Google doodles

[9A]

Mar 18, 2014
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's 170th Birthday [born 1844]





Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov ; was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy-tale and folk subjects.

[9A]

March 12, 2017
Holi Festival 2017 [Nepal]


[Animated]


Today, the Google letters are taking on a fresh set of colors in honor of the Holi festival. Coinciding with the arrival of spring, the vibrant celebration looks a lot like the Doodle: people run around happily covering each other in a rainbow of powdery hues.

Amid the cloud of red, blue, yellow, green, and everything in between, festival-goers can often be found laughing, singing, and dancing in the streets. The joyous event, which takes place in Nepal and other countries around the world, traditionally marks the triumph of good over evil. It also gives family and friends a chance to simply come together, enjoying a spirited “Festival of Colors” that undoubtedly lives up to its name.

[9A]

Mar 16, 2017
Maria Carlota Costallat de Macedo Soares' 107th Birthday




Maria Carlota Costallat de Macedo Soares, known as Lotta, was born on this date in Paris in 1910. A talented designer, Soares had a gift for creating structures and landscapes that reflect and reimagine their surroundings. Samambaia, the house Soares shared with poet Elizabeth Bishop in Petrópolis, Brazil, looked as if it had the wings of a butterfly and might take flight at any moment. The writer's studio Soares built for Bishop featured a breathtaking view of the mountains that often distracted the poet from her writing.


Soares's most famous project was Flamengo Park in Rio de Janeiro, depicted in today's Doodle. She conceived and built this magnificent city park that has been incorporated into marathons and cycling races, including several 2016 Olympic events. Flamengo Park continues to be a prime destination for tourists and locals alike, and is a shining example of Soares's vision and passion.

[9A]

Happy April 1 Y'All -- 9A

[9A]

March 30, 2021
Children's Day 2021 [[March 30)

[9A]

Mar 27, 2021
Celebrating Tawhida Ben Cheikh



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

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

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

[9A]

Mar 22, 2021
Elena Lacková's 100th Birthday


Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Czech guest artist Filip Posivac, celebrates the centennial birthday of Slovakian-Romani writer and dramatist Elena Lacková, who is widely considered the first author in post-war Czechoslovakia to tell the story of the Romani people and the persecution they faced throughout World War II.

Born on this day in 1921 in Veľký Šariš, Czechoslovakia [[modern-day Slovakia), Elena Lacková was raised in a settlement of Romani people—a historically oppressed European ethnic group of Indian origin. Although she was unable to pursue higher education due to anti-Romani laws, Lacková became a talented writer of her own accord, penning poems by moonlight as the only girl out of the 600 children in her settlement with the ability to read.

In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and persecuted its Romani settlements as part of the regime’s Roma Holocaust. Lacková survived these atrocities and became determined to reinvigorate Roma pride through theatre. Her first published work of literature—a play entitled “Horiaci cigánsky tabor” [[“The Gypsy Camp Is Burning,” 1947)—depicted the collective hardships of the Romani people during the Holocaust, while providing a new perspective into their culture.

Lacková’s work continually uplifted the Romani community through literary mediums such as short stories, fairy tales, and radio plays. In 1970, she achieved yet another milestone as the first Romani woman in Czechoslovakia to graduate from university. A pioneer who received countless accolades, Lacková became the first Romani woman to receive one of Slovakia’s highest honors, the Order of Ľudovít Štúr III, awarded in 2001.

[9A]

Mar 20, 2021
Fall 2021 [Southern Hemisphere]

[9A]

Mar 20, 2021
Spring 2021 [Northern Hemisphere]



[We need to remind "Mother Nature." It was 25°f [ -3.89°c] in SE Michgan USA]

[9A]

Mar 20, 2021
David Warren's 96th Birthday





Today’s Doodle honors Australian research scientist Dr. David Warren, the inventor of the flight data and voice recording technology commonly known as “the black box”: a virtually indestructible device that has helped save the lives of countless travelers around the globe.

Born on this day on remote Groote Eylandt off the northern coast of Australia, David Warren went on to receive his doctorate in fuels and energy research from London’s Imperial College. After returning to Australia, he embarked on a 31-year career with the Commonwealth’s Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne.

