Google doodles

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20 January 2010
Festival of San Sebastian




The San Sebastián Street Festival is a Puerto Rican festival that takes place in the Old San Juan, in honor of Saint Sebastian, celebrated by the Catholic Church on January 20. The event starts the third Thursday of January through Sunday with an attendance of more than 200,000 people, making this activity recognized internationally. The celebration has been introduced in Florida and Texas in the 2010s.The festivals are characterized by the presence of “Cabezudos” as well as the Puerto Rican artisan market, and it variety of food and rums and more than 6,000 persons participate.

[9A]

21 Jan 2010
Grandparent's Day 2010 - Poland

[9A]

4 February 2013
Last day of the Canadian Penny




Production of the penny ceased in May 2012, and the Royal Canadian Mint ceased distribution of them as of February 4, 2013. However, like all other discontinued currency in the Canadian monetary system, the coin remains legal tender. Nevertheless, once distribution of the coin ceased, vendors were no longer expected to return pennies as change for cash purchases, and were encouraged to round purchases to the nearest five cents. Non-cash transactions are still denominated to the cent.

[9A]

10 Feb 2013
Chinese New Year 2013

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6 Mar 2013
Ghana Independence Day 2013




The Independence Day of Ghana is a national holiday celebrated yearly. This day is an official state holiday for the citizens of Ghana both within and in the diaspora to honour and celebrate the Heroes of Ghana who led the country to attain its independence. The Independence Day is celebrated on March 6 every year. Independence Day is also remembrance of the day that marks the declaration of Ghanaian independence from the British colonial rule

[9A]

7 Mar 2013
Volodymyr Dakhno's 81st Birthday







Volodymyr Dakhno was a Ukrainian animator, animation film director and scriptwriter. He was a laureate of the Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine [1988], and a People's Artist of Ukraine [1996]. Dakhno was best known for the animation series Cossacks. He worked at Kievnauchfilm, which has since been renamed Ukranimafilm.

[9A]

9 Mar 2013
Luis Barragan's 111th Birthday






Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín was a Mexican architect and engineer. His work has influenced contemporary architects visually and conceptually. Barragán's buildings are frequently visited by international students and professors of architecture. He studied as an engineer in his home town, while undertaking the entirety of additional coursework to obtain the title of architect.

Barragán won the Pritzker Prize, the highest award in architecture, in 1980, and his personal home, the Luis Barragán House and Studio, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

[9A]

10 Mar 2013
Joseph von Eichendorff's 225th Birthday







Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff was a German poet, novelist, playwright, literary critic, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of Romanticism. Ever since their publication and up to the present day, some of his works have been very popular in Germany.

[9A]

12 Mar 2013
André Le Nôtre's 400th Birthday








André Le Nôtre, originally rendered as André Le Nostre, 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, and his work represents the height of the French formal garden style, or jardin à la française.

[9A]

17 Mar 2013
St Patrick's Day 2013








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[9A]

10 April 2019
First Image of a Black Hole








A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing—no particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole. The boundary of no escape is called the event horizon. Although it has an enormous effect on the fate and circumstances of an object crossing it, according to general relativity it has no locally detectable features. In many ways, a black hole acts like an ideal black body, as it reflects no light. Moreover, quantum field theory in curved spacetime predicts that event horizons emit Hawking radiation, with the same spectrum as a black body of a temperature inversely proportional to its mass. This temperature is on the order of billionths of a kelvin for black holes of stellar mass, making it essentially impossible to observe directly.

[9A]

12 Apr 2019
100th Anniversary of Bauhaus






Both a school for the arts and a school of thought, the Bauhaus was founded by architect Walter Gropius exactly 100 years ago in Weimar, Germany, gathering many of Europe’s most brilliant artists and designers with the aim of training a new generation of creatives to reinvent the world. Today’s animated Doodle celebrates the legacy of this institution and the worldwide movement it began, which transformed the arts by applying the principle “form follows function.”

Gropius envisioned the Bauhaus—whose name means “house of building”—as a merger of craftsmanship, the “fine” arts, and modern technology. His iconic Bauhaus Building in Dessau was a forerunner of the influential “International Style,” but the impact of the Bauhaus’s ideas and practices reached far beyond architecture. Students of the Bauhaus received interdisciplinary instruction in carpentry, metal, pottery, stained glass, wall painting, weaving, graphics, and typography, learning to infuse even the simplest functional objects [[like the ones seen in today's Doodle) with the highest artistic aspirations.

Steering away from luxury and toward industrial mass production, the Bauhaus attracted a stellar faculty including painters Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, photographer and sculptor László Moholy-Nagy, graphic designer Herbert Bayer, industrial designer Marianne Brandt, and Marcel Breuer, whose Model B3 tubular chair changed furniture design forever.

Though the Bauhaus officially disbanded on August 10, 1933, its students returned to 29 countries, founding the New Bauhaus in Chicago, Black Mountain College in North Carolina, and White City in Tel Aviv. Bauhaus affiliates also took leadership positions at the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Harvard School of Architecture, and the Museum of Modern Art. Through all of these institutions, and the work created in their spirit, the ideas of the Bauhaus live on.

