Google doodles

[9A]

28 Oct 2018
39th Anniversary of the MassKara Festival

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Today’s Doodle marks the 39th anniversary of the MassKara festival in the Philippines, a popular celebration known for its vibrant masks, feathers, costumes [[like the one’s seen in Today’s Doodle) and dancing on the streets.


While the festival is at its peak on this particular day, it is a month-long celebration that includes, in addition to street dancing and singing, contests for pig-chasing, pole-climbing, and fireworks shows.

[9A]

16 January 2013
Zamboni



http://www.google.com/doodles/zamboni [[Interactive game)

The first ice resurfacer was developed by American inventor and engineer Frank Zamboni in 1949 in the city of Paramount, California. As such, an ice resurfacer is often referred to as a "Zamboni" regardless of brand or manufacturer.

[Jerry Oz]

Iconic. Marlene Dietrich.

[9A]

December 27, 2017
Marlene Dietrich’s 116th Birthday

Iconic. Marlene Dietrich.

Born Maria Magdalene Dietrich in Berlin on this day in 1901, Marlene Dietrich lit up the silver screen during Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Dietrich rocketed to international fame from the moment she appeared in her breakout role as cabaret singer Lola-Lola in Germany’s first talking picture, Der Blaue Engel [[1930) and its English version, The Blue Angel. The actress crossed the Atlantic soon after its premiere, continuing to work with Blue Angel director Josef von Sternberg in a string of memorable Hollywood films, including Morocco, Shanghai Express, and The Devil Is a Woman.

But Dietrich was more than a femme fatale with an unforgettable voice. Ever the risk-taker, she turned pat notions about femininity upside down, donning a tuxedo and top hat in her part as a sultry nightclub dancer in Morocco, and wearing men’s silk suits offscreen. A U.S. citizen as of 1939, she captivated World War II troops as a USO entertainer and was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom and French Légion d'Honneur for her wartime work.

Dietrich’s Doodle was illustrated by artist Sasha Steinberg who captured her mid-performance, suited up in her gender-bending tux and top hat. Steinberg, who is also a drag performer under the name Sasha Velour and winner of RuPaul's Drag Race [[Season 9), counts Dietrich as a major influence in creating their drag alter ego.

“She was a wild original!” says Velour. “Despite the pressures of the time, she followed her own course, especially in terms of politics and gender. As a drag queen, that's particularly inspiring to me. Plus, she just had this power to her...in every role she's mysterious and strong, brilliant. That's what I aspire to be when I step

[9A]

9 Jan 2013
150th Anniversary of the Tube



The London Underground or, sometimes, a subset of the lines of that system

[Jerry Oz]

Today’s Doodle pays tribute to the masterful strumming of Paco de Lucía, who would’ve been 69 today. Regarded as one of the world’s greatest guitarists, the musical virtuoso is credited with modernizing flamenco and bringing it to the international stage.


Born Francisco Sánchez Gómez into a family of musicians in southern Spain, he was fascinated with the guitar from an early age. Although he received his first lessons from his father, it was his mother, Lucía, who inspired his stage name. After winning his first international flamenco competition at the age of 14, de Lucía went on to collaborate with Camarón de la Isla, one of the genre’s most celebrated singers. In 1973, he released one of his career-defining songs, Entre Dos Aguas, which received international acclaim.


De Lucía spent many years touring the world, introducing new instruments to the genre, like the Peruvian cajón, and infusing it with jazz and other styles along the way. His revolutionary approach to flamenco left an indelible mark on music both in Spain and beyond.


Doodle by Sophie Diao

[9A]

18 Dec 2012
120th Anniversary of the Nutcracker Ballet

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The complete Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in North America.

[Jerry Oz]

[9A]

Great animation in Leonard Bernstein's google doodle. Watch on YouTube.

[9A]

New discovery -- if you want to "paste" an image that is too large to be accepted here, just highlight it and specify the "size" above, 4 or 5, before posting. Seems to work.

