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Thread: Google doodles

  1. #10901
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    Mar 19, 2021

    Dona Militana's 96th Birthday



    Today’s Doodle, illustrated by guest artist Bel Andrade Lima, celebrates the 96th birthday of Brazilian singer and storyteller Dona Militana, whose vast memory of medieval ballads provided a unique record of generational Iberian and Brazilian tales.

    Militana Salustino do Nascimento, also known as Dona Militana, was born in São Gonçalo do Amarante, Rio Grande do Norte on this day in 1925. As a child, Militana worked the fields; planting crops and weaving baskets with her father, who sang as they toiled. Many of his songs told stories from a bygone era of medieval kings, queens, warriors, and lovers—stories Militana never forgot.

    Militana’s traditional talent remained largely unknown for decades, until she was discovered by folklorist Deífilo Gurgel in the 1990s. It was then that she shared with the world her prodigious chronicle of songs and stories—some of which were over 700 years old.

    In 2000, Militana recorded “Cantares,” a collection of 54 songs that were novel-like in scope, with lyrics and melodies that accurately reflected the times from which they originated. Upon the project’s release, audiences throughout Brazil learned of Dona Militana—the guardian of a Brazilian history nearly lost to time.

    In recognition of her impact on Brazilian culture, Dona Militana was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit in 2005.

    Feliz Aniversário, Dona Militana!

  2. #10902
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    March 19, 2017

    Minna Canth’s 173rd Birthday



    Minna Canth pioneered Finland's spirit of equality. Beginning with journalism, she edited and wrote for the newspaper Keski-Suomi, later going on to publish her own paper, Wapaita Aatteita, with A.B. Mäkelä. After her husband’s death, Canth raised their 7 children alone, managed her family shop selling cloth, and developed her own writing. In 1878, she published her first book, a collection of short stories called Novelleja ja kertomuksia.

    Through her literary work, Canth addressed social issues, pushing the envelope for workers' rights and women's freedoms. Her most famous play is Työmiehen vaimo, about urban labor and life.She helped pave the way for Finnish women to become the first in Europe to win the right to vote in 1906. Shortly after, in 1907, Finland became the first country in the world to elect women to Parliament.

    Minna was also one of the first writers to write in Finnish rather than Swedish. This meant that not only was Minna fighting for women, but for the visibility of Finland on the world stage.

    Her memory is marked with a statue and museum in her hometown of Kuopio, as well as statues in the other towns she called home, Tampere and Jyväskylä. Finland also celebrates her legacy every year with the Day of Equality, an observance of the advancements she made for equal treatment for all in Finland. Today, we honor Minna Canth on what would be her 137th birthday.

  3. #10903
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    March 23, 2019

    Abidin Dino’s 106th Birthday





    Today’s Doodle celebrates artist and author Abidin Dino, known to many as a pioneer of the Turkish avant-garde movement. Born on this day in 1913, Dino created canvases blending elements of expressionism, realism, and surrealism, which now adorn the walls of museums and collectors in Spain and Turkey. Turkish publications featured his calligraphic illustrations and essays, and his unique vision was even present in cinema and across stages.

    At 20, Dino co-founded D Grubu [or Group D], Turkey's first avant-garde movement, alongside five other innovators. While working in Paris, he was introduced to famed figures like Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein before returning to Istanbul in 1939. He participated in the historic “Harbor Exhibition,” a show featuring realistic portraits of dockworkers and fishermen, and was later recruited to design the Turkish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Dino's political cartoons during World War II resulted in a forced exile, during which he created some of his most resonant work. In 1952, he returned to France with his wife, Güzin.

    The couple played host to fellow Turkish artists, scholars, and students for many years, connecting worlds and worldviews. Dino exhibited along with other progressive artists at the Salon de Mai in Paris every spring from 1954 to 1962.

    In 1979, Dino was elected honorary chairman of the French National Union of the Visual Arts [UNAP]. His drawings of hands and flowers—which inspired today’s Doodle—were collected into a small book dedicated to his wife, titled Güzin’s Abidins, a testament to the heartfelt inspiration behind his vision.

    Happy 106th Birthday, Abidin!

  4. #10904
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    March 23, 2015

    Emmy Noether's 133rd Birthday




    Emmy Noether was no ordinary person...need proof? How many people do you know can count Albert Einstein as a fan of their work? The legendary physicist once referred to Noether as, “The most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced,” a fitting endorsement for a mathematician who made groundbreaking contributions to the fields of abstract algebra and theoretical physics, all the while overcoming deep seated sexism in her line of work. For Noether’s 133rd birthday, I thought it would be best to highlight the mathematician's numerous accomplishments and shine a light on the influence Noether had on the world.

    In this doodle, each circle symbolizes a branch of math or physics that Noether devoted her illustrious career to. From left to right, you can see topology [the donut and coffee mug], ascending/descending chains, Noetherian rings [represented in the doodle by the Lasker-Noether theorem], time, group theory, conservation of angular momentum, and continuous symmetries–and the list keeps going on and on from there! Noether’s advancements not only reflect her brilliance but also her determination in the face of adversity.

    Doodle by Sophie Diao

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    January 28, 2021

    Jim Wong-Chu's 72nd Birthday






    Today’s Doodle celebrates the birthday of Canadian activist, community organizer, poet, author, editor, photographer, radio producer, and historian Jim Wong-Chu, who devoted his life to amplifying the narratives of the Asian Canadian community.

    Born in Hong Kong on this day in 1949, Wong-Chu moved to Canada when he was 4, and as a young adult, he settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. During the ‘70s he worked as a community volunteer and became interested in the use of literature to explore his identity as a Canadian of Asian heritage. In 1986, while studying creative writing at the University of British Columbia, he compiled his work into the collection “Chinatown Ghosts,” one of the first poetry books ever published by a Chinese Canadian author.

    But Wong-Chu didn’t just want to tell his story; he wanted to tell the stories of all the undiscovered talent in his community. In 1989, he began to sift through every literary magazine in UBC’s library to identify pieces written by Asian Canadian writers. With co-editor Bennett Lee, he honed this collection into his first of numerous anthologies, “Many Mouthed Birds” [1991], a touchstone in the emergence of the genre of Asian Canadian literature.

