Google doodles

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9 Jul 2015
Aiga Rasch’s 74th Birthday




Aiga Rasch was a German illustrator, graphic designer and painter. Though her best-known work covered the youth mystery book series Die drei ??? [The Three Investigators], it doesn't take a detective to identifyAiga Rasch's signature style. In Germany, the book series gained a wide following, with Rasch's cover art propelling the books into unmistakeable icons. Her illustrations are concise and powerful, and the colorful covers impeccably translate the stories within.

From the very beginning of the Doodle, I worked with a team of German Googlers to learn more about Rasch’s work and her place in popular culture. We thought most people would recognize Rasch’s illustrations from Die drei ???, but we weren’t sure how best to present her work. Hopefully everyone who sees today's doodle is reminded of Aiga Rasch’s talent and skill in encapsulating their favorite mystery adventure in die Drei ???.

[9A]

9 Jul 2015
Argentina National Day 2015





In May of 1810, the region now called Argentina was gripped by revolution. The uprising there marked the beginning of South America’s separation from the Kingdom of Spain, and on July 9th, 1816, a council of deputies assembled in San Miguel de Tucumán declared Argentina an independent nation.

Today’s Doodle draws inspiration from Argentina’s national flower, the Ceibo, whose spectacular blooming period is known the world over. Artist Robinson Wood was struck by the way its curves and recesses trap and play with light, creating deep, shadowy hues of pink and red. Behind the Ceibo blossoms spread the fiery tendrils of the Sun of May--a symbol of the May Revolution of 1810 and the centerpiece of the Argentine flag.

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14 Jul 2015
Bastille Day 2015







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


Today's doodle is by a guest artist, French illustrator, animator and director Loup Blaster [[Louise Druelle). She created 3 separate looping animations representing the devise [or motto] from the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. Each animation shows a principle of the French Republic.

[9A]

20 Jul 2015
Colombia National Day 2015





Today’s Doodle by Robinson Wood includes the country’s national flower, the endangered yet enduring Flor de Mayo orchid. With 4,270 species nationwide, Colombia is home to the greatest diversity of orchids in the world; an incredible 1,752 of them are unique to the country.

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28 Jul 2015
Peru National Day 2015





Trek through the rough, scrubby terrain of the Peruvian Andes, and you’ll eventually come upon a vicuña. These llama-like mammals, legendary for their stunningly soft wool, were considered sacred in the eyes of the Incas.

Today, vicuñas are indigenous to not only the mountains, but also Peru’s coat of arms, where they symbolize the country’s diverse wildlife. And they hold a high place in Peruvian society as the country’s national animal. This mix of ancient reverence and modern pride inspired artist Robinson Wood for today’s Doodle — a celebration of independence for Peru National Day.

[9A]

6 Aug 2015
Adoniran Barbosa’s 105th Birthday






Versão em português veja abaixo

Music tells stories, stirs emotions, and inspires change, all while getting us to nod our heads along or burst into wild swings. The right mix of melody and message is a language all its own.

Adoniran Barbosa spoke that language fluently. In Brazil, he’s known as one of the most influential samba singers the genre’s ever seen. But he did more than craft toe-tapping tunes. Adoniran uplifted the working men and women of São Paulo with his expressive storytelling, bringing the city’s malocas and cortiços to life through iconic songs like Saudosa Maloca ["Shanty of Fond Memories"].

In his time, other artists and composers criticized Adoniran for using “wrong” Portuguese, the vernacular of the common people. Like most of history’s influencers, his unique musical identity resonated with his listeners through its brand of honesty and authenticity, vindicating his art as a musical milestone and a cherished relic of Brazilian samba. Adoniran’s drive to be different is why his music continues to inspire generations of samba composers.

[9A]

11 Aug 2015
Gustavo Cerati’s 56th Birthday





When he was 9 years old, Gustavo Cerati’s parents gave him his first guitar. Thus began the long career of one of the most unique, inspiring, and cherished Ibero-American rock musicians of all time.

Gustavo Cerati started his first band only a few years later. When Soda Stereo formed in 1982, Gustavo and his bandmates broke the mold on Latin rock, captivating Spanish-speaking audiences throughout the Americas, all the way across the ocean to Spain. After 15 years as a band, they said an emotional goodbye with El Último Concierto [The Last Concert].

Gustavo wasn’t done setting the stage for Latin rock. As a solo act, he’d release 5 albums and receive dozens of awards for his influence on Latin rock. His larger-than-life musical persona was so beloved that his passing in 2014 inspired tributes from musicians like Shakira and U2.

