Google doodles

[9A]

1 Jul 2017
Canada National Day 2017




On July 1, 1867, the British North America Act was passed, uniting the three distinct colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Originally called Dominion Day, Canada Day was not officially celebrated until its 50th anniversary in 1917.

The diversity of those three distinct colonies was not lost or diminished. Canadians take great pride in their country’s multicultural, integrated, and inclusive citizenship. In recognition of these fundamental beliefs, Canada enacted the Multiculturalism Policy of Canada in 1971. The first of its kind in the world, this policy confirmed the rights of Aboriginal peoples and the status of Canada’s two official languages.

Today’s Doodle depicts celebratory desserts that reflect the country’s vast regional and ethnic diversity by highlighting the 13 provinces and territories. Bonne Fête Canada! Indulge your sweet tooth with the delights depicted in the Doodle:

• German krapfen
• Chinese mooncake
• Portuguese pasteis
• Italian tiramisu
• English jelly
• French chocolate eclairs
• Turkish delight
• Spanish churros
• Inuit bannock
• Punjab jalebi
• American doughnut

[9A]

30 Jun 2017
Assia Djebar’s 81st Birthday





Many women achieve greatness, but few become “Immortal.” Assia Djebar was the first woman from the Maghreb to be given the "Immortal" title, as a member of the Académie Française.

Born Fatima-Zohra Imalayene on this date in 1936, the Algerian novelist, translator, and filmmaker used the pen name Assia Djebar. She was the first Algerian woman to be admitted to the country’s top literary university, the Ecole Normale Superieure. Djebar published her first book at 21; by the time she was 30, she had written 4 novels in French. She quickly became one of North Africa's most influential writers.

A feminist, Djebar wrote about women's independence and encouraged Algerian women to forge their own paths and find their unique voices. She believed that education was the key to giving women a voice in society, and in 1962 began teaching history at the University of Algiers. Her work inspired many women to express themselves freely.

Today’s Doodle reflects a scene from the first chapter of Djebar’s novel Fantasia, in which she explores the history of Algeria through her experiences as a young girl.

[9A]

17 August 2018
Indonesia Independence Day 2018







Few countries have more fun on Independence Day than Indonesia, the southeast Asian island nation whose Proclamation of Independence was first read in Jakarta on this day in 1945.

All throughout the country, from cities to villages, Independence Day starts early with gotong-royong, a collective effort to clean up and beautify neighborhoods.

Red and white banners and buntings decorate houses, shops, and schools in preparation for a range of lively games, such as the Lomba Balap Karung seen in today’s Doodle. This classic sack race is just one of Indonesia’s traditional Independence Day pastimes. You can’t use your hands in the Kerupuk eating contest, where the fried starch and shrimp crackers hang from strings. First to finish their cracker wins. Panjat Pinang involves climbing up greased palm trees to claim prizes suspended at the top.

All this friendly competition is really just a fun way to spend time with friends and family, so remember to keep it light as you enjoy Indonesian Independence Day.

Dirgahayu Indonesia!

[9A]

16 January 2018
Katy Jurado’s 94th Birthday







Initially brought to fame by playing “femme fatale” characters, Katy Jurado [born María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García] achieved stardom in both Mexican cinema and Hollywood through her nuanced portrayals of complicated women.

As a teenager, Jurado was barred from acting by her family, but she was so determined that she signed her first contract in secret. Her career began with several films produced during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, including the successful La vida inútil de Pito Pérez [1943].

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.

Today’s Doodle by artist Ana Ramirez pays homage to the trailblazing actress by depicting her in a powerful pose against a backdrop inspired by the set of her film High Noon - complete with roses, which symbolize Jurado’s birthplace of Guadalajara, nicknamed “the city of roses.”

[9A]

16 January 2015
Teacher's Day 2015 [Thailand]

[9A]

29 January 2018
Teresa Teng’s 65th Birthday







Pop singer Teresa Teng was born on this day in 1953 in Taiwan. Her music and talent was a dominant and influential force in Asia throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s. Teng was able to move her audiences as much with the sweetness of her voice as with the power of melancholy emotion. One of the “Five Great Asian Divas”, she was known for driving her audience into rapture, and often tears, over a career that spanned three decades.

Teng’s widespread popularity was also driven by her ability to sing in several languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Indonesian, and English. Evoking for many precious memories of childhood and happier times, her legacy endures to this day.

Today’s Doodle pays tribute to one of Teng’s most well-known songs, "The Moon Represents My Heart." By providing an alternative to the mostly revolutionary songs then prevalent in mainland China, Teng’s emotional rendition of this old Mandarin favorite catapulted her to instant and long-lasting fame that lingers to this day.

Happy 65th birthday, Teresa Teng!

[9A]

March 4, 2013
Miriam Makeba's 81st Birthday

South African singer and civil rights activist Miriam Makeba was born in 1932 in Johannesburg. Unfortunately, her early life was marred by tragedy and hardship; when she was just 18 days old, her mother was sent to prison and Makeba went with her. Makeba later lived with her grandmother in Pretoria and joined her church and school choirs. In the 1950s, she moved to Sophiatown, where music filled the streets — big band, African jazz, and anything else that moved people to sing. Thanks to her musical talent, by the end of the decade, she had made a name for herself throughout the country.