    To promote the genre, Wong-Chu co-founded the Asian Canadian Writer’s Workshop in 1996, which–along with its literary magazine Ricepaper [now a digital publication]–has continued to elevate the voices of the Asian Canadian literary arts movement to this day.

    Happy birthday, Jim Wong-Chu!

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    November 12, 2021

    Celebrating Johannes Vermeer





    Today’s Doodle celebrates Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, a seminal Baroque artist who is widely regarded among the greatest Dutch painters of all time. On this day in 1995, an eponymous exhibition opened at Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art, featuring 21 of his 35 existing works.

    Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft, the Netherlands, at the height of the Dutch Golden Age in 1632. Although little is known about Vermeer’s early life, historians estimate from his early mythological paintings that he first aspired to be a historical painter.

    By the 1650s, Vermeer began to paint subtly lit interiors with intricate symbology—a style distinguished by traditional Dutch motifs that became his hallmark. He captured the commonplace in radiant and exquisite detail, creating masterworks including “The Girl with the Pearl Earring '' [1665] which is currently on display at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, the Netherlands. The artistic techniques Vermeer employed are still up for debate. Some art historians suggest he traced images projected from a camera obscura [a predecessor to the photographic camera], but with no physical evidence to back up such claims, some Vermeer specialists remain unconvinced.

    On the left, the Doodle artwork references “The Allegory of Painting” [1666-1668] and in the middle, “Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid” [1670-1671]. In 1979, an X-ray revealed a hidden Cupid in Vermeer’s “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” [1657-1659], referenced on the right of the Doodle. Researchers continued to analyze the canvas in 2017, determining that the Cupid was covered by another painter. In 2021, a German initiative completely restored the painting. These efforts are just a few of the many attempts to demystify Vermeer and some of the world’s most treasured pieces of fine art he left behind.

    Here’s to a true artistic luminary—Johannes Vermeer!

  7. #10907
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    November 12, 2013

    Leon Štukelj's 115th Birthday




    Leon Štukelj was a Slovene professional gymnast. He was an Olympic gold medalist and athlete who represented Yugoslavia at the Olympics.

    He is a noted figure in Slovenian sporting history. Štukelj is one of the first Slovene athletes to have risen to the very top of his sport, where he remained right from the World Championships in Ljubljana in 1922 all the way to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, at which point he finished his competitive gymnastics career.

    Štukelj competed at seven major international competitions and won a total of twenty medals: eight gold, six silver, and six bronze. At the Olympic Games alone he won six medals: two gold medals [counted for Yugoslavia] in Paris in 1924, one gold medal and two bronze in Amsterdam in 1928, and a silver medal in Berlin in 1936.

  8. #10908
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    Nov 14, 2012

    Amadeu de Souza-Cardoso's 125th Birthday





    Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso [14 November 1887 – 25 October 1918] was a Portuguese painter.

    Belonging to the first generation of Portuguese modernist painters, Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso stands out among all of them for the exceptional quality of his work and for the dialogue he established with the historical avant-gardes of the early 20th century. "The artist developed, between Paris and Manhufe, the most serious possibility of modern art in Portugal in an international dialogue, intense but little known, with the artists of his time". His painting is articulated with open movements such as Cubism, Futurism or Expressionism, reaching in many moments - and in a sustained way in the production of recent years - a level comparable in everything to the cutting-edge production of his contemporary international art.

  9. #10909
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    November 14, 2017

    131st Anniversary of the Hole Puncher



    It’s a familiar scene with a familiar tool: the gentle rat-tat-tat on the table as you square up a dangerously thick stack of papers, still warm from the printer. The quiet anticipation and heady uncertainty as you ask yourself the ultimate question: can it cut through all this? The satisfying, dull “click!” of the blade as it punches through the sheets. The series of crisp, identical holes it produces, creating a calming sense of unity among an otherwise unbound pile of loose leaf. And finally, the delightful surprise of the colorful confetti byproduct – an accidental collection of colorful, circular leftovers.

    Today we celebrate 131 years of the hole puncher, an understated – but essential – artifact of German engineering. As modern workplaces trek further into the digital frontier, this centuries-old tool remains largely, wonderfully, the same.

    Doodle by Gerben Steenks

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    April 13, 2021

    151st Anniversary of The Metropolitan Museum of Art



    In honor of a storied legacy of cultural enrichment for New Yorkers and international communities alike, today’s Doodle celebrates the 151st Anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens—businessmen and financiers as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day—who wanted to create a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. On this day in 1870, the museum was officially incorporated and soon after acquired its first work of art: a Roman sarcophagus.

    The Met has come quite a long way from that first showing to become New York’s largest art museum, with a permanent collection of over 1.5 million objects, spanning over 5,000 years from nearly every corner of the globe. A sampling of the many works of art found at The Met today are depicted in today’s Doodle artwork—including a Byzantine floor mosaic from 500-550 A.D., the armor of German Emperor Ferdinand I from the 16th century, an intricate traditional Lakota/Teton Sioux beaded dress, and the painting "Self-Portrait" by Samuel Joseph Brown, Jr. from the 1940s.

    Whether you're a Met regular or planning your first trip to the Museum, be sure to visit a certain blue ceramic hippopotamus from Egypt’s Middle Kingdom nicknamed “William.” An unofficial mascot of The Met, he might soon become your favorite part of the collection.
    Happy anniversary to The Met–and here’s to many more!

  11. #10911
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    April 13, 2011

    240th Birthday of Richard Trevithick




    Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He was an early pioneer of steam-powered road and rail transport, and his most significant contributions were the development of the first high-pressure steam engine and the first working railway steam locomotive. The world's first locomotive-hauled railway journey took place on 21 February 1804, when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.

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    April 13, 2018

    177th Anniversary of Semper Opera House





    One hundred seventy-seven years ago today, the Semper Opera House [or Semperoper] opened its doors for the first time. Originally designed by the famous German architect Gottfried Semper, it has served as the stage for opera, ballet, and performances of many kinds during its nearly 200-year-long history.