[9A]

15 Aug 2015
Korea Liberation Day 2015



Today’s Doodle celebrates the 70th anniversary of the independence of Korea with an image of the beloved Hibiscus syriacus flower, known locally as mugunghwa. White, pink and violet variations abound in the late summer and early fall, and its beauty and resilience carry deep symbolic meaning in Korean culture. The flower has been cherished on the Korean peninsula since antiquity, its name appears in the national anthem as a symbol of posterity, and the highest order bestowed by the South Korean government bears its name. It was only fitting, then, that we honor today’s holiday by reimagining our logo with the national flower of the Republic of Korea at its center.

[9A]

15 Aug 2015
India Independence Day 2015






At the heart of the Indian movement for independence were nonviolence and civil disobedience, a desire to protect the rights of minorities, and a cultural renaissance driven by voices of poets and writers. Today, we celebrate the people who labored tirelessly for Indian identity, leading to the ratification of the Indian Independence Act 1947.

Today’s Doodle drawn by Leon Hong depicts the Salt March of 1930, which served as the impetus of the Civil Disobedience Movement. At the end of the march, the dissenters boiled mud and produced illegal salt in defiance of unfair salt laws, resulting in more than 80,000 arrests.

Mahatma Gandhi led the 240-mile march to Dandi, inspiring millions of Indians to commit acts of civil disobedience and changing the way the world perceived the movement for Indian independence. The message of the historic 24-day march echoed around the world for years to come and significantly influenced activists like Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel in the US.

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17 Aug 2015
Indonesia Independence Day 2015





“We, the people of Indonesia, hereby declare the independence of Indonesia.”

This phrase, read by Sukarno, established modern-day Indonesia on the morning of August 17, 1945. While his words were confident, the times were not. Confusion ruled in post-World War II Indonesia, and many rural citizens didn’t believe the news of independence when it finally reached them. But the announcement proved the test of time.

This historic moment has since been enshrined in a monument, depicted in today’s Doodle by Robinson Wood. Sitting center is the speech, inscribed into a slab. Standing alongside are Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, the nascent country’s first president and vice president.

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24 Aug 2015
Duke Kahanamoku’s 125th Birthday





The story of Duke Kahanamoku--the Hawaiian who, in 1912, first drew the world’s collective gaze upon the art of surfing--reads like mythology. Born in Honolulu in 1890, he is credited in over a dozen feature films, surfed the world’s most imposing swells before Californians knew what surfing was, won five Olympic medals in swimming and was elected sheriff of his beloved home county thirteen times.

The Big Kahuna was a tremendous athlete, to be sure, and by all accounts staggeringly cool, but he also had a proclivity for heroics--one morning in 1925, just as dawn crept into the summer sky over Newport Beach, a 40-foot fishing vessel called the Thelma found herself in the grip of a sudden and violent squall. Waves hammered the Thelma’s deck, and the vessel succumbed to the thrashing breakers, stranding its crew in the surf. The Duke, who watched from the shore as he prepared for that morning’s ride, rushed headlong into the maelstrom with his surfboard and, along with three friends, managed to wrest twelve men from the clutches of the Pacific.

Despite his charisma on the screen and two decades of Olympic triumphs, it is perhaps for moments like these--for his character, his ease in the water, his deep and unending love of Hawaii and her oceans--that Duke Kahanamoku is remembered most. He brought surfing to the world, and by force of his magnetism and singularly Hawaiian spirit helped The Islands achieve statehood. Today, on his 125th birthday, Matt Cruickshank recalls the legend of the “Ambassador of Aloha” with a Doodle of his iconic, 16-foot wooden surfboard and his warm, blithe smile. “Most importantly,” a reverent surfer remarks in a documentary about The Duke, “he was pure Hawaiian”.

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24 Aug 2015
Ukraine Independence Day 2015







Today we honor Ukrainian heritage with a reimagining of our logo as a traditional Ukrainian rushnyk. Embroidery has ancient roots in Ukraine, and so does the cultural significance of the kalyna digitally stitched into the center of today’s Doodle. This flowery shrub features prominently in Ukrainian literature, music, and folklore as a symbol of posterity and irrevocable family bonds, and often appears on the rushnyks sewn to celebrate Ukrainian births and weddings.

