.

Happy Independence Day, Guatemala!

[9A]

7 January 2019

Fahrelnissa Zeid’s 118th Birthday





“I am a descendent of four civilizations,” wrote Fahrelnissa Zeid, describing her 1980 self-portrait Someone from the Past. “The hand is Persian, the dress Byzantine, the face is Cretan and the eyes Oriental, but I was not aware of this as I was painting it.”

One of the first women to attend art school in Turkey, Fahrelnissa Zeid went on to become a member of both the École de Paris [School of Paris] and D Grubu, a Turkish avant-garde group. Celebrated for her abstract paintings, Zeid also did representational work and even painted designs on chicken bones. Bridging western abstraction and eastern styles, her work broke down gender and culture barriers.

Born on the Turkish island of Büyükada on this day in 1901, Zeid was raised in a prestigious Ottoman family. In 1919 she enrolled at the Imperial School of Art in Istanbul, later traveling through Europe and visiting a variety of art and cultural sites across Spain, Italy, and more.. She continued her training at Académie Ranson in Paris.

In the 1930s, Zeid married into the royal family of Iraq and moved to Berlin until World War II forced her to move to Baghdad. “I did not ‘intend’ to become an abstract painter,” she said of the bold abstract paintings she began painting between Baghdad, Turkey, Paris, and London—blending Eastern and Western influences.

In the 1970s Zeid moved to Amman, Jordan, where she founded the Fahrelnissa Zeid Institute for Fine Arts . A 2017 retrospective of her work at the Tate Modern in London referred to Zeid as “one of the greatest female artists of the 20th century.”

Happy Birthday, Fahrelnissa Zeid!

[9A]

2 August 2018

Celebrating Mount Olympus




According to ancient Greek mythology, Mount Olympus is the home of the gods. Should mere mortals dare to climb so high? On this day In 1913, three courageous climbers answered “yes,” scaling this 9,573-foot summit sculpted with deep ravines and abrupt upgrades. Swiss photographer Frédéric Boissonnas, his friend Daniel Baud-Bovy, and Christos Kakkalos, a Greek hunter who served as their guide, set off in treacherous weather.

Kakkalos knew the mountain so well that he scaled its sharp inclines barefoot. The Swiss had some experience in mountaineering, but Boissonnas had to lug heavy photographic equipment up the mountain. He and his friend, Baud-Bovy, were tied together with a rope, standard procedure for such expeditions.

During their climb, the summit where Greek gods were said to reside was wreathed with storm clouds, and the climbers mistook a lesser peak for the home of the gods. Thinking their ascent was done, the elated adventurers wrote cards describing their feat and put the notes in a bottle that they buried on a crest they christened Victory Top. When the mist cleared, they spied another, more impressive peak, called Mytikas.

With Kakkalos in the lead, the men continued upward, scrambling across the slippery gorge. Boissonnas later wrote that he was compelled by the fire of Prometheus, who stole fire from Athena and Hephaestus’ workshop on Mount Olympus, gifting it to humans to help them in their labors.

Today’s Doodle celebrates their accomplishment and the fire that inspired them.

[9A]

2 August 2011

Celebrating the Wildebeest Migration by Samuel Githui





Wildebeest migrate on a loop path through Tanzania and Kenya following the seasonal rains even when that involves passing through dangerous territory. Wildebeest, also called gnus, are members of the antelope family.

African artist Samuel Githui breathes his life into his art and it’s modest, however upwardly mobile optimism is an evident insight to this man’s motive. Native born Kenyan, Githui expresses, what most would call mundane every day lives of the people with warm cheerful palettes.

[9A]

2 August 2012

Table Tennis 2012




Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net.

Table tennis is governed by the worldwide organization International Table Tennis Federation [ITTF], founded in 1926. ITTF currently includes 226 member associations. The table tennis official rules are specified in the ITTF handbook. Table tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1988, with several event categories. From 1988 until 2004, these were men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles. Since 2008, a team event has been played instead of the doubles.