[9A]

13 Apr 2019
Songkran 2019





Marking the beginning of the Thai New Year, today’s Doodle celebrates Songkran, a three-day holiday that has been known to last for a whole week.

While the original festivities involved sprinkling water on one another for purification, and washing away bad luck for the year to come, Songkran has evolved into one big, joyous national water fight. In Chiang Mai, the action starts a day early with a grand procession around the northern Thai city. The Bangkok street party known as Silom takes place along a 4-kilometer street replete with vendors selling water balloons, squirt guns, street food, and drinks. On the island of Phuket, pickup trucks filled with water throwers patrol the crowded streets near the Patong Beach area, while live music and cultural events take place in Phuket Town’s Saphan Hin Park.

Songkran is also a time for spring cleaning, spending time with family and loved ones, and paying respect to time-honored cultural traditions.

[9A]

22 Apr 2019
Earth Day 2019










Happy Earth Day 2019!
This year's annual Earth Day Doodle takes us around the planet we call home to discover some of the awe-inspiring organisms which inhabit it. Specifically, the interactive slideshow Doodle explores six organisms across elevations—along with their earthly superlative!
Get a sneak peek of our featured creatures below:

Wandering AlbatrossThe widest wingspan of any living birdCoastal RedwoodThe tallest tree in the worldPaedophryne AmauensisHolds the world record for smallest frog, and smallest vertebrateAmazon Water LilyAmong the world’s largest aquatic plantsCoelacanthAt 407-million-years old, it’s one of the world’s oldest living speciesDeep Cave SpringtailAmong the deepest-dwelling terrestrial creatures

[9A]

23 Apr 2019
St. George's Day 2019









St. George became a heroic figure of legend who was declared Patron Saint of England in 1348. Today’s Doodle by London-based guest artist Alice Pattullo celebrates St. George’s Day, which became an English feast day in 1415.

April 23 is also the day when the Order of the Garter, England’s highest honor of knighthood, is awarded by the English monarch with a medal bearing an image of St. George in battle with the mythical dragon. In fact, the Order of the Garter banners displayed in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle were a source of inspiration for Alice’s final Doodle concept: "I love the simple applique graphics and the bold heraldic colours," she notes.

St. George’s valor has always held a special significance for the people of England. His flag [a red cross on a field of white] will fly all across the country today and many English people will wear a red rose on their lapel, inspired by the legend that a red bloom grew on the martyr’s grave. Traditional celebrations include parades, dancing, and gatherings at historic sites featuring hog roasts and all manner of medieval-themed merriment.

[9A]

27 Apr 2019
South Africa Freedom Day 2019







Today South Africa celebrates Freedom Day, the anniversary of the historic elections of 1994, which ended more than 300 years of segregation and colonial rule and established a new democratic government in the former Dutch and British colony.

“On this day, you, the people, took your destiny into your own hands,” said Nelson Mandela on the first anniversary of the election that made him president of South Africa. “Your patience, your discipline, your single-minded purposefulness have become a legend throughout the world.”

Parades, speeches by national leaders, and musical performances will take place at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the nation’s capital. All across South Africa, the nation’s multicolored flag—as shown in today’s Doodle—will fly with its Y-shaped design representing the convergence of cultures with a shared vision for a better future.

[9A]

27 Apr 2019
Abraham Valdelomar’s 131st Birthday






Today’s Doodle celebrates Abraham Valdelomar, the Peruvian writer, illustrator, and founder of literary journals who was a fixture of the cultural life centering around the Palais Concert, a famous café in downtown Lima.

Growing up in the small coastal town of Pisco, Peru, Valdelomar moved to the capital city with his family at age 5, and published his first magazine while still in school. By 1906, he was working as an illustrator for the magazine Applause and Whistles. While serving in the Peruvian Army, he chronicled the conflict with Ecuador for the publication El Diario. In 1913 he worked with the Peruvian Embassy in Rome, writing a newspaper column called “Chronicles of Rome.”

A witty caricaturist who authored books, short stories, essays, and journalistic pieces, Valdelomar is fondly remembered for his cuentos criollos, or local stories set in his beloved Pisco. The most famous of these is El Caballero Carmelo, the tragicomic tale of an old fighting rooster, first published in the newspaper La Nación de Lima.

In 1916, Valdelomar founded the literary magazine Colónida, which included his own work as well as that of a new wave of young literary talent in Perú, including the poet José María Eguren.

Today, Valdelomar’s legacy lives on through his prolific writings. His image also appears on Perú’s 50 Sol note, a testament to his standing as one of the country’s most esteemed authors.

[9A]

28 Apr 2019
Na Hye-sok’s 123rd Birthday






Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and work of Na Hye-sok, Korea’s first female painter and a strong advocate of women’s empowerment.

Born in Suwon on this day in 1896, Na grew up in a prominent family who encouraged her independent spirit. During a time when most Korean women were expected to be strictly wives and mothers, she aspired to become an artist and author.

At age 17, she traveled to Japan to study Western oil painting at Tokyo Arts College, where she organized the Association of Korean Women Students. Refusing an offer of marriage arranged by her family, she took a job as a teacher.

After graduation, Na took part in a public protest resulting in her arrest. She fell in love with Kim Woo-young, the lawyer who was hired to defend her, and married him a year later. Afterwards, she continued to pursue her artistic career, and her work was even part of a special government-sponsored exhibition.