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26 August 2015
La Tomatina 70th Anniversary








All around Buñol on the last Wednesday of every August, storefronts are shuttered. Trucks hauling thousands of pounds of tomatoes grown and harvested specifically for this day head for Plaza del Pueblo, the town square, where a Spanish ham is suspended from the top of a greased pole. What ensues once this ham is successfully retrieved [or not retrieved, as is often the case, by a succession of hapless climber] is arguably the world’s largest food fight: La Tomatina. For a moment of blissful, heartwarmingly innocuous chaos, tens of thousands of visitors to this small Spanish town indulge a universal childhood fantasy and shower each other with tomatoes in a wild, watery mess.

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31 Aug 2015
Malaysia Independence Day 2015







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

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

[9A]

31 Aug 2015
Start of the 2015 US Open Tennis Championship






To usher in the 37th US Open played at Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York, we thought we’d imagine what our letters would look like playing tennis. Fortunately, Serena Williams can’t hit a through-body lob like today’s “O”, but she could be the first woman to win a Grand Slam since Poison had a number-one single. Here’s to a great tradition in American sports and the possibility of a historic moment at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

[9A]

4 Sept 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.

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7 Sept 2015
Brazil's Independence Day 2015

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8 Sept 2015
First Day of School 2015 [Canada]







School’s back in session! Happy first day to all of the students and teachers who are welcoming the start of a new school year. We talked to Doodler Olivia When about today’s animated doodle to learn more.

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9 Sept 2015
Tahia Halim’s 96th Birthday




Today's doodle celebrates the 96th birthday of Egyptian painter, Tahia Halim, who passed away in 2003. Halim was born in 1919, and grew up inside the Egyptian Royal Palace of King Faoud. As a young girl she fell in love with painting, and paused her formal education in order to study with master painters in Egypt and France.

Halim painted many of her best known pieces in the 1960s, which depict the Nubian people of and culture of the Nile in Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan. She was first sent there to document the process of building the Aswan High Dam on the Nile, which flooded much of Nuba and forced the relocation of over 100,000 Nubians. She was fascinated by the Nubian women and scenes of old Nuba. She tried to capture much of that world in her paintings and drawings before it was changed irrecoverably by the new dam and resulting Nasser Lake.

Many paintings since that trip depict the Nile, boats, and Nubian village people—especially local women—going about their daily work. Figures and gestures are reduced to simple, evocative forms that encapsulate the beauty and vibrancy of the Southern Nile. Despite the poverty she found in Nuba, Halim's work reflects the rich colors and authenticity of the Nubian people, their architecture and their daily life. Her folkloric impressionist style and signature brush strokes during that period captured the unique and intangible characteristics of the Egyptian people, and honored the ancient Egyptian spirit that is still living within people in Nuba.

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13 Sept 2015
22nd anniversary of the official recognition of French traditional bread








It’s difficult to appreciate something as humble as a loaf of bread--the transformative powers of yeast, the unequivocal and even legal necessity of proper kneading--without having tried to bake one yourself. So while artist Matt Cruickshank sketched today’s Doodle, we tried. A lot.
There's nothing quite like freshly baked bread. Its magic transcends the sum of its parts: the crunch of the crust, the spring of the crumb; the way its scent suffuses the air with warmth.

The perfect baguette--if it exists--is elusive, and the French bakers capable of producing anything close are true artisans. To celebrate the French government’s 1993 décret pain, we offer a look into our enthusiastic, sometimes moderately successful, often mutated attempts at proper French bread.

[9A]

16 Sept 2015
Mexico National Day 2015





On September 16th, 1810, at the heels of revolutionary leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexico declared herself a free state and began its eleven-year struggle for independence from Spain. To celebrate the centennial of this moment in Mexican history, a team of artists and engineers erected the gold victory column that juts into the sky above Mexico City and finds itself at the center of today’s Doodle. The statue--a rendering of Nike, the Winged Goddess of Victory--holds a severed chain in her left hand and sits atop a mausoleum in which the remains of Mexico’s most cherished revolutionary figures are entombed.

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17 Sept 2015
M.F. Husain’s 100th Birthday




Today's Doodle celebrates the 100th birthday of one of India's most renowned and multifaceted artists, M.F. Husain, who passed away June 9th, 2011, at the age of 95.

Maqbool Fida Husain, commonly known as M.F. Husain, has been called "The Picasso of India.” This was partly due to his modernist, slightly cubist paintings and to the sheer volume of work he produced. His middle name, Fida, can be translated as “obsessed” or “devoted,” which could also describe his approach to making art.