In 1953, the ARL was tasked with investigating a mysterious crash of the world’s first jet-powered commercial aircraft. Confronted with the difficult task of reconstructing what went wrong, Dr. Warren had an ingenious idea. He envisioned a voice recording device that could capture cockpit conversations in real-time, providing critical insight into what happened before a crash to help prevent the same problems in the future. Facing initial skepticism, Dr. Warren developed an experimental prototype on his own, creating the world’s first “black box” [[though his model was actually painted red). The rudimentary device became the first with the capability to store audio in combination with flight instrument data, a monumental breakthrough in aviation technology.

Today, a modern equivalent of Dr. Warren’s invention is mandatory in cockpits worldwide, playing an integral role in the constant improvement of aviaton safety standards.

[9A]

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.

[9A]

Mar 17, 2021
Celebrating Charoen Krung Road





Today’s Doodle celebrates Charoen Krung Road, the very first paved road in Bangkok, which officially opened to travel on this day in 1864. Built alongside the banks of the Chao Phraya River, a tributary that flows through the heart of the city’s urban center, this historic thoroughfare paved the way for the modernization of the Thai capital, all while retaining the charm of its long and winding cultural history.

In the 1860s, the Bangkok economy relied mostly on its network of canals for trade. But as the Thai capital became home to foreign traders and their horse-drawn buggies, the city sought to revamp its water-based infrastructure to land transportation in order to meet the demands of international commerce. The local government answered with the 1862 construction of Charoen Krung, which loosely translates to “Prosperous City” but is also often referred to as the “New Road.”

Today, Charoen Krung serves as an asphalt artery that connects a melting pot of old and new in areas like Bangkok’s first “Creative District.” This riverside neighborhood features some of the capital’s most iconic landmarks such as the Old Customs House, where 19th century foreign traders paid taxes before entering and exiting the country, alongside an eclectic mix of everything from French bistros to international street murals. This intersection of modernity and history emphasizes how Charoen Krung has always been a progressive cultural center of Thailand; one that continues to clear the path for the ingenuity of the days to come.

Here’s to Bangkok’s oldest New Road!

[9A]

Mar 16, 2021
Sidonie Werner's 161st Birthday









Happy 161st birthday to German-Jewish educator, feminist, and activist Sidonie Werner. Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Berlin-based guest artist Lihie Jacob, honors her life and legacy as a champion for women's rights and youth social programs.

Sidonie Werner was born in Poznań, Poland, on this day in 1860. After completing a women’s teacher seminar and attending lessons at a Jewish elementary school, she entered the Hamburg school system, where she remained a teacher until she retired.

In 1893, Werner’s public work as a gender rights activist began in earnest when she co-founded the Israelite-Humanitarian Women’s Association [IHWA]. She also co-founded the Jewish Women’s Association in 1904, an organization she later led as chairwoman. In 1908, she became the leader of the IHWA, where she successfully instituted programs for women and children, such as providing professional training for women to make a living outside of domestic work.

Throughout the early 1910s, Werner strengthened her efforts by serving leadership roles in a number of other organizations including the City Federation of Hamburg Women's Association, the Central Welfare Office of German Jews, and the Hamburg Jewish School Association, where she served as the only woman on the board. In 1929, Werner assembled the World Conference of Jewish Women in Hamburg, which united 200 representatives from 14 countries and increased international solidarity among Jewish women.

[9A]

Mar 10, 2021
Prof. Udupi Ramachandra Rao's 89th Birthday






Today’s Doodle celebrates the 89th birthday of renowned Indian professor and scientist Udupi Ramachandra Rao, remembered by many as “India’s Satellite Man.”

Born in a remote village of Karnataka on this day in 1932, Prof. Rao began his career as a cosmic-ray physicist and protégé of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, a scientist widely regarded as the father of India’s space program. After completing his doctorate, Prof. Rao brought his talents to the U.S., where he worked as a professor and conducted experiments on NASA’s Pioneer and Explorer space probes.

On his return to India in 1966, Prof. Rao initiated an extensive high energy astronomy program at the Physical Research Laboratory, India’s premier institution for space sciences, before spearheading his country’s satellite program in 1972. Motivated by the practical applications of aerospace technology to solve societal problems such as poverty and food shortages, Prof. Rao supervised the 1975 launch of India’s first satellite—“Aryabhata”—one of over 20 satellites he developed that transformed much of rural India by advancing communication and meteorological services.