[Jerry Oz]

New discovery -- if you want to "paste" an image that is too large to be accepted here, just highlight it and specify the "size" above, 4 or 5, before posting. Seems to work.

When I get them from Google Doodle archives, I right click above the image I like on the main page and it gives me the option to "copy image". That allows me to paste it directly in the posts. After clicking on the image, I can paste some gifs here as well with the same method [[like the Paco de Lucia post above).

[9A]

When I get them from Google Doodle archives, I right click above the image I like on the main page and it gives me the option to "copy image". That allows me to paste it directly in the posts. After clicking on the image, I can paste some gifs here as well with the same method [[like the Paco de Lucia post above).

Now and then, it is too large to be posted, unless you alter the "size" like you would do with text.

If you scroll down below the doodle, usually you will find "This Doodle's Reach" showing where this particular doodle is targeted [[I believe) on a global map.

[9A]

1 February 2015
Langston Hughes’ 113th Birthday

https://www.google.com/doodles/langs...113th-birthday
[[animated, turn on the sound)

What does “I Dream A World” mean to you? To doodler Katy Wu, Langston Hughes’ poem is a message of equality and hope. “This poem has a hopeful message and I like that. It comes from a time where there was a lot of work to be done for civil rights,” says Katy. That’s a sentiment Hughes also shared when writing his poem, which first originated as a lyric in the the opera Troubled Island by William Grant Still. As Hughes experienced and witnessed the failings of his society, he never lost the desire and belief that a better world would eventually appear.

The doodle’s music, serving as a tour guide through each verse of the poem, features Adam Ever-Hadani on the piano and the The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, a 6 member musical ensemble that make music using manual typewriters.

[9A]

24 September 2011
Jim Henson's 75th Birthday



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJz7eZNqI4
We’re thrilled to share this guest post by Brian Henson about his father—puppeteer, director and producer Jim Henson, best known as the creator of the Muppets. For the next 36 hours, we’re honoring Jim’s birthday on our homepage with a special doodle created in tandem with The Jim Henson Company. -Ed.

[9A]

4 June 2019
Celebrating 50 Years Of Pride




https://www.google.com/doodles/celeb...years-of-pride

The Pride Parade is a symbol of celebration and liberation for the entire LGBTQ+ community. From its early days of activism on Christopher Street in New York City, to the worldwide celebrations of today, it has empowered and given voice to a bright and vibrant community.

[9A]

23 April 2011
120th of Birthday of Sergey Prokofiev

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https://www.google.com/doodles/120th...rgey-prokofiev

[David Bowie Narrates Disney's Peter And The Wolf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va8Uz6MoKLg -- Enjoy -- I heard this played by the Detroit Symphony at a Children's Concert many years ago when my kids were little. Kind of scary, as I recall. 9A]

Sergei Prokofiev's brilliant compositions are numerous and varied, but Peter and the Wolf is definitely the most evocative and delightful. I listened to many adaptations of this famous work, including editions read by Sting, David Bowie, and Basil Rathbone. I also watched the 2006 Oscar-winning stop-motion animated film, which inspired me as well.

[9A]

12 August 2010
71st Anniversary of The Wizard of Oz



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR20ukS7j2I

[9A]

25 January 2011
Robert Burns Day


Robert Burns [[25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, the National Bard, Bard of Ayrshire and the Ploughman Poet and various other names and epithets, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide.

As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem [[and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay [[the last day of the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country.

[9A]

October 19, 2020
Farid al-Atrash’s 110th Birthday





Today’s Doodle celebrates the 110th birthday of Syrian-born Egyptian composer, singer, instrumentalist, actor, and film producer Farid al-Atrash, widely considered one of the Arab world’s great performers of his time. A virtuosic player of the stringed Middle Eastern instrument called the oud, al-Atrash forever left his mark on music and cinema in Egypt and beyond, releasing over 220 original songs and starring in 31 musical films across his prolific career.