Husain’s first love was cinema and he originally set out to become a film director in Bombay. But in order to make a living, he got a job painting film billboards and making toys. Painting soon became his passion, and inspired by the changes in India in the late 1940s, he helped found The Progressive Artists Group of Bombay [PAG]. He and his fellow artists attempted to address Indian themes, culture and people in a modern way and bring Indian art to an international audience. Husain became particularly known for his energetic painting of horses and serial depictions of classic narratives such as the Mahabharata.

Eventually the recognition and acclaim he received from his early paintings led him back to cinema. With funding from the government of India, he wrote and directed his first film, Through the Eyes of a Painter. The success of that first film led to film projects and a close relationship with cinema that he would maintain throughout the rest of his life. Still he continued to paint, make prints, take photos and find new themes and ideas to explore. He was ever restless, ever prolific and energized by the world around him.

As he said in a television interview in 2010, "What is this physical presence? In today's world with so much technology and communication you are everywhere and a creative person is not bound by any geography." This doodle celebrates Husain's unapologetic devotion to beauty, people, and the world.

[9A]

18 Sept 2015
Chile National Day 2015






History tells us that Chileans are a brave, resilient people. On September 18th, 1810, in an open forum, the “First Government Assembly" was created, setting in motion the independence of Chile. Today, we celebrate Fiestas Patrias with a Doodle of an Araucaria, the towering national tree of Chile which – in the wake of the September 16th earthquake – symbolizes the strength of Chileans to stand tall in the face of adversity.

This Chilean pine [or Pehuén], known for its lofty stature and thousand-year-old origins, was illustrated by guest Doodler, Patrick Leger. Like this tree, we know that Chile will withstand, and overcome, any challenge that appears before it.

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23 Sept 2015
Saudi Arabia National Day 2015







Seated on the central coast of the Red Sea, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second largest city, is home to the magnificent display of maritime engineering seen at the center of today’s Doodle. Spraying a plume of water nearly 1,000 feet in the air, King Fahad’s Fountain is the tallest manmade geyser in the world. At night, the immense stream and its trails of mist are illuminated by over 500 high-intensity spotlights, a spectacle that dominates the night sky above Jeddah and can be seen from all over the city.

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12 July 2014
World Cup 2014 #61

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13 Jul 2014
World Cup 2014 – Final

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14 Jul 2014
World Cup 2014 #63 – Germany

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1 February 2020
Lelia Gonzalez's 85th birthday





Today’s Doodle celebrates Brazilian anthropologist and activist Lélia Gonzalez, widely known as one of the most influential figures of the 20th-century black civil rights and feminist movements of Brazil.

Born in Belo Horizonte on this day in 1935, at a young age Gonzalez moved to Rio de Janeiro and entered a high school that forced her to deny her black-indigenous heritage to be accepted by teachers and white classmates. Experiences such as this inspired Gonzalez to preserve her Afro-Brazilian culture and become the first in her family to pursue higher education. She continued on to earn her PhD in Social Anthropology and started her acclaimed career as a cultural studies professor.

Gonzalez utilized her academic work to advocate against racial and gender discrimination and outside of universities, she was a dedicated activist. In 1978, she co-founded the Unified Black Movement which is considered to be among the most impactful black civil rights organizations in Brazil.

Gonzalez began to travel around the world as a representative of the group and spread its message of social justice. She recognized the power of these movements to propagate change and co-founded Brazil’s first women’s rights group, the Nzinga Collective of Women, in 1983.

Gonzalez’s passion to free the world of racism and sexism will be remembered by many generations to come. In honor of her landmark achievements, The United Nations of Brazil named a new building after Lélia Gonzalez in 2015.

[9A]

2 Feb 2020
Celebrating Mary Somerville




Today’s Doodle honors the legacy of groundbreaking Scottish scientist Mary Somerville. On this day in 1826, one of Somerville’s experimental physics papers was read by the Royal Society of London, the UK’s National Science Academy. It became the first paper by a female author to be published in the prestigious Philosophical Transactions, the world’s oldest science publication, which is still active today.

Born in Jedburgh, Scotland, on December 26th, 1790, into a distinguished family of humble means, Sommerville spent her early years helping her mother with chores around the house and enjoying nature in the family garden. At the age of 10, her father returned from overseas and decided to send her to a boarding school for a proper education.