From 1984 to 1994, Prof. Rao continued to propel his nation’s space program to stratospheric heights as chairman of India’s Space Research Organization. Here, he developed rocket technology such as the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle [[PSLV), which has launched over 250 satellites. Prof. Rao became the first Indian inducted into the Satellite Hall of Fame in 2013, the same year that PSLV launched India’s first interplanetary mission—“Mangalyaan”—a satellite that orbits Mars today.

[9A]

Mar 10, 2021
Dr. Wu Lien-teh's 142nd Birthday






Today’s Doodle celebrates the 142nd birthday of Chinese-Malaysian epidemiologist Dr. Wu Lien-teh, who invented a surgical face covering that is widely considered the precursor to the N95 mask.

Born into a family of Chinese immigrants in Penang, Malaya [[modern-day Malaysia) on this day in 1879, Wu went on to become the first student of Chinese descent to earn his MD from Cambridge University. Following his doctoral studies, he accepted a position as the vice director for China's Imperial Army Medical College in 1908. When an unknown epidemic afflicted north-eastern China in 1910, the Chinese government appointed Wu to investigate the disease, which he identified as the highly contagious pneumonic plague that spread from human to human through respiratory transmission.

To combat the disease, Wu designed and produced a special surgical mask with cotton and gauze, adding several layers of cloth to filter inhalations. He advised people to wear his newly invented mask and worked with government officials to establish quarantine stations and hospitals, restrict travel, and apply progressive sterilization techniques; his leadership contributed greatly to the end of the pandemic [known as the Manchurian plague] by April 1911—within four months of being tasked with controlling its spread.

In 1915, Wu founded the Chinese Medical Association, the country’s largest and oldest non-governmental medical organization. In 1935, he was the first Malaysian—and the first person of Chinese descent–nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work to control the pneumonic plague. A devoted advocate and practitioner of medical advancement, Wu’s efforts not only changed public health in China but that of the entire world.

[9A]

Mar 4, 2021
Rosa Sevilla de Alvero's 142nd Birthday







Today’s Doodle celebrates the 142nd birthday of journalist, educator, and activist Rosa Sevilla de Alvero, who is widely considered one of the most influential suffragists in Filipino history.Rosa Sevilla was born on this day in 1879 in Manila, the Philippines capital. As a child, she was sent to live with her aunt, an educator who hosted Filipino patriots and intellectuals at her home. Sevilla often eavesdropped on their conversations about battling educational colonialism—revolutionary discussions that helped mold her beliefs. At just 21, Alvero founded the Instituto de Mujeres [“Women’s Institute”] of Manila, one of the first schools for women in Filipino history.

The institute became a hotbed for progress under Sevilla’s leadership—educating women on topics such as suffrage, vocation and Tagalog. She also collaborated with notable Filipino Tagalog poets to present the first balagtasan [a debate held in poetic verse], which sparked a movement for Tagalog to become the national language. With her institution in good hands, Sevilla left Manila in 1916 to rally women across the country in her fight for suffrage, later founding the Liga Nacional de Damas Filipinas [“National League of Filipino Women”] to support her cause.

Thanks in part to Sevilla’s tremendous call to action, voting rights were granted to Filipino women in 1937. Today, Sevilla’s Instituto de Mujeres lives on in her legacy as the Rosa Sevilla Memorial School.

[9A]

Mar 2, 2021
Wangdee Nima [[Wang Tae)'s 96th Birthday






Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and legacy of Thai musician Wangdee Nima, a performer affectionately known by his stage name Wang Tae.

Born on this day in central Thailand in 1925, Wang Tae inherited a love for music from his parents, both of whom were performers of traditional Thai folk genres. As a child, he became a specialist in Lam Tad, a style of music that originated in his home region. This popular folk genre brings groups of men and women together to alternate singing improvised humorous lyrics to elicit laughs from the audience, all set against the background of instruments like the Klong Ramana, a traditional Thai hand drum.

Wang Tae soon established his own troupe, eponymously named “Lam Tad Wang Te,” which earned him national recognition and widespread appeal. Renowned for his clever lyrics with his cunning use of double entendres, Wang Tae was a true master of the Thai language whose witty performances brought smiles to the faces of audiences across Thailand for close to forty years.

In 1988, Wang Tae was named a National Artist of Thailand, an annual prize awarded by the National Culture Commission of Thailand to the country’s most prestigious performing artists.

