Google doodles

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May 29, 2014
Norman Frederick Hetherington's 93rd Birthday



Norman Frederick Hetheringtonwas an Australian artist, teacher, cartoonist [known as "Heth"], puppeteer, and puppet designer.

He is best remembered as the creator of one of Australia's longest running children's shows Mr. Squiggle. Hetherington was the sole operator and voice of its star performer, the Mr. Squiggle marionette.

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Jun 2, 2014
Republic Day Italy 2014





It’s “Festa della Repubblica” [Republic Day] In Italy! This day commemorates the referendum of 1946, when Italian voters elected to end 85 years of monarchy and change their government to a republic.

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Jul 1, 2014
Canada Day 2014





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

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Jul 14, 2014
Safiye Ayla's 107th Birthday




“This heart is the rose that rose with you” crooned Turkish singer Safiye Ayla in one of her self-written songs. Considered a legend of Turkish classical music, our doodle in Turkey honors Ayla’s 107th birthday.

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Jul 21, 2014
Belgium National Day 2014



Guest artist Sam Vanallemeersch depicts Adolphe Sax and other icons [check out his diagram!] from Belgian culture in a parade for the country’s National Day.

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Oct 24, 2015
R. K. Laxman's 94th Birthday





A humorist and illustrator with an uncommon talent, R.K. Laxman was one of India’s most celebrated cartoonists. His daily political cartoon, You Said It, ran on the front page of The Times of India for more than 50 years. Laxman was best known for his Common Man character, who he drew into his cartoons as a witness to the kinds of hypocrisies and societal inequalities Laxman wanted to silently expose.

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Oct 13, 2015

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s 67th Birthday




Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a Pakistani vocalist, musician, composer and music director primarily a singer of qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. He is considered to be the greatest Sufi singer in the Punjabi and Urdu language, and World's greatest qawwali singer ever; he is often referred to as "Shahenshah-e-Qawwali" [[the King of Kings of Qawwali). He was described as the 4th greatest singer of all time by LA Weekly in 2016.^[6] He was known for his vocal abilities and could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours.^{[7][8][9][10]} He belonged to the Qawwal Bacchon Gharana [[Delhi gharana) extending the 600-year old qawwali tradition of his family, Khan is widely credited with introducing qawwali music to international audiences.

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Oct 9, 2015
Hangul Proclamation Day 2015



Happy Hangul Day! Today's doodle celebrates Korean Alphabet day in South Korea. Hangul Proclamation Day commemorates the 15th century proclamation of Hangul as the national alphabet for Korea by Sejong the Great. The name Hangul can mean either "great script" or "Korean script.”

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Oct 9, 2015
605th Anniversary of Prague astronomical clock




The hands of Prague’s astronomical clock have measured a staggering amount of history. It predates Shakespeare by over a century, and had been operational for two years by the time Joan of Arc was born. Despite over a half a millennium of wear and a brush with disaster in WWII, much of its original machinery remains intact, making it the oldest functioning clock of its kind in the world. Today’s Doodle honors a magnificent achievement in medieval engineering and a cultural landmark whose symbolism, design, and intermittent repairs are a remarkable catalogue of Europe’s past.

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Aug 31, 2015
Malaysia Independence Day 2015





Deep within a Malaysian street market, a teamaker spins a metal cup towards the sky. In mid-air, he turns it just so, and out pours a hot mix of tea and condensed milk. The drink speeds towards the ground – until another cup swoops in, scooping it out of the air. The tea is saved, and the wide-eyed crowd bursts into cheers!

This is the ritual of “teh tarik,” the national drink of Malaysia. Brewed hot, it cools and thickens as it’s slung back and forth between the teamaker’s special mixing cups. It’s not only delicious to drink, but a delight to watch. That’s why we chose it for the Malaysian Independence Day doodle, illustrated by guest artist Alyssa Winans.

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Jul 21, 2015
Belgium National Day 2015



What better way to celebrate Belgium’s National Day than with a Doodle of the ubiquitous and universally treasured Belgian frieten? Whether taken with ketchup, mayonnaise, vinegar, or the much beloved Belgian tartar sauce, Belgian fries are an unmistakable delight never quite perfectly replicated beyond her borders.

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Jul 14, 2015
Bastille Day 2015





The name Bastille day commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution with the Storming of the Bastille in 1789. On the same day the next year, the Fête de la Fédération, celebrated the unity of the French people. To commemorate both events, this day is simply called Le quatorze juillet [the fourteenth of July].

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May 1, 2015
175th anniversary of the Penny Black stamp





Before 1st May 1840, posting a letter was a very complicated and expensive affair. It could cost the equivalent of a days wage, and it was charged by how many sheets of paper were used and how far it had to travel. Normally the recipient had to pay the cost.

Sir Roland Hill was responsible for reforming the British postal system, and as part of this a competition was held for the public to design the world’s first adhesive postage stamp. However none of the entries were thought suitable, so instead they used the profile sketch of a then 15 year old Queen Victoria. This image was used on stamps until the end of her reign. Because the Penny Black was the first postage stamp in the world, it did not show a country of origin, and to this day British stamps are the only stamps in the world that do not state what country they are from.