[9A]

13 Aug 2012

Cassiano Branco's 115th Birthday



Cassiano Viriato Branco [Lisbon, August 13, 1897 – Lisbon, April 24, 1970] was a Portuguese architect. He is one of the most important architects of the first half of the 20th century in Portugal. Some of his projects include the Coliseu do Porto, Hotel Vitória and the Portugal dos Pequenitos theme park.

[9A]

13 August 2014

Anders Jonas Ångström's 200th Birthday




Which physicist has a unit of measurement, a top university’s laboratory, a crater on the moon and—here’s the kicker— a conference room at Google named after him? Did you guess Anders Jonas Ångström? Of course you did We’re wishing Ångström a happy 200th birthday on our homepage in Sweden today. Ångström is one of the founders of spectroscopy, the study of the interaction between radiated energy and matter.

[9A]

12 July 2019

René Favaloro’s 96th Birthday




“‘We’ is more important than ‘I.’ In medicine, the advances are always the result of many efforts accumulated over the years,” wrote Dr. René Favaloro, the Argentinian surgeon who introduced coronary artery bypass surgery into clinical practice and is celebrated in today’s Doodle.

Born in the city of La Plata on this day in 1923, René Gerónimo Favaloro spent the first 12 years of his medical career as a country doctor in the farming community of Jacinto Arauz. He built an operating room, trained his own nurses, set up a local blood bank, and educated patients on how to prevent common ailments. The experience left him with a lifelong conviction that healthcare was a basic human right, regardless of economic circumstances.

In 1962, he traveled to the United States to practice at the Cleveland Clinic, where he worked alongside Mason Sones, a pioneer of cineangiography—the reading and interpreting of coronary and ventricular images. After studying angiograms in the Sones Library, Dr. Favalaro was convinced that coronary artery bypass grafting could be an effective therapy.

On May 9th, 1967, Dr. Favaloro operated on a 51-year-old woman with a blockage in her right coronary artery. Attaching her to a heart-lung machine, he stopped her heart and used a vein from her leg to redirect blood flow around the blockage. The historic operation was a success, and since then, the procedure has saved countless lives during the past half-century.

Returning to Argentina in the early 1970s, Dr. Favaloro established the Favalaro Foundation in Buenos Aires. The center serves patients based on their medical needs rather than their ability to pay and teaches Dr. Favaloro’s innovative techniques to doctors all over Latin America.

[9A]

12 July 2013

Claude Bernard's 200th Birthday


Claude Bernard was a French physiologist. Historian I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". Among many other accomplishments, he was one of the first to suggest the use of a blinded experiment to ensure the objectivity of scientific observations. He originated the term milieu intérieur, and the associated concept of homeostasis [the latter term being coined by Walter Cannon].

[9A]

29 April 2016

48th Anniversary of first TV broadcasting of Les Shadoks



Nearly half a century later, France still fondly recalls Les Shadoks. With absurd maxims like “every advantage has its disadvantage, and vice versa," the bird-like creatures and their hilariously inane brand of logic struck a chord with French culture when they hit the screen in 1968.

Jacques Rouxel’s experimental and minimalist cartoon even proved divisive, as some saw nonsense where others found originality, comic genius, and important commentary on futility and French life. Hélène Leroux, who animated today’s Shadoks, used the occasion to bring her favorite Shadok’s proverbs to life. She writes:

“I particularly enjoyed the simplicity of the characters: Simple, rounded birds with long, thin legs, always going on nonsense adventures. In their daily lives, the Shadoks always refer to specific mottos they made up that parody real-life human principles: ‘If there are no solutions, then there are no problems,’ or, ‘to reduce the number of unhappy people, always beat up the same individuals,’ and of course, ‘I pump therefore I am.’ Like operators on a handcar that goes nowhere, Les Shadoks are famous for their endless and useless pumping. I thought it would be a great homage to represent some of these great Shadoks quotes with simple, looping animations.”