[9A]

Feb 28, 2021
Kuzgun Acar's 93rd Birthday





One man’s trash is another man’s treasure! Today’s Doodle celebrates the 93rd birthday of an artist whose work reflects this expression: Turkish sculptor Kuzgun Acar. For his experimentation in welding materials like wire, nails, and scrap metal together to form abstract works, Acar is widely considered a pioneer of modern sculpture in Turkey.

Born in Istanbul on this day in 1928, Kuzgun Acar opened a shoelace factory with his father after high school, but it wasn’t until he enrolled in the sculptor department of the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts that he found his true calling. There, he attended ship-dismantling workshops, where experts taught him how to weld scavenged materials into works of art. Influenced by contemporary Turkish masters Zühtü Müridoğlu and Hadi Bara, Acar developed the talent that became his life’s passion: abstract sculpture.

In 1961, a sculpture made of rusty nails won Acar first prize at a Paris exhibition, along with a scholarship that sponsored a year of study in France. While there, he continued to perfect his artistic craft, and he even organized a solo exhibition at Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris [Paris Museum of Modern Art] in 1962. Upon Acar’s return to Istanbul, he produced some of his most significant works including “Turkey”—a massive bronze relief displayed on an Ankara skyscraper—and his timeless metal sculpture, “Birds - Abstract Composition.” As one of his final works, Acar transformed twisted steel and rubber into 140 metal masks for “The Caucasian Chalk Office,” a German theatre play staged in Paris.

[9A]

Feb 18, 2021
Celebrating Yee Sang







Lou Hei! Today’s Doodle celebrates Yee Sang, a Malaysian raw fish salad traditionally enjoyed on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. With chopsticks in hand, families toss the ingredients that make up Yee Sang high above the table while they exclaim “Lou Hei” and wish each other good fortune for the year to come—the higher the toss, the better the fortune!

This ritual traces its origins to the Chinese creation myth of goddess Nu Wa, who is said to have created humanity on the seventh day of the new year. Chinese fishers and sailors commemorated this symbolic day of rebirth by combining the leftovers of the new year’s celebrations to make yu sheng—a salad as thrifty as it was tasty.

By the 1930s, Chinese immigrants brought the Yu Sheng tradition to Malaya, selling fish salad with ginger and lettuce out of hawker carts. But it wasn’t until the 1940s, when Seremban chef Loke Ching Fatta added a twist, that the recipe was adapted to the Yee Sang known today. Fatta combined some 30 ingredients together with his signature sauce to invent the dish now loved by many during the Lunar New Year.

One of the most common combinations of Yee Sang include raw fish, ginger, shredded carrot, radish, pomelo, leek, topped with condiments like crushed peanuts, all mixed thoroughly with several different oils and spices. But there is no wrong way to make Yee Sang, as the dish has infinite variations.

[9A]

Feb 17, 2021






Today’s Doodle celebrates the 125th birthday of Dr. Marie Thomas, one of the first female doctors in Indonesia. Born on this day in 1896 in the Indonesian village of Likupang, Marie Thomas made history as the nation’s first female specialist in gynecology and obstetrics.

Marie Thomas frequently moved around Indonesia throughout childhood before graduating from a European school based in Manado. It was then that Charlotte Jacobs, one of the Netherlands’ first female pharmacists, supported her with a scholarship fund for aspiring Indonesian female physicians. In 1912, Thomas was accepted into STOVIA [School for Education of Native Doctors], which prior to her enrollment, was an institution exclusive to men.

Ten years later, Marie Thomas earned her doctorate, an achievement with such an international impact that even a Dutch newspaper announced her graduation. Not missing a beat, she promptly went to work at one of the largest hospitals in Batavia [modern-day Jakarta]. Thomas later moved to Padang, where she continued her trailblazing career as one of the first doctors to introduce new methods of contraception, such as the IUD, to women across the archipelago.

Renowned for her generosity, Thomas often treated those unable to afford her care at no cost. She further exhibited her passion for patient care by establishing the first Sumatran school for midwifery; only the second of its kind in Indonesia at the time.

[9A]

Feb 12, 2021
Lunar New Year 2021 [Vietnam]




Today’s Doodle celebrates the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar—officially starting the Year of the Ox! Vietnamese New Year, Tết Nguyên Đán [Tết for short], marks a time to honor ancestors and look forward to prosperity in the year ahead.