However, the Penny Black only remained in circulation for a year, as it was soon found that it was possible to remove the ink of the red cancellation mark and re-use the stamp, so the Treasury switched to the Penny Red and black cancellation ink.

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Apr 15, 2015
Start of Asparagus Season 2015

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Mar 27, 2015
Tashiro Furukawa’s 170th Birthday




To celebrate Tashiro Furukawa's 170th birthday, students sign "Google" in both his original sign language, and the modern fingerspelling it evolved into.

Tashiro Furukawa was a pioneer in blind and deaf education in Japan. He was a schoolteacher whose many contributions to education included opening the Blind and Deaf School in 1878, which is still opened to students to this day.

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Mar 21, 2015
First Day of Fall 2015 [Southern Hemisphere]

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Dec 7, 2014
250th Anniversary of the Hermitage Museum




The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The second-largest art museum in the world, it was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, Saint Catherine's Day

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May 27, 2020
Adelina Gutiérrez Alonso's 95th Birthday






Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Chile-based guest artist Pablo Luebert, celebrates the 95th birthday of a luminary ambassador of the southern night sky: Chilean astrophysicist, author, and professor Adelina Gutiérrez Alonso. Light-years ahead of her time, she was the first Chilean to earn a doctorate in astrophysics, a pioneer not only in her field, but also for women scientists around the world.

Born in the Chilean capital of Santiago on this day in 1925, Carmen Adelina Gutiérrez Alonso was determined from a young age to become a science researcher and teacher. Her scientific career formally took off in 1949, when she joined the faculty at the University of Chile, home of the historic National Astronomical Observatory. In her early years, Adelina crunched data from distant stars, including that collected by her colleague Hugo Moreno León; the two eventually married and formed a fruitful partnership that resulted in a wealth of scientific publications.

But for Adelina, the sky wasn’t the limit. To further her exploration into the mysteries of the cosmos, she moved to the United States in the late 1950s. She graduated from the University of Indiana in 1964 with her unprecedented doctorate in astrophysics, and upon her return home, she helped to establish and lead the country’s first Bachelor of Astronomy program at her alma mater, the University of Chile.

In honor of her stellar scientific contributions, Adelina Gutiérrez Alonso became the first woman and astronomer inducted into the Chilean Academy of Sciences in 1967.

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Dec 6, 2014
Finland Independence Day 2014





Finland's Independence Day is a national public holiday, and a flag day, held on 6 December to celebrate Finland's declaration of independence from Russia in 1917.

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Dec 3, 2014
Anna Freud's 119th Birthday




Take a peek inside the mind of psychoanalyst Anna Freud for her 119th birthday. As the daughter of famed neurologist Sigmund Freud, Anna followed her father’s footsteps into the field and is recognized as the founder of psychoanalytic child psychology.

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Nov 20, 2014
Corita Kent's 96th Birthday





American nun and artist Corita Kent said it best with her quote, “To understand is to stand under which is to look up to which is a good way to understand.” Kent gained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s with her artwork that featured messages of love and peace. Today, we mark her 96th bi

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Nov 20, 2014
Children's Day 2014 - Multiple Countries

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August 3, 2019
Madiha Kamel’s 73rd Birthday






Today’s Doodle celebrates the birthday of Egyptian actress Madiha Kamel, born in Alexandria on this day in 1946. Appearing in a diverse range of roles over a career spanning nearly three decades, she became one of Egyptian cinema’s most memorable personalities.

Participating in theater since elementary school, Kamel moved to Cairo in the early 1960s, where she took an interest in fashion and modeling. She caught the eye of a well-known director, who offered her a role in his next film. However, her parents resisted, preferring that she get married and pursue her education.

While studying at Ain Shams University, she took part in theater and radio sketches. Her earliest on-screen roles came in the mid-1960s in films such as A Girl Like No Other and 30 Days in Prison, in which she appeared opposite the great actor and producer Farid Shawqi. Known for her beguiling charm and enchanting dance moves, Kamel soon became a star.

As her profile began to rise, she kept up a rigorous schedule being featured in both Egyptian and Lebanese productions. In the 1970s, she appeared in films like The Choice, Love and Pride with Mahmoud Yassin and Najla Fathi, and the spy thriller Climbing to the Bottom. She also had a recurring role on Egyptian television playing Salwa Nassar in the popular show El Bashayer.

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Feb 3, 2018
Elizabeth Blackwell’s 197th Birthday





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

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

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

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Feb 3, 2018
Payom Sinawat’s 109th Birthday







Today we celebrate renowned textile artist Payom Sinawat, who carried the traditional patterns of Isaan, a region in northeast Thailand, into the present day. Born in 1909 in Thailand’s Sisaket Province, Sinawat worked in Isaan arts and crafts for over 60 years. As she handcrafted silk for the Queen, Sinawat played a crucial role in popularizing traditional textile arts.