Na began to write essays critical of traditional Korean marriage, and she also published the first feminist fiction in Korea. She further shocked Korean society by advocating for women’s rights across a variety of topics widely considered taboo at the time. In the year 2000, the Seoul Arts Center organized a retrospective exhibit of her paintings. Today in Korea, Na is recognized for her art and her bold contributions to women’s empowerment.

[9A]

28 Apr 2019
Evangelina Elizondo’s 90th Birthday







Today’s Doodle by Mexico City-based guest artist Valeria Alvarez celebrates Evangelina Elizondo, an actress who starred in movies, television shows, and musical theater during an era known as Mexican Cinema’s Golden Age. Born Gloria Evangelina Elizondo López-Llera in Mexico City on this day in 1929, the multi-talented artist was also an accomplished painter, author, and recording artist.

Elizondo’s big break came after being cast as the voice of Cinderella in the Spanish version of the Disney classic. She later made her stage debut dancing in the 1950 stage production of Mariano Azuelo’s Los de Abajo [The Underdogs] and also appeared in Mame and La Viuda Alegre [The Merry Widow] with Plácido Domingo.

Elizondo’s first on-screen appearance came in the 1951 film, Las locuras de Tin-Tan, with Germán “Tin-Tan” Valdés. She would act in over 75 films, specializing in comedies and musicals. “I do not like drama at all,” she said. “I do not want dramas in my life. What I've always wanted is to amuse the public, to whom I owe my career.” In 1995, she appeared with Anthony Quinn and Keanu Reeves in A Walk in the Clouds.

Elizondo also performed in several telenovelas, and her iconic character “Mamá Lena” in Mirada de Mujer was beloved by millions. She continued studying art throughout her life and also earned a degree in theology. The author of two books, she received a Harlequin Prize in 2014 for her contributions to Mexican culture.

[9A]

30 Apr 2019
Last day of the Heisei Period






Today’s Doodle honors the end of an era in Japan—literally—as the sun sets on the Heisei period, whose name translates to “achieving peace.” The nation’s 247th gengō, or era name, began with the ascension of Emperor Akihito in January 8, 1989, and comes to an end as the emperor steps down to make way for his eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito.

The tradition of naming eras dates back to 645 A.D. when Japan’s Emperor Kōtoku took the throne, ushering in a series of reforms to bring about a fair system of government. To emphasize what he hoped would be a fresh start for Japan he adapted the Chinese practice of giving his era a name. Emperor Kōtoku chose Taika meaning “great change.”

Historically, era names have often been inspired by classical Confucian texts and debated by high-ranking officials of the imperial court in a time-honored process of deliberation known as nanchin. Specifically, the gengō aims to express a vision for the future and speaks to the hopes and dreams of the Japanese people.

[9A]

1 May 2019
Celebrating the New Era






Today’s Doodle celebrates the dawning of a new era in Japan as the Reiwa period begins! The name of the nation’s 248th era consists of two Japanese kanji characters that can be translated into English as “beautiful harmony.”

Historically, each gengō — as the names of eras are known – has been inspired by classical Confucian texts and debated by high-ranking officials of the imperial court in a time-honored process known as nanchin. The gengō aims to express a vision for the future and speak to the hopes and dreams of the Japanese people.

The previous Heisei era [which means “achieving peace”] began when Emperor Akihito succeeded his father, Emperor Hirohito, on January 8, 1989. Emperor Akihito announced plans to step down in 2016, a departure from the tradition that emperors reign throughout their life.

The name Reiwa was taken from the Man'yōshū [“Collection of 10,000 Leaves”], which is the oldest surviving collection of Japanese poetry. The specific passage reads “It is now the choice month of early spring, the weather is fine, the wind is soft. The plum blossom opens...”

[9A]

1 May 2019

Labour Day 2019



Labour Day, celebrated around the globe on 1 May, is a day dedicated to labourers of the working class.

The day originated in the US in the 19th century when the labour union movement rose up against unjust working conditions and demanded better pay, reasonable hours, and paid leaves.

The holiday originated in the US city of Chicago in 1886 as a protest in support of an eight-hour workday and saw thousands of labourers around the country take to the streets. The day commemorates the Haymarket affair, which took place on 4 May.

The Haymarket affair began as a peaceful labour rally near Chicago's Haymarket Square before turning violent when a protestor threw a bomb at police. At least eight people died as a result of the explosion, which led to the conviction of eight radical labour activists.

In some countries, such as Ethiopia, South Africa, and Brazil, the public holiday is referred to as International Worker’s Day or just Worker’s day.

In the US Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September rather than in May.

[9A]

4 May 2019
Eddie Aikau’s 73rd Birthday






Today’s Doodle celebrates Eddie Aikau, big wave surfer, lifeguard, and enduring symbol of Hawaiian heritage. Born on the island of Maui on this day in 1946, Eddie moved to Oahu with his family in 1959 and went on to become the first lifeguard hired by Honolulu officials to work on the North Shore of the island.

Not a single life was lost while he served as a lifeguard at Waimea Bay, making some 500 rescues without the assistance of a jet ski or any modern equipment. Eddie was famous for making rescues even in surf that reached 30 feet high. His fearlessness went on to inspire the slogan “Eddie would go.”