[9A]

4 April 2019
Hugh Masekela's 80th Birthday

My biggest obsession is to show Africans and the world who the people of Africa really are.”
—Hugh Masekela

Today’s Doodle celebrates the world-renowned South African trumpeter, singer, bandleader, composer, and human rights advocate Hugh Masekela. Born 80 years ago today in the coal-mining town of Witbank, South Africa, Masakela got his first horn at age 14. He went on to play with a wildly popular group known as the Jazz Epistles, the first all-black jazz band to record an album in South African history. However, within the year, its members were forced out of the country by the apartheid government.

At the age of 21, Masakela began a 30-year exile, traveling to New York where he enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music and dived into the city’s jazz scene, observing jazz giants like John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Mingus, and Max Roach on a nightly basis. “You’re just going to be a statistic if you play jazz,” Miles Davis advised him, “but if you put in some of the stuff you remember from South Africa, you’ll be different from everybody.”

Encouraged by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, Masakela delved into his own unique influences to create his 1963 debut album, entitled Trumpet Africaine. By the late ’60s he moved to Los Angeles, and performed at the Monterey Pop Festival on a bill that included Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar, and The Who. His 1968 single “Grazin’ in the Grass” hit #1 on the U.S. pop charts.

Masakela would go on to collaborate with the likes of Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, Paul Simon, and Stevie Wonder. In 1990, “Bra Hugh” returned to South Africa in time to see his song “Bring Him Back Home [Nelson Mandela]” come true. When the ANC leader was released from prison and elected South Africa’s first black president, Masakela’s music was the soundtrack.

Happy 80th birthday, Hugh Masekela!

[9A]

28 Jan 2018
50th Anniversary of Princess Sirindhorn Bird First Sighting






It has been 50 years since the rare white-eyed river Martin was first spotted in Thailand, a bird seen so infrequently it is nearly mythical.

Known locally as the Princess Sirindhorn bird, the white-eyed Martin is one of only two species of birds native to Thailand. This unique Thai treasure is distinguished by gleaming green-black feathers, a white midsection and a tail extending into two delicate black feathers.

Its beauty is hard to find, with only three confirmed sightings since it was first discovered at a wintering site in 1968. The Thai government has honored the mystical species with a stamp and commemorative coin, meant to pique curiosity and raise awareness of the bird.

No one has spotted the Princess Sirindhorn since 1980, stoking unconfirmed speculation that the species has gone extinct. That won’t stop residents and tourists alike this spring from perusing river banks, where the rare bird is known to roost, in the hopes that they’ll spot this rare Thai jewel!

[9A]

28 January 2009
Jackson Pollock’s Birthday – Courtesy of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation / ARS, NY





Paul Jackson Pollock was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement.

He was widely noticed for his technique of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface ["drip technique"], enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles. It was also called all-over painting and "action painting", since he covered the entire canvas and used the force of his whole body to paint, often in a frenetic dancing style. This extreme form of abstraction divided the critics: some praised the immediacy of the creation, while others derided the random effects. In 2016, Pollock's painting titled Number 17A was reported to have fetched US$200 million in a private purchase.

[9A]

28 January 2016
Hidetsugu Yagi’s 130th Birthday







Today we celebrate Hidetsugu Yagi's 130th birthday, and thank him for keeping our television and radio signal coming in loud and clear. Because of the Yagi antenna, radios and televisions can receive stronger signals from a specific direction, which helps avoid interference from surrounding signals.

Hidetsugu Yagi was a Japanese electrical engineer. He and his colleague Shintaro Uda developed and spread the technology for this antenna together, which is why the full name is the Yagi-Uda antenna. Their invention was patented in 1926 and is used today on millions of houses throughout the world for radio and television reception. If you look outside, you can probably see one or two of these right in your neighborhood—maybe even on your own roof!

[9A]

28 January 2021
Jim Wong-Chu's 72nd birthday








Today’s Doodle celebrates the birthday of Canadian activist, community organizer, poet, author, editor, photographer, radio producer, and historian Jim Wong-Chu, who devoted his life to amplifying the narratives of the Asian Canadian community.

Born in Hong Kong on this day in 1949, Wong-Chu moved to Canada when he was 4, and as a young adult, he settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. During the ‘70s he worked as a community volunteer and became interested in the use of literature to explore his identity as a Canadian of Asian heritage. In 1986, while studying creative writing at the University of British Columbia, he compiled his work into the collection “Chinatown Ghosts,” one of the first poetry books ever published by a Chinese Canadian author.

But Wong-Chu didn’t just want to tell his story; he wanted to tell the stories of all the undiscovered talent in his community. In 1989, he began to sift through every literary magazine in UBC’s library to identify pieces written by Asian Canadian writers. With co-editor Bennett Lee, he honed this collection into his first of numerous anthologies, “Many Mouthed Birds” [1991], a touchstone in the emergence of the genre of Asian Canadian literature.

To promote the genre, Wong-Chu co-founded the Asian Canadian Writer’s Workshop in 1996, which–along with its literary magazine Ricepaper [now a digital publication]–has continued to elevate the voices of the Asian Canadian literary arts movement to this day.

Happy birthday, Jim Wong-Chu!

[9A]

26 Jan 2019
India Republic Day 2019




The Constitution of India came into force on this day in 1950, an anniversary celebrated each year as Republic Day. Republic Day is one of only three national holidays celebrated all across India, the other two being Independence Day on August 15 and Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday on October 2.

Although India’s constitution was adopted in November 1949, the date January 26 was chosen for the document to take effect, because it commemorates Pūrna Swarāj Day, which took place exactly 20 years earlier. On January 26, 1930, the Indian National Congress issued a bold resolution declaring complete freedom from the British Raj. From that point, it was only a matter of time before Independence Day, followed by full sovereignty.