One of the Isaan cloths that she handcrafted in traditional looms, and which partly inspired today’s Doodle, is named khit. Khit weaving tends to use certain colors, like red, purple, and dark green, to layer contrasting geometric patterns over a light background.

With an emphasis on quality, Sinawat mixed old and new materials to modernize and conserve traditional textile art. In 1987, she received the title of Thailand National Artist for her excellent craftsmanship, a title annually bestowed upon notable Thai artists. Through sharing her craft with society, she ensured that northeastern Thai weaving techniques and their resulting beautiful silks are conserved for generations to come.

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Jan 28, 2018
50th Anniversary of Princess Sirindhorn Bird First Sighting







It has been 50 years since the rare white-eyed river Martin was first spotted in Thailand, a bird seen so infrequently it is nearly mythical.

Known locally as the Princess Sirindhorn bird, the white-eyed Martin is one of only two species of birds native to Thailand. This unique Thai treasure is distinguished by gleaming green-black feathers, a white midsection and a tail extending into two delicate black feathers.

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

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

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Jan 26, 2018
India's Republic Day 2018







On this day in 1950, India solidified its sovereignty by putting into effect the Constitution of India, a governing document that took nearly three years of careful deliberation to finalize, and whose eventual enactment was joyfully celebrated across the country.

The first Republic Day was commemorated with a grand parade at the Rajpath, a tradition that continues to the present day. An important element of this parade is the celebration of India’s rich cultural history, which serves as the inspiration for today’s Doodle by New Delhi-based illustrator Ibrahim Rayintakath.

The geometrical shapes that form the Doodle's background are inspired by the vibrant colors and patterns of traditional hand-loom draperies from different states. The foreground elements symbolize unique crafts, music and traditional practices from across the country. You can see a man blowing the Sringa, an ancient musical instrument; Kathputli, a form of traditional puppetry used to narrate folk tales; and the spinning wheel, an important symbol of India’s history. Ceremonial dances form an important part of rituals during the many festivals celebrated across India, and today’s Doodle depicts the Bihu dance from Assam. You can also spot the majestic elephant, a key figure in such festive ceremonies in most regions. Finally, the overall outline and motifs are a tribute to Mughal architecture.

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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.

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January 26, 2018
Australia Day 2018





Today’s Doodle celebrates the unique and beautiful national parks that bring Australians together.
Australia has more than 500 national parks, each populated with extraordinary plants and animals you won’t find anywhere else. For example, millions of people flock to Port Campbell National Park and Twelve Apostles Marine National Park [[featured in today's Doodle) for the stunning scenery.

Located along the southwest coast of Victoria, the parks’ cliffside viewpoints overlook their most iconic sight: seven pillars of stacked limestone, battered by wind and waves, that still rise above the crashing surf to give the marine national park its name.

But below the surface, the full force of the Southern Ocean has created a seascape of canyons, caves, arches, and fissures. Nutrients delivered by perpetually churning waves provide the energy needed to maintain the subtidal and intertidal reefs, which support the greatest diversity of invertebrates on limestone reef in Victoria.

Swirling kelp forests are home to sea urchins, lobsters, and abalone, while a little deeper, the offshore reefs are inhabited by colorful sponges, and of course, fish. This marine metropolis is visited by the flippered forms of local fur seals and commuting little penguins.

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March 22, 2018
Katsuko Saruhashi’s 98th Birthday





A young Katsuko Saruhashi sat in primary school watching raindrops slide down a window and wondered what made it rain. Her journey for answers led her to become the first woman to earn a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1957.

Saruhashi is renowned for her groundbreaking research as a geochemist. She was the first to accurately measure the concentration of carbonic acid in water based on temperature, pH Level, and chlorinity. Named ‘Saruhashi’s Table’ after her, this methodology has proved invaluable to oceanographers everywhere. She also developed a technique to trace the travel of radioactive fallout across the oceans that led to restricting oceanic nuclear experimentation in 1963.

During a career spanning 35 years, Saruhashi became the first woman elected to the Science Council of Japan in 1980, and the first woman honored with the Miyake Prize for geochemistry in 1985 - among many other awards. She was deeply committed to inspiring young women to study science, and established the Saruhashi Prize in 1981, recognizing female scientists for distinguished research in natural sciences.

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October 27, 2018
Stella Adadevoh’s 62nd Birthday





Today’s Doodle celebrates Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, the physician whose expertise and heroic efforts curbed the spread of Ebola in Nigeria in 2014.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria on this day in 1956, Dr. Adadevoh descended from a long line of respected scientists and statesmen. Dr. Adadevoh completed her residency at Lagos University Teaching Hospital West African College of Physicians and Surgeons credential before doing a fellowship in London. Following her fellowship in endocrinology at Hammersmith Hospital, she returned to Lagos, Nigeria where she spent 21 years at the First Consultants Medical Center and served as the Lead Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist.