Hailing from a surfing family, Eddie was one of the first native Hawaiians to win the prestigious Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship in 1977, just four years after his older brother Clyde, who was the very first. Aside from his distinguished surfing career, Eddie found other ways to represent the culture of his native island. In 1978, Eddie joined the crew of the Hokule'a, a historically accurate double-hulled canoe retracing the ancient Polynesian migration route to Hawaii. The vessel sprung a leak and capsized in rough waters. Eddie was last seen heroically paddling off on his surfboard towards the nearest island to seek help for the crew, who were later rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Today, Eddie’s legacy lives on through the Eddie Aikau Foundation as well as the prestigious Eddie Aikau Invitational, which has seen some of big-wave surfing’s greatest names competing with maximum respect for the authenticity of surf culture.

[9A]

5 May 2019
Stanislaw Moniuszko’s 200th Birthday






Today’s Doodle by Warsaw-based illustrator Gosia Herba honors Stanisław Moniuszko, the Polish musician, composer, conductor, and teacher. Born on May 5, 1819, Moniuszko went on to become director of the Warsaw Opera House where he premiered many of his own works, including one of the most beloved operas in Polish history.

After being taught music by his mother as a child, Moniuszko was sent to study harmony, counterpoint, instrumentation, and conducting with the director of the Singakademie Music Society. There, he decided to become a composer, with a special interest in the human voice.

While working as an organist in Wilno, Moniuszko began writing his songbook, Śpiewnik Domowy [Home Songbook], publishing the first of 12 volumes in 1843. During a trip to Warsaw, he met the poet Włodzimierz Wolski, who’d written a libretto for an opera named Halka, based on a Polish folk story.

Moniuszko composed the music, drawing inspiration from traditional Polish dance music known as polonaises and mazurkas. Halka premiered in Wilno in 1848 and later traveled to Prague, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. Expanded to four acts in 1858, the opera was hailed as a Polish cultural treasure, making Moniuszko a national hero.

A statue of Moniuszko stands outside Warsaw’s Opera House to this day, and his legacy lives on in The Stanislaw Moniuszko Music Academy in Gdansk. An international vocal competition in his name also takes place every three years. In it, finalists compete for a chance to sing with Poland’s National Opera on the stage where Moniuszko’s legend began.

[9A]

6 May 2019
US Teacher Appreciation Week 2019 Begins!








Happy Teacher Appreciation Week 2019 to teachers across the United States!

Throughout the week, Google is celebrating the classroom heroes supporting their students every day. Today’s Doodle was created in partnership with the 57 2019 US State Teachers of the Year who visited Google in January for their first group meeting and explores the theme “A day in the life of a teacher.”
Below, 2019 National Teacher of the Year, Rodney Robinson, shares his experiences in the classroom—as well as his experience working on today’s Doodle!:

My decision to go into teaching—and even the ways that I approach my students and classroom—was inspired by my mother, Sylvia Robinson. Growing up in rural Virginia, she dreamed of becoming an educator but was denied the chance due to poverty and segregation.

I’ve now been teaching for over 19 years, and today, I teach social studies in a juvenile detention facility in Virginia. When I was selected as Virginia Teacher of the Year, and eventually National Teacher of the Year, I was excited to have the opportunity to share my students’ stories and to advocate for them—and all students from underprivileged backgrounds—to get the great education they deserve.

I was also excited to connect with incredible teachers from across the country. Earlier this year, my fellow State Teachers of the Year and I flew in from every corner of the United States to meet in-person for the first time at Google headquarters. The week was full of workshops and activities, including one session in which every teacher was asked to dream up their own Doodles to show the world a day in the life of a teacher. When I thought about a day in my own life, my students—whose stories aren’t often told—rose to the forefront.

I often tell my students, “Sometimes in life, a temporary setback [detention] is what you need to refocus and dedicate yourself to achieving your dreams.” I kept that phrase—and my students—in mind as I created my Doodle, which I hoped would express the power of education for my students. In my Doodle, I drew some jail bars to represent detention, paired with a library book and couch to represent an opportunity for education, therapy, and healing. Finally, I drew a person flying away looking healed, educated, and happy.

I saw similar themes of hope and passion for students in my fellow teachers’ drawings and was excited to see the final Doodle: I always have said if you put a group of teachers in a room together, magic organically happens! That magic—partnered with the technological capabilities of Google—made creating this Doodle and my entire week at Google some of the most memorable moments in my teaching career.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to the educators everywhere inspiring the next generation!
– Rodney Robinson, 2019 National Teacher of the Year

[9A]

10 May 2019
Minarni Soedarjanto’s 75th Birthday






Today’s Doodle salutes international badminton champion Minarni Soedarjanto, hailed in her Indonesian homeland as "Queen of all badminton queens."

Born in Pasuruan, East Java, on this day in 1944, Soedarjanto began competing at the age of 13 and went on to win her first title at the 1959 National Championship in Malang at the age of 15. That same year, she was chosen for the Indonesian national team, competing in the world’s top badminton tournament for women, the Uber Cup.