    The Semperoper has newly opened its doors not once, but three times: first after its original construction in 1841, and twice more after rebuilding due to both a devastating fire in 1869 and the WWII firestorm in 1945. The architecture evolved from its first construction – an eclectic blend of early Renaissance, Baroque, and and Greek classical styles – to the familiar Neo-Renaissance elements seen today. Semper’s consideration of the audience is evident in the design, too; all tiers sit equidistant to the stage and no partitions exist between sections. Without much to block the performers, everyone gets a good seat!

    The creator of today’s Doodle, Frederik Jurk, employed gentle colors and soft, flowing lines to capture the dreamy scenes and romantic characters so frequently featured on this famous stage. "Since the subject of the doodle is already about art," he says, "letting everything speak for itself felt very natural." All set against the backdrop of the iconic architecture, the image couples the art of the building’s construction with the creativity of the artists themselves.

    Thanks to the dedication of Germany’s arts community, Semperoper stands today as a storied monument to some of the country’s most influential composers, conductors, and singers.

  13. #10913
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    August 27, 2019

    Cesária Évora’s 78th Birthday





    Today’s Doodle celebrates world-renowned Cape Verdean singer Cesária Évora. Born in Mindelo, a port city on the island of São Vicente off the West African coast on this day in 1941, Cesária grew up in an orphanage and began singing in bars and cruise ships as a teenager. Her specialty was morna, the bluesy national music of Cape Verde, which she would bring to an international audience—earning many accolades, including a Grammy Award.

    Évora’s poignant voice was perfectly suited to morna music, and her life experiences imbued her songs of love and loss with unmistakable feeling. Known for performing barefoot, she sang in Kriolu, a blend of Portugese and African dialects, accompanied by piano, guitar, or cavaquinho, a four-stringed Portuguese guitar. Although she was invited to sing on local radio, and two of these recordings were released in Europe, she could not support herself solely with her music career and retired from singing for many years.

    In her mid-40s, Évora traveled to Portugal for a recording session, where she impressed Josè Da Silva, a French concert promoter of Cape Verdean descent. Da Silva invited her to Paris, and starting in the late 1980s, Évora recorded several albums for his label, starting with La Diva aux pieds nus [“The Barefoot Diva”], which brought her to a new audience.

    Évora went on to tour the world and won a 2003 Grammy Award for her album Voz d’amor, as well as two Kora awards from the African music industry.

    Never distracted by stardom, she worked hard even in declining health and used her fame to help others, serving as an ambassador for the UN’s World Food Program. The airport on her home island of São Vicente was named in her honor, with a statue and mural commemorating the beloved “Queen of Morna.”

  14. #10914
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    August 27, 2013

    Natalia Sats's 110th Birthday





    Natalya Il'inichna Sats [sometimes spelled Natalia Satz] was a Russian stage director who ran theaters for children for many years, including the Moscow Musical Theater for Children, now named after her. In 1937, she fell victim to Soviet repressions[citation needed], but was rehabilitated in 1953. She was a recipient of the USSR State Prize, People's Artist of the USSR award, Lenin Prize, Hero of Socialist Labor medal, and the Lenin Komsomol Prize.

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    August 27, 2019

    Gladys Elphick’s 115th Birthday





    Today’s Doodle celebrates Australian Aboriginal community leader Gladys Elphick, known as “Aunty Glad,” who dedicated herself towards social justice in Australia.

    Born on this day in 1904 a proud Kaurna and Ngadjuri woman, she became the founding president of the Council of Aboriginal Women of South Australia, bringing about important social reforms. Despite leaving school at age 12, she was a tireless advocate for Indigenous and non-Indigenous women alike, inspiring many to stand up for their rights.

    After the death of her first husband, Aunty Glad moved to Adelaide in 1939, supporting her two children. During the 1940s, she joined the Aborigines Advancement League of South Australia, the country’s first group for Aboriginal women. In the mid-1960s, she served on the activities committee supporting important initiatives such as opening a community center for adult education, medical, and legal services. Her efforts led to the establishment of many other institutions, including the College of Aboriginal Education and the Aboriginal Medical Service.

    In 1971, Aunty was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire and named South Australian of the Year in 1984. Since 2003, the Gladys Elphick Award has been awarded to recognize Aboriginal women working to advance the status of Indigenous people through a wide range of mediums.

  16. #10916
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    August 27, 2008

    Tomato Festival 2008





    La Tomatina is a festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, in the east of Spain 30 kilometres [19 mi] from the Mediterranean, in which participants throw tomatoes and get involved in a tomato fight purely for entertainment purposes. Since 1945 it has been held on the last Wednesday of August, during a week of festivities in Buñol. The event has been cancelled since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.


    Last edited by 9A; 05-24-2022 at 08:11 AM.

  17. #10917
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    August 27, 2011

    Faina Ranevskaya's 115th Birthday




    Faina Georgievna Ranevskaya [born Faina Girschevna Feldman], is recognized as one of the greatest Soviet actresses in both tragedy and comedy. She was also famous for her aphorisms.

  18. #10918
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    August 27, 2019

    Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar’s 97th Birthday



    Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and work of the esteemed Colombian artist Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar, widely considered one of the most notable sculptors of his country. Born in Pamplona on this day in 1922, Villamizar was the son of a jeweler who studied architecture before achieving worldwide acclaim for his paintings and sculptures.

    Exposed to international modernism on trips to Paris and New York during the 1950s, he met with early success. One of his pieces, The Black and White Painting, was acquired by New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1956, and two years later he won a Guggenheim award.

    Upon returning home, he became a pioneer of abstract art in Colombia. His 1952 solo exhibition at the National Library of Bogotá was one of the first shows of abstract painting, and his 1957 Composition in Ocres was the country’s first non-objective mural. The curved shapes of his large El Dorado relief created for Banco de Bogotá were covered in gold leaf, a nod to pre-Columbian figures and Latin American goldsmithing. In later sculptural works, he translated the distinctive shapes of pre-Columbian art into abstract planes.

    Villamizar represented Colombia at the 1969 São Paulo Biennial, winning the second international prize. He created the monumental 1974 piece Sixteen Towers atop the Bogotá hills, and the Colombian government awarded him the prestigious Cruz de Boyacá. His legacy lives on at the Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar Museum of Modern Art in his hometown, where much of the artist’s work is housed in a grand colonial home in Pamplona’s central square.