This Lunar New Year marks the official transition out of the Year of the Rat–believed to be one of constant change–and into the Year of the Ox, which is traditionally associated with things moving at a more slow and steady pace. The ox is the second animal of the Vietnamese zodiac and symbolizes hard work, positivity, and fertile harvest.


Throughout Vietnam and around the world, the lunar new year is warmly welcomed with traditional foods such as bánh chưng, bánh tét, and mứt [candied fruits]. Alongside special meals, many Vietnamese decorate the outside of their homes as a way to welcome the new year, like buying a cây đào [cherry blossom tree], cây mai [apricot blossom tree], or cây quất [kumquat tree] to symbolize the hope of fertility and fruitfulness in the coming year.

[9A]

Feb 11, 2021
Fredy Hirsch's 105th Birthday






Today’s Doodle celebrates the 105th birthday of German-Jewish educator and athlete Fredy Hirsch. Known for his charismatic spirit and commitment in supporting children, Hirsch helped save Jewish youth during World War II and enriched their lives with the arts.

Alfred “Fredy” Hirsch was born on this day in 1916 in Aachen, Germany, where he started his career as a teacher at several Jewish youth organizations and sports associations. He was openly gay at a time when queer people were being prosecuted by the growing Nazi party. In an effort to escape, Hirsch sought refuge in Czechoslovakia, until the Nazi regime invaded the country and deported him to the Terezin Ghetto and later Auschwitz in 1943.

Against all odds, Hirsch c ontinued teaching at Auschwitz and set up a children’s daycare. He did everything in his power to give hope to the youth in his block—organizing concerts, encouraging children to paint scenes from fairy tales, and even salvaging tin cans to help children create sculptures. Many of the children that Hirsch taught credit him for sparking their creative pursuits, like Zuzana Růžičková who survived Auschwitz and later became one of the world’s greatest harpsichordists.

On February 11, 2016, in commemoration of Hirsch’s 100th birthday, the high school he attended in Aachen renamed its gymnasium and cafeteria in his honor. Today, these buildings stand as testaments to his unbreakable spirit and carry forward his legacy of improving the lives of young people.

Happy birthday, Fredy Hirsch. Here’s to an indomitable hero who reminds the world to push forth with courage and optimism, even during the most trying of times.

[9A]

Feb 6, 2021
Celebrating the Vernadsky Research Base






What do magnetometers, snowmobiles, and penguins all have in common? Each can be found in full-swing at the Ukrainian Akademik Vernadsky Research Base, an Antarctic scientific center widely acclaimed for its climate change research studies. Today’s Doodle celebrates this historic station, which officially transferred from British to Ukrainian control on this day in 1996.

Located on the tiny island of Galindez in the Antarctic Circle, the Vernadsky station is the direct successor to the British Faraday base, which was first established as a meteorological observatory in 1947. Today, the Vernadsky station is operated by a rotating staff of a dozen winterers. For about ten months at a time, each winterer endures extreme isolation [there isn’t a town within 1,000 nautical miles!] and sub-zero temperatures, all in the name of scientific progress. When they aren’t busy preparing for expeditions into the Antarctic wilderness, the base’s personnel work year-round to maintain the station and conduct research on everything from penguin populations to the atmospheric effects of ultraviolet radiation.

Cheers to everyone who keeps their cool at the Vernadsky base, thank you for helping to provide a better understanding of our changing planet!

[9A]

Jan 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!

[9A]

Jan 14, 2021
Justicia Espada Acuña's 128th Birthday





Today’s Doodle celebrates Chilean engineer Justicia Espada Acuña, one of the first female engineers in Chile and South America. A symbol of women’s progress in Latin America, Acuña forged a path for generations of women to pursue careers in engineering.

Justicia Espada Acuña Mena was born in the Chilean capital of Santiago on this day in 1893. Her father was a civil builder who encouraged Acuña and her seven siblings to follow their dreams and challenge unjust societal norms. After high school, she studied mathematics, but she soon took an interest in engineering instead. In 1912, she became the first woman to join the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Chile, and she made history when she graduated with a degree in civil engineering seven years later.

The next year, Acuña began her trailblazing career as a calculator for the State Railways’ Department of Roads and Works [Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado]. Excluding a break to raise her seven children, she worked for the company until her retirement in 1954.

