Google doodles

[9A]

31 Jan 2014

Chinese New Year 2014




Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar.Chinese New Year is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture, and has strongly influenced Lunar New Year celebrations of its 56 ethnic groups, such as the Losar of Tibet, and of China's neighbours, including the Korean New Year, and the Tết of Vietnam, as well as in Okinawa.

[9A]

31 January 2012

Discovery of the Iguazu Falls





Iguazú Falls or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná. Together, they make up the largest waterfall system in the world.

[9A]

31 January 2013

Jackie Robinson's 94th Birthday




Jack Roosevelt Robinson [January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972] was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball [MLB] in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. When the Dodgers signed Robinson, it heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

During his 10-year MLB career, Robinson won the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949—the first black player so honored. Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers' 1955 World Series championship.

[9A]

31 January 2012

Atahualpa Yupanqui's 104th Birthday



Atahualpa Yupanqui was an Argentine singer, songwriter, guitarist, and writer. He is considered the most important Argentine folk musician of the 20th century.

[9A]

6 Feb 2012

François Truffaut's 80th Birthday


François Roland Truffaut was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more than 25 years, he remains an icon of the French film industry, having worked on over 25 films.

[9A]

22 Feb 2012
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz's 155th Birthday



Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was a German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. The unit of frequency, cycle per second, was named the "hertz" in his honor.

[9A]

29 Feb 2012

Marcela Paz's 110th Birthday



Marcela Paz was the pen name of Esther Huneeus Ramos Falla Salas de Claro, a Chilean writer. She also used the pen names of Paula de la Sierra, Lukim Retse, P. Neka and Juanita Godoy. She was a recipient of the National Prize for Literature.

[9A]

1 Mar 2012

Quinquela Martín's 122nd Birthday



Benito Quinquela Martín was an Argentine painter. Quinquela Martín is considered the port painter-par-excellence and one of the most popular Argentine painters. His paintings of port scenes show the activity, vigor and roughness of the daily life in the port of La Boca.

[9A]

1 March 2015

450th Anniversary of Rio de Janeiro




Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is a city in the Southeast Region of Brazil. Listed by the GaWC as a beta global city, the municipality of Rio de Janeiro is the second-most populous city in Brazil [after São Paulo] and the sixth-most populous in the Americas. Rio de Janeiro serves as the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state. Part of the city has been designated as a World Heritage Site, named "Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea", on 1 July 2012 as a Cultural Landscape.

[9A]

5 Mar 2015

Momofuku Ando’s 105th Birthday




If you’ve ever needed to eat something quickly and cheaply, you may be familiar with this mantra:

"Peel off the lid.

Pour boiling water into the cup.

Let sit for three minutes.

Stir well and serve.”

With these four simple steps, Taiwanese-Japanese inventor Momofuku Ando introduced to the world instant ramen, a dish that not only revolutionized food but also serves as a testament to what hard work and perseverance can achieve. Our doodle for the inventor’s 105th birthday showcases Momofuku’s efforts to make instant noodles, but don’t let the speed of the animations fool you – it took Ando years to figure out the recipe!

“It took 48 years of my life for me to come up with the idea of instant noodles. Each and every event in the past is connected to the present by invisible threads.”

– Momofuku Ando

It was Ando’s passion and dedication that Doodler Sophie Diao wanted to get across in her artwork. Ando, a lifelong entrepreneur who started his first business at age 22, found the inspiration to his greatest success while walking through the streets of post-World War II Japan: People were waiting for hours in long lines, just for a comforting bowl of ramen. Realizing hunger was the most pressing issue facing Japan, he felt a desire to help the people of his country.




“People can only be content when there is enough food.”

– Momofuku Ando


So in 1957, the inventor took on the task of developing a fast, cheap and tasty way to make Japan’s national comfort food – ramen. Ando’s long road to success inspired Diao to use multiple animations for the doodle, since one couldn't possibly do Momofuku justice. She also included the shed where Ando spent countless days and nights experimenting.






“Inspiration leads to invention. Tenacity is the breeding ground for inspiration. There can be no invention in the absence of tenacity.”

– Momofuku Ando

After months of hard work, Ando’s perseverance paid off. He eventually discovered that by flash-frying ramen noodles in tempura oil, tiny holes were created in the noodles that allowed them to cook nearly instantly once combined with hot water. It was a success, and customers were enthusiastic about the time they were saving. It was the first step to achieving Ando’s goal of ending world hunger.