  19. #10919
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    November 29, 2018

    Celebrating 400º of Murillo




    Bartolomé Esteban Murillo painted historical and religious scenes, portraits, and still lifes in oil and fresco during the golden era of Spanish art. Known for his dramatic lighting, radiant color palette, and versatility, Murillo brought to life a wide range of subjects, from the grandeur of his Immaculate Conception to the casual grace of Two Women at a Window.

    Although his exact birthdate is unknown, he was baptized on New Year’s Day 1618 in Seville’s Church of St. Mary Magdalen and lived in Seville most of his life. Studying with the accomplished painter Juan del Castillo, a relative on his mother’s side of the family, Murillo would eventually surpass his master and be considered the head of what became known as the “Sevillian School” of the Baroque era.

    Renowned for his Independent spirit, Murillo cultivated his own style of painting, incorporating Flemish and Venetian influences and evolving throughout his career. During two extended trips to Madrid, he was introduced to Diego Velázquez and exposed to works by Venetian and Flemish masters, which deeply influenced his own work. In turn, Murillo’s paintings would go on to influence such future masters as Thomas Gainsborough and Jean-Baptiste Greuze.

    In honor of his 400th anniversary, a series of major exhibitions celebrating Murillo’s work is opening at Seville’s Museum of Fine Arts, bringing home the artist’s work from renowned collections all over the world. Guided tours, concerts, and other cultural activities combine to make this the “Year of Murillo.”

    Happy Anniversary, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo!
    Last edited by 9A; 05-24-2022 at 08:38 AM.

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    September 5, 2011

    Freddie Mercury's 65th Birthday




    From time to time we invite guests to post about items of interest and are thrilled to have Brian May join us to talk about friend and bandmate Freddie Mercury. Our doodle celebrating Freddie's birthday can be seen around the world on September 5 and, out of respect for Labor Day, in the U.S. on September 6. A guitarist and songwriter, Brian May is a founding member of Queen and wrote many of the band’s hits, including “We Will Rock You,” “The Show Must Go On” and “I Want It All.” Brian is also a respected solo artist and one of the founders of Freddie for a Day [www.freddieforaday.com], an organization helping to fight HIV/AIDS globally. - Ed.

    I was first introduced to Freddie Mercury—a paradoxically shy yet flamboyant young man—at the side of the stage at one of our early gigs as the group “SMILE.” He told me he was excited by how we played, he had some ideas—and he could sing! I'm not sure we took him very seriously, but he did have the air of someone who knew he was right. He was a frail but energised dandy, with seemingly impossible dreams and a wicked twinkle in his eye. A while later we had the opportunity to actually see him sing ... and it was scary! He was wild and untutored, but massively charismatic. Soon, he began his evolution into a world-class vocal talent, right in front of our eyes.

    Freddie was fully focused, never allowing anything or anyone to get in the way of his vision for the future. He was truly a free spirit. There are not many of these in the world. To achieve this, you have to be, like Freddie, fearless—unafraid of upsetting anyone's apple cart.

    Some people imagine Freddie as the fiery, difficult diva who required everyone around him to compromise. No. In our world, as four artists attempting to paint on the same canvas, Freddie was always the one who could find the compromise—the way to pull it through. If he found himself at odds with any one of us, he would quickly dispel the cloud with a generous gesture, a wisecrack or an impromptu present. I remember one morning after a particularly tense discussion he presented me with a cassette. He had been up most of the night compiling a collage of my guitar solos. "I wanted you to hear them as I hear them, dear," he said. "They're all fab, so I made them into a symphony!"

    To create with Freddie was always stimulating to the max. He was daring, always sensing a way to get outside the box. Sometimes he was too far out ... and he'd usually be the first to realise it. With a conspiratorial smile he would say "Oh ... did I lose it, dears?!" But usually there was sense in his nonsense—art in his madness. It was liberating. I think he encouraged us all in his way, to believe in our own madness, and the collective mad power of the group Queen.

    Freddie would have been 65 this year, and even though physically he is not here, his presence seems more potent than ever. Freddie made the last person at the back of the furthest stand in a stadium feel that he was connected. He gave people proof that a man could achieve his dreams—made them feel that through him they were overcoming their own shyness, and becoming the powerful figure of their ambitions. And he lived life to the full. He devoured life. He celebrated every minute. And, like a great comet, he left a luminous trail which will sparkle for many a generation to come.

    Happy birthday, Freddie!

    Posted by Dr. Brian May, CBE. Guitarist.

    About the Creative

    Working on this doodle for Freddie Mercury's birthday was an absolutely blast. Not only did I have a great team of animators, illustrators, and engineer, I was also working with the fantastic Queen classic, "Don't Stop Me Now." The development of this 90 second tribute took about 4 months-- most of which went into planning the visual style of the doodle.

    posted by Jennifer Hom
    Last edited by 9A; 05-25-2022 at 07:07 AM.

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    June 1, 2021

    Children's Day 2021


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    June 1, 2013

    Children’s Day 2013 [Poland]



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    June 1, 2018

    Children's Day 2018



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    June 1, 2020

    Children's Day 2020

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    May 29, 2018

    Alfonsina Storni’s 126th Birthday





    Today’s Doodle celebrates renowned post-modern Latin American poet and feminist Alfonsina Storni. Also known by her pen-names Tao-Lao and Alfonsina, Storni was a prolific Argentine writer and top literary journalist who was dedicated to women’s rights and gender equality.

    By age 27, Storni had authored six short stories, two novels, and a series of essays including La inquietud del rosal [The Restlessness of the Rosebush, 1916], El dulce daño [Sweet Pain, 1918], Irremediablemente [Irremediably, 1919], and Languidez [Languor, 1920], the latter winning first Municipal Poetry Prize and the second National Literature Prize. Her body of work subsequently led her to become known as one of Argentina’s most respected poets.