It was at boarding school that her art teacher explained how the fundamentals of painting could be traced back to Euclid’s Elements of Geometry. After acquiring a copy of the classic book, Somerville delved into teaching herself astronomy and mathematics. Following years of independent learning and research, she went on to publish her own scientific papers and books.

In 1831, Somerville’s The Mechanism of the Heavens revolutionized the existing understanding of the solar system. This highly-praised essay laid the groundwork for her breakthrough book, The Connection of the Physical Sciences [[1834), which became among the best selling science books of the 19th century. Its third edition in 1836 provided the clues astronomer John Couch Adams needed to discover Neptune.

In Connection, Somerville revealed the underlying links between the different disciplines of physical science, on which a reviewer of the book first coined the word “scientist” to describe this multidisciplinary approach.

Not one to be pigeonholed, Somerville was also a vocal advocate for equal rights and the first person to sign the 1866 women’s suffrage petition.

In 2016, the Institute of Physics celebrated Sommerville’s innovative thinking, which paved the way for the ever-increasing number of women in STEM fields, by introducing the Mary Somerville Medal and Prize for scientists who engage the public through their work.

[9A]

6 Feb 2020
María Teresa Vera's 125th birthday





Today’s Doodle honors the life and work of Cuban singer and guitarist María Teresa Vera, who also composed the nation’s rural folk song style, trova. Known as the Grande Dame of Cuban Music, she is widely regarded as one of the country’s most influential musicians.

Born on this day in 1895 in Guanajay, Cuba, Vera picked up the guitar at a young age after becoming a part of a bohemian community of trova musicians. Known as “troubadours,” the wandering street entertainers taught Vera how to compose trova songs and perform the genre’s poetic lyrical vocals together with the guitar. In 1911, Vera performed her first concert in Havana‘s Politeama Grande theater.

One of the first female voices of trova, Vera formed several successful duos and bands to perform original compositions along with her interpretations of other Cuban styles. Some of her songs became regular features on Havana’s radio stations, and her music helped to clear the path for the rise of popular Cuban music around the world in the 1930s and 40s. Throughout her career, she recorded close to two hundred songs, but those close to her say she could play more than a thousand.

Her lifetime accomplishments in music have a lasting impact and inspired a tribute album, “A María Teresa Vera” [“For María Teresa Vera”], a collection of songs recorded to celebrate her 100th birthday.

[9A]

7 February 2015
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 148th Birthday






Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in 1867 in a log cabin in the “Big Woods” of Wisconsin. Her beloved Little House books, chronicling her family’s hardscrabble journeys through the American frontier, stand as a notable achievement of early American literature. The television series based on the books—a staple for viewers in the 70s—brought legions of new fans to her work.

[9A]

5 Feb 2015
Gabriel Vargas’ 100th Birthday




Gabriel Bernal Vargas was a Mexican cartoonist, whose comic strip La Familia Burrón was created in 1937. This cartoon has been described as one of the most important in Mexican popular culture. Vargas won Mexico's "Premio Nacional de Periodismo" [National Journalism Prize] in 1983 and the "Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes en el área de Tradiciones Populares" [National Sciences and Arts Prize] in 2003.

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3 Feb 2015
Setsubun 2015



Setsubun is the day before the beginning of spring in the old calendar in Japan. The name literally means 'seasonal division', referring to the day just before the first day of spring in the traditional calendar, known as Setsubun; though previously referring to a wider range of possible dates, Setsubun is now typically held on February 3 with the day after – the first day of spring in the old calendar – known as Risshun.

Both Setsubun and Risshun are celebrated yearly as part of the Spring Festival in Japan. In its association with the Lunar New Year, Setsubun, though not the official New Year, was thought of as similar in its ritual and cultural associations of 'cleansing' the previous year as the beginning of the new season of spring. Setsubun was accompanied by a number of rituals and traditions held at various levels to drive away the previous year's bad fortunes and evil spirits for the year to come.

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2 Feb 2015
110th Anniversary of first publication of Bécassine



Bécassine is a French comic strip and the name of its heroine, appearing for the first time in the first issue of La Semaine de Suzette on February 2, 1905. She is considered one of the first female protagonists in the history of French comics.

Bécassine is one of the most enduring French comics of all time, iconic in its home country, and with a long history in syndication and publication.

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2 Feb 2015
Chen Cheng-po's 120th birthday










Chen Cheng-po, a famous Taiwanese painters from Jiayi, was killed by the Chinese Nationalist Army in 228 Incident, 1947.