“Peace will come to the world when all its people have enough to eat.”

– Momofuku Ando

Utilizing a style reminiscent of classic Japanese Anime and inspiration from the labeling on food packaging, Diao wanted to turn Ando into a mascot for his greatest invention and display ramen’s universal appeal with a fun and lighthearted spirit.





“When you cast away all your greed and fixation in adversity, you can find unexpected strength.”

– Momofuku Ando


Ando’s labor of love has had a lasting impact on people from all around the world, but he never let success stop him from working to improve instant ramen. In 1971, he introduced the world to Cup Noodles. Not stopping there, Ando then turned his focus toward inventing instant noodles that could be eaten in space. His rationale? “People have to eat no matter where they go, even outer space.” He was in his 90s when he debuted “Space Ram.”



“It is never too late to do anything in life.”

– Momofuku Ando

We hope you’ve enjoyed this tasty homage to a great inventor and humanitarian, whose creativity and devotion to ending hunger have forever changed the way we eat. As Momofuku Ando said, “Mankind is noodlekind.”

[9A]

5 March 2012

Heitor Vila Lobos' 125th Birthday



Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known South American composer of all time. A prolific composer, he wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works, totaling over 2000 works by his death in 1959. His music was influenced by both Brazilian folk music and stylistic elements from the European classical tradition, as exemplified by his Bachianas Brasileiras [Brazilian Bachian-pieces] and his Chôros. His Etudes for classical guitar [1929] were dedicated to Andrés Segovia, while his 5 Preludes [1940] were dedicated to his spouse Arminda Neves d'Almeida, a.k.a. "Mindinha". Both are important works in the classical guitar repertory.

[9A]

7 Mar 2012

Alessandro Manzoni's 227th Birthday




Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel The Betrothed [1827], generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature. The novel is also a symbol of the Italian Risorgimento, both for its patriotic message and because it was a fundamental milestone in the development of the modern, unified Italian language.

[9A]

12 Mar 2012

Chinese Arbor Day 2012

[9A]

12 March 2013

André Le Nôtre's 400th Birthday




André Le Nôtre was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed the gardens of the Palace of Versailles; his work represents the height of the French formal garden style, or jardin à la française.

[9A]

13 Mar 2012

Mohammed Abdel Wahab's 110th Birthday



Mohamed Abdel Wahab, was a prominent 20th-century Egyptian singer, actor, and composer. He is best known for his Romantic and Egyptian patriotic songs.

[9A]

16 Mar 2012

Cesar Vallejo's 120th Birthday




César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza was a Peruvian poet, writer, playwright, and journalist. Although he published only two books of poetry during his lifetime, he is considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century in any language. He was always a step ahead of literary currents, and each of his books was distinct from the others, and, in its own sense, revolutionary.

[9A]

7 Mar 2012

Mies van der Rohe's 126th Birthday




Mies van der Rohe's architecture was the backdrop of my childhood. I grew up in downtown Chicago in the 1970s and 80s, and several friends lived in apartment buildings designed by Mies. In addition, Myron Goldsmith [one of Mies' students and associates], his wife and kids, were close friends of my family. For me, Mies wasn't precious or intellectual or challenging or even "modern;" his buildings were just places where people raised kids, worked at interesting jobs, and taught. As I grew older, I wondered why he lacked the public awareness and embrace of an architect like Frank Lloyd Wright.

Now, even though I have a more sophisticated knowledge of Mies' designs, I am a fan because of what his designs engage and inspire. Moving through them takes me past industrial materials and spare forms, and yields color, a relationship with nature, and vibrant interaction in the universal spaces.

Mies built S. R. Crown Hall, featured in today's Google Doodle, as a "home for ideas and adventures." Since its completion in 1956, it has been home to IIT's College of Architecture and has inspired students, lectures, dances, art exhibitions, and more. It is a lab for creation, which is fitting because the structure itself was a lab for Mies' breakthrough in the use of glass and steel-he defied expectations and proved his genius by using steel frames to hang a ceiling, rather than using supportive columns. The result was a revolutionary clear-span structure, 120 by 220 by 18 feet high, the premiere enclosed universal space.