    Active in women’s rights since she was 16, Storni was also a member of Comité Feminista de Santa Fé [Feminist Committee of Santa Fe], a leader of the Asociación pro Derechos de la Mujer [Association for the Rights of the Woman], and helped establish the Argentine Society of Writers. Today, Storni is featured as one of 999 women on The Heritage Floor, an artwork which displays names of women who have contributed to society and history, at the Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

    Depicted in today’s Doodle, Storni’s poem La Loba [The She-Wolf, 1916] recounts her experience raising a son as a single mother while defying patriarchal norms of time:

    I am like the she-wolf.

    I broke with the pack

    ...

    I have a son, the outcome of love without marriage,

    For I couldn't be like the others, another ox

    With its neck in a yoke; I hold my proud head high!

    I plow through the underbrush with my own hands.

    Happy 126th birthday, Alfonsina Storni!
    Last edited by 9A; 05-25-2022 at 07:23 AM.

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    May 29, 2015

    Nepal Republic Day 2015




    Today, we honor the strength and resilience of the people of Nepal. On May 28th, 2008, after decades of revolution and protests, Nepal became the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Seven years later, this country is an international symbol of splendor, peace, and tenacity.

    In the aftermath of the recent devastating and tragic earthquakes our hearts and minds are with the people of Nepal and the aid workers there helping to heal and mend families as they regain their footing, standing again as their world shifts beneath their feet.

    We hope today's Doodle will remind the people of Nepal that they are an inspiration to the entire world, and that their burning perseverance lights the way for us all. The concept of light in this Doodle means three things for Nepal: celebration of this National day, prayers to Buddha, and a guiding light on the way home.

    Google is committed to supporting efforts to rebuild, and to help carry the load on the difficult climb to recovery. Google Crisis Response map can help get the lay of the land and the Person Finder can help locate friends and loved ones.

    We'll see you at the peak, again, Nepal.

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    May 21, 2019

    Willem Einthoven’s 159th Birthday





    Today’s Doodle celebrates the birth of Willem Einthoven, the Nobel Prize-winning Dutch physiologist who pioneered electrocardiography—a quick, painless, and effective method of studying the rhythms of the heart and diagnosing cardiovascular disease.

    Born on the island of Java [now Indonesia] on this day in 1860, Einthoven grew up aspiring to follow in the footsteps of his father who had been both a doctor and military medical officer. By 1886 he had become a professor of physiology at the University of Leiden, focusing on optics, respiration, and the heart.

    In 1889, Einthoven attended the First International Congress of Physiologists, where he watched a demonstration of a device known as the “Lippmann capillary electrometer” recording the electrical activity of the human heart. After analyzing the results, Einthoven recognized the need for a more accurate device, and began work on his string galvanometer, based on the technology used to amplify signals along underwater cables.

    Balancing a fine string of quartz coated in silver between the two poles of a magnet, Einthoven’s invention precisely measured variations in electrical current. In 1901 he announced the first version of the string galvanometer, and soon published the world’s first electrocardiogram or ECG, a printed record of a human heartbeat. Einthoven studied the ECG patterns, identifying five “deflections” of normal heart function, learning how to interpret deviations that signal circulatory problems and heart disease.

    Einthoven’s groundbreaking research won him the 1924 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Today, ECG machines are still used in hospitals all over the world, and while the technology has evolved greatly, they still work according to the same basic principles and techniques developed by Einthoven, who is now remembered as the father of modern electrocardiography.

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    May 21, 2014

    Mary Anning's 215th Birthday



    Mary Anning was an English fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist who became known around the world for the discoveries she made in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the English Channel at Lyme Regis in the county of Dorset in Southwest England. Anning's findings contributed to changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth.

    Anning searched for fossils in the area's Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone cliffs, particularly during the winter months when landslides exposed new fossils that had to be collected quickly before they were lost to the sea. Her discoveries included the first correctly identified ichthyosaur skeleton when she was twelve years old; the first two nearly complete plesiosaur skeletons; the first pterosaur skeleton located outside Germany; and fish fossils. Her observations played a key role in the discovery that coprolites, known as bezoar stones at the time, were fossilised faeces, and she also discovered that belemnite fossils contained fossilised ink sacs like those of modern cephalopods.

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    May 21, 2006

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 147th Birthday





    Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.

    Doyle was a prolific writer; other than Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" [1884], helped to popularise the mystery of the Mary Celeste.
    Last edited by 9A; 05-25-2022 at 07:41 AM.

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    May 19, 2019

    Samuel Okwaraji’s 55th Birthday



    Today’s Doodle celebrates Nigerian soccer player Samuel Okwaraji, who stands today as a symbol of national pride. Born in Orlu, Nigeria on this day in 1964, he moved to Europe in 1982 to further his education, though his greatest passion was soccer.

    While earning a law degree at the University of Rome, Okwaraji played for the Italian club A.S. Roma. Fluent in several languages, he bounced from club to club, ending up at Germany’s SSV-Ulm 1846 team where he emerged as a standout player. Still, he wanted nothing more than to represent his homeland.

    Okwaraji returned home to compete for a spot on the Nigerian “Green Eagles” team that played in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. With his energetic style of play and his love for his homeland, he soon became a fan favorite. Okwaraji was unhappy to learn that his German club was charging the Nigerian Football Association for lost revenues while he played for Nigeria. Reminding the team that he was a lawyer, Okwaraji passionately wrote “I am going to represent my country in the World Cup in Italy whether you like it or not.”

    Unfortunately, his dream of playing in the World Cup for Nigeria did not come to fruition. On August 12, 1989, with just fifteen minutes left in a tough World Cup qualifying match against Angola, Okwarji’s life was tragically cut short when he fell down on the field at the National Stadium in Lagos and could not be revived.

    Today, a statue of Okwaraji stands in front of that same National Stadium and reads: In memory of an illustrious and patriotic Nigerian sportsman.

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    May 19, 2016

    Yuri Kochiyama's 95th Birthday




    It’s with great pleasure that Google celebrates Yuri Kochiyama, an Asian American activist who dedicated her life to the fight for human rights and against racism and injustice. Born in California, Kochiyama spent her early twenties in a Japanese American internment camp in Arkansas during WWII. She and her family would later move to Harlem, where she became deeply involved in African American, Latino, and Asian American liberation and empowerment movements. Today's doodle by Alyssa Winans features Kochiyama taking a stand at one of her many protests and rallies.