Below are all four of Hélène's animations:



I pump, therefore I am.



If we keep trying, we end up succeeding. Therefore: the more we fail, the more we get to succeed.



When you don't know where you are going, you have to get there... as fast as possible.



Why should it be simple when it can be complicated?!

[9A]

29 April 2011

Royal Wedding




Admittedly, this was one a bit challenging as far as doodles go. We usually replace a letter or two, but in this case, the entire logo was replaced with scenery, hidden in the form of buildings, bridges and fairy tale-esque castles, not to mention that huge crowd! If you found the logo a little difficult to read, that’s okay, we did it on purpose — we just didn’t want our logo to steal any attention away from the bride and groom’s big day!





posted by Mike Dutton

[9A]

29 April 2014

Ustad Alla Rakha's 95th Birthday




Ustad Allarakha Qureshi [29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000], popularly known as Alla Rakha, was an Indian tabla player who specialized in Hindustani classical music. He was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and was largely responsible for introducing Tabla to the western audience.

[9A]

29 April 2010

225th Birthday of Karl Drais



Karl Freiherr von Drais [29 April 1785 – 10 December 1851] was a noble German forest official and significant inventor in the Biedermeier period. He was born and died in Karlsruhe.

Drais was a prolific inventor, who invented the Laufmaschine ["running machine"], also later called the velocipede, draisine [English] or draisienne [French], also nicknamed the hobby horse or dandy horse. This was his most popular and widely recognized invention. It incorporated the two-wheeler principle that is basic to the bicycle and motorcycle and was the beginning of mechanized personal transport.This was the earliest form of a bicycle, without pedals. His first reported ride from Mannheim to the "Schwetzinger Relaishaus" [a coaching inn, located in "Rheinau", today a district of Mannheim] took place on 12 June 1817 using Baden's best road. Karl rode his bike; it was a distance of about 7 kilometres [4.3 mi]. The round trip took him a little more than an hour, but may be seen as the big bang for horseless transport. However, after marketing the velocipede, it became apparent that roads were so rutted by carriages that it was hard to balance on the machine for long, so velocipede riders took to the pavements [sidewalks] and moved far too quickly, endangering pedestrians. Consequently, authorities in Germany, Great Britain, the United States, and even Calcutta banned its use, which ended its vogue for decades.

[9A]

5 April 2019

Hedwig Kohn’s 132nd Birthday


Taking us inside Hedwig Kohn’s lab, today’s Doodle by Hamburg-based guest artist Carolin Löbbert celebrates the life and science of the pioneering physicist. After earning her doctorate in 1913, Kohn went on to become one of only three women certified to teach physics at a German university before World War II.

As a Jewish woman living in Nazi Germany, Kohn was barred from her teaching position in 1933. She spent the next several years fulfilling research contracts in industrial physics before fleeing to the US in 1940. There, she returned to her passion, teaching at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina and Wellesley College in Massachusetts until 1952. After retiring from the classroom, Kohn took on a research associate position at Duke. In the sub-basement of the school’s physics building, where her lab was located, she directed Ph.D students in their research while continuing her own work in flame spectroscopy—something she had started in 1912.

Over the years, Kohn’s work resulted in more than 20 publications, one patent, and hundreds of textbook pages that were used to introduce students to the field of radiometry [a set of techniques meant to measure electromagnetic radiation, including visible light] well into the 1960s.

Happy 132nd birthday, Hedwig Kohn!

[9A]

20 May 2018

Sam Selvon’s 95th Birthday



Today we celebrate the 95th birthday of novelist, poet, and playwright, Sam Selvon. Born to humble beginnings in rural south Trinidad in 1923, his East Indian heritage and West Indian upbringing would greatly shape his future identity as a writer.