To honor her legacy, the College of Engineers of Chile inducted Acuña into its Gallery of Illustrious Engineers in 1981, and around a decade later the Institute of Engineers created an award in her name for outstanding female engineers. In addition, in 2018 the Faculty of Physical Science and Mathematics of the University of Chile renamed its central tower after Acuña to memorialize the faculty’s first female student.

[9A]

Jan 6, 2021
Juliano Moreira's 149th Birthday





Today’s Doodle celebrates the Brazilian psychiatrist, scientist, professor, and social reformer Juliano Moreira. Throughout his early 20th-century career, Moreira revolutionized the treatment of people with mental illnesses in Brazil and fought tirelessly to combat scientific racism and the false linkage of mental illness to skin color.

Juliano Moreira was born on this day in 1872 in Salvador, Brazil to a mother who was a slave at an aristocratic residence. Based on his exceptional intelligence, Moreira was allowed to matriculate at the Bahia School of Medicine at just 13 years old. He earned his medical degree while he was still a teenager, and in 1896 the University of Bahia appointed him as a professor of psychiatry.

Moreira turned his attention to the treatment of mental illness, and he traveled the world to study other countries’ approaches. He gained the opportunity to apply his newfound knowledge in 1903 when he was appointed to run a national hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for patients with mental illnesses. Over nearly three decades in the position, he implemented sweeping reforms to provide a more humanistic and scientific approach to patient care. He also co-authored a 1903 law that compelled the humane treatment of people with mental illnesses in the country.

To honor Moreira’s legacy, a hospital in his hometown of Salvador was renamed the Juliano Moreira Hospital in the mid-’30s.

[9A]

Dec 7, 2020
Kateryna Bilokur's 120th Birthday





Today’s Doodle celebrates the 120th birthday of Ukrainian painter Kateryna Bilokur, a self-taught virtuoso who earned international renown for her detailed and vivid paintings, especially those featuring her signature focus on flowers. Through a courageous devotion to her craft, Bilokur overcame great adversity to earn recognition alongside the master artists of her time.

Kateryna Bilokur was born on this day in 1900 in Bohdanivka, a village in Ukraine’s Kyiv region. She was denied a primary education and spent her days as a farm worker, but she refused to let this stand in her way. She crafted brushes out of raw materials and paints out of foods like beets and elderberries to pursue her artistic passion in her free time, with nature as her muse.

Then when she was nearly 40, her life took a fortuitous turn. Inspired by a song on the radio, Bilokur wrote a letter of admiration to the Ukrainian singer Oksana Petrusenko with an original work attached. Petrusenko was so impressed that she helped pave the way for the first exhibitions of Bilokur’s work.

Over the next two decades, her unique depictions of transcendent natural beauty reached an international audience, notably earning huge praise from the Spanish master Pablo Picasso at a 1954 exhibition in Paris.

For her lifetime achievements, Bilokur was named a People’s Artist of Ukraine, the highest arts award for Ukrainian citizens.

[9A]

Nov 22, 2018
Loy Krathong 2018





Today’s Google celebrates Loy Krathong, Thailand’s festival of lights. On the night of the full moon in the 12th lunar month of the traditional Thai calendar, Thailand celebrates the end of rain season with this ritual. The word “loy” means to float, while “krathongs” are small baskets traditionally made from banana tree wood and carefully folded banana leaves, each containing sticks of incense, candles, and an offering of a few coins for the water goddess. It’s also customary to include locks of hair and fingernail clippings to symbolize letting go of the past and any unhappy feelings.

According to legend, the festival was originated by Nang Noppamas, consort to a king. Beauty pageants in her honor remain a traditional part of Loy Krathong celebrations. Others insist that the tradition was inspired by the Khom Loy festival, a Buddhist ritual giving thanks to Ganga, the Goddess of Water. Similar full moon festivals are celebrated at this time of year throughout the region.

In the city of Sukhothai, celebrants flock to the banks of the Yom river, floating their krathongs by the ancient temple in Sukhothai Historical Park. In Bangkok it’s the Chao Phraya River, and in Tak it’s the Ping. Wherever you celebrate, Loy Krathong is a joyous occasion with beautiful lights on the water, fireworks and lanterns in the sky, and a song in the air.