[9A]

Oct 26, 2020
Dolores Cacuango's 139th Birthday



Today’s Doodle celebrates the 139th birthday of Ecuadorian civil rights pioneer Dolores Cacuango, who spent decades fighting fiercely for the rights of the country’s Indigenous people. Cacuango was a dedicated advocate for accessible education and instrumental in establishing Ecuador’s first bilingual schools, which practiced in Spanish and the Indigenous language of Quichua.

[9A]

April 8, 2017
Mary Pickford’s 125th Birthday

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Lights, camera, action! Today’s doodle honors the “Queen of the Movies,” Mary Pickford. An actress, a film director, and a producer, Mary Pickford proved that actors weren’t relegated to careers in front of the camera. She co-founded the film studio United Artists and was one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Before she became one of the most powerful women who has ever worked in Hollywood, she was “the girl with the curls,” and one of the most beloved stars of the silent film era. She appeared in as many as 50 films per year, and eventually negotiated wages that were equal to half of each of her films’ profits. She went on to demand full creative and financial control of her films, a feat still unheard of to this day.

[9A]

25 October 2019
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti’s 119th Birthday




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.”

[9A]

November 8, 2020
Purushottam Laxman Deshpande’s 101st Birthday

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Purushottam Laxman Deshpande was born on this day in 1919 in Bombay [[now Mumbai), India. He earned a master’s degree and served as a college lecturer before he began to pursue a career in music. A master of the harmonium [[also known as the reed organ), he played as an accompanist for acclaimed vocal artists of the day and released his own hit recordings as well. But music was far from Deshpande’s only creative talent, and in the late 1940s, his writing premiered in Bombay magazine.

[9A]

November 24, 2020
Celebrating Mariachi



https://www.google.com/logos/2020/vi..._video_low.mp4 [[animated)

Today’s video Doodle celebrates a quintessential element of Mexico’s rich cultural heritage: the musical genre of Mariachi. Mariachi is typically characterized by a small group of musicians dressed in traditional clothing who perform a wide repertoire of Mexican songs on mostly stringed instruments [[the term Mariachi can refer to either the music or the musicians themselves). During a session held the week of November 22, 2011 UNESCO inscribed Mariachi on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Mariachi tradition was born in west-central Mexico around the turn of the 19th century, though its exact origins remain unknown. At first, the genre was strictly instrumental, composed of the sounds of stringed instruments, and eventually vocals and the trumpet were added to the mix. In modern times, Mariachi music has been combined with elements of diverse genres from jazz to reggae. Singers often add in their best grito to express the emotion of the vibrant music! No matter the variation, Mariachi remains a strong representation of Mexican history and culture.

[9A]

April 30, 2018
Levi Celerio’s 108th Birthday

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Today's Doodle celebrates prolific Filipino musical phenom, Levi Celerio. The composer and lyricist wrote over 4,000 songs, many still popular today. With his unique talent of playing music with a leaf, Celerio received international attention as the “only leaf player in the world” by the Guinness Book of World Records.

[9A]

February 22, 2012
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz's 155th Birthday


Google's latest animated doodle celebrates the 155th birthday of Heinrich Hertz, the German physicist whose experiments with electromagnetic waves led to the development of the wireless telegraph and the radio.

Hertz's name later became the term used for radio and electrical frequencies, as in hertz [[Hz), kilohertz [[kHz) and megahertz [[MHz).

[9A]

April 4, 2020
Stay Home. Save Lives.

Wear a mask.
Save lives.

Wear a face cover
Wash your hands
Keep a safe distance

[9A]

February 18, 2015
Alessandro Volta’s 270th Birthday

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Experimenting with different metals and solutions, Volta ended up creating the first electric battery: the Voltaic Pile, a stack of alternating metal discs separated by cardboard and cloth soaked with seawater. But what made this battery so remarkable was that it was easy to construct out of common materials and enabled experimenters for the first time to produce steady, predictable flows of electricity. Within just weeks it inspired a wave of discoveries and inventions and ushered in a new age of electrical science.