Selvon started writing during his spare time while working in the oilfields, serving in the Royal Naval reserve, and writing for newspapers and literary magazines. In his early twenties, he wrote and published several short stories and poems in his native Trinidad. However, it was his move to England in 1950 which set the stage for his career to blossom.

Drawing from his personal experiences as an immigrant, Selvon published his pioneering novel “The Lonely Londoners” in 1956. In it, he gave the unique Caribbean creolised English, or "nation language", a narrative voice of its own on an international stage. “The Lonely Londoners” was later followed by two more London-based novels: “Moses Ascending” [1975] and “Moses Migrating” [1983], both of which continued the saga of Caribbean immigrants and their experiences in London.

Today’s Doodle by guest artist Jayesh Sivan depicts Selvon and other members of the Caribbean migrant community set against the backdrop of London, which served as the inspiration and setting for much of his works.

Happy birthday, Sam Selvon!

[9A]

26 January 2021

India Republic Day 2021




Home to approximately one-sixth of the global population, India is among the most diverse countries in the world. Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Mumbai-based guest artist Onkar Fondekar, honors the day 72 years ago when the Indian Constitution took effect and made official the country’s full transition to a sovereign republic. In celebration of India’s Republic Day, today’s Doodle artwork reflects the range of vibrant cultures that bring the colorful nation to life.

While Republic Day only dates back to 1949, many elements of the subcontinent’s culture have been evolving for centuries. With origins that stretch back hundreds of years, musical instruments such as the dholak [a two-headed hand drum] and the sitar [a long-necked stringed instrument], both featured in the Doodle artwork, are just a few examples of India’s rich heritage.

From its distinctive architectural styles to the Bollywood film industry, India’s cultural impact is felt across the world, and today, there is much to celebrate.

Happy Republic Day, India!

[9A]

26 January 2013

India Republic Day 2013

[9A]

18 July 2021

Pearl Gibbs 'Gambanyi’s' 120th birthday




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Yuwi, Torres Strait Islander and South Sea Islander guest artist Dylan Mooney, celebrates revolutionary Aboriginal Australian activist Pearl Gibbs “Gambanyi”, who is widely regarded among the 20th-century’s leading advocates for Aboriginal rights.

Pearl Mary Gibbs “Gambanyi” was born on this day in 1901 to an Aboriginal mother and a non-Aboriginal father in La Perouse, New South Wales. At 16, Gibbs moved with her family to Sydney, where she worked as a servant. It was here that she met Aboriginal girls stolen from their homes and forced into domestic work—injustices that sparked her lifetime devotion to the fight for Aboriginal rights.

In 1937, Gibbs helped form the Aborigines Progressive Association [APA], an all-Aboriginal activist alliance that campaigned for Aboriginal citizenship, suffrage, and an end to unjust governmental bodies. As APA secretary beginning in 1938, she exposed the inhumane conditions and exploitation of women and children at government-run Aboriginal reserves. A public speaker as charismatic as she was influential, Gibbs helped organize the Day of Mourning protest that same year. Widely credited as the catalyst of the contemporary Aboriginal political movement, this demonstration was the first to bring the plight of Indigenous Australians to national attention.

Gibbs never faltered in her efforts for Indigenous justice over the decades that followed, a struggle that culminated in 1954 when the New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board appointed her as its first—and only—female member. She also helped organize the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship [AAF] in 1956. With Gibbs at the helm, the AAF petitioned for a change in the Australian constitution, which paved the way for the 1967 referendum that granted Indigenous Australians suffrage and citizenship.

Today’s Doodle artwork depicts Gibbs’ life, legacy, and dedication to improving the lives of Aboriginal Australians—symbolized, for instance, by the Flannel Flowers on her dress, an icon she adopted to represent resilience.

Happy Birthday, Pearl Gibbs “Gambanyi,” and thank you for your lifetime devotion to building a more equitable world.

[9A]

21 Jul 2021

Belgium National Day 2021


On this day in 1831, King Leopold I took an oath as the first Belgian king, signaling Belgium as a sovereign state distinct from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Today’s Doodle proudly celebrates Belgium’s National Day, an annual commemoration of their independence.