[9A]

Sep 4, 2015
Joan Aiken’s 91st Birthday









Every so often an extraordinarily prolific author comes along to win the hearts of a generation. Writer Joan Aiken was one of those authors. At the age of 16, she finished her first full-length novel. She was destined for great things.

Born into a family of writers, Joan emerged with a voice all her own, publishing more than one hundred books over the course of her career. Her stunning volume of writing includes children’s books, thrillers, and literary works modeled after the fictional world created by Jane Austen. It’s hard enough to write for a single audience, but Joan was comfortable writing a range of stories that everyone could enjoy.

Today’s Doodle drawn by Kevin Laughlin pays tribute to The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, the novel that kicked off Joan’s most beloved series of children’s books. The Wolves Chronicles include a dozen books published over a 43-year span, following the adventures of several children in an alternate history of England.

[9A]

Apr 25, 2011
90th Birthday of Karel Appel





Christiaan Karel Appel was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s. He was one of the founders of the avant-garde movement CoBrA in 1948. He was also an avid sculptor and has had works featured in MoMA and other museums worldwide.

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May 2, 2011
Hurvinek's 85th Birthday



Spejbl and Hurvínek Theatre is a puppet theatre located in Prague, Czech Republic. Founded in 1930 by puppeteer Josef Skupa, Spejbl and Hurvínek was the first professional puppet theatre established in Czechoslovakia and the present-day Czech Republic.

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May 9, 2011
76th Birthday of Roger Hargreaves



Charles Roger Hargreaves was an English author and illustrator of children's books, best remembered for the Mr. Men and Little Miss series, intended for young readers. The simple and humorous stories, with brightly coloured, boldly drawn illustrations, have been part of popular culture since 1971, with sales of over 85 million copies worldwide in 20 languages.^[

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May 10, 2011
Zhang Daqian's 112th Birthday



Chang Dai-chien or Zhang Daqian was one of the best-known and most prodigious Chinese artists of the twentieth century. Originally known as a guohua [traditionalist] painter, by the 1960s he was also renowned as a modern impressionist and expressionist painter. In addition, he is regarded as one of the most gifted master forgers of the twentieth century.

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May 20, 2011
Emile Berliner's 160th Birthday






Emile Berliner, originally Emil Berliner, was a German-American inventor. He is best known for inventing the vertical-cut flat disc record [called a "gramophone record" in British and American English] used with a phonograph. He founded the United States Gramophone Company in 1894; The Gramophone Company in London, England, in 1897; Deutsche Grammophon in Hanover, Germany, in 1898; Berliner Gram-o-phone Company of Canada in Montreal in 1899 [chartered in 1904]; and Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901 with Eldridge Johnson.

[9A]

Jun 9, 2011
Les Paul's 96th Birthday






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7ba1wB_fyg [animated with audio, original game expired]

The electric guitar brings back memories for me of exchanging riffs with friends and wearing out cassette tapes as I meticulously learned songs. Today, we’re attempting to recreate that experience with a doodle celebrating the birthday of musician and inventor Les Paul.

As well as his guitar work, Les Paul experimented in his garage with innovative recording techniques like multitracking and tape delay.

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Jul 21, 2013
Children's Day 2013 [Panama]

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Jul 25, 2013
Rosalind Franklin's 93rd Birthday




Rosalind Elsie Franklin was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA [[deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA [ribonucleic acid], viruses, coal, and graphite. Although her works on coal and viruses were appreciated in her lifetime, her contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA were largely recognised posthumously.

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Aug 7, 2013
Abebe Bikila's 81st Birthday




Shambel Abebe Bikilawas an Ethiopian marathon runner who was a back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. He is the first black African Olympic gold medalist, winning his first gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he won his second gold medal. In turn, he became the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title. In both victories, he ran in world record time.

[9A]

Aug 8, 2013
Mugunghwa Day







Hibiscus syriacus is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is native to south-central and southeast China, but widely introduced elsewhere, including much of Asia. It was given the epithet syriacus because it had been collected from gardens in Syria. Common names include the Korean rose [in South Korea], rose of Sharon [especially in North America], Syrian ketmia, shrub althea, rose mallow [in the United Kingdom]. It is the national flower of South Korea and is mentioned in the South Korean national anthem.

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Aug 15, 2013
KR Liberation Day



Day of the Foundation of the Republic is the Republic Day and National day of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, held on 9 September.