    Kochiyama left a legacy of advocacy: for peace, U.S. political prisoners, nuclear disarmament, and reparations for Japanese Americans interned during the war. She was known for her tireless intensity and compassion, and remained committed to speaking out, consciousness-raising, and taking action until her death in 2014.

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    November 20, 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.

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    Nov 22, 2016

    Lebanon Independence Day 2016





    Today is Lebanese Independence Day, commemorating the anniversary of France’s official recognition of Lebanon’s independence in 1943. Although Lebanon technically won its independence in 1941, it remained under French colonial rule until November 22, 1943. On this day, French authorities released Lebanese officials held captive for 11 days outside of the capital.

    The Doodle pays tribute to this important day with an image of the cedar tree, which is an emblem of Lebanon prominently displayed on the national flag. Happy Independence Day, Lebanon!

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    November 22, 2017

    Celebrating Kimchi






    Today we celebrate Kimchi on what is known as “Kimchi Day” in Korea! According to local research, the date is significant in this tasty treat’s creation because salting kimchi today helps the dish reach its full flavor potential.

    Packing a powerful punch of napa cabbage, green onion, fish sauce, red pepper flakes, rice flour, salt, ginger, radish, carrot, and garlic, fermented kimchi in onggi [clay pot] is loved by many around the world and is traditionally eaten with chopsticks. Today’s Doodle celebrates each ingredient that goes into making some seriously scrumptious kimchi.

    Kimchi was first referenced in Korea about 2,600-3,000 years ago, and in the 18th century, it was first made with chili peppers. Due to varying regional recipes, there are hundreds of different types of kimchi. Many Korean households even have a separate kimchi refrigerator!

    The dish is produced in especially large amounts during November and December. This is when kimjang [kimchi curing] takes place in preparation for winter. During kimjang, cabbage is pickled by cutting it into smaller pieces, soaking it in brine overnight, and dashing salt. Then, yangnyum [radish coated in chili powder] is mixed with ingredients such as green onions, dropwort, mustard leaves, ginger, garlic, and fermented shrimp or anchovies. To complete the process, the pickled cabbage is stuffed or mixed with the yangnyum and stored away to ferment until eating.

    During this time, family members and neighbors gather in each other’s kitchens to cook together, trade recipes, and share stories. Listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage, kimjang creates moments of joy and encourages living in harmony with nature.

    Happy eating!
    Last edited by 9A; 05-26-2022 at 06:36 AM.

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    November 22, 2017

    Rukhmabai Raut’s 153rd Birthday





    Born on this day in Bombay [now Mumbai] in 1864, Rukhmabai Raut was one of the first women to practice medicine in colonial India. Backed by the British director of Bombay’s Cama Hospital, suffrage activists, and other supporters, Raut set off in 1889 for the the London School of Medicine for Women and obtained her qualifications at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Brussels. She then joined a hospital in Surat, serving as chief medical officer the next 35 years.

    As an activist, Raut fought to stamp out child marriage. Married at age 11 to a 19-year-old groom chosen by her mother, Raut refused to live with her husband, winding up at the center of one of India’s most famous 19th-century court cases. Her bravery in defying contemporary Indian social customs attracted scrutiny in the British press and led to the passage of the Age of Consent Act in 1891.

    Today’s Doodle by illustrator Shreya Gupta shows the courageous doctor among her patients, doing the dedicated work of a skilled physician.

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    Nov 23, 2017

    José Clemente Orozco’s 134th Birthday





    Celebrated Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco was born in Ciudad Guzmán in central Mexico 134 years ago today.

    After his family moved to Mexico City, the young Orozco would often cross paths with satirical caricaturist José Guadalupe Posada on his way to school. These meetings awakened in the young boy a keen political consciousness and a deep love for art, a powerful medium in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. Orozco would later document the social and political change of the era as one of Los Tres Grandes [The Three Greats] of Mexican mural art.

    His sprawling, emotive frescos were initially often commissioned by the government. Dissatisfied with the condition of ordinary Mexicans however, he started to contradict his own sponsors - sometimes subtly [Maternidad [Maternity], 1924] and sometimes visibly [La Trinchera [The Trench], 1926]. This paradoxical relationship caused him to leave the country for seven long years, living in the US and earning international renown for works such as Prometeo [Prometheus] [1930] and The Epic of American Civilization [1934]. When he returned to Mexico, Orozco began work on the frescos of Hospicio Cabañas, murals sketching the span of Mexican history from indigenous civilizations to the Revolution.

    Today’s Doodle—by Mexico City-based artist Santiago Solis—depicts Orozco in front of the jaguar featured in Las Riquezas Nacionales [The National Riches], his mural at La Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación in downtown Mexico City.

    Feliz cumpleaños, Señor Orozco!
    Last edited by 9A; 05-26-2022 at 06:45 AM.

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    November 23, 2010

    134th Birthday of Manuel de Falla





    Manuel de Falla y Matheu was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century. He has a claim to being Spain's greatest composer of the 20th century, although the number of pieces he composed was relatively modest.

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    October 25, 2021

    Claude Cahun's 127th Birthday





    Today’s Doodle celebrates the 127th birthday of French author and surrealist photographer Claude Cahun—best-known for their purposefully unsettling yet playful self-portrait photography that challenged the gender and sexuality norms of the early 20th century.

    Claude Cahun was born on this day in 1894 in Nantes, France, into a Jewish family. As the grandchild of the influential French artist David Leon Cahun and a child of a newspaper owner, Cahun came of age surrounded by creativity. At 14, they met Marcel Moore, their lifelong partner and artistic collaborator. After moving to Paris to study literature in 1919, Cahun shaved their head and adopted their famed gender-neutral name in revolt against societal convention.

    Despite gender non-conformity being widely considered taboo in 1920s Paris, Cahun’s decision to publicly identify as non-binary met with controversy, but they explicitly rejected the public fuss. Cahun explored gender-fluidity through literature and melancholic self-portraiture such as the 1927 series “I am in training, don’t kiss me.” This work depicted the artist costumed as a feminized weightlifter, blurring the line between masculine and feminine stereotypes. In addition to their lifelong artistic work, Cahun worked with others to resist fascist occupation. The French government awarded their efforts with the Medal of French Gratitude in 1951.