Celebrations take place all across the subcontinent, with the epicenter in the capital city of Delhi, where a parade runs along Rajpath near the President’s Palace. Today's guest artist, Reshidev RK, recreated the colorful celebrations and depicted the famous parade floats that decorate the city, each representing a different component of India’s history: environment, architecture, textiles, wildlife, monuments, and farming. Observances last for four days, coming to a conclusion on January 29th with the Beating Retreat ceremony, featuring the bands of the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Happy Republic Day, India!

[9A]

26 January 2011
Australia Day 2011

[9A]

16 July 2019
Celebrating Hội An







By the light of the full moon, residents of the town burn incense and light small lanterns, floating them on the river until hundreds of colorful lanterns illuminate the water. During the full moon season with which the Hội An’s lantern festival aligns, today’s Doodle celebrates a historic town that’s remained largely unchanged for several centuries.

Situated on the north bank of Vietnam’s scenic Thu Bon River, right where it empties into the South China Sea, Hội An was one of the busiest trading ports in Southeast Asia from the 15th to the 19th century.

While the name Hội An means “peaceful meeting place,” the seaport has been abuzz with activity since the 2nd century. The surrounding area, known as Quảng Nam province, produced cinnamon and ginseng, as well as textiles and ceramics, enticing traders from all over Asia and Europe. By the 1600s, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Indian, Filipino, Indonesian, Thai, French, British, and American ships would come and go, while Chinese and Japanese traders rented waterfront houses in the seaside town.

Business tapered off when silt accumulation in the river made it difficult for larger ships to navigate. Fortunately, the city was spared from modernization for over 200 years, leaving the original street plan and buildings intact.

In 1999, Hội An was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Seventeenth-century Japanese traders built the lacquered wood Chùa Cầu, or “Bridge Pagoda,” with entrances guarded by statues of monkeys and dogs. Hundreds of timber-frame buildings and Chinese temples line narrow streets that are now popular with sightseers, historians, and filmmakers, seeking to experience and recapture a bygone era.

[9A]

16 September 2019
Respect for the Aged Day 2019






Today’s Doodle celebrates Japan’s Respect for the Aged Day, also known as Keiro no Hi. Starting in a small village in Hyōgo Prefecture, it was conceived as a time to be kind to seniors and ask for their wisdom and advice about ways to improve life in the village. By 1966, it had become a national holiday to pay respect to elders on the third week of September and is now celebrated all across Japan.

Starting in 2003, the holiday was moved to the third Monday in September. The resulting long weekend allows working people time to visit their parents and grandparents. Those who cannot return home in person often call or write. Some volunteers deliver food to homebound elders, and other communities organize special shows known as keirokai, where young people entertain an aged audience.

Japanese people tend to be very long-lived, with elderly residents making up over 26 percent of the total population. Many Japanese people wear red on their 60th birthday, because according to tradition, age 60 marks a new beginning to be

[9A]

16 September 2019
B.B. King’s 94th Birthday




Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Little Rock-based guest artist Steve Spencer and animated by Brooklyn-based guest animator Nayeli Lavanderos, celebrates B.B. King—the iconic “King of the Blues” who brought blues music from cotton fields and street corners to grand halls and arenas across the world.

Born on this day in 1925 on a Mississippi Delta plantation near Berclair, Mississippi, Riley B. King was a sharecropper’s son whose soulful, piercing guitar solos became recognizable with a single note.

Often imitated but never duplicated, B.B. King became a blueprint for many of the world’s biggest rock stars who followed. “I wish I could just do like B. B. King,” said John Lennon of The Beatles. “If you would put me with B. B. King, I would feel real silly.”

Raised singing gospel music in church, King performed on street corners before hitchhiking to Memphis and landing a job on the air at radio station WDIA. There, locals began calling him “Beale Street Blues Boy,” later shortened to “Bee Bee” and finally “B.B.”

He began recording in 1949 and never looked back after his first hit, “Three O’Clock Blues.” Records like “The Thrill is Gone” and “Every Day I Have the Blues” have become classics of the genre.

King opened for the Rolling Stones on tour and became the first internationally acclaimed blues artist, winning 15 Grammys, being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, receiving honorary doctorates from assorted universities, and performing at the White House. Embodying the traveling bluesman, King was also known for averaging more than 300 shows a year throughout various points in his career.

In 1949, King ran inside a burning nightclub to save a guitar, risking his own life for his beloved instrument. The fire had been caused by two men fighting over a woman named Lucille, and from that day forward, King referred to all his guitars by that name.

“When I sing, I play in my mind,” he once said. “The minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.”

[9A]

16 September 2020
Mexico Independence Day 2020








Today’s Doodle,illustrated by Xalapa, Mexico-based guest artistIna Hristova, celebrates Mexico’s Independence Day. On this day in 1810, Mexico’s decade-long struggle for independence from Spanish rule began, and the country’s sovereignty was officially recognized by Spain on August 24, 1821.

Depicted in today’s Doodle is a colorful and eclectic collection of images that represent traditional Independence Day festivities. These illustrations pay homage to an iconic Mexican folk embroidery style developed in the 1960s by the Indigenous Otomí people of Tenango de Doria in central Mexico. The shape of the Doodle artwork is inspired by the central Mexican folk sculptures called “Árboles de la Vida” [“Trees of Life”].

iFeliz Día de la Independencia, México!