Since assuming my role as Director of the Mies van der Rohe Society, I am in awe of what this space provokes. In 2006, we hosted an exhibition of mid-century Marimekko textiles and products. Visitors thought the building and the fabrics were so fresh and so now, they couldn't believe it had all been designed decades earlier. Four years later, we showed the largest-ever exhibition of Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds, a light-filled room for 1,000 helium-filled reflective balloons to interact with people of all ages. And every summer we host a day for hundreds of families to sprawl on the floor and use Legos to build their own creations.

The skyscrapers, wide-open lobbies, exterior plazas, and spare-but-useful living plans that define today's major cities are possible because of Mies and his "less is more" philosophy. Come visit S. R. Crown Hall, take a tour of the campus he designed for Illinois Institute of Technology, and have your own adventure in Mies' space.

Posted by Justine Jentes, Director of the Mies van der Rohe Society

[9A]

1 Apr 2012

13th Anniversary of the 4 unit VLT telescope: Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun




The Very Large Telescope [VLT] is a telescope facility operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It consists of four individual telescopes, each with a primary mirror 8.2 m across, which are generally used separately but can be used together to achieve very high angular resolution. The four separate optical telescopes are known as Antu, Kueyen, Melipal, and Yepun, which are all words for astronomical objects in the Mapuche language. The telescopes form an array complemented by four movable Auxiliary Telescopes [ATs] of 1.8 m aperture.

[9A]

7 Sept 2016

Paralympics 2016




What started as a small gathering of British WWII veterans in 1948 has bloomed into the world’s largest sporting event for athletes with physical disabilities, drawing 4,500 athletes from 176 countries worldwide.

Today’s Doodle celebrates the opening of the 2016 Summer Paralympics and highlights the incredible feats of athleticism the participants will demonstrate in Rio. They’ll go for gold during a year of firsts: Rio, the first Latin American city to host the Paralympics, will debut canoeing and paratriathlon among the more than 500 existing events.

Tune in to cheer your favorite Paralympians on through September 18 when the Games wrap up.

[9A]

12 Sept 2016

Takizo Iwasaki’s 121st birthday




Most of us are familiar with the wax and plastic replica foods that help you decide what to order at a restaurant, but did you know that the practice dates back to the 1920s?

Takizo Iwasaki re-invented a practice that had been around for over a decade, of creating sampuru [or samples] of food served by restaurants. He started with a perfectly 'cooked' omelet made of wax. Reportedly, upon showing it to his wife, she couldn't even tell the difference between the sampuru and the real thing! The omelet was once open for public viewing in his home prefecture of Gifu, where most of the world's replica food is still made.

Although replica foods are now more often made of plastic than wax, the practice is still done by hand and rarely mass-produced. This is to maintain the quality of the sampuru and the unique dishes that each restaurant requests.

Today's doodle celebrates Takizo Iwasaki on what would be his 121st birthday, with an homage to that original omelet that changed the landscape of sampuru forever.

[9A]

15 Sept 2016

Jean Batten’s 107th birthday


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

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

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

Doodle by Sophie Diao

[9A]

15 Sept 2016

Mid Autumn Festival 2016 [Japan]




What an incredible thing that we all look up and see the same moon. Tonight marks the beginning of the 2016 Mid Autumn Festival known as “Tsukimi”—which literally means “moon viewing”—a tradition that began over 1,000 years ago.

The shadows on the surface of this full moon are believed to form the shape of a rabbit pounding rice to create mochi. Because of its relative position in the cosmos, the Autumnal moon appears to be at its brightest, making it the perfect party moon to celebrate this traditional moment with poetry and offerings of Pampas grass, rice dumplings, taro and sake as prayer for an abundant harvest.

Step outside and soak up the gravity of this moment in moon history.

[9A]

20 September 2018

Josefa Llanes Escoda’s 120th Birthday



When Josefa Llanes Escoda was attending elementary school in Dingras, her hometown in the Philippines, she went to class despite an impending typhoon. “I'll not let the weather keep me away from school,” the determined young student told her mother. After graduating as valedictorian, she went on to join the Red Cross and win a scholarship to the United States, where she studied social work, earning a masters degree from Columbia University.

Born on this day in 1898, Escoda was the eldest of seven children and always showed a great interest in women’s issues. A strong advocate for female suffrage, she worked tirelessly to make sure voting rights were extended to all citizens. She founded the Boy's Town in Manila for underprivileged youth in 1937 and the Girl Scouts of the Philippines in 1940, changing the lives of young people in her native country for the better.