In July 2014 a Liberian-American attorney arrived in Lagos on a flight from Monrovia heading to a conference on economic development and collapsed in the airport. The patient was taken to First Consultant Medical Center, where one of Dr. Adadevoh’s colleagues first diagnosed him as suffering from malaria. Although no Nigerian doctor had seen a case of Ebola before, Dr. Adadevoh suspected the patient might have been exposed to the highly contagious virus and subsequently ordered blood tests to confirm while also alerting Nigerian health officials.

While awaiting test results, Dr. Adadevoh was pressured by Liberian government officials to let the patient go so he could attend the conference as planned. Despite threats of lawsuits, Dr. Adadevoh stood firm, stating that she would not release the patient “for the greater public good.”

The test results came back positive for the Ebola virus and while the patient could not be treated in time, Dr. Adadevoh’s medical insight and the courage of her convictions ensured that other exposed patients could be treated rapidly and that the outbreak was contained. Unfortunately, in treating the initial patients, Dr. Adedevoh contracted the virus and passed away, along with three of her colleagues at the medical center.

Her legacy lives on through DRASA [Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh] Health Trust, a nonprofit organization devoted to public health that works with communities and health workers to reduce the spread of infectious diseases and ensure that Nigeria is well prepared for future outbreaks.

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Oct 17, 2018
Chiquinha Gonzaga’s 171st Birthday






Born on this day in Rio de Janeiro in, 1847, Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga [[famously known as Chiquinha Gonzaga) showed an affinity for music from childhood. Playing the piano by age 11, she studied music with the maestro Elias Álvares Lobo. When she was 16, her parents insisted she enter an arranged marriage, which ended after her husband insisted she devote herself either to him or to music. At a time when independent women faced major social pressure, Gonzaga sacrificed everything to follow her musical ambitions. She would go on to become the first female conductor in South America and one of the most important figures in Brazilian music history.

For a woman to make a living as a professional musician in nineteenth-century Brazil was unheard of, but Gonzaga persisted, composing 77 operettas and more than 2,000 songs. “Atraente,” published in 1881, may be her best-loved composition, ushering in a sound that would come to be known as “choro.” With her peerless piano skills and gift for improvisation, Gonzaga pioneered this upbeat blend of jazz, waltz, polka, and Afro-Brazilian beats.

On January 17, 1885, Gonzaga made her debut as a conductor with her piece, “Palhares Ribeiro, A Corte na Roça.” Despite the popularity of her music, Gonzaga faced resistance as a woman in a male-dominated business. Often performing with a group headed by her close friend, the flutist Joaquim Antônio da Silva Callado Jr., and including her son João Gualberto on clarinet, Gonzaga managed to thrive in the face of adversity, inspiring others to follow in her footsteps.

During the late 1880s Gonzaga threw her support behind the abolitionist movement, selling her sheet music to raise funds, she paid for the freedom of the enslaved musician Zé Flauta. Her 1899 Carnival march “O abre alas!” [Open Wings] was an homage to freedom. In 1917 she co-founded the artists’ rights society SBAT to ensure that songwriters received a fair share of income from their compositions.

Gonzaga’s legacy lives on as one of Brazil’s most celebrated musical legends. She broke down barriers and directly impacted the dev elopment of music in her homeland. Fittingly, Gonzaga’s birthday is now the official National Day of Brazilian Popular Music [Dia da Música Popular Brasileira].

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October 24, 2014
1 Month Anniversary of Mangalyaan Entering Mars' Orbit



The Mars Orbiter Mission [MOM], also called Mangalyaan ["Mars-craft", from mangala, "Mars" and yāna, "craft, vehicle"], is a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation [ISRO]. It is India's first interplanetary mission^[16] and it made it the fourth space agency to achieve Mars orbit, after Roscosmos, NASA, and the European Space Agency. It made India the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit and the first nation in the world to do so on its maiden attempt.

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Oct 18, 2013
Azerbaijan Independence Day 2013





The Republic of Azerbaijan is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, the Russian republic of Dagestan to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the west, and Iran to the south.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence from the Russian Empire in 1918 and became the first secular democratic Muslim-majority state. In 1920, the country was incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. The modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the USSR in the same year. In September 1991, the Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Republic of Artsakh.

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Oct 24, 2018
Celebrating Zinaida Ermolyeva






Fondly remembered as “Madam Penicillin,” Zinaida Ermolyeva was a Russian microbiologist and bacterial chemist who saved countless lives by developing and manufacturing antibiotics during World War II as well as inspiring young girls to pursue a career in science.

Born in the Russian town of Frolovo in 1898, Ermolyeva graduated from medical school in 1921. She soon began her research at the Northern Caucasus Bacteriological Institute, working to ensure public health despite scarcity of funds and lab equipment. Four years later she was promoted to lead the Department of Microbiological Biochemistry in Moscow at the USSR Academy of Sciences—a remarkable feat for a young women in what remains a male-dominated field.