[9A]

21 January 2018
Eua Sunthornsanan’s 108th Birthday






Today, we celebrate Eua Sunthornsanan, or “Khru Eua,” the prolific composer and musician behind such popular Thai songs as “Ram Wong Wan Songkran” and “Loy Krathong” and the man credited with pioneering a style of Thai music that struck a chord around the world.

Born on this day in 1910, Sunthornsanan started playing violin in an orchestra at nine years old. The young musician learned the instrument at a primary school in Bangkok and later sharpened his skills in harmony and arrangement at music school.

While playing in a big band for the government’s Performance Department, Sunthornsanan noticed the band’s concerts drew far bigger crowds than classical performances. His eclectic musical upbringing led him to experiment with different styles, mixing jazz and Westernized classical music with more traditional Thai classical music to create the romantic style that would earn him international acclaim. With the Suntaraporn band, one of the most prominent Thai big bands, he composed more than 2,000 songs.

On what would’ve been the musician’s 108th birthday, today’s Doodle depicts Sunthornsanan performing one of his lively compositions.

[9A]

7 March 2019
Olga Ladyzhenskaya’s 97th Birthday






Today’s Doodle celebrates Olga Ladyzhenskaya, a Russian mathematician who triumphed over personal tragedy and obstacles to become one of the most influential thinkers of her generation.

Born in the rural town of Kologriv on this day in 1922, Ladyzhenskaya was inspired to love algebra by her father, a mathematician descended from Russian nobility. She was just 15 years old when her father was jailed and executed by Soviet authorities who accused him of being an “enemy of the state.” Subsequently, her mother and sisters sold dresses, shoes, and soap to make ends meet. Despite graduating from secondary school with excellent grades, she was later denied admission to Leningrad State University because of her family name.

After years of teaching math to secondary school students, Ladyzhenskaya finally got the chance to attend Moscow State University, studying under the renowned mathematician Ivan Petrovsky. There, she earned her PhD and went on to head the Laboratory of Mathematical Physics at the Steklov Mathematical Institute. Later, she elected to stay in Russia despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the economic pressures that followed.

The author of more than 250 papers, Ladyzhenskaya’s methods for solving partial differential equations remain profoundly influential. A member of the St. Petersburg Mathematical Society since 1959, she became its president in 1990. Beyond mathematics, she was also a lover of nature and the arts.

Recognized by numerous international institutions, she was awarded the Lomonosov Gold Medal by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2002 for her impressive contributions to the world of mathematics.

Happy 97th birthday, Olga!

[9A]

29 June 2021
Pedro Linares López’s 115th birthday




Today’s Doodle celebrates the 115th birthday of a Mexican artist who turned his dreams into reality, Pedro Linares López. His peculiar yet playful animal sculptures known as alebrijes are beloved worldwide as unique products of Mexico’s folk art tradition.

Pedro Linares López was born in Mexico City, Mexico on this day in 1906. His father worked as a papier-mâché sculptor, or cartonero, and he trained Linares to follow in his footsteps. By the time Linares was 12 years old, he had become a skilled craftsman of papier-mâché items like piñatas and the traditional skeletal figures called calaveras which are featured in the annual Day of the Dead celebration.

In 1945, as Linares tells the story, he became very sick and drifted into a fever dream. There he encountered fantastical creatures who shouted in unison a nonsensical phrase “Alebrijes!” Upon his recovery, he set out to represent these mythical beings in sculpture. The jarring sculptures initially met little success, until over time, Linares refined his alebrijes into the colorfully patterned combinations of reptiles, insects, birds, and mammals recognized today in today’s Doodle artwork. As his reputation grew, he attracted the admiration of the iconic Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, but it was a 1975 documentary about Linares by the filmmaker Judith Bronowski that elevated him to international fame.

In 1990, Linares was honored with the first Mexican National Prize in Arts and Sciences in the category of Popular Art and Traditions.

Thank you, Pedro Linares López, for showing us the power of imagination!

[9A]

29 June 2013
The 100th Tour de France








The illustration for the 100th Tour De France seemed like a great opportunity to unify design, illustration and animation. From rough drawings to finished animation the choices boiled down to combining 2 key views of a rider. At one point there was no bike at all!

Concerning the event itself the illustration was a great opportunity to take the tour back in time to an era of moustaches and wheel tubing over shoulders! It's a moving graphic that points to the future yet recognises the nostalgia and heritage of early 20th century tour posters.

[9A]

29 June 2012
José Pablo Moncayo's 100th Birthday





José Pablo Moncayo García [June 29, 1912 – June 16, 1958] was a Mexican pianist, percussionist, music teacher, composer and conductor. "As composer, José Pablo Moncayo represents one of the most important legacies of the Mexican nationalism in art music, after Silvestre Revueltas and Carlos Chávez." He produced some of the masterworks that best symbolize the essence of the national aspirations and contradictions of Mexico in the 20th century.

[9A]

29 June 2016
Edward Koiki Mabo’s 80th birthday






Born on the Australian island of Mer in 1936, Edward Koiki Mabo was an energetic campaigner for the rights of Indigenous people and their claim to the lands declared terra nullius, or belonging to no one, despite the history of its earlier inhabitants. He also set up a health service and a school in Townsville, Queensland where he lived with his wife and their ten children.

The “Mabo Case” triumphed in the courts in 1992 - overturning terra nullius and returning ownership of the islands to the Indigenous people. Although he died shortly before the verdict, his activism changed the lives of so many.