Escoda’s face appears on the 1000 peso bill and streets, buildings, and a monument have been dedicated in her honor. As a living legacy to her work, the Girl Scouts of the Philippines honor Escoda by celebrating her birthday each year with acts of service, carrying the example she set forward for generations to come.

[9A]

20 September 2021

Respect the Aged Day 2021


On the third Monday of September, the people of Japan honor the eldest in their communities during Respect for the Aged Day. Today's Doodle by Ishikawa, Japan-based guest artist Maiko Dake captures the joy provided by elderly people and their contributions to society.

The holiday, also known as Keirō no Hi, started as a local festival in 1947 when the mayor of Nomadani-mura [now Taka-cho] in the Hyōgo Prefecture wanted to host an event during which people could look to their elders for guidance and wisdom. The idea soon caught on in other communities and Japan declared Respect for the Aged Day a national holiday in 1966.

In years past, many people used the long weekend to visit aging relatives or bring meals to the elderly. Some cities also hold athletic competitions for seniors! Others call or send flowers like those represented in today’s Doodle to honor their loved ones.

People who have recently celebrated their 100th birthdays can look forward to official congratulations, and of these more than 80,000 centenarians, some appear on television to share their advice for a long and healthy life.

Happy Respect for the Aged Day, Japan!

[9A]

21 Sept 2021

Chuseok 2021




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Seoul, South Korea-based guest artist Kim Jam, celebrates Chuseok, a three-day, harvest festival observed across the Korean peninsula. As one of the three most important holidays on the Korean lunar calendar, Chuseok is a time for families to come together and show gratitude for a fruitful harvest with traditional food, stories, and games.

Chuseok is also known in Korean as Hangawi, with “han” meaning “large” and “gawi” meaning “middle,” referring to a big celebration in the middle of the month! The date for this holiday, the middle of the 8th lunar month, was chosen to align with the harvest moon, which is the largest full moon of the year. Families traditionally start the day’s festivities with a memorial service known as charye which commemorates their ancestral heritage with enough songpyeon [half-moon rice cakes] for everyone to enjoy.

To honor an abundant harvest, holiday activities are livened with vibrant traditions of Korean entertainment. Samulnori [a percussion quartet] drums up the sounds for talchum [a mask dance] and ganggangsullae [an ancient circle dance] while celebrants play Chuseok games such as yutnori [a board game using four wooden sticks], and neolttwigi [standing seesaw].

Happy Chuseok, Korea!

[9A]

21 September 2009

Birthday of H.G. Wells



Herbert George Wells was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography and autobiography. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and has been called the "father of science fiction."

[9A]

21 September 2021

Mid-Autumn Festival 2021 [Vietnam]




Aligned with the rising of the harvest moon, the fullest and brightest of the year, today’s Doodle celebrates Vietnam’s Mid Autumn Festival or Children’s Festival. Why the Children’s Festival? This time-honored holiday falls in the middle of the harvest season, a busy period that limits the time many families have to play with their children. That makes this day the perfect time for parents to take a well-deserved break and enjoy time with their youngsters!

In years past, dancers would bring joy to their neighborhoods while performing in symbolic garb and children would carry festive lanterns shaped like carps or stars to light the streets. Mooncakes [the holiday’s signature dish] filled the bellies of celebrants. While festivities are quieter this year as families celebrate at home, the joys of the day will not be forgotten!

Happy Mid Autumn Festival, Vietnam!

[9A]

21 September 2016

43rd Anniversary of the Film "Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future"



The past, present, and future combine in real time for the 43rd anniversary of the Russian film Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future by director Leonid Gaidai and Mosfilm, the oldest film studio in Europe. The picture hit the scene with more than 60 million tickets sold—making it one of the most attended movies ever in the Soviet Union. Based on the original 1930s play by Michail Bulgakov, the technology was updated for the 1970s film to include more modern touches—a tape recorder replaced the original phonograph and a more advanced time machine used transistors to transcend time and space.

Russian viewers young and old know the plot very well: commotion involving a time machine, Shurik the inventor, the superintendent, members of the elite, the secret police, foreign ambassadors and Tsar Ivan the Terrible, himself.

Doodler Nate Swinehart, chose to feature the most iconic moment in the film: “This shot was a lot of fun to re-create and paint, I even hand drew the type to match the kooky ‘60s aesthetic of the film. Getting to make silly content that makes people smile is one of my favorite things to do.”