As the COVID-19 pandemic and flooding disasters currently impact the nation, Belgians are coming together to help one another now more than ever. Today’s Doodle recognizes and gives a special thanks to Belgium’s many everyday heroes. Whether it be a delivery person, medical worker, firefighter, or a kind citizen lending a helping hand—here’s to the Belgians who work every day to help the country thrive.

[9A]

3 April 2016

Start of the 100th tour of Flanders




Today marks the 100th tour of Flanders, or De Ronde van Vlaanderen, an annual springtime road cycling race held in Belgium since 1913. The race was put on hold during World War I, but has been held every year without interruption since 1919. The 2016 race covers 255 km [158 mi] with 18 categorized climbs and 7 flat cobblestoned sections — a notoriously bumpy ride for cyclists.

This year’s race starts in Bruges, and Doodler Alyssa Winans has included a famous Belfry in the Grand Place, or Grote Markt where the race begins. Then, riders will head south to Torhout, where De Ronde's founder, Karel Van Wijnendaele was born.

[9A]

15 July 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]

20 March 2019

Gamila El Alaily’s 112th Birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and legacy of Egyptian poet and essayist Gamila El Alaily. Born in Mansoura, Dakahlia on this day in 1907, El Alaily was one of the leading women of Egypt’s modern art renaissance. A passionate writer, she became the sole female member of the Apollo Society, an influential group of poets, writers, and artists who came to represent the first wave of modernism in Arab literature.

Encouraged by the work of pioneering poet May Ziadah, El Alaily moved to Cairo and began contributing poetry to the Egyptian literary journal Apollo, which was launched in 1932 by Dr. Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi. The publication was named after the Greek god of poetry, as well as truth, prophecy, healing, light, and the sun—a fitting symbol of the society’s universal vision as well as El Alaily’s Apollonian verse. After consistently contributing to the highly regarded journal, she published The Echo of my Dreams, the first of her three diwans, or volumes of poetry, in 1936. Drawing inspiration from nature, her poetry addressed the themes of love and longing as well as contemplation.

In addition to volumes of verse, El Alaily went on to write a regular column for over a quarter century in her monthly newsletter, addressing ethics, values, and ideals, including her views on the role of women in society. In this respect, as well as her prolific poetic output, she broke new ground for women in the Arab world, inspiring generations of writers to come.

Happy 112th Birthday, Gamila El Alaily!

[9A]

31 March 2018

Anandi Gopal Joshi’s 153rd Birthday





In 1886, a young doctor stepped off a ship from America, eager to take up the role of physician in charge of the female ward at Kolhapur’s Albert Edward Hospital. Not only was she India’s first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time. Her name was Anandi Gopal Joshi, and her story is one of courage and perseverance.

Joshi was married at the age of nine, as was the custom in 19th century India. Her husband encouraged her to continue her education and her interest in medicine. At sixteen, battling ill-health but determined to succeed, Joshi set sail for America. She earned her medical degree from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania [now known as Drexel University College of Medicine] and returned to India with dreams of opening a medical college for women.

Joshi’s young life was tragically cut short when she died of tuberculosis before her 22nd birthday. However, her legacy and the path she paved for generations of women continues today. Interestingly, even a crater on Venus is named after her!

Today’s Doodle is created by Bangalore-based artist Kashmira Sarode who imagines Joshi celebrating her degree.

Happy Birthday, Anandi Gopal Joshi!

[9A]

17 December 2021

Émilie du Châtelet's 315th Birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates the 315th birthday of French mathematician, physicist, translator, and philosopher Émilie du Châtelet, whose contributions to Newtonian theory and mission to make scientific literature more accessible helped clear the path for modern physics.