Today’s Doodle is a tribute to Edward Koiki Mabo’s legacy on what would have been his 80th birthday.

[9A]

30 Jun 2016
165th Anniversary of First Firefighter's Corp in Chile




Since 1851, Chile’s bomberos have risked life and limb to keep citizens safe from fire. There are 307 individual fire departments across Chile bonded together by Chile’s National Board of Fire Departments. What makes the bomberos especially unique is that they all serve on a volunteer basis.

It all started on this day in the bustling seaport of Valparaiso, where the city’s most influential citizens came together to form the First Firefighter’s Corp. More fire departments followed, each created by and for the community it represented.

Today’s Doodle was inspired by those who’ve served the people of Chile through their dedication and selflessness. Though they operate independently, the country’s bomberos share a common goal of working hard to protect local neighborhoods and communities.

[9A]

30 June 2011
Czeslaw Milosz's 100th Birthday






Czesław Miłosz was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, the Swedish Academy called Miłosz a writer who "voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts".

[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]

1 July 2015
Canada Day 2015





On this day 148 years ago, the British North America Act was passed, drawing three distinct colonies into a vastly beautiful, endlessly diverse, lake covered union called Canada. As Doodler Robinson Wood sketched at his desk and wondered how to pay homage to the world’s second largest country on the anniversary of its creation, his thoughts drifted to the Yukon, its winding rivers and the smell of its pines.

Here’s to your many natural wonders, Canada! Happy National Day.

[9A]

16 March 2018
Celebrating George Peabody






Today we celebrate George Peabody, a man widely considered “the father of modern philanthropy.”
Born in 1795 to a poor family in Massachusetts, Peabody had only a few years’ worth of education before opening a local general store. His experience in the dry goods business expanded and led to international trade in London, where he would eventually work as a banker and settle in 1837. In that role, Peabody accumulated great wealth and his involvement in both the American and English business and social scenes provided him widespread recognition.

During his life, Peabody immersed himself in public causes, with a particular focus on educational initiatives. In fact, it was on this day in 1867 that he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal after donating $2,000,000 [upwards of $30,000,000 today!] for the advancement of education, an act of generosity made all the more impressive by the fact that he left school at the age of 11. It’s believed that Peabody gifted over $8,000,000 in the course of his lifetime, about half of his $16,000,000 fortune.

Fun fact: Today's Doodle art is the result of a Doodle team volunteer mural project at George Peabody Elementary School in San Francisco, California! The mural currently resides in the student cafeteria. Check out a time lapse of the process below!

[9A]

10 Mar 2018
Celebrating the Alishan Forest Railway






Imagine riding a train chugging along through a lush and misty forest. On your journey, you pass orchards of exotic fruits, taro fields, waterfalls, and soaring trees over a thousand years old….

This dream is a reality if you’re on board the Alishan Forest Railway, which makes its way through the Alishan National Forest, situated in the heart of Taiwan. Today’s Doodle celebrates the landmark on what is known as kickoff day for the Alishan "Cherry Blossom Season". Starting today, numerous visitors will take the forest rail up to the mountains to enjoy the beautiful cherry blossoms of Alishan.

The train travels from Chiayi [a city on the west coast] to Fenchihu [a village high in the mountains)], which takes about 2.5 hours. The Alishan Forest Railway is one of the Five Wonders of Alishan, and has even been proposed as a possible World Heritage Site.

Built in 1912, the railway’s original purpose was transporting timber out of the vast forest. Today, it whisks travelers along a scenic journey up to 2216 meters above sea level, traversing narrow zigzagging paths. Unique switchback tracks allow the train to move both forwards and backwards to climb especially steep mountain terrain. Along the route lies Zhaoping Park, one of the best spots for taking in cherry blossoms, particularly now and throughout the springtime season.

[9A]

10 March 2021
Dr. Wu Lien-teh's 142nd birthday






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

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

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

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

[9A]

27 October 2018
Stella Adadevoh’s 62nd Birthday







Today’s Doodle celebrates Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, the physician whose expertise and heroic efforts curbed the spread of Ebola in Nigeria in 2014.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria on this day in 1956, Dr. Adadevoh descended from a long line of respected scientists and statesmen. Dr. Adadevoh completed her residency at Lagos University Teaching Hospital West African College of Physicians and Surgeons credential before doing a fellowship in London. Following her fellowship in endocrinology at Hammersmith Hospital, she returned to Lagos, Nigeria where she spent 21 years at the First Consultants Medical Center and served as the Lead Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist.

In July 2014 a Liberian-American attorney arrived in Lagos on a flight from Monrovia heading to a conference on economic development and collapsed in the airport. The patient was taken to First Consultant Medical Center, where one of Dr. Adadevoh’s colleagues first diagnosed him as suffering from malaria. Although no Nigerian doctor had seen a case of Ebola before, Dr. Adadevoh suspected the patient might have been exposed to the highly contagious virus and subsequently ordered blood tests to confirm while also alerting Nigerian health officials.

While awaiting test results, Dr. Adadevoh was pressured by Liberian government officials to let the patient go so he could attend the conference as planned. Despite threats of lawsuits, Dr. Adadevoh stood firm, stating that she would not release the patient “for the greater public good.”

The test results came back positive for the Ebola virus and while the patient could not be treated in time, Dr. Adadevoh’s medical insight and the courage of her convictions ensured that other exposed patients could be treated rapidly and that the outbreak was contained. Unfortunately, in treating the initial patients, Dr. Adedevoh contracted the virus and passed away, along with three of her colleagues at the medical center.