All these years later, one question still remains—was the whole thing just a dream?

[9A]

23 Sept 2016

358th Anniversary of Tea in the UK




Tea drinking is a thoroughly British pastime, whether it’s a mug of steaming builder’s tea or a delicate cup and saucer served with cucumber sandwiches. It’s not known when the first cuppa was enjoyed in the UK, but we do know that the first advert for tea in England appeared on this date in a publication from 1658 describing it simply as a “China Drink.” A couple of years later, English Naval Administrator Samuel Pepys wrote about drinking tea in his diary entry from 1660.

Chinese tea was reportedly drunk by Europeans as early as the 16th century, a trend spearheaded by Dutch and Portuguese traders. British coffee shops were selling tea in the 17th century, though drinking it was considered an expensive, upper-class privilege. By the 19th century, The East India Company was using fast ships called tea clippers to transport leaves from India and China to England’s docks. The Cutty Sark is the only surviving clipper of its kind and can still be visited in Greenwich.

As tea became more readily available, dedicated tea shops began popping up throughout the UK, becoming favorite spots for daytime socialising. Tea was well on its way to becoming a British tradition.

As today’s animated Doodle illustrates, tea cups come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. Whatever your favorite vessel may be, we hope you enjoy a cuppa or two of this enduring drink today.

[9A]

23 September 2013

100th anniversary of the first non-stop flight across the Mediterranean Sea



The world of aviation is today celebrating the 100 jubilee of an event which became a milestone in the history of aviation: the first non-stop flight across the Mediterranean Sea by Frenchman Roland Garros. On 23 September 1913, Garros took off from Fréjus in the south of France onboard a Morane-Saulnier monoplane.

[9A]

24 Sept 2020

Arati Saha's 80th birthday




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Kolkata native and guest artist Lavanya Naidu, celebrates the 80th birthday of the trailblazing Indian swimmer Arati Saha. On September 29, 1959, Saha covered a breathtaking 42 miles from Cape Gris Nez, France to Sandgate, England [a route depicted in today’s Doodle] to become the first Asian woman to swim across the English Channel—a feat considered the swimming equivalent of climbing Mount Everest.

Arati Saha was born on this day in 1940 in Calcutta, British India [Kolkata, India]. At four years old, she learned to swim on the banks of the Hooghly River, and her precocious skill in the water soon attracted the mentorship of one of India’s top competitive swimmers, Sachin Nag. Under Nag’s wing, Saha won her first swimming gold medal when she was only five, and it was certainly not her last.

A record-setting prodigy by just 11 years old, Saha became the youngest member [and one of only four women] on the first team to represent the newly independent India in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. At the age of 18, Saha made her first attempt to cross the English Channel, and though it was unsuccessful, she never gave up. Just over a month later, she conquered miles of churning waves and currents to complete the journey, a historic victory for women across India.

In honor of her enduring achievements, Saha became the first-ever female recipient of India’s Padma Shri award in 1960.

Happy birthday, Arati Saha, and thank you for channeling your passion to inspire women everywhere!

[9A]

27 Sept 2020

Google’s 22nd birthday


The partnership between Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin traces its roots to the sunny campus of Stanford University. As graduate students, the pair set out to improve the way people interacted with the wealth of information on the World Wide Web. In 1998, Google was born, and the rest is history.

The now world-famous moniker is a play on a mathematical term that arose out of an unassuming stroll around the year 1920. While walking in the woods of New Jersey, American mathematician Edward Kasner asked his young nephew Milton Sirotta to help him choose a name for a mind-boggling number: a 1 followed by 100 zeros. Milton’s reply? A googol! The term gained widespread visibility twenty years later with its inclusion in a 1940 book Kasner co-authored called “Mathematics and the Imagination.”

In 2006, the word “Google” was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary as a verb.

Cheers to 22 years!

[9A]

23 October 2021

Ellya Khadam's 93rd birthday





Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Semarang, Indonesia-based guest artist Fatchurofi Muhammad, celebrates Indonesian singer, songwriter, and actor Ellya Khadam, who is widely considered a pioneer of dangdut, a genre of folk music popular in Indonesia that blends local musical traditions together with diverse styles such as Western rock-and-roll and Indian film scores.