[9A]

November 29, 2017
Christian Doppler’s 214th Birthday


When a fire engine approaches, the siren gets louder as it comes closer, taxing your eardrums as it whizzes past, and fades into the distance. What causes this difference in volume?
The answer was proposed by Austrian mathematician and physicist Christian Doppler in 1842 in a phenomenon since documented as the Doppler Effect, a concept that applies to both sound and light, in addition to other phenomena.

Simply put, sound is generated in ‘waves.’ As the source of such waves moves closer, the waves themselves take less time to reach you. They hit you with increasing frequency, making the sound more intense. As the source moves away, the waves start to spread out, and the sound becomes weaker.

The Doppler effect also explains why stars in the sky appear to be of different colors. As a star approaches the earth, wavelengths compress and the star appears to be bluer in color. If the converse happens and a star is moving away from us, it appears redder.

[9A]

October 18, 2017
Celebrating the Studio for Electronic Music



Google is celebrating the 66th anniversary of what's considered the first modern recording studio with a Doodle.Back in 1951, a group of composers founded the Studio for Electronic Music as part of the West German Broadcasting radio. It was ran by and hosted a multitude of forward-thinking musicians at the time, including Karlheinz Stockhausen, an electronic music pioneer and one of the most important composers of the 20th-21st centuries.

The Studio for Electronic Music was established at the West German Broadcasting facility in Cologne, Germany. The concept for a studio to create electronic music was birthed by composers Werner Meyer-Eppler, Robert Beyer, and Herbert Eimert, who for years had brainstormed the technical requirements of the challenge. Artists in the studio created breakthrough beats, editing and mixing sounds using new types of equipment and technical composition. Composers and producers came from far and wide as the studio became a breeding ground for musical innovation.

[9A]

Joseph Plateau: The Inventor of “Moving Pictures”







In the year 1830, the Belgian Joseph Plateau developed the phantoscope, a device that could project the moving images. Its invention is considered the first step in the development of film projectors.

Phantascope, still known as Wonder Wheel, is based on a physical principle. Plates depict various stages of movement of a dancer separated by slots from one another. The viewers looked through the slits on a mirror, where the drawings were reflected. When the disk is rotated, almost the human eye interacts with the drawings as a movement.

[9A]

August 27, 2019
Cesária Évora’s 78th Birthday

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


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

[9A]

February 23, 2017
Seven Earth-size Exoplanets Discovered!

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What exactly does this new solar system TRAPPIST-1 mean for our universe? Well, three of these newly discovered planets land smack-dab in the middle of what scientists call the habitable zone, or the distance from the star it orbits “where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water.” Though scientists have some serious studying to do before we can definitively say whether any of the new TRAPPIST-1 planets are habitable, the potential is very promising.

So if three of these new TRAPPIST-1 planets land in the habitable zone, what about the other four? According to NASA, all seven planets could have liquid water, the most crucial ingredient for life -- assuming the right atmospheric conditions.

[9A]

February 1, 2019
Celebrating Sojourner Truth


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Today’s Doodle by Philadelphia-based guest artist Loveis Wise kicks off Black History Month by celebrating Sojourner Truth, a powerful advocate for justice and equality in the United States of America during the 19th century who paved the way for future generations.

Born an enslaved person in Ulster County, New York around 1797, Isabella Baumfree endured the horrors of the American slave trade—as well as seeing her children sold into servitude. Despite the hardships she faced, she went on to win her freedom, changing her name to Sojourner Truth, and starting a new life as a traveling and prominent preacher, abolitionist, and suffragist.

[9A]

March 21, 2016
Doodle 4 Google 2016 - US winner



Akilah Johnson, a 10th grader from Washington, D.C., is Google's top student doodler.
Johnson's doodle, which honors her African-American heritage, is featured prominently on the Internet giant's home page on Monday. It was selected from 100,000 submissions to the "Doodle 4 Google" competition for young artists.