Although Indonesia was defeated in 1960, Soedarjanto won singles and doubles titles for many years, including a historic win in the sport’s oldest tournament, the All-England. Teaming up with Retno Koestijah, Soedarjanto won Indonesia’s first All England title in 1968. She also went on to victory at the 1969 U.S. Open and Canada Open that same year.

Soedarjanto was part of Indonesian teams that competed for the Uber Cup trophy in 1963, 1966, and 1969—but unfortunately came up short every time. "It's hard to just leave, considering it's been 23 years playing badminton," she said in a 1972 interview. By 1975 she was a player-coach and mother of three, but refused to retire without fulfilling her goal. Finally, she beat perennial powerhouse Japan, winning Indonesia’s first Uber cup which was the last title of her illustrious career.

[9A]

13 May 2019
60th Anniversary of Torres del Paine National Park





Described by an early visitor as "one of the most ... spectacular sights that human imagination can conceive," Torres del Paine became a national park on this day in 1959. Initially named Lago Grey, the park was expanded and renamed in 1970. Today’s Doodle celebrates the splendor of this natural treasure situated near the Andes mountains at the southernmost tip of Chile.

First settled by the ancient Aonikenk people, Parque Nacional Torres del Paine takes its name from the Paine Massif mountain range and three granite torres or towers that rise some 2000 meters above the Patagonian steppe.

The rugged beauty of the land—forests, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, and an enormous blue glacier—attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to enjoy camping, hiking, cycling, kayaking, and boating. Since the 15th century, the area has also been home to the nomadic Kaweskar people who coexist with wild pumas, condors, and llama-like creatures known as guanacos.

The national park was added to UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserve system in 1978 and even received 5 million votes to be elected the “Eighth Wonder of the World” in 2013.

[9A]

17 May 2019
Anita Conti’s 120th Birthday







“As soon as I put my foot on board, I'm flying,” wrote Anita Conti, who spent much of her life sailing the world as France’s first female oceanographer. Born on this day in 1899, the young adventurer developed a love for the sea while traveling with her parents. Living in Paris after World War I, she became a photographer and an accomplished writer focusing on nature and the sea.

In 1935, the French Fisheries Authorities hired Conti to conduct scientific research assessing fish resources. In 1941, she was the only female to board a trawler bound for Western Africa, spending the next ten years between Senegal and the Ivory Coast, documenting traditional fishing practices, meeting with local elders, and developing detailed fishing maps. Conti’s goal was to nourish French troops and save the local population from hunger, but over time she became increasingly concerned about the danger of overfishing and was one of the first to issue a warning that “seas are under threat.”

In subsequent voyages through the North Atlantic and Canada, she survived rough seas, shot thousands of photos, and wrote about her experiences with poetic flair in books like Géants des mers chaudes [Giants of the Warm Seas]. In 1952 she spent six months in the Arctic Ocean aboard the French trawler Bois-Rosé, capturing the difficulty of life on a fishing boat in her bestselling book, Racleurs d'océans [Scrapers of oceans].

A pioneer of maritime ecology, Conti spent nearly half of her 98 years on the high seas, earning the name La Dame de la Mer or the “Sea Lady.”

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18 May 2019
Omar Khayyam’s 971st Birthday






Although he was renowned as a mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher, Omar Khayyam may be best known today for his poetry. Born in Nishapur, Persia [located in modern-day Iran] on this day in 1048, Khayyam is believed to have been the son of a tent-maker, which is the literal meaning of his name, al-Khayyam.

Endowed with a multifaceted mind, he wrote books on music, arithmetic, and algebra before the age of 25. During the Seljuk dynasty, Khayyam was invited to the city of Isfahan to build a new observatory under the sponsorship of sultan Malik-Shah. For 18 years he led a team of scientists that built a star map and measured the length of the solar year so precisely that it loses only one day every 5,000 years—more accurate than the Gregorian calendar, which loses a day every 3,330 years. Using these calculations he helped to develop the Jalali calendar, a forerunner of Iran’s modern calendar.

Many of Khayyám’s insights and ideas were not proven until centuries later. His Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra [1070] remains an essential text to this day, introducing the concept of binomial expansion and offering methods for solving cubic and quadratic equations that merged algebra and geometry by use of conic sections. Khayyam also posited the idea that a cubic equation can have more than one solution.

Though his mathematical breakthroughs are less well known, Khayyam is famous for The Rubáiyát, a collection of hundreds of short poems known as quatrains, which was first translated from Farsi into English in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald. Versions of some of these verses can be found elsewhere in Persian literature, but many were originated by Khayyam.

[9A]

24 May 2019
Semiha Berksoy’s 109th Birthday






Remembered as the first lady of Turkish opera, Semiha Berksoy was the first Muslim woman to sing opera professionally in Turkey. Born in Çengelköy, Istanbul on this day in 1910, Berksoy was also an accomplished painter who became a major cultural figure in the early years of the Turkish Republic.
Artistically inclined since her youth, Berksoy studied music, drama, and the visual arts in Istanbul. When her father tried to convince her to leave the conservatory, she answered him with a passionate letter stating, "I have found something to light me on fire and make my spirit soar, that is the love of art.”

Berksoy was 21 years old when she starred in the first Turkish sound movie, Istanbul Sokaklari [The Streets of Istanbul.] She was also invited to sing in the first Turkish opera “Ozsoy,” which was attended by Atatürk himself, who was said to be stunned by her voice.