Ellya Khadam was born Siti Alya Husnah on this day in 1928 in Jakarta, Indonesia. During her teenage years, Khadam was neighbors with a singer of the Malaysian pop music style known as deli. She developed her musical talent by imitating this genre, which allowed her to make a name for herself by first singing at weddings and later joining local musical outfits.

She rose to prominence as a singer in the Kelana Ria Malay Orchestra during the 1950s, a musical collective that drew much of its inspiration from Indian culture and music. Khadam’s career reached its peak with the release of her 1956 break-out hit song “Boneka India” [[Dolls from India) now considered a touchstone of the dangdut genre. She expressed her love for Indian customs not just through using Indian tabla rhythms in her songs but also by donning traditional Indian saris and wearing a sindoor on her forehead.

In addition to her musical output, which popularized dangdut and inspired the younger generation to take the genre to new heights, Khadam starred in dozens of films into the late 1970s. Today, dangdut showcases the nation’s culture on a global scale as one of Indonesia’s most popular musical styles—even making a historic on-stage debut in New York’s Times Square earlier this year!

Happy birthday, Ellya Khadam—thank you for giving a voice to a new wave of Indonesian culture!

[9A]

25 October 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 the anti-war painting Guernica [1937], a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War.

[9A]

25 October 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.

[9A]

27 October 2021

Otto Wichterle's 108th birthday




Are you one of the estimated 140 million people around the world who wears contact lenses? Whether your answer is yes or no, the story of the Czech chemist who invented the soft contact lens—Otto Wichterle—might give you some fresh insight. Today’s Doodle celebrates Wichterle’s life and legacy on his 108th birthday.

Otto Wichterle was born on this day in 1913 in Prostĕjov, the Czech Republic [then, Austria-Hungary]. As a lover of science from his youth, Wichterle went on to earn his doctorate in organic chemistry in 1936 from the Prague Institute of Chemical Technology [ICT]. He taught as a professor at his alma mater during the 1950s while developing an absorbent and transparent gel for eye implants.

Political turmoil pushed Wichterle out of the ICT, leading him to continue refining his hydrogel development at home. In 1961, Wichterle [[a glasses wearer himself) produced the first soft contact lenses with a DIY apparatus made of a child’s erector set, a bicycle light battery, a phonograph motor, and homemade glass tubing and molds. As the inventor of countless patents and a lifelong researcher, Wichterle was elected the first President of the Academy of the Czech Republic following the country’s establishment in 1993.

While Wichterle is most well-known as the inventor of contact lenses, his innovations also laid the foundation for state-of-the-art medical technologies such as “smart” biomaterials, which are used to restore human connective tissues, and bio-recognizable polymers, which have inspired a new standard for drug administration.

Happy birthday, Otto Wichterle—thanks for helping the world see eye to eye!

[9A]

25 Oct 2021

Galina Vishnevskaya's 95th birthday




Today’s Doodle, illustrated guest artist Darya Shnykina, celebrates the 95th birthday of one of the greatest Russian opera singers of the 20th century—Galina Vishnevskaya.

Galina Pavlovna Ivanova was born on this day in 1926 in Leningrad, Russia [modern-day St. Petersburg] and became enthralled with opera at 10 years old after hearing Tchaikovsky’s epic “Eugene Onegin.” While walking the streets of Leningrad in the early 1950s, Vishnevskaya stumbled upon an invitation to audition for the Bolshoi Theater—Russia’s most prestigious opera hall. She blew the judges away with her audition, earning a spot as the year’s only auditioner accepted into the Bolshoi troupe.

In 1953, her childhood dreams were realized at the Bolshoi as she portrayed the lead character Tatyana in “Eugene Onegin” with a fresh interpretation of a classic character that became her signature role. This marked the genesis of a virtuosic opera career that took Vishnevskaya to venues around the world—often with her beloved dachshund Pooks in tow—from New York’s Metropolitan Opera to Helsinki’s Finnish National Opera. It was at the latter venue that she gave her final performance of Tatyana before retiring in 1982.

As a devoted humanitarian, Vishnevskaya founded the non-profit children’s welfare organization Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation in 1991 alongside her husband, the world-class cellist Maestro Rostropovich. She also founded the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Centre in 2002 to provide a home for aspiring opera singers. Both organizations carry on her legacy of helping and inspiring others to this day.

Happy birthday, Galina Vishnevskaya!