Now in its 8th year, the Doodle 4 Google Competition challenges young artists to create their own Doodle. This year’s competition called for submissions around the theme: “What Makes Me… Me.” Kids worked in their medium of choice, delivering uniquely personal and one-of-a-kind submissions.

[9A]

February 1, 2018
Celebrating Carter G. Woodson


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Today’s Doodle by Virginia-based illustrator Shannon Wright and developed in collaboration with the Black Googlers Network [[one of the largest employee resource groups at Google), marks the beginning of Black History Month by celebrating Carter G. Woodson - the man often called the “Father of Black History.” Woodson’s legacy inspired me to become an African American Studies major in college, and I am honored to kick off Google’s celebration this month by highlighting the life of this great American scholar.

Woodson was born in 1875 in New Canton, Virginia, to former slaves Anne Eliza and James Henry Woodson. His parents never had the opportunity to learn to read and write, but he had an appetite for education from the very beginning. As a young man, he helped support his family through farming and working as a miner, which meant that most of his education came via self-instruction. He eventually entered high school at the age of 20 and earned his diploma in less than two years!

Woodson went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, after which he became the second African-American ever to receive a doctorate from Harvard University. He was also one of the first scholars to focus on the study of African-American history, writing over a dozen books on the topic over the years.

[9A]

November 30, 2016
Jagadish Chandra Bose’s 158th Birthday

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Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose was a master of scientific achievement with numerous accomplishments in various fields. Born in Bangladesh in 1858, Bose was to become known not only for his work in biophysics, but also his innovation in the world of radio and microwave sciences, ultimately inventing an early version of wireless telecommunication. As a testament to his numerous contributions to the field, a moon crater was named in his honor.

Bose’s investigations into nature included the invention of the crescograph – an instrument that measures movement and growth in plant life by magnifying it 10,000 times. He went on to demonstrate the similarities between animals and plants, particularly when it came to reactions to different environmental, electrical, and chemical influences.

[9A]

May 20, 2011
Emile Berliner's 160th Birthday

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OoTESbRZpA

Tiger Rag - Louis Armstrong 1933


Although he has been overshadowed in the public imagination by contemporaries Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, German-American inventor and entrepreneur Emile Berliner actually improved two inventions associated closely with those other men, the telephone and the talking machine.

[9A]

May 3, 2018
Celebrating Georges Méliès



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEePFpC9qG8

Today’s first-ever Virtual Reality [[VR) / 360° interactive Doodle—created in collaboration with the Google Spotlight Stories, Google Arts & Culture, and Cinémathèque Française teams—celebrates Georges Méliès, the trailblazing French illusionist and film director on the release date of what is considered to be one of his greatest masterpieces: À la conquête du pôle [[The Conquest of the Pole, 1912). Méliès pioneered numerous technical and narrative film techniques in the early days of cinema, primarily in the use of special effects and creation of some of the earliest films of the science fiction genre.

[9A]

August 22, 2013
Claude Debussy's 151st Birthday



https://www.google.com/doodles/claud...151st-birthday

We sought out to create an animated doodle to commemorate Debussy as one of the most influential composers of all time. At the outstart, the task of creating and coding visual imagery that does justice to the spirit of his music seemed incredibly daunting. But, as it turned out, all I needed to do was to resurrect my trusty CD player and hit play, and the inspiration would start flooding in. I felt flickering lights, a quiet city and pouring rain set against the magical melody of Clair de Lune.

[9A]

November 28, 2019
Michel Berger's 72nd Birthday


https://youtu.be/MZ4RSAqrndU

Today’s animated video Doodle, made in collaboration with Lyon-based animation studio Souviens Ten-Zan [[STZ), celebrates French singer-songwriter Michel Berger on his 72nd birthday. Working with some of the biggest names of French music, Berger became a French pop music staple. The song featured in today’s Doodle, “Celui qui chante,” was composed and performed by Berger and spreads a message of positivity and acceptance that still resonates today.