The Day of the Foundation of the Republic is one of the most important holidays of the country, along with the Day of the Sun [birthday of Kim Il-sung], Day of the Shining Star [birthday of Kim Jong-il] and Party Foundation Day.

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Aug 26, 2013
Rufino Tamayo's 114th Birthday





Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo was a Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico. Tamayo was active in the mid-20th century in Mexico and New York, painting figurative abstraction with surrealist influences.

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Sep 4, 2013
Kenzo Tange's 100th Birthday




Kenzō Tangewas a Japanese architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five continents. His career spanned the entire second half of the twentieth century, producing numerous distinctive buildings in Tokyo, other Japanese cities and cities around the world, as well as ambitious physical plans for Tokyo and its environs. Tange was also an influential patron of the Metabolist movement. He said: "It was, I believe, around 1959 or at the beginning of the sixties that I began to think about what I was later to call structuralism", a reference to the architectural movement known as Dutch Structuralism.

[9A]

Sep 18, 2013
Uzeyir Hacibeyov's 128th Birthday [Azerbaijan]



Uzeyir bey Abdul Huseyn oglu Hajibeyli was an Azerbaijani composer, conductor, publicist, playwright, and social figure. He is recognized as the father of Azerbaijani composed classical music and opera. Uzeyir Hajibeyov composed the music of the national anthem of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic [which was re-adopted after Azerbaijan regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991]. He also composed the anthem used by Azerbaijan during the Soviet period. He was the first composer of an opera in the Islamic world.

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Sep 25, 2013
Maria Tănase's 100th Birthday




Maria Tănase was a Romanian singer and actress. Her music ranged from traditional Romanian music to romance, tango, chanson and operetta.

Tănase has a similar importance in Romania as Édith Piaf in France or Amália Rodrigues in Portugal. In her nearly three-decade-long career, she became widely regarded as Romania's national diva, being admired for her originality, voice, physical beauty and charisma. In Romania, she is still regarded as a major cultural icon of the 20th century. In 2006 she was included to the list of the 100 Greatest Romanians of all time by a nationwide poll.

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Oct 1, 2013
Emilio Pettoruti's 121st Birthday



Emilio Pettoruti was an Argentine painter, who caused a scandal with his avant-garde cubist exhibition in 1924 in Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was a city full of artistic development. Pettoruti's career was thriving during the 1920s when "Argentina witnessed a decade of dynamic artistic activity; it was an era of euphoria, a time when the definition of modernity was developed." While Pettoruti was influenced by Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Abstraction, he did not claim to paint in any of those styles in particular. Exhibiting all over Europe and Argentina, Emilio Pettoruti is remembered as one of the most influential artists in Argentina in the 20th century for his unique style and vision.

[9A]

Oct 12, 2013
Children's Day 2013 [Brazil]

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Oct 19, 2013
Vinicius de Moraes's 100th Birthday





Marcus Vinícius da Cruz e Mello Moraes, also known as Vinícius de Moraes and nicknamed O Poetinha ["The little poet"] was a Brazilian poet, lyricist, essayist, and playwright. Along with frequent collaborator Antônio Carlos Jobim, his lyrics and compositions were part of the birth of bossa nova music. He recorded several albums and also served as a diplomat.

[9A]

Oct 26, 2013
Austria National Day 2013

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Nov 5, 2013
Raymond Loewy's 120th Birthday



Raymond Loewy was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by Time magazine and featured on its cover on October 31, 1949.

He spent most of his professional career in the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1938. Among his designs were the Shell, Exxon, TWA and the former BP logos, the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, Coca-Cola vending machines and bottle redesign, the Lucky Strike package, Coldspot refrigerators, the Studebaker Avanti and Champion, and the Air Force One livery. He was engaged by equipment manufacturer International Harvester to overhaul its entire product line, and his team also assisted competitor Allis-Chalmers. He undertook numerous railroad designs, including the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1, S-1, and T1 locomotives, the color scheme and Eagle motif for the first streamliners of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and a number of lesser known color scheme and car interior designs for other railroads. His career spanned seven decades.

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Nov 8, 2013
Hermann Rorschach's 129th Birthday




Today we celebrate the 129th birthday of Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach who created the iconic inkblot test. Subjects are presented a pattern and asked to give their interpretation. Interpretations can aid in the examination of a person's personality and emotions.