Winning a scholarship to the Berlin Music Academy, Berksoy studied in Germany and appeared as the lead in Richard Strauss’s “Ariadne Auf Naxos,” making her the first Turkish opera singer to star in Europe. Despite her international success, she returned home to help establish Ankara’s first opera house.

Known for her signature makeup, Berksoy became an icon of Turkish culture. She was also renowned for pushing the envelope with her fashion choices, once performing in a transparent self-painted costume. Her paintings, which were shown in such renowned exhibitions as the 2003 Venice Biennale, often depicted a little girl which was said to personify the artist herself.

[9A]

24 May 2019
Concha Michel’s 120th Birthday



She sang duets with Frida Kahlo, performed for John D. Rockefeller, modeled for Diego Rivera, and traveled the world supported only by her voice and her guitar. Today’s Doodle by Mexico-based guest artist Emilia Schettino celebrates the life of the Mexican musician, folklorist, and activist Concha Michel.

Born in Villa de Purificación, Jalisco, on this day in 1899, Concepción Michel was described as “ungovernable” as a child but fell in love with music early, learning to sing and play guitar at a Catholic convent founded by her grandfather.

Known for her indigenous Mexican attire, Michel wore embroidered dresses with braided hair in the style of Mexico’s Tehuana women. She traveled throughout Mexico learning traditional songs and singing her own corridos revolucionarios or revolutionary ballads, becoming one of the few women singing this traditional Mexican form at the time.

During the 1930s she traveled to the United States where she performed at the Museum of Modern Art and the Rockefeller’s grand home. Proceeds of her performances paid for trips to Europe and the Soviet Union, where she met feminist thinkers like Clara Zetkin and Alexandra Kollontai.

In 1950, she established the Folklore Institute in Morelia, Michoacán, part of a lifelong effort to preserve Mexico’s indigenous culture. As she put it in her autobiography, “The world was my university; my graduation, voluntary. My experience was direct, confirmed by life.”

[9A]

25 May 2019
Sudirman Arshad’s 65th Birthday






Today’s Doodle honors Sudirman Haji Arshad, the Malaysian singer, songwriter, author, visual artist, and actor known as “Sudirman” to his legions of fans. Born the youngest of seven children in Temerloh, Pahang, on this day in 1954, Sudirman worked as a journalist and an attorney before becoming one of the most popular performers in Asia, remembered for his piercing tenor voice and for staging one of the largest free concerts in Malaysian history.

Sudirman’s singing career surged after winning a contest on Bintang Radio Television Malaysia, and he went on to top the charts in Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia. On April 15, 1986 he performed for a crowd of over 100,000 on Kuala Lumpur’s Chow Kit Road. Lifted above the audience by crane, Sudirman delivered a performance that delighted a crowd that included Malay, Chinese, and Indian fans.

At London’s Royal Albert Hall, Sudirman won acclaim at the Asian Popular Music Awards in 1989, singing his signature hit “A Thousand Million Smiles” as well as a rendition of “Send In The Clowns” with choreography that paid tribute to Charlie Chaplin. The performance helped to raise Sudirman’s international profile. He would go on to travel the world from Hawaii and Asia through the Middle East and Europe.

As he toured, signing autographs – even if he felt was a chore – was a responsibility he undertook willingly. “He would sign every autograph, never refuse anyone who wanted to take a picture with him, always have a warm welcoming smile and was always humble,” said his former manager, Daniel Dharanee Kannan.

Appointed a "Singing Ambassador" by the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism, Sudi expanded his audience by singing in Malay as well as English, Tamil, Tagalog, Korean, and a number of Chinese dialects. He was also known for his weekly television show, during which he would sometimes serenade a member of the audience while sketching their portrait.

He also appeared in the film Kami, about orphans living in Kuala Lumpur, and wrote the children’s book Taming Si Budak Pintar. With 14 albums to his credit, Sudirman received the Malaysian music industry’s Anugerah Industri Muzik award. A street was named after him in his hometown and the Sudirman Scholarship Fund was established to support performing artists.

[9A]

26 May 2019
65th Anniversary of the Khufu Ship Discovery






On this day in 1954, one of the oldest and largest boats on earth was found buried near Egypt’s biggest pyramid. Today’s Doodle celebrates the discovery of the Khufu Ship, which has survived more than 4,600 years, although its true purpose remains a mystery.

Digging under a stone wall on the south side of the Great Pyramid of Giza, archaeologist Kamal el-Mallakh unearthed a row of massive limestone blocks covering a rectangular pit. Inside the airtight enclosure were neat piles of cedar planks, along with the ropes and matting needed to rebuild the vessel.

The painstaking process of reassembling over 1,200 pieces was overseen by Haj Ahmed Youssef, a restorer from the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, who studied models found in ancient tombs as well as visiting modern shipyards along the Nile. Over a decade later, the ingeniously designed vessel, measuring 143 feet long and 19.6 feet wide [[44.6m, 6m), was fully restored without using a single nail.