Her legacy lives on through DRASA [Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh] Health Trust, a nonprofit organization devoted to public health that works with communities and health workers to reduce the spread of infectious diseases and ensure that Nigeria is well prepared for future outbreaks.

[9A]

16 November 2018
44th Anniversary of the Arecibo Message






Forty-four years ago today, a group of scientists gathered at the Arecibo Observatory amidst the tropical forests of Puerto Rico to attempt humankind’s first communication with intelligent life beyond our own planet. Their three-minute radio message—a series of exactly 1,679 binary digits [a multiple of two prime numbers] which could be arranged in a grid 73 rows by 23 columns—was aimed at a cluster of stars 25,000 light years away from earth.

This historic transmission was intended to demonstrate the capabilities of Arecibo’s recently upgraded radio telescope, whose 1000-foot-diameter dish made it the largest and most powerful in the world at the time. "It was strictly a symbolic event, to show that we could do it," said Donald Campbell, Cornell University professor of astronomy, who was a research associate at the Arecibo Observatory at the time. Nevertheless some of those present were moved to tears.

The message itself was devised by a team of researchers from Cornell University led by Dr. Frank Drake—the astronomer and astrophysicist responsible for the Drake Equation, a means of estimating the number of planets hosting extraterrestrial life within the Milky Way galaxy. ‘‘What could we do that would be spectacular?’’ Drake recalled thinking. “We could send a message!’’

Written with the assistance of Carl Sagan, the message itself could be arranged in a rectangular grid of 0s and 1s to form a pictograph representing some fundamental facts of mathematics, human DNA, planet earth’s place in the solar system, and a picture of a human-like figure as well as an image of the telescope itself.

Since the Arecibo Message will take roughly 25,000 years to reach its intended destination [a group of 300,000 stars in the constellation Hercules known as M13], humankind will have to wait a long time for an answer. How long? In the 44 years since it was first transmitted, the message has traveled only 259 trillion miles, only a tiny fraction of the 146,965,638,531,210,240 or so miles to its final destination. During that same time, our understanding of the cosmos has advanced by leaps and bounds, raising hopes that someone may be out there, listening.

[9A]

16 November 2020
Eliška Junková's 120th Birthday








Today’s Doodle celebrates the 120th birthday of Czech racecar driver Eliška Junková, a pioneer in the history of motor racing. Known as the “Queen of the Steering Wheel,” Junková competed during the 1920s against Europe’s top drivers, and in 1927 became the first woman ever to win a Grand Prix race.

Alžběta “Eliška” Junková was born on this day in 1900 in the Austro-Hungarian town Olomouc, today part of the Czech Republic. She took an interest in racing cars early on in high school, alongside her then-boyfriend and eventual husband Vincenc "Čeněk" Junek.” With her passion ignited, she took driving lessons in Prague and became one of the first women in the newly-formed Czechoslovakia to receive a driver's license. When her husband kicked off his career as a car racer, Junková sat beside him as his racing mechanic and co-pilot. However, it wasn’t long before she took the wheel herself.

Eliška Junková rose to fame racing her trademark Bugatti across Europe’s most difficult courses. She even developed a close personal friendship with the car’s maker, Ettore Bugatti. Junková was not only technically adept, she also earned a reputation as one of the first drivers to do walk-through’s of courses like Italy’s famous Targa Florio prior to races in order to commit landmarks and turns to memory.

Junková retired from racing in 1928, but her legacy was immortalized by Czech composer, Jaroslav Ježek's, classic jazz composition "Bugatti Step,” as well as by Junková’s personal autobiography, “My Memory is Bugatti.”

Happy birthday to a trailblazer who paved the way for women drivers across the world.

[9A]

31 March 2017
Sergei Diaghilev’s 145th birthday





Born in 1872 to a wealthy Russian family, art critic, visionary, and all-around provocateur Sergei Diaghilev made his mark on the performing arts with his influential Ballets Russes, a trailblazing dance company that united talents from the disciplines of art, fashion, dance, choreography, and music, and vaulted them to dizzying creative heights.

From 1909-1929, the Ballet Russes performed on stages around the globe, mesmerizing, even scandalizing, audiences with its unprecedented costumes, stage sets, compositions, and choreography. In Schéhérazade, which premiered at the Théâtre national de l’Opéra, Paris, in 1910, dancers traded tutus for artist Léon Bakst’s risqué harem pants while Vaslav Nijinsky performed in gold body paint and bejeweled costumes. Firebird, based on Russian fairy tales, marked Diaghilev’s first commissioned score from Igor Stravinsky, kicking off a collaboration that would include the primal work, The Rite of Spring and Pulcinella [with costumes and sets by Pablo Picasso].

Anna Pavlova, Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau—all figured into Diaghilev’s sensational productions.
Today, on Sergei Diaghilev’s 145th birthday, we salute his boundless imagination with a Doodle that depicts the impresario flanked by his vividly costumed Ballets Russes dancers against an onion-domed Russian backdrop. Diaghilev wowed the world, both then and now.
Doodle by Sophie Diao

[9A]

31 March 2015
Seif Wanly’s 109th Birthday






Our doodle in the Middle East for Seif Wanly’s 109th birthday is inspired by one of this Egyptian painter's untitled pieces of work.