The artist, whose work combines modern Western and traditional Chinese influences, was shot by Chinese Nationalist troops during an anti-government uprising known as the February 28 Incident.
Chen Cheng- Po's show: 'Hidden Talent' has been the most popular exhibiton in 2015 with a 13,860 daily visitors and a total of 1,607,736 visitors.

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22 September 2019
Junko Tabei’s 80th Birthday




“Do not give up,” said Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei, when asked for advice. “Keep on your quest.”

Born on this day in 1939, Tabei was raised in Miharu, a small town in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture. She discovered the joy of climbing at age 10 during a class trip to Mount Nasu. Though she was the first woman to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, Tabei once said she preferred to be remembered as the 36th person to climb the world’s highest mountain peak.

“I did not intend to be the first woman on Everest,” she explained. Still, it's undeniable that the 4-foot-9 [144.8 centimeter] mother of two made history in 1969 when she founded Japan’s first Ladies Climbing Club, defying the traditional notion that women should stay at home and clean the house.

The Everest expedition started in the spring of 1975 with 15 climbers and 6 sherpas. At an elevation of 9,000 feet [2,743.2 meters], their camp was buried by an avalanche. After 3 days of recovery, Tabei continued with the climb, reaching the summit on May 16, 1975, accompanied only by the sherpa Ang Tshering.

After returning from the summit, she received congratulations from Japan’s Emperor, Crown Prince, and Princess, among others. “It took two months until I could settle at home,” she recalled. “My three-year-old daughter was scared of all the cameras."

Excited more by mountain climbing than media attention, Tabei continued to scale new heights, including the “seven summits”—the highest peaks on each continent—as depicted in today’s Doodle. Even when battling illness, she continued climbing.

Tabei eventually reached mountaintops in 76 different countries.

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2 August 2018
Celebrating Mount Olympus





According to ancient Greek mythology, Mount Olympus is the home of the gods. Should mere mortals dare to climb so high? On this day In 1913, three courageous climbers answered “yes,” scaling this 9,573-foot summit sculpted with deep ravines and abrupt upgrades. Swiss photographer Frédéric Boissonnas, his friend Daniel Baud-Bovy, and Christos Kakkalos, a Greek hunter who served as their guide, set off in treacherous weather.

Kakkalos knew the mountain so well that he scaled its sharp inclines barefoot. The Swiss had some experience in mountaineering, but Boissonnas had to lug heavy photographic equipment up the mountain. He and his friend, Baud-Bovy, were tied together with a rope, standard procedure for such expeditions.

During their climb, the summit where Greek gods were said to reside was wreathed with storm clouds, and the climbers mistook a lesser peak for the home of the gods. Thinking their ascent was done, the elated adventurers wrote cards describing their feat and put the notes in a bottle that they buried on a crest they christened Victory Top. When the mist cleared, they spied another, more impressive peak, called Mytikas.

With Kakkalos in the lead, the men continued upward, scrambling across the slippery gorge. Boissonnas later wrote that he was compelled by the fire of Prometheus, who stole fire from Athena and Hephaestus’ workshop on Mount Olympus, gifting it to humans to help them in their labors.

Today’s Doodle celebrates their accomplishment and the fire that inspired them.

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2 August 2012
Table Tennis 2012






Table tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London took place from Saturday 28 July to Wednesday 8 August 2012 at ExCeL London. 174 athletes, 86 men and 88 women, competed in four events. Table tennis has appeared at the Summer Olympics on six previous occasions beginning with the 1988 Games in Seoul. In addition to men's and women's singles, the team events were staged for the second time since replacing doubles events at the 2008 Beijing Games. China was the defending champion in each of the Olympic events having won all 4 gold medals in 2008.

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27 Jul 2012
Opening Ceremony 2012





The 2012 Summer Olympics [officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad and commonly known as London 2012] was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, United Kingdom. The first event, the group stage in women's football, began on 25 July at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, followed by the opening ceremony on 27 July. 10,768 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees [NOCs] participated.

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28 Jul 2012
Archery 2012

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29 Jul 2012
Diving 2012

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30 Jul 2012
Fencing 2012

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31 Jul 2012
Rings 2012

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1 Aug 2012
Hockey 2012

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3 Aug 2012
Shot Put 2012

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4 Aug 2012
Pole Vault 2012

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5 Aug 2012
Synchronised Swimming 2012

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6 Aug 2012
Javelin 2012

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7 Aug 2012
Hurdles 2012

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8 Aug 2012
Basketball 2012