Experts agree that the ship was built for Khufu [known to the Greeks as Cheops], the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, who is entombed inside the pyramid. Some say the ship was used to ferry the pharaoh’s body to his final resting place. Others think it was placed in the location to help transport his soul to heaven, similar to “Atet,” the barge that carried Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun across the sky.

Still others believe the ship is a sort of “black box” containing clues to the construction of the pyramids. These scholars argue that the asymmetrical ship was designed to be used as a floating crane capable of lifting large stone blocks. Wear and tear on the wood suggests that the boat had more than a symbolic purpose. While the mystery is still up for debate, the ancient ship can now be viewed at the Giza Solar Boat Museum, located just a few meters away from where it was found 65 years ago.

[9A]

28 May 2019
Dorina Nowill’s 100th Birthday





Today’s Doodle celebrates the 100th birthday of Brazilian educator and advocate Dorina de Gouvêa Nowill, whose tireless efforts made Brazil more responsive to the needs of visually impaired.

An unfortunate illness left Nowill blind at the age of 17. As the first blind student to enroll in a regular school in São Paulo, she found it difficult to find the books she needed. As a result, she began advocating for all students’ access to culture and information. Becoming a teacher at her alma mater, Nowill implemented training for education of the blind and won a scholarship to further her studies at Columbia University in the United States. In 1946 she and some friends established the Foundation for the Book of the Blind in Brazil with the country’s first large Braille press, enlisting volunteers to transcribe various publications.

After working to found the Department of Special Education for the Blind, Nowill helped pass a law guaranteeing blind people’s right to an education. Such accomplishments led to new opportunities on a wider scale. Elected president of the World Council of the Blind in 1979, she went on to speak at the United Nations General Assembly and campaigned for the creation of the Latin American Union of the Blind.

Having won numerous philanthropic awards, Nowill’s legacy lives on in the work of her nonprofit organization, Fundação Dorina Nowill, which prints braille editions for Brazil’s Ministry of Education as well as everything from menus to airline safety cards. The foundation also distributes audio and digitally accessible books to schools and libraries all over Brazil, ensuring the just and inclusive society that Dorina Nowill foresaw.

[9A]

30 May 2019
2019 ICC Cricket World Cup Begins!






Over 100 players, 10 teams, but only one cup.

Today’s Doodle celebrates the International Cricket Council’s 2019 World Cup, which opens at the Oval in London.​

Taking place every four years, the Cricket World Cup is the world’s leading contest in one-day cricket, and has become one of the most popular sporting events on the planet. Ten teams earn their chance to compete for the cup through a qualifying process that takes five to six years. This year’s round robin will be hosted in England and Wales.

Now England’s official national sport, it is said that cricket began as a children’s game in the Weald of rural England. Cricket spread to North America by the 17th century, eventually arriving in the British colonies of the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa and has since spread around the world.

The world’s first international cricket match, between Canada and the United States, took place in 1844. The first World Cup tournament was held in 1975, won by the West Indies team, who repeated the feat in 1979. This year’s defending champions are Australia, a perennial powerhouse that has won five of the eleven cups.

No matter how heated the competition may get, cricket is highly respected for maintaining high standards of fair play and good sportsmanship. Hence the phrase “It’s just not cricket,” which describes anything considered unfair.

[9A]

4 Jun 2019
Celebrating 50 Years Of Pride







Today's slideshow Doodle celebrates 50 years of Pride by taking us through five decades of Pride history—all told through the lens of a growing, evolving, and international Pride parade!
Below, Doodler Nate Swinehart shares more on the making-of today's Doodle, as well as what the project means to him.

[9A]

4 Jun 2019
Mudik 2019





Starting today, the big cities of the Indonesian archipelago empty out as people return home for the annual Idul Fitri feast [also known as lebaran], jamming the roads and railways of over 11,000 islands, including Java, Sumatra, Borneo, New Guinea, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan. Today’s Doodle celebrates this festive mass exodus, known as mudik, an Indonesian term which means ”homebound trip” towards one’s home village.

Mudik is about strengthening the bonds of community, spending quality time with family and loved ones, taking part in traditional rituals, and visiting ancestral gravesites to pay respects. It’s also a time to share treats like sweet Nastar cakes and cheese-filled Kastengel cakes.

The practice of returning home dates as far back as the 14th century, although the term "mudik" became popular during the 1970s. Traffic jams are common and special arrangements are made to ensure that transportation goes as smoothly as possible. Officials estimate that over 20 million Indonesians will make the joyful journey to all parts of the country.

[9A]

5 Jun 2019
Jacques Demy’s 88th Birthday









Today’s Doodle celebrates French director Jacques Demy, born in Pont-Château, on this day in 1931. Demy fell in love with the movies early and longed to tell his own vividly colored visual stories. As part of postwar French cinema’s New Wave, Demy and other members of the movement, known as the Nouvelle Vague, reimagined filmmaking as a personal artistic expression rather than a commercial industry, inspiring a generation of independent auteurs in the process.

As a child, Demy created his own puppet shows and animated home movies before convincing his parents to let him study film in Paris. After two years at France’s Technical School of Photography and Cinematography, he assisted animator Paul Grimault and director Georges Roquier in the 1950s before getting the chance to direct his first feature.