[9A]

24 Oct 2018

Celebrating Zinaida Ermolyeva




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

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

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

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

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

[9A]

24 October 2014

1 Month Anniversary of Mangalyaan Entering Mars' Orbit




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

[9A]

24 October 2015

R. K. Laxman's 94th Birthday



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

Today’s Doodle honors R.K. Laxman for his deft artistic hand and sharp, incisive wit. Doodler Olivia When in collaboration with Local Googlers wanted to salute the legendary cartoonist by creating a Doodle that payed homage to both Laxman [making sure to capture his wild shock of hair and distinctive grin] and his most popular character, who watches in his trademark checked shirt as the beloved illustrator sketches him one more time.

[9A]

24 October 2010

Menino Maluquinho's Birthday




O Menino Maluquinho [The Nutty Boy] is a comic book and comic strip series created by Brazilian writer and cartoonist Ziraldo. It was based on the eponymous children's book published in 1980 which for many years was regarded as a classic of children's literature in Brazil, getting spun off into movies, plays and TV series. The comic books were published by Abril and Globo from 1989 until 2007. It was Ziraldo's second series of comic books, after "Turma do Pererê".

The main character, "Maluquinho" is a cheerful and optimistic 10-year-old boy who wears a pan on his head like a hat. [his trademark] Most of the stories revolve around the misadventures of Maluquinho and his friends with a light humour.

[9A]

21 Oct 2010

Dizzy Gillespie's Birthday





First known for his contributions to bebop and modern jazz, and second known for his iconic cheeks, Dizzie Gillespie's doodle is one that is both lively and unlike any other doodle to hit the homepage. Inspired by the jazz album illustrations of the mid 1900s, Dizzie's doodle quickly turned into a crescendo of shapes and color.

posted by Jennifer Hom

[9A]

21 October 2009

Rampo Edogawa's Birthday

Tarō Hirai [Hirai Tarō, October 21, 1894 – July 28, 1965], better known by the pen name Edogawa Rampo,was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery and thriller fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogoro Akechi, who in later books was the leader of a group of boy detectives known as the "Boy Detectives Club".

[9A]

21 October 2011

Mary Blair's 100th Birthday



I was greatly honored for the opportunity to create a doodle for Mary Blair's 100th birthday. Not to mention somewhat intimidated! Her work was and continues to be a major source of inspiration for a large number of artists working in animation, illustration, and fine art... and the Google Doodle team. So there was some pressure to get it right!


Of course, for all her technical mastery, from her wonderful color schemes to her deceptively simple shapes and compositions, what I've always admired most about her work is the sense of joy that went into making each picture. As a viewer, I can't help but sense that childlike enthusiasm and smile in response. This was Mary's ultimate goal, as she wrote in a letter to her husband, to "live to be happy and paint to express our happiness," and it's a goal very similar to our own as Doodlers -- to inspire happiness in our users when they see something new and unexpected on the Google homepage.

Happy birthday, Mary Blair!

posted by Mike Dutton

[9A]

20 Oct 2011

Park Wan-suh's 80th Birthday




Park Wan-suh was a South Korean writer. Her work is "revered" in Korea and she has won many Korean literary awards. Her work deals with the tragic events of Korean War and its aftermath also targets the hypocrisy and materialism of middle-class Koreans. Park turned increasingly toward problems afflicting women in patriarchal society while continuing to engage with the lives of middle-class Koreans.

[9A]

20 Oct 2014

Christopher Wren's 382nd Birthday






It took 33 years to build St. Paul’s Cathedral in London but today, on our homepage in the U.K, it happens in a matter of seconds. Completed in 1720, the cathedral is considered to be English architect Christopher Wren’s magnum opus. But, with a portfolio featuring British landmarks like the Royal Observatory of Greenwich and Kensington Palace, Wren’s legacy stands tall throughout England. Happy 382nd birthday to Christopher Wren!

[9A]

9 November 2019

Celebrating the Edmonton Grads



The Edmonton Commercial Graduates Basketball Club, better known as “The Grads,” started as a high school girls basketball team and became a sports dynasty. Today’s Doodle celebrates The Grads’ induction into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame on this day in 2017. It was a fitting honor for a team that holds arguably one of the best winning percentages in North America—approximately 95 percent over 25 years—in any sport.. With outstanding sportsmanship and determination, The Grads also defeated stereotypes that had discouraged women from participating in competitive sports.