Inspired by the work of Sir Alexander Fleming, Ermolyeva worked to develop treatments for wounded troops at risk of infection. Testing hundreds of mold cultures at the Rostov Institute of Bacteriology, Ermolyeva searched for a strain that would treat septic wounds and gangrene. One day she and her assistant were in an air-raid shelter they noticed mold growing on a wall. When they brought it back to the lab, this sample proved effective at fighting infection. Using this sample, Ermolyeva was able to synthesize and mass-produce penicillin in the Soviet Union, which had previously depended on shipments of antibiotics from the West. Shipping penicillin to the front lines, Ermolyeva’s successful research and development of antibiotics saved the lives of many thousands of men and women.


In 1947, the USSR Ministry of Public Health established the Institute of Antibiotics and made Ermolyeva its founding director. During this phase of her career, Ermolyeva conducted important research on streptomycin and developed other important antibiotic agents such as interferon, ekmonovicillin, bicillins, ekmolin and diapsfen.

A founding editor of the journal Antibiotiki, Ermolyeva wrote numerous papers and books on the field of microbiology and antibiotics. Ermolyeva became a full Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences and in 1970, she was named an Honored Scientific Worker of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic.

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Oct 28, 2018
100th Anniversary of Czechoslovakia





Today’s Doodle honors Czechoslovakia, the Central European country known for its ancient castles, classical music, and its rich art and design tradition. Founded soon after World War I, Czechoslovakia celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Although the Czech Republic and Slovakia became two independent nations in 1993, both honor the anniversary of their independence from the Austro-Hungarian empire on October 28, with schools and businesses closing in observance of the occasion.
In Prague, where the original proclamation of independence was issued, there are streets are named “October 28.” Historical exhibitions are on display at the ancient Prague Castle, official home of the Czech Republic’s president.

Bratislava Castle, a 10th century edifice named for Slovakia’s capital city, will be another focal point of festivities. Here you will find the Slovak installation of a joint exhibition curated by the Slovak National Museum and National Museum of the Czech Republic, highlighting a 100 years of shared history from both nation’s perspectives.

The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra is marking the 100th anniversary with a series of concerts by Czech composers at the Rudolfinum in Prague. The renowned orchestra will also perform at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on October 28. Outdoor concerts are also planned throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Czech and Slovak celebrations alike are sure to include potato dumplings — a favorite food of both nations. And today’s a great occasion for a toast with beer made from the famous Saaz hops, the key to a great pilsner.

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Nov 9, 2018
Celebrating Amanda Crowe



https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-amanda-crowe [[interactive)

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, today’s video Doodle celebrates Eastern Band Cherokee Indian woodcarver and educator Amanda Crowe, a prolific artist renowned for her expressive animal figures. Led by Doodler Lydia Nichols, the Doodle was created in collaboration with the Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual as well as William “Bill” H. Crowe, Jr., woodcarver and nephew and former student of Amanda Crowe. Aside from highlighting Crowe’s own words and passion for her craft, the Doodle features high resolution imagery of Amanda’s true works housed in her homeland at Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual, the nation’s oldest American Indian cooperative. The music is also an original composition by her nephew, Bill.

Born in 1928, Crowe was raised within the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina, which is territory owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Her artistic talent emerged early, as she began drawing and carving around the age of four. Although Crowe said she was “barely old enough to handle a knife,” she was determined to express herself. Studying with her uncle Goingback Chiltoskey, a well-known woodcarver in his own right, Crowe honed her skills, carrying her tools to school to pursue her passion for creativity and even selling her carvings as a child.

In 1946, Crowe earned a scholarship to study at the Art Institute of Chicago, expanding her vision through exposure to the world-renowned museum’s permanent collection of sculpture. She learned to work with plaster, stone, and metal, but always came back to wood as her preferred medium. “The grain challenges me to create objects in three dimensions,” she explained. “A mistake or flaw in the wood will improve your design. To me, a knot can be the best part.”

After earning her Master of Fine Arts degree, Crowe studied in Mexico with the renowned sculptor José de Creeft before returning to her homeland in the Qualla Boundary. There, she established a studio in the Paint Town community and began teaching art classes at Cherokee High School, where she would teach over 2000 students over the course of 40 years.

As many prominent American Indian artists studied under Crowe, her tutelage has been credited with fostering a resurgence of Cherokee carving. Crowe’s work can has been showcased in the High Museum in Atlanta and the Mint Museum in Charlotte in addition to private collections all over the world.

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Nov 12, 2018
Alexander Borodin’s 185th Birthday






The son of a Georgian prince, Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a sickly child who went on to create a powerful legacy in two different fields. Today’s Doodle celebrates the boy who grew up to become both a distinguished chemist and one of Russia’s greatest classical composers.

Born in St. Petersburg on this day in 1833, Borodin showed an early aptitude for science, languages, and music. While mastering German, French, and English, he began studying flute at age eight and later learned the violin and violoncello. By the age of 13 he’d already composed a piece for flute and piano — nevertheless, he considered music to be a hobby while his main focus was in the field of science.