Émilie du Châtelet was born Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil in Paris on this day in 1706—a time when it was rare for women to publicly pursue intellectual careers. Raised in an aristocratic household, Châtelet learned avidly from the distinguished scientists and mathematicians whom her family often entertained. She complemented her formal math and science studies with fencing and linguistics lessons, learning six languages by age 12. Despite society’s discouragement of women pursuing the sciences, Châtelet broke convention.

In her 20s, she married Marquis Florent-Claude du Châtelet, a prominent military officer, and their estate library housed approximately 21,000 books! After months of clandestine research and experimentation, Châtelet submitted a groundbreaking physics paper to the French Academy of Sciences in 1737 that predicted the existence of infrared radiation. Voltaire, an eminent writer of the French enlightenment, recognized her talents, and in 1738, the pair published “Elements of Newton’s Philosophy” under Voltaire’s name. This pioneering book broke down complex Newtonian physics into easy-to-understand terms for French readers.

Châtelet’s magnum opus came in 1740 with the anonymous publication of “The Foundations of Physics,” a work of natural philosophy that married Newtonian physics with metaphysics. Her work played an instrumental role in the acceptance of Newtonian physics across Europe. Albeit anonymously, Châtelet continued to revolutionize physics by translating “Principia,” Newton’s manifesto for the laws of motion and gravity. Published posthumously in 1759, it remains the leading French translation to this day.

Here’s to an unstoppable force in the progression of physics!

[9A]

6 July 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]

24 March 2020

Celebrating Banh Mi




Today’s Doodle celebrates the savory and satisfying Vietnamese street-food sandwich known as bánh mì, a smorgasbord of flavors that represents a true melting pot of cultures and ingredients alike. On this day in 2011, bánh mì was admitted into the Oxford English Dictionary.

Some accounts posit bánh mì’s humble beginnings in the late 1950s street stalls of Saigon’s noisy alleys, but an official origin story is yet to be verified. What is universally accepted about bánh mi’s history: its French inspiration, the staple baguette sandwich.

A traditional bánh mì consists of crispy and airy bread packed with a meat of choice [such as pork pâté, giò lụa, Vietnamese cold cuts, or meatballs], sweet, crunchy veggies and herbs [pickled radishes, carrots, and cilantro], a spread of mayonnaise or margarine, and savory soy sauce, finally topped with chili sauce or peppers. Voilà! By replacing European flavors with Vietnamese ingredients, a tangy and sweet while simultaneously spicy and salty takeaway food was born.

In current times, one can find countless spin-offs of the sandwich in street stands, markets, and restaurants across the world, from New York, to Seoul, to Saigon. Koreans often enjoy bánh mì’s stuffed with their signature bulgogi [[barbeque beef) and kimchi. In the U.S., many popular recipes have traded the baguette with a brioche bun to create a miniaturized version: bánh mì sliders.

No matter the variation, you can relish the taste of cultures coming together!

[9A]

24 March 2008

Béla Bartók's 127th Birthday




Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hungary's greatest composers. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became ethnomusicology.

[9A]

31 October 2019

Carlos Drummond de Andrade’s 117th Birthday



“What now, José?” asked Brazilian writer Carlos Drummond de Andrade in a popular poem from his 1942 anthology, Poesias. Today’s Doodle celebrates an individual whom many consider one of the greatest poets in modern Brazilian literature. Born in the mining town of Itabira on this day in 1902, Drummond composed poems that broke formal rules in verse and expressed the stresses of modern life. He also worked as a literary critic and journalist, writing short semi-fictional newspaper essays, known as crônicas, about the lives of ordinary people, including children and the poor.

After co-founding the literary journal A Revista in 1925, Drummond spent years on his poetry collection Alguma Poesia, emerging as a leading figure in Brazilian modernism. Having earned his degree in pharmacy, he went on to work for Brazil’s Ministry of Education as well as the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Service of Brazil. Throughout his career, he published over a dozen volumes of poetry and a handful of collections of crônicas. His 1986 collection Traveling in the Family: Selected Poems includes English translations by prominent poets Elizabeth Bishop and Mark Strand.