    In 2018, the Paris City Council named a street in honor of Cahun and Moore in the French capital’s sixth district, where the duo once lived. In addition to increasing focus on their pioneering work in the Surrealist movement and breaking down gender barriers in the photographic arts, Cahun’s work has influenced gender bending celebrities, the modern LGBTQ+ community, and conversations on identity and expression to this day.

    Happy birthday, Claude Cahun!

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    October 25, 2002

    Pablo Picasso's 121st Birthday




    Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon [1907], and Guernica [1937], a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War.

    Picasso's influence was and remains immense and widely acknowledged by his admirers and detractors alike. On the occasion of his 1939 retrospective at MoMA, Life magazine wrote: "During the 25 years he has dominated modern European art, his enemies say he has been a corrupting influence. With equal violence, his friends say he is the greatest artist alive." Picasso was the first artist to receive a special honour exhibition at the Grand Gallery of the Louvre Museum in Paris in celebration of his 90 years. In 1998, Robert Hughes wrote of him: "To say that Pablo Picasso dominated Western art in the 20th century is, by now, the merest commonplace. ... No painter or sculptor, not even Michelangelo, had been as famous as this in his own lifetime. ... Though Marcel Duchamp, that cunning old fox of conceptual irony, has certainly had more influence on nominally vanguard art over the past 30 years than Picasso, the Spaniard was the last great beneficiary of the belief that the language of painting and sculpture really mattered to people other than their devotees."

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    October 25, 2019

    Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti’s 119th Birthday





    “As for the charges against me, I am unconcerned,” said Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, the Nigerian educator and activist who fearlessly campaigned for women’s rights and the liberation of Africa from colonial rule. Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Nigerian-Italian guest artist Diana Ejaita, celebrates a formidable leader who founded what many refer to as one of the most important social movements of the twentieth century.​

    Born on this day in 1900 in Abeokuta, the current capital of Nigeria’s Ogun state, the former Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas grew up witnessing Great Britain consolidating control over Nigeria. As the grandchild of a slave, she became one of the first girls to enroll in Abeokuta Grammar School, before traveling to Cheshire in England to continue her education. By the time she returned home, she’d dropped her birth names and preferred to speak Yoruba.

    In 1932, Ransome-Kuti established the Abeokuta Ladies Club [ALC], fostering unity between educated women and poor market workers and setting up the first adult education programs for Nigerian women. Renamed the Abeokuta Women’s Union in 1946, the organization boasted a membership of some 20,000 and pushed for healthcare, social services, and economic opportunity. Imprisoned in 1947 for protesting against unfair treatment towards women, Ransome-Kuti and her followers also led the charge to abdicate a corrupt local leader.

    A trailblazer in many ways, Ransome-Kuti was also the first Nigerian woman to drive a car. She was also the only woman in Nigeria’s 1947 delegation to London, which lodged a protest and set the nation on the path toward self-government. As one of the few women elected to Nigeria’s house of chiefs, she was recognized for her advocacy work on behalf of women's rights and education, and revered as the “Lioness of Lisabi” and the “Mother of Africa.”

    Her daughter—Dolupo—and three sons—Beko, Olikoye, and Fela—likewise became leaders in education, healthcare, and music, continuing their mother’s legacy of activism and advocacy.

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    December 6, 2018

    Zeki Müren’s 87th Birthday




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

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

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

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

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

    Doğum günün kutlu olsun, Zeki Müren!

    Previous concepts of the Doodle below
    Last edited by 9A; 05-27-2022 at 07:04 AM.

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    December 6, 2018

    Tareque Masud’s 62nd Birthday





    The first Bangladeshi director to participate in the Oscars or to be honored at Cannes, Tareque Masud was a driving force within his country’s independent film movement. He and his wife Catherine, would visit remote villages all over Bangladesh showing films with a mobile projector, earning the nickname “Cinema Feriwalla” [Vendor of Movies].

    Born in the village of Nurpur on this day in 1956, Masud was educated in a Bangladeshi madrassa, or Muslim school. Following Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, he became part of the film society movement and earned a master’s degree in history from the University of Dhaka. His first films were documentaries that told the story of his homeland, starting with 1989’s Adam Surat [Inner Strength] about the Bangladeshi painter Sheikh Mohammed Sultan. His classic 1995 feature-length documentary Muktir Gaan [Song of Freedom] about the independence movement in Bangladesh attracted huge audiences.

    Masud’s upbringing in East Pakistan inspired his first feature, The Clay Bird. The Masuds invested all their savings into completing the film, which went on to win an International Critics’ award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

    A founding member of the Short Film Forum, an important platform for independent film, Masud also organized Bangladesh's first International Short and Documentary Film Festival, which continues to this day. To further honor his legacy, the Tareq Masud Memorial Trust launched the Tareque Masud Short Film Competition, encouraging a new generation of Bengali filmmakers to follow in his footsteps.

    Happy Birthday, Tareque Masud!

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    December 6, 2021

    Celebrating Pizza



    Today’s interactive Doodle celebrates one of the world’s most popular dishes—pizza! On this day in 2017, the culinary art of Neapolitan “Pizzaiuolo” was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

    This pizza puzzle game features a few of the most beloved pizza toppings from all over the world and challenges you to slice based on the type of pizza ordered. But keep a close eye on the requested toppings and number of slices—the more accurate the order, the more stars you earn!

    Although flatbread with toppings has been consumed for centuries in ancient civilizations from Egypt to Rome, the southwestern Italian city of Naples is widely credited as the birthplace of the pizza known today [dough layered with tomatoes and cheese] in the late 1700s. It's here that the story of pizza begins: one that is baked together with centuries of global migration, economic development, and technological evolution.

    Today, an estimated five billion pizzas [350 slices per second in the U.S. alone] are consumed internationally each year. No matter how you slice it, pizza is here to stay!
    Last edited by 9A; 05-27-2022 at 07:40 AM.