Set in his childhood hometown of Nantes, Lola starred Anouk Aimée as a heartbroken cabaret singer awaiting the return of a lost love. The bittersweet film debuted in 1961. A year later, Demy married Agnès Varda, who would later direct her husband’s life story in the singular biopic Jacquot de Nantes, based in part on his own diaries.

Inspired by American musicals, Demy created a world of his own in wistfully romantic films like Les Demoiselles de Rochefort [The Young Girls of Rochefort], which featured Hollywood legend Gene Kelly, and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg [The Umbrellas of Cherbourg], which put Catherine Deneuve in the spotlight and won the grand prize at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival.

A consummate cinephile and audiovisual craftsman, Demy infused his musicals and fantasies with a documentarian’s eye and a poet’s heart.

[9A]

6 Jun 2019
Teachers' Day 2019 [Bolivia]

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7 Jun 2019
Lucky Akhand's 63rd Birthday





Today’s Doodle celebrates one of Bangladesh’s most beloved musicians, Lucky Akhand, whose timeless songs helped launch the Bangla rock movement and forge the young nation’s cultural identity. Born Laki Akhanda in Dhaka, the capital city of what was then East Pakistan, on this day in 1956, he was exposed to music early, learning piano, accordion, harmonica, and Spanish guitar from his father starting at age five.

Laki began writing his own songs as a child, appearing on children's TV and radio shows before the age of 10. The Pakistan Art Council awarded him first prize for “Modern Bangla Songs” in 1969, the year of his 13th birthday. The following year, he was employed as a composer for HMV Pakistan, and later as a musician for HMV India.

In 1971, while Bangladesh fought for its independence from Pakistan, Laki aided the cause by singing patriotic songs on Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. The free radio station boosted morale during the nine-month conflict, and teenage Laki was considered a “Freedom Fighter.” After the war he joined his brother Happy in the group Uchharon, an influential group whose music blended Eastern and Western sounds.

In 1984, he released his successful debut album Lucky Akhand and eventually adopted the optimistic name. He continued writing for other singers, including his brother Happy’s hit “Abar Elo Je Shondha,” which was featured in the Bangla film Ghuddi, and went on to become director of the national radio network Bangladesh Betar. His legacy lives on through his music, preserved in his own recordings as well as those of prominent Bengali singers, such as Fahmida Nabi.

[9A]

15 Jun 2011

Doodle 4 Google 2011 - Hungary Winner

[9A]

15 Jun 2011

Doodle 4 Google 2011 - Ghana by Nil Carreras Del Peso

[9A]

1 Jul 2011

Dorothea MacKellar's 126th Birthday







As a poet, Dorothea MacKellar is best known for her vivid and loving descriptions of the Australian landscape. As such, I did my best to capture the brightness of her words, but also keep the doodle a little bit “sketchy” to portray the brevity of her verses.

[9A]

1 Jul 2011

Cabotage and Turkish Maritime Festival





Cabotage Day, also called Maritime and Cabotage Day is an annual celebration related to merchant marine rights of Turkey held on 1 July in Turkey.

During the Ottoman Empire, the precursor of Turkey, coastwise shipping was mostly carried off by foreign companies as permitted by the Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire. However, by the Treaty of Lausanne signed on 24 July 1923, the capitulations were abolished. The length of Turkish coast [Anatolian and Thracen peninsulas] is 8,333 kilometres [5,178 mi] and by the Cabotage act no 815 enacted on 19 April 1926 Turkey declared that only Turkish vessels were permitted to serve along this coastline. The law took effect on 1 July, the same year and this date is now known as the "cabotage day". Beginning by 2007 the name of the day was changed to "Maritime and Cabotage Day".

[9A]

2 Jul 2011
Pedro Paulet's 137th Birthday





Pedro Eleodoro Paulet Mostajo was a Peruvian diplomat who claimed to be the first person to build a liquid-propellant rocket engine and modern rocket propulsion system.

[9A]

5 Jul 2011
Venezuela Independence Day 2011

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7 Jul 2011
Miroslav Krleza's 118th Birthday






For this doodle, I worked closely with a Googler in our Hungary office to learn more about Miroslav Krleza and his works. His most iconic character is the folk ballad musician, Petrica Kerempuh, who I ended up depicting in the final artwork. The style itself is based on my personal admiration of Eastern European illustration. This style has often been used to depict Kerempuh in bright, cheerful costume, in some ways to contrast the complex, multi-layered, [and sometimes darker] themes in Krleza’s exploration of Croatia’s historical experience.

[9A]

8 Jul 2011

Jean de la Fontaine's 390th Birthday




Of all the fables adapted by Jean de la Fontaine, “The Tortoise and the Hare” appealed to me the most for the persistent relevance of its message. I drew stylistic inspiration from traditional storybook etchings, and also looked at some of my heroes of illustration -- Arthur Rackham and John Tenniel. Though the style is old-fashioned, the moral is still true! You go, little guy!

[9A]

9 Jul 2011
Argentina Independence Day 2011

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12 Jul 2011
450th Anniversary of St. Basil's Cathedral







Built in 1561, St. Basil's Cathedral is an architectural treasure for both Russia and the world. As this is one of my personal favorite buildings of all time, it was difficult for me to not become completely caught up in every detail while drawing [even knowing how small it appears on the homepage. Never the less, above is the high resolution version of this doodle!