At 17, Borodin began his studies at St Petersburg’s Medico-Surgical Academy, delving into botany, zoology, anatomy, and crystallography—but he soon specialized in organic chemistry, earning his doctorate in 1858. He went on to become a professor at his alma mater, conducting research on benzene derivatives and organic synthesis, and the discovery of the aldol reaction. He’s also remembered as a champion of women’s rights, having founded the Women’s Medical School in St. Petersburg, where he taught for many years. Still, the music kept calling him.

In the 1860s he met Mily Alexeyevich Balakirev, a pianist and composer who would become his musical mentor. Borodin soon made him part of a group known as “The Five” [aka “The Mighty Handful”] whose goal was to develop a distinctly Russian style of classical music. Borodin’s incorporation of traditional folk music, and his striking use of harmony in works like “The Steppes of Central Asia,” made him a leading figure of the Romantic era.

Championed by such fellow composers as Liszt, Debussy, and Ravel, Borodin’s work has had a lasting influence on classical music. His unforgettable melodies were adapted for Kismet, the Tony-Award-winning musical that went from Broadway to Hollywood with songs like “Stranger in Paradise.”

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Oct 3, 2018
German Reunification Day 2018







Today’s Doodle celebrates the Reunification of Germany, which occurred 29 years ago on this date in 1990. Following the end of World War II, Germany split into East and West Germany, two separate European countries with a shared language and culture but different systems of government. The most famous symbol of this division, cutting through the former capital city, was the Berlin wall.

Constructed in 1961, the wall stood as a literal barrier between East Germany’s communist DDR [Deutsche Demokratische Republik] and West Germany’s capitalist BDR [Bundesrepublik Deutschland]. But toward the end of the ’80s, as the European Cold War fizzled out, reunification seemed inevitable. The people of Germany spoke out loud and clear, from journalists to graffiti artists, calling for unity from both sides. The writing was literally on the wall.

In 1989, East Berlin’s government officials announced that they were considering a change of policy to allow free crossing, effective immediately. Berliners on both sides wasted no time taking matters into their own hands: they began chipping away at the stone and concrete with hammers and picks. With the wall damaged and partially demolished, millions moved across the border within just a few days, reuniting with friends and loved ones long divided by political events.

Official policy switched one year later. Eventually, the graffiti appeared prophetic. The wall was almost completely destroyed, and the two countries again became one. Today Germans celebrate reunification. Feasts and picnics are common, as well as a festival with live bands and food in Berlin by the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of division that’s now symbolic of unity.

[9A]

Sep 30, 2018
Helia Bravo Hollis’ 117th Birthday





“I have done everything with love, passion, and courage,” said Helia Bravo Hollis in an interview with UNAM, the Mexican University where she studied and later headed the Biology department. “I have never worked for a salary. Everything has been for the research.”

Known to her students as La Maestra Bravo, Bravo Hollis made enormous contributions to the study of cacti in Mexico and worked tirelessly to found UNAM’s Botanical Gardens, where she served as director during the 1960s. Her passion for learning about nature was contagious to her students and earned her a great deal of respect among colleagues.

Born on this day in 1901, in the Mixcoac section of Mexico City, she first became interested in nature during Sunday walks with her parents. Her interest in the natural world led her to study Biological Sciences and obtain a Master’s degree from the UNAM, with a thesis on varieties of cactus found in Tehuacán, Puebla. An ambitious researcher, Bravo Hollis published her first book by 1937—the landmark study Las Cactaceas de México—which established her as a leading expert in the field.

During a 60 year career, she published nearly 170 articles, two books, as well as some 60 taxa descriptions and another 59 taxonomic revisions. A co-founder of the Mexican Cactus Society, Bravo Hollis discovered numerous species herself. The Ariocarpus bravoanus and Opuntia bravoana cacti are named after her. Her legacy lives on through the Helia Bravo Hollis Botanical Garden in Puebla, which is home to many endangered cactus species and has become a popular destination for students, scientists, and tourists alike.

[9A]

Sep 24, 2018
Celebrating Altamira Cave







Charging bisons, wild horses, and mysterious handprints—primeval evidence of humanity’s creative genius, miraculously well preserved after some 36,000 years. Today’s Doodle celebrates the 139th anniversary of the first discovery of cave paintings at the Altamira caves in Cantabria, northern Spain—a masterpiece of the prehistoric era.


Nicknamed “the Sistine Chapel of paleolithic art,” Altamira was discovered in 1879 by the amateur botanist and archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola who first noticed animal bones and flint tools there. He returned his daughter Maria, who first noticed the red and black paintings covering its walls and ceiling, rendered in charcoal and hematite, depicting animals including European bison and bulls.

Early claims of the caves’ paleolithic origin were mostly dismissed as fake. Some argued that the art, which includes abstract shapes as well as depictions of wildlife, was too sophisticated for the time. Then in 1902 a French study of Altamira proved these paintings were in fact paleolithic, dating to between 14,000 and 20,000 years ago. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Altamira caves are open for public visitation.