[9A]

31 March 2015
126th Anniversary of the public opening of the Eiffel Tower






On this day 126 years ago, construction of the Eiffel Tower came to an end–marking the arrival of one of the most famous and recognized landmarks on the planet. Guest doodler Floriane Marchix depicts this anniversary on our homepage today.

[9A]

8 May 2018
Parents' Day 2018

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“My aim has always been modest. I wanted to transform the arranged marriage [of art and architecture] into a love match.” ​—Marcelle Ferron

Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and work of the renowned Canadian painter, sculptor, and glassmaker, whose famous installation in Montreal’s Vendôme station was unveiled on this day in 1981. Marcelle Ferron’s striking design combined colorful stained glass with a spiraling stainless steel sculpture, a unique style that inspired the Doodle’s art.

Born in 1924, Ferron studied at the École des beaux-arts de Québec, but left upon realizing she was unable to find answers to her questions about modern art. Upon meeting Québec abstract painter Paul-Émile Borduas, she joined his Automatiste group and became one of the youngest artists to sign their 1948 manifesto Refus global. Ferron went on to spend 13 years painting in Paris, exhibiting her work at the 1961 São Paulo Biennial in Brazil, where she won a silver medal.

Her meeting with glassmaker Michel Blum sparked an interest in glass as an art medium. Over time, she devised her own methods, building “walls of light” connected by invisible joints that allowed her to create large planes of color. These innovative techniques can be seen in her mural for Expo 67 and public commissions in the Champ-de-Mars train station, Sainte-Justine Hospital, and the Granby courthouse.

Throughout her 50-year career, Ferron became one of Canada’s most important contemporary artists and was made a Knight of the National Order of Québec in 1985, then promoted to Grand Officer in 2000. This restless visionary’s achievements blazed a trail for women aspiring to make a mark in what was a traditionally male-dominated space.

[9A]

4 Sept 2019
50th Anniversary of Mexico City Metro






Today’s Doodle celebrates the 50th anniversary of one of the world’s great public transportation systems, the Mexico City Metro. On this day in 1969, the first subway line of the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo began running east and west from Zaragoza to Chapultepec.

Today the Metro’s 12 lines correspond with 12 different colors, as shown in today’s Doodle artwork, with connections to light railways in the south and cable cars in the north, crisscrossing the most populous metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere and transporting some 5 million passengers every day.

When the idea for the Metro was first proposed in the 1950s, Mexico City’s population was much smaller than it is today, but the bus and tramway system was severely strained. To address the issue, the city government approved the Metro construction plan in 1967, with the 1968 Olympics just around the corner.

It was no small challenge for engineer Bernardo Quintana to tunnel underneath a mega city built over a lake, in an area with a history of seismological activity as well as archaeological riches. Metro construction crews have unearthed some remarkable finds, including an 11,000-year-old mammoth skull, which is now on display at the Talismán station; a circular pyramid dedicated to Ehécatl, the Aztec God of wind, around which the Pino Suárez station was built; and in 2010, a 500-year-old Aztec gravesite.

Each of the 195 Metro stops has its own color and symbol, designed to make the system easy to navigate. La Raza station boasts a 600-meter-long [1969-feet-long] science museum, the Túnel de la Ciencia, stimulating the minds of passengers as they walk between lines 3 and 5. Other stations are designed to resemble the Art Nouveau entrances to the Paris Metro. Rubber wheels on many lines keep noise to a minimum, and the fare to ride can be as low as 5 pesos.

[9A]

9 December 2019
Celebrating Lotería!














Today’s interactive game Doodle celebrates the traditional Mexican card game, Lotería! It’s also our second-ever multiplayer experience: Play the game with friends in a private match, or match with users around the globe at random.

A smile instantly comes to my face every time I think of Lotería. I think of being with my extended family in Mexico for the holidays, scattering around my Tia Cruz’s house, anxiously waiting for a round to start. I think of us tossing beans at each other in attempts to distract the other from our boards. Most importantly, I think of the laughter, the excitement, and how all the worries of the world melted away as this game brought us together, even if just for a few hours.

So upon being prompted to think of possible interactive Doodles to create for the following year, Lotería almost instantly came to mind. I wondered: If this simple game was so magical and powerful in its original state, how might that be amplified in the digital space? And so the Lotería Doodle was born.

It was exciting to collaborate with five Mexican and Mexican-American illustrators to reimagine many of the classic Lotería game art for the Doodle—along with some new cards for a fun sorpresa! We also partnered with popular Mexican YouTuber Luisito Comunica, who serves in the iconic role of game card announcer for the Doodle.

Although it has changed a great deal since being officially copyrighted in Mexico on this day 106 years ago, Lotería is still wildly popular today across Mexico and Latinx communities, whether as a Spanish language teaching tool or for family game night.

Originating in Italy in the 15th century, Lotería first moved to Spain before reaching Mexico in 1769. The rules are similar to bingo in that players mark spots on a tabla, or board, with a token [[traditionally a raw bean) and attempt to fill it before all other players. A designated card announcer randomly pulls colorfully illustrated cards like “La Luna,” or “El Arbol,” and sometimes improvises poetic descriptions that match spaces on the tablas. A shout of “¡lotería!” or “¡buenas!” declares victory for one lucky player, ending the round.

Characters on cards have been updated several times to reflect the social norms of the time. One of the best known versions was created in Mexico by Frenchman Clemente Jacques in 1887. The “Don Clemente Gallo” edition, copyrighted in 1913, features the imagery that’s become a form of folk art synonymous with Lotería.