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    May 31, 2021

    Memorial Day 2021 [United States]




    On Monday, Google took a more somber approach to mark Memorial Day, publishing a gray Doodle to remember the brave men and women who died while serving in the US armed forces. To honor the soldiers' sacrifices, people visit national cemeteries and memorials, decorating graves with an American flag.May 25, 2020

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    May 31, 2021

    Akira Ifukube's 107th Birthday






    Today’s Doodle celebrates the 107th birthday of Japanese composer Akira Ifukube—a prodigious talent in classical music and cinematic film scores widely known for his work on the original soundtrack for the “Godzilla” movies of the 1950s.

    Akira Ifukube was born on this day in 1914 in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan, into a distinguished family lineage that traces its origins back to at least the 7th-century. A passionate listener of European musical scores as a teenager, he aspired to intertwine his deep-rooted national identity into original compositions, an idea further solidified after listening to Russian composer Stravinsky’s 1913 emotive orchestral piece “The Rite of Spring” at 14 years old.

    In 1935, Akira left home to study forestry at Hokkaido University, where he wrote ”Japanese Rhapsody,” his first original orchestral number. Following a brief stint as a forestry officer and lumber processor, he chose to pursue music composition full time. In 1947, he released the first of his more than 250 film scores that he produced over the next half-century. The height of his film score career came in 1954 when he wrote the soundtrack for “Godzilla,” whose signature roar he created by taking a resin-covered leather glove and dragging it against the loose string of a double bass.

    Outside of his lifelong work as a composer, Akira served as president of the Tokyo College of Music starting in 1976 and published a 1,000-page book on theory entitled “Orchestration.” The Japanese government honored his lifetime achievements with both the Order of Culture and the Order of the Sacred Treasure.

    Happy birthday, Akira Ifukube!

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    February 15, 2020

    Nise da Silveira's 115th Birthday





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


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

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

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

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

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    February 15, 2011

    Ernest Shackleton's Birthday





    Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

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    Jun 2, 2021

    Celebrating Frank Kameny




    In celebration of Pride Month, today’s Doodle honors American astronomer, veteran, and gay rights activist Dr. Frank Kameny, widely hailed as one of the most prominent figures of the U.S. LGBTQ rights movement.

    Franklin Edward Kameny was born in Queens, New York, on May 21, 1925. Gifted from a young age, Kameny enrolled at Queens College to study physics at just 15 years old. He saw combat during World War II and upon his return to the U.S. obtained a doctorate in astronomy at Harvard University. In 1957, Kameny accepted a job as an astronomer with the Army Map Service, but he was fired just months later based on an executive order effectively barring members of the LGBTQ community from federal employment.

    In response to his termination, Kameny sued the federal government and in 1961 filed the first gay rights appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Denied but undeterred, Kameny embarked upon a lifelong fight for equal rights. Years before the Stonewall Riots, he organized one of the country’s first gay rights advocacy groups. In the early ‘70s, he also successfully challenged the American Psychiatric Association’s classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, and in 1975, the Civil Service Commission finally reversed its ban on LGBTQ employees.

    In 2009, over 50 years after his dismissal, Kameny received a formal apology from the U.S. government. In June 2010, Washington D.C. named a stretch of 17th Street NW near Dupont Circle “Frank Kameny Way” in his honor.

    Thank you, Frank Kameny, for courageously paving the way for decades of progress!

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    June 2, 2018

    Heinz Sielmann’s 101st Birthday





    Today’s Doodle celebrates the renowned biologist and documentary filmmaker, Heinz Sielmann. Sielmann is also often recognized as ‘Mr. Woodpecker’, a nickname earned after the release of one of his most beloved wildlife documentaries showing the mysterious lives of Woodpeckers—filmed at times from within the bird’s nest.

    Heinz Sielmann was born in Germany, in 1917, and moved to East Prussia at a young age where his father opened a business of electrical and building materials. Even in his early childhood, Sielmann had a fascination with the natural world; often waking up early to observe birds before school. At the age of 17, after being given his first camera, he traded in his sketches for photographs of his natural surroundings.

    One of Sielmann’s most notable achievements was his development of Carpenters of the Forest which featured the elusive Woodpecker in a degree of depth that had not been seen before. Sielmann placed cameras inside of the woodpecker’s nests and in doing so captured intimate moments between parent and offspring. The film was an enormous success globally and was followed by a book about it’s making. In it Sielmann wrote, “of all the animals that I have worked with, the woodpeckers are my favourites... because I was able to find out many new facts about the biology of these birds.”

    In the late 1950’s, Heinz Sielmann released his first feature film, Les Seigneurs de la Forêt [Lords of the Forest], which was commissioned by the King of Belgium and filmed in what was at the time the Belgian Congo. In addition to the wildlife and breathtaking landscapes, Sielmann was of the first to capture the familial and social nature of Gorillas. This film won first place at the Moscow Film Festival and quickly became one of his most revered films—even being translated into 26 languages. Over the following decades, Sielmann continued to make documentary films and series. In 1971 he photographed for the Academy Award winning film The Hellstrom Chronicle, along with Walon Green, about the threat that insects collectively pose to humans and the struggle between the two.

    Today’s Doodle depicts Heinz Sielmann as he appeared in his popular TV show Expeditionen ins Tierreich, documenting the forest wildlife that surrounds him.

    Doodle illustrated by Dieter Braun.

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    June 2, 2015

    Tapio Wirkkala’s 100th Birthday




    What do Finnish banknotes and vodka bottles have in common? Both can be traced back to a common Finnish designer: Tapio Wirkkala.

    Born in Hanko, Finland, on this day in 1915, Wirkkala is one of Finland’s most versatile and perhaps most internationally famous designers. Known as one of the pioneers of industrial Finnish art, Wirkkala had enormous artistic range, studying sculpture and graphic design and making furniture, vases, glassware and jewelry. Outside of the artist’s studio, his work can be found on a number of everyday items, including utensils, stamps, and even ketchup bottles.

    To honor Wirkkala’s 100th birthday, today’s Doodle reflects his famous design work in glassware and vases.

    Illustrated by guest artist, Alyssa Winans.

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