[9A]

Sep 16, 2018
Mexico Independence Day 2018




Today Mexico celebrates the independence movement that began with El Grito – a cry for freedom – in the village of Dolores, Guanajuato. In cities all over Mexico a full day of parties usually begins the night before, with citizens chanting in unison, “¡Viva México!”

Brass bands fill the streets, columns of willow and palm are set aflame, and fireworks light up the sky. Mexican food is central to the celebration—street vendors sell tamales while party foods like queso fundido are usually consumed at home. After a long night of partying, a hearty bowl of menudo soup is a fortifying and restorative meal.

Today’s Doodle shows a street vendor handing out Mexican flags, which are omnipresent on this day in public spaces and outside homes. Its colors feature in people’s outfits as well: green for independence, white for the Roman Catholic Church, and red for unity.

[9A]

Sep 12, 2018
Caio Fernando Abreu’s 70th Birthday





Born on this day in 1948 in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, Caio Fernando Abreu is one of his country’s most celebrated contemporary writers, whose work explored the LGBTQ+ experience and sensitive themes such as loneliness, alienation, and AIDS.

Abreu studied dramatic arts in college and worked as an editor and pop culture journalist before focusing on writing stories, novels, and plays. In 1975 he won honorable mention in a national fiction contest, but he is best known for his collection of stories Os dragões não conhecem o paraíso, which translates from Portuguese as “Dragons do not know the paradise.” First published in 1987, it was eventually translated into French and English and retitled simply ‘Dragons...’

I’ve got a dragon living with me.

No, it’s not true.

I haven’t really got a dragon. And even if I did have, he wouldn’t live with me.

These enigmatic and evocative lines from ‘Dragons…’ reflect the central theme of this work. In Abreu’s fiction “Dragons” represent individuals living at the margins of society—drag queens, gay teens, bisexual men, and a range of others —unknowable, lonely, powerful, untamable, invisible, and perceived by the mainstream as dangerous. Today’s Doodle pays tribute to Abreu’s courageous and compassionate spirit, and his insightful and emotionally charged body of work.

Like many Brazilian artists and writers at the time he ran afoul of the DOPS, the "Department for Political and Social Order," a government agency that maintained files on anyone considered a potential enemy of the state. His novel Onde Andara Dulce Veiga [[Whatever Happened to Dulce Veiga?) won the Best Novel award in 2000 from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics and he won won three Jabuti Prizes, Brazil’s most prestigious literary honor. Two of Abreu's short stories were adapted into films and plays, and his novel Onde Andará Dulce Veiga became a 2008 feature film, directed by his friend Guilherme de Almeida Prado.

[9A]

Sep 10, 2018
Professor Dorothy Hill’s 111th Birthday





“I couldn’t really see why a woman couldn’t run a university,” said Dorothy Hill, the trailblazing Australian geologist and paleontologist who became president of the Professorial Board at her alma mater, the University of Queensland, in 1971. A pioneer in her field, Hill was the first woman to become a professor at any Australian university as well as the first female president of the Australian Academy of Science.

After studying chemistry in at university, Hill took an early interest in the geology of coral. After graduating with honours, she won a scholarship to earn her PhD at Cambridge University, where she published papers on the structure and morphology of coral and earned a pilot’s license in her spare time. In 1939, Hill worked with the Geological Survey of Queensland studying early core samples of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Following the war, Hill continued to win prestigious accolades, becoming president of the Royal Society of Queensland, Chairman of the Geological Society of Australia, Queensland Division, and the first female fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1956. She edited the Journal of the Geological Society of Australia and published more than 100 research papers in various respected journals. In 1964, Hill was awarded the Lyell Medal for scientific research and became the first Australian woman to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.

Professor Hill retired from the University in late 1972, returning to research her landmark Bibliography and Index of Australian Paleozoic Coral, whichwas published in 1978. A Dorothy Hill chair in Paleontology and Stratigraphy was endowed in her honor, and the Australian Academy of Sciences now bestows the Dorothy Hill Award for female researchers in earth sciences. Her colleagues at the University of Queensland created a 3D model of her rock hammer for an exhibition at the School of Earth Sciences. Her name was also given to numerous species of invertebrate fossils, including Acanthastrea hillae, Australomya hillae, Filiconcha hillae, and Reticulofenestra hillae.

Born on this day in 1907, Professor Hill’s accomplishments inspire countless other young women to pursue careers in academia. Today’s Doodle celebrates the intrepid field researcher, scholar and inspirational role model for future generations.

[9A]

Aug 30, 2018
Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky’s 155th Birthday



https://www.google.com/doodles/serge...155th-birthday [animated]

In today’s smartphone era, many people carry the equipment needed to create a color photograph in their pockets. But at the start of the 20th century, photography was a much more complicated process. Between 1909 and 1915 Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky traveled through Russia in a railroad car specially equipped with a mobile darkroom to document Russian life using a technique he called ”optical color projection.”