Berger was trained in classical piano at an early age. A gifted pianist like his mother, Berger’s musical interest went beyond those of the symphonies he practiced daily, taking inspiration from artists like Ray Charles to explore varied sounds and arrangements.

French popular music of the 1960s was dominated by Yé-Yé artists. Inspired by American rock music of the same era, jazz, and French chanson, to name a few, Yé-Yé music became synonymous with youth culture and paved the way for Berger to enter the music industry.

[9A]

Feb 22, 2020
Carnaval de Barranquilla



In honor of Colombia’s Carnaval de Barranquilla, today’s Doodle features some of the colorful costumes and masks on display during this annual celebration of cultural heritage stemming from indigenous, African, and European traditions. Across four days, over a million people will visit Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast to watch floats, dance in the streets, and maybe take part by wearing a “Marimonda” mask as seen in the Doodle artwork.


The modern Carnaval de Barranquilla is over 100 years old and reflects the legacy of blended cultures that have shaped the city since its establishment nearly 400 years ago. At its core, festivities derive from folk traditions that demonstrate what many consider to be the definition of what it means to be Colombian.

[9A]

Jul 14, 2018
Bastille Day 2018



Although La Fête Nationale — or Bastille Day as it’s known in English-speaking countries — hearkens back to the dawn of the French Revolution, it’s fundamentally a celebration of culture. At this time each year, French people around the globe, from Nice to New Orleans, honor their heritage and pay homage to those who fought for the principles of Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité [[liberty, equality, fraternity).


In Paris, crowds gather along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées to enjoy parades, heading to the Eiffel Tower for fireworks and live music later on. In Marseille, the Vieux Port plays host to two days of festivities. Wherever the celebration takes place, you’ll surely hear the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise,” resounding throughout the streets.


Seen on church bell towers since the Middle Ages, the French rooster, or Coq Gaulois,also appeared on French flags during the revolution of 1789. The bird that crows at dawn has come to symbolize vigilance as well as the people of France. In today’s Doodle a procession of blue, white, and red hens and roosters enjoy a Bastille Day parade.

[9A]

Jan 16, 2018
Katy Jurado’s 94th Birthday



Cast in her first Hollywood film, Bullfighter and the Lady [[1951), Jurado’s limited grasp of English meant she delivered her lines by memorizing the way they sounded. Despite the unconventional approach, her strong performance caught the attention of a well-known Hollywood producer, who cast her in the soon-to-be-classic Western, High Noon [[1952). Jurado played the narratively-important character of Helen Ramirez so skillfully that she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Accolades for future performances would include three Silver Ariel Awards and nominations for several Academy Awards.


Off-screen, Jurado was a tenacious and spirited woman who captivated everyone around her. While she was stunningly beautiful, her portrayals transcended the stereotyped, over-sexualized roles written for Mexican women at the time. Her talent at depicting a range of characters helped to expand the parts available to Mexican and other Latina actresses in Hollywood today.

[9A]

Jul 9, 2017
Argentina National Day 2017


Happy National Day Argentina! On this day, 201 years ago, thirty three congressmen gathered in Tucuman, Argentina and declared it to be finally independent of Spain. To celebrate Argentina’s national day this year, we’re diving into the musical instruments and traditions that are dear to its people.


One of these is the milonga, a local event where couples gather to dance tango all over Argentina. If you were to walk past one, you may hear the deep bellow of a bandoneon, the accordion-like instrument stretching between the fingers of the gentleman in today’s doodle. The instrument was brought over by German immigrants to Argentina in the 19th century and is essential to tango dancing. The bandoneon and the tango reflect the rich cultural heritage of Argentina, with deep European and African influences respectively. Tango may not be an easy dance for all to master, but nearly all Argentinians will agree on the importance of keeping this tradition alive.