Drummond has received many awards—including the Brazilian Union of Writers Prize—and has become a fixture of Brazilian popular culture. His “Canção Amiga” [“Friendly Song”] was printed on Brazilian currency, and a statue of the poet near the ocean in Rio de Janeiro.

[9A]

31 October 2018

40th Anniversary of Titicaca National Reserve





Today’s Doodle honors the 40th anniversary of the La Reserva Nacional del Titicaca [Titicaca National Reserve], which protects one of the rarest ecosystems on earth. Lake Titicaca is one of the planet’s few remaining ancient lakes, estimated to be 3 million years old. Situated in the Andes mountains some 3,810 meters above sea level, it holds the title for highest elevation of any major lake in the world and largest freshwater lake in South America.

Funded by the Peruvian state, the Titicaca National Reserve also supports the ancient civilization of the Uros people, who live on floating islands made from reeds, like the one seen in today’s Doodle. The Uros moved to these islands when the Incas expanded onto their land, and still live and fish there.

The National Reserve is also a living zoo of rare animals that require protection, including the Lake Titicaca frog, whose baggy skin enables it breathe under the surface of the lake. In the national reserve there’s also the Ballivian Sponge, which has been living there for 7,000 years; 60 species of birds; and mammals including the wild guinea pig, the vizcacha [a chinchilla-like rodent], and Andean wolves, llamas, alpacas, skunks, and foxes.

This truly amazing place is unlike any other on Earth, rich in biodiversity and culture — and the reserve is invaluable to its continued survival.

Happy anniversary to the Titicaca National Reserve!

[9A]

1 Nov 2018

Joseph Burr Tyrrell’s 160th Birthday






Today’s Doodle celebrates Joseph Burr Tyrrell, an explorer, mapmaker, geologist, and miner whose discovery of a fossilized Albertosaurus sarcophagus skull set off Western Canada’s “great dinosaur rush.”

Born in Weston, Ontario on this day in 1858, Tyrrell contracted scarlet fever as a child, but he didn’t allow impaired hearing and eyesight to hold him back. Upon graduation from the University of Toronto, he was encouraged by his father to become a lawyer, but his doctor advised him to work outdoors for the sake of his health. Joining the Geological Survey of Canada, he embarked on his first expedition in 1883, charting a westward path through the Rockies for the Canadian Pacific railroad.

The following year the 26-year-old led his own expedition, mapping a vast area known as “the Badlands,” which was once an ancient ecosystem filled with giant reptiles. While searching for coal, Tyrrell discovered dinosaur bones in Red Deer Valley, stumbling upon the enormous skull and skeleton of a creature that turned out to be 70 million years old. After carefully excavating the fossils he shipped them back to Calgary. The weight of his discovery broke the axle of the wagon carrying it, but the fossils eventually made their way to paleontologists who called the creature Albertosaurus Sarcophagus, a newly discovered genus named for the new Canadian province of Alberta and related to the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Excitement over the Tyrrell’s discovery inspired many other paleontologists to explore Drumheller, where a museum named for Tyrrell opened in 1985, boasting one of the world’s leading collections of dinosaur fossils. However, Tyrrell never claimed to be a paleontologist, focusing instead on the coal deposits he found in Drumheller, which became an important energy resource for Canada.

"My idea of peace and comfort was a tent by a clear brook anywhere north of 50 degrees of North Latitude," wrote Tyrrell during one of his many adventures. "A ground-sheet and blankets enough, a side of salt pork and a bag of flour… For glory, I had the stars and the Northern Lights."

Happy Birthday Joseph Tyrrell!

[9A]

1 November 2014

Mariquita Sanchez de Thompson's 228th Birthday



Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson y de Mendeville was a patriot from Buenos Aires and one of its leading salonnières, whose tertulias gathered many of the leading personalities of her time. She is widely remembered in the Argentine historical tradition because the Argentine National Anthem was sung for the first time in her home, on May 14, 1813.