Teacher Percy Page started the team in 1914 as a physical education program for the 60 girls at McDougall Commercial High School in the Canadian city of Edmonton. In their first season, they won the provincial championship, and when some of the graduating seniors indicated that they’d like to continue playing, Page was inspired to set up The Grads after they graduated in 1915.

During the next quarter century, The Grads went on to win 23 of 24 Provincial Championships and racked up stats that would be the envy of any team, including earning winning streaks of 147 and 78 games, separated by just a single loss. They went undefeated in the Western Canadian Championships from 1926 to 1940 and won 29 of 31 games in the Canadian Championships, never losing a series. After the Grads won the Underwood International tournament, also known as the “North American championship,” for 17 years straight, tournament organizers decided to let them keep the trophy permanently.

The Grads additionally won seven of nine games against men's teams and went unbeaten in 27 exhibition games at four Olympic Games—though they never won a medal since women’s basketball was not yet an Olympic sport.

When The Grads first started, basketball was a fairly new sport, having been invented in 1891 by Canadian James Naismith. He would later recognize the Grads as “the finest basketball team that ever stepped out on a floor.”

Doodler Olivia When

[9A]

11 April 2014

Percy Julian's 115th Birthday



If you are intrigued by today's doodle on the U.S. Google homepage, celebrating organic chemist, Dr. Percy Julian, I can provide no better recommendation than to watch the PBS documentary, Forgotten Genius, illustrating both his personal life and life's work.

It's no scientific revelation that it's the experiences from our everyday lives that inform our work, and in Dr. Julian's case, he used these experiences, overcoming tremendous challenges and racial barriers [and even a couple happy accidents] to become one of the most renowned and highly respected chemists in history.

Visually, I was presented with a familiar challenge: to create something fun and engaging for us non-science types [I confess to finding a way of skipping chemistry in high school], while still calling attention to Julian's key achievements in an appropriate [ie. correct and validated!] way. Before getting too far into the research, I sketched thumbnails of the common association – that of a chemist in a lab full of beakers and tubes.

As I read more about his work, I became fascinated with his process in the specific field of organic chemistry, and how he discovered ways to take rare and exotic components and synthesize them or discover alternate organic substances in place of more cost-prohibitive resources. Yep, that's a mouthful! So here are two key examples: His most well known triumph was the synthesis of the alkaloid, physostigmine, found in the african calabar bean, which led to a more readily available treatment of ailments such as glaucoma and Alzheimer's Disease. He also pioneered many uses from the soybean and soybean oil, developing a better process for obtaining cortisone to treat arthritis or to aid the body in the receiving of organ transplants.

Happy 115th birthday to the NOT Forgotten Genius, Dr. Percy Lavon Julian!

posted by Mike Dutton, Doodler

[9A]

29 October 2012

Bob Ross' 70th Birthday



For more than a decade, Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting welcomed viewers into his minimalist tv studio for inspiration and painting tips.

In less time than it takes to get pizza delivered, Bob Ross would paint a sweeping landscape of mountains, lakes, and, of course, happy little trees, clouds, and bushes.

A child when I first discovered the PBS program, it was the antithesis of the vacuous shows and commercials I voraciously consumed on other channels.

The man’s seemingly magical abilities with a brush were mesmerizing – he made painting look so easy! His calm demeanor and relentless optimism put me at ease. And his kind assurances that anyone could do what he did if they believe it and practiced were truly encouraging. [In fact, it was when I got a Bob Ross paint kit for Christmas at age 14 that I realized that I was already on my way to becoming an artist!]

I’ve since learned that painting isn’t easy. But I’m practicing, and it is a joy.
Thank you, Bob Ross!

Posted by Ryan Germick, Doodle Team Lead

[9A]

For Latin American Month, I will try to post some of the best
Google Doodles honoring our Latin American friends. 9A

"Over the years, Google has made it a point to celebrate several notable Latinxs through their Google Doodles, little pieces of art that replace the traditional Google logo and educate the millions of people who search on the site about accomplished, interesting people, important dates in history, and more. One of their most recent ones was a shout out on September 15th to Puerto Rican civil rights pioneer and business owner Felicitas Mendez. They’ve also honored Desi Arnaz, Selena Quintanilla, and Gabriel García Márquez among other Latinx icons. In celebration and appreciation, we are going to take a look at some of the great Google Doodles created in homage to famous Latinos from several different countries and Latinx culture."

https://hiplatina.com/latinx-google-doodles/

Contributing writer: Virginia Isaad