[9A]

Feb 15, 2020
Susan B. Anthony’s 200th Birthday

“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.”
–Susan B. Anthony, The Revolution

Today’s Doodle celebrates the 200th birthday of social reformer Susan B. Anthony, and 2020 also happens to mark the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the U.S.. Anthony fought tirelessly for decades to earn women the right to vote in the U.S and is recognized as one of the nation’s most important figures of the women’s suffrage movement.


Susan Brownell Anthony was born on this day in 1820 in western Massachusetts, U.S. As a child, she was inspired by the idea that all people were born equal regardless of their race or gender. An introduction through her father to prominent abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison first ignited her passion for social change. In 1851, Anthony met reformer Elizabeth Cady Stanton, beginning a 50-year partnership focused on women’s rights advocacy.

[9A]

Jan 11, 2018
Alan Paton’s 115th Birthday

“Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear.”

South African author and activist Alan Paton introduced the world to life in pre-Apartheid South Africa, fearlessly speaking out against racial segregation in person and through his books, and propagating universal franchise and non-violence.


Born in the Natal province [[present day KwaZulu-Natal), the young Paton was subjected to extensive corporal punishment, which led to his lifelong opposition to any form of authoritarianism and physical punishment. Later, as administrator of the Diepkloof Reformatory for young black African offenders, he developed a controversial but compassionate system of reform that included open dormitories, work outside the prison walls, and home visitations.


After the Second World War, Paton toured correctional reform facilities across the world, during which time he started to write Cry, the Beloved Country. The book was published in 1948 — ironically the very year in which apartheid was formally institutionalized, beginning four decades of racial segregation in South Africa. His magnum opus is a moving tale of racial injustice, human suffering, and redemption, as two fathers come to terms with the loss of their sons — one an accidental murder and the other, his unfortunate victim.


Today’s Doodle depicts Paton on a train ride [[on which he allegedly gained inspiration to write Cry, the Beloved Country) and celebrates the 115th birthday of a visionary who did much to fight for basic human principles of love, non-violence, and equality.

[9A]

December 16, 2014
Wassily Kandinsky's 148th Birthday



Today, our homepage around the world marks the 148th birthday of influential Russian painter Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky. Kandinsky is credited with painting the first purely abstract work of art.

[9A]

March 2, 2019
Bedřich Smetana’s 195th Birthday

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https://www.google.com/doodles/bedri...195th-birthday

Today’s Doodle celebrates the son of an amateur violinist who became an eminent composer and conductor. Bedřich Smetana’s operas and symphonic poems, which are still performed all over the world, captured the character of his homeland and helped define the Czech national style of music.

Born in Leitomischl, Bohemia [[now Litomyšl, Czech Republic) on this day in 1824, Smetana was performing as a pianist by the time he was six years old. His childhood friend [[and future wife) Katerina Kolar helped him secure piano lessons with the composer Josef Proksch. In 1840 he wrote in his diary that he aspired to be “a Mozart in composition and a Liszt in technique." His early compositions impressed Franz Liszt enough that the Hungarian composer offered to find him a publisher.

[9A]

Dec 5, 2017
Veronika Dudarova’s 101st Birthday



In today’s Doodle, Google-hued lights shine on a group of musicians led by Veronika Dudarova, the first Russian woman to conduct an orchestra.

Born in 1916, Dudarova spent her formative years studying piano and musicology in the company of some of Russia’s most renowned musical talents. In 1947, she graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, joining the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra as a junior conductor. She spent 13 years in that role before taking over as principal conductor in 1960. In 1991, Dudarova formed the Symphony Orchestra of Russia, which she led until 2003.

One of the very few female conductors in the world, Dudarova holds the Guinness World Record as the only woman to lead a major symphony orchestra for more than 50 years. During her career, she won the State Russian Music Award, was named the People’s Artist of the USSR, and even had a minor planet named after her.