Born in Murom, Vladimir Province, Russia, on this day in 1863, Prokudin-Gorsky was a chemist who became interested in photography. He traveled to Germany to study with Adolf Miethe, a pioneer of the color separation method, and soon developed his own formulation for photographic emulsion so he could create life-like photos in natural colors. His portrait of the great Russian author Leo Tolstoy was widely reproduced, bringing Prokudin-Gorsky a measure of fame. As a result, Tsar Nicholas II agreed to sponsor his ambitious project.

Prokudin-Gorsky’s images of people, landscapes, architecture, historic sites, industry, and agriculture were created by exposing three glass plates through three different color filters—green, red and blue—and then combining them to create a composite color image-a technique displayed in today’s animated Doodle. He captured thousands of images that offer a rare glimpse of Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution and First World War.

Prokudin-Gorsky planned to use the resulting photos to educate Russian school children about their vast country. Today,his body of work is preserved on thousands of glass plates, which are prized by historians and scholars.

[9A]

Aug 15, 2018
India Independence Day 2018




Thousands of kites dot the skies over India as the country celebrates its 72nd Independence Day. Both a solemn and joyful occasion, this marks the day in 1947 when India became an independent, autonomous state, fulfilling the dream of leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

Commemorations begin on the eve of August 15, when the president delivers an address to the nation and citizens reflect on modern India’s origins as they look with pride toward the future. On Indian television you’ll find films honoring India’s history running around the clock. Crowds of people sing the national anthem, “Jana Gana Mana,” which was played in 1947 at the United Nations to mark India’s entry.

Today’s Doodle—featuring images of some of India’s iconic colorful plantlife and mighty animals—was inspired by Indian truck art, a long-standing tradition in this four million square kilometer nation where truckers who live on the road surround themselves with cheerful folk art to occupy their minds during long months away from their families.

[9A]

Jun 27, 2018
Efua Theodora Sutherland's 94th Birthd







Many great literary works owe their legacies to dedicated teachers who explore their meaning with their students. Prominent writer and teacher Efua Theodora Sutherland played a crucial role in both the creation and exploration of prominent plays across Ghana.

Sutherland [or Aunty Efua, as she was affectionately known], was one of Africa’s earliest female writers recognized locally and internationally for numerous theater works, including Foriwa [1962], Edufa [1967], and The Marriage of Anansewa [1975]. She is credited with bringing literary and theatrical movements in Ghana between the 1950s and 1990s through her own works and helped develop the country’s educational curriculum for children.

At a time when women played a limited role in governance, Sutherland is also remembered for her extensive work on the U.N. Convention on the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

Because of Sutherland’s dedication to children’s rights and cultural activism, thousands of students in Ghana [and beyond] have access to quality education and theater performance.

[9A]

Jul 17, 2018
Georges Lemaître’s 124th Birthday







Most people have heard of the Big Bang theory, but fewer recognize the name Georges Lemaître, the man who came up with the hypothesis that transformed our understanding of astrophysics.

Born on this day in 1894, Lemaître was a Belgian Catholic priest who proposed that the universe began as a single primordial atom, or “Cosmic Egg.” Although his thesis was based on calculations derived from Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, Einstein initially dismissed Lemaître’s work, remarking, "Your calculations are correct, but your physics is atrocious." Two years later, Einstein changed his mind.

Lemaître’s 1927 paper theorizing that the universe was expanding was soon substantiated by Edwin Hubble’s observations, which were published in 1929. Trained in physics at Cambridge, Harvard, and MIT, Lemaître accurately estimated the numerical value that astronomers would come to call the Hubble constant—a unit of measurement that describes the universe’s rate of expansion. Compared to Lemaître’s small scientific readership in Belgium, Hubble’s work received much wider circulation. As a result, Hubble’s name is more often associated with the Big Bang, which birthed a whole new branch of science known as relativistic cosmology.

Lemaître was not completely overlooked in his day. In 1934 he received the prestigious Francqui prize, the highest scientific accolade in Belgium [one of his nominators was Einstein himself!]. Several other international scientific awards honored Lemaître’s legacy, and a crater on the moon was named for him in 1970.

Today’s animated Doodle depicts Lemaître within the constantly expanding universe that he first envisioned, surrounded by galaxies expanding outward just as he said they would.

[9A]

Jun 24, 2018
Saloua Raouda Choucair’s 102nd Birthday



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

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

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

[9A]

Jun 16, 2018
Marga Faulstich’s 103rd Birthday






If your future’s so bright you have to wear shades, make sure you take a moment to celebrate Marga Faulstich’s birthday.

One of Germany’s most important scientists, Faulstich would have turned 103 today. Her work in the field of glass chemistry led to dozens of patents that are still used in the manufacture of lightweight anti-reflective glasses.

In 1939, while working at the Schott AG company with Dr. Walter Geffcken, Faulstich developed a way to coat smaller glass objects by depositing hard vacuum vapor—changing gas directly to a solid without going through a liquid state. Her breakthrough made it possible for glass with anti-reflective coating that shields X-rays and UV light, among other applications.

She was recognized in 1972 for her role in creating the SF 64 lens [known in North America as HIGH-LITE®], thinner, lighter weight corrective lenses.