One of the first politically outspoken Argentine women, Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson has been considered the most active female figure in the revolutionary process.[

[9A]

10 February 2021

Boris Pasternak's 131st birthday



Today’s Doodle celebrates renowned Russian writer, poet, musician, and translator Boris Pasternak, who understood the potential of the written word and used the medium to make an impact still felt today.

Born in Moscow on this day in 1890, Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was raised in a household bursting with artistic influence. The son of a painter and a concert pianist, he dabbled in drawing and dedicated years to music composition, but ultimately, Pasternak departed from his family’s legacy in the pursuit of literary greatness.

Pasternak first earned acclaim with his 1922 book “Sestra moya zhizn” [“My Sister Life”], a cycle of poems exploring love and life. As his oeuvre grew, so did his reputation, and he became so popular that oftentimes when he paused during poetry readings, audiences would shout out the words to complete his sentences.

Towards the end of his poetic career, Pasternak plotted to smuggle an 800-page manuscript entitled Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR. A semi-autobiographical story about the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Doctor Zhivago was first published in Italy in 1957 and was quickly banned by the Soviet Union for its message of personal liberty. Despite the censorship, the epic novel became an international best-seller and led to Pasternak winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. These days, it is essential reading in many Russian high schools.

Happy birthday to a literary giant, Boris Pasternak!

[9A]

10 February 2006

2006 Torino Olympic Games - Opening Ceremony



The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games,
and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter Olympics, the first being in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo; Italy had also hosted the Summer Olympics in 1960 in Rome.

Turin was selected as the host city for the 2006 Games in June 1999. The official motto of Torino 2006 was "Passion lives here". The Games' logo depicted a stylized profile of the Mole Antonelliana building, drawn in white and blue ice crystals, signifying the snow and the sky. The crystal web was also meant to portray the web of new technologies and the Olympic spirit of community. The 2006 Olympic mascots were Neve ["snow" in Italian], a female snowball, and Gliz, a male ice cube.

[9A]

13 Feb 2006

2006 Torino Olympic Games - Snowboarding

[9A]

14 Feb 2006

2006 Torino Olympic Games - Ice Dancing

[9A]

15 Feb 2006

2006 Torino Olympic Games - Luge

[9A]

8 January 2022

Stephen Hawking's 80th birthday





Note: In the Doodle, the voice of Stephen Hawking was generated and used with the approval of the Hawking estate.

Today’s video Doodle celebrates one of history’s most influential scientific minds, English cosmologist, author, and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. From colliding black holes to the Big Bang, his theories on the origins and mechanics of the universe revolutionized modern physics while his best-selling books made the field widely accessible to millions of readers worldwide.

Stephen William Hawking was born on this day in 1942 in Oxford, England. Fascinated by how the universe functioned from a young age, his curiosity and intellect earned him the nickname “Einstein.” Following a diagnosis with a neurodegenerative disease at 21, the music of composer Richard Wagner and the loving support of his future wife Jane Wilde motivated Hawking to dedicate himself to physics, math, and cosmology.

In 1965, Hawking defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Cambridge, “Properties of Expanding Universes,” which presented the revolutionary theory that space and time originated from a singularity, a point both infinitely small and dense, best known today as the key characteristic of black holes. That year, Hawking was accepted as a research fellow at Cambridge’s Gonville and Caius College—his academic home for a lifetime of research. Hawking’s obsession with black holes led to his 1974 discovery that particles could escape black holes. This theory, coined Hawking radiation, is widely considered his most important contribution to physics.

In 1979, Hawking’s groundbreaking work on black holes prompted Cambridge to appoint him as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position held by Isaac Newton in 1669. Hawking’s doctoral thesis was released to the public in 2017 on a University of Cambridge website, which crashed due to enormous amounts of traffic.

Here’s to an innovator whose astronomical impact changed how the world understands the universe!