Today, Lotería’s iconic imagery and the shared experience it fosters across people of any generation has become a source of pride and celebration for Mexican culture. Whether you play today with your familia or a new amig@ around the world, we hope today’s Doodle inspires fun, curiosity, and a healthy dose of competencia

¡Feliz Aniversario, Lotería!

[9A]

30 June 2021
Celebrating the Wadden Sea






Today’s Doodle celebrates the Wadden Sea, the world’s largest network of intertidal sand and mudflats, which spans the coastlines of the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. On this day in 2009, UNESCO designated the Wadden Sea a World Heritage Site in recognition of its unparalleled ecological and geological importance and the decades of effort dedicated to its preservation.

Created by storms during the 14th and 15th centuries, the Wadden Sea is a relatively young wetland environment that comprises one of the world’s last remaining undisturbed intertidal ecosystems. This magnificent stretch of sea and sand houses numerous plant and animal species, including the grey seal and harbor porpoise. Considered one of the most critical regions globally for migratory birds, it’s estimated that the wetlands are visited by over 10 million African-Eurasian birds annually and can harbor up to 6.1 million birds at once!

The Wadden Sea isn’t just a pristine habitat for wildlife—popular ways human visitors enjoy the scenery include exploring the mudflats at low tide or touring the barrier islands by boat. However, it's vital for tourists to respect the site’s essential role in maintaining global biodiversity. Current conservation efforts are grounded in a strategic partnership between UNESCO, environmental NGOs, the Wadden Sea Forum, and the governments of Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands so that future generations can enjoy this natural phenomenon.

Here’s to the Wadden Sea and preserving over 4,000 square miles of the natural world!

[9A]

22 January 2019
Lev Landau’s 111th Birthday





Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, on this day in 1908, Lev Davidovich Landau was a Soviet theoretical physicist who won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research into liquid helium’s behavior at extremely low temperatures.

Described by classmates as a “quiet, shy boy,” young Landau was brilliant at math and science, but struggled in relating to his classmates. Having completed his studies by age 13, Landau was ready to start college long before his peers. Enrolling in the Physics Department of Leningrad University, his first publication, On the Theory of the Spectra of Diatomic Molecules was already in print when he was just 18 years old.

Completing his Ph.D. at age 21, Landau earned a Rockefeller fellowship and a Soviet stipend which allowed him to visit research facilities in Zurich, Cambridge, and Copenhagen, where he had the opportunity to study with Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr. Renowned for his work in quantum theory, Bohr had a profound impact on the young physicist.

Elected to the U.S.S.R.’s Academy of Sciences in 1946, Landau also received the Lenin Science Prize for his monumental Course of Theoretical Physics—a ten-volume study co-written with his student Evgeny Lifshitz. His wide-ranging research has linked his name to many concepts that he was first to describe including: Landau Levels, which are the focus of today’s Doodle, Landau diamagnetism, Landau damping, and the Landau energy spectrum. His legacy is also kept alive by the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Moscow—and there is even a crater on the moon named after him!

Happy Birthday, Lev Landau!

[9A]

4 July 2009
4th of July 2009

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20 August 2017
Cora Coralina's 128th Birthday






Anna Lins dos Guimarães Peixoto Bretas led a simple life selling sweets to the townsfolk in rural Goiás, Brazil, the same place where she was born in 1889. At the age of 76, she had her first book of poetry published, under the pseudonym Cora Coralina. She continued to write under that name and eventually was regarded as one of the country's most important writers.

Cora’s poetry is a mirror of her simple and peaceful rural life. She wrote about love and kindness in a light and sweet manner - quite fitting for a lifelong confectioner.

One of Cora's poems can be interpreted to say, "Life is not about the starting point, but the journey. If you sow as you walk, you'll have a harvest to reap at the end". In her own, unique way, she cultivated a rich world that continues to nourish her readers. Happy birthday, Cora!

[9A]

11 Aug 2017
Mountain Day 2017







Mountain climbing as a means of peacekeeping? It’s what Japanese lawmakers envisioned as they made Mountain Day the country’s 16th national holiday.

While Japan is known partly for its hardworking culture and densely packed cities, its people maintain a kinship with nature. Shinto, a religion of the country, ascribes a sacred spirit to natural elements -- including rocks, trees, rivers, and mountains, which cover as much as 70% of the country. As the highest and most well-known mountain in Japan, for example, Mount Fuji’s 8-hour hike to the top is considered an important pilgrimage for tourists and natives alike.

Mountain Day is a time for people to take a break and get in touch with the country’s national beauty.

[9A]

11 August 2019
Mountain Day 2019




Today’s Doodle celebrates Japan’s Yama no Hi , or Mountain Day. Announced in 2014 and first observed in 2016, this day encourages the people of Japan to take time out to explore and appreciate the majestic mountains that cover nearly three-quarters of the country’s landscape.

The date August 11th was reportedly chosen because the eighth-month kanji ‘八’ looks like a mountain, and the number ‘11’ resembles a pair of trees.

Some of Japan’s most breathtaking mountains are located in Nagano and Yamanashi Prefecture, which inspired today’s Doodle art. Amongst these mountains is Mount Fuji, commonly referred to as the most iconic peak in all the land—and also the tallest, rising to a height of 3,776 meters [12,389 feet].

Tokyo city-dwellers can reach Mount Takao without traveling far, and many of its popular trails can be hiked in just 90 minutes, whereas it takes a bit more time to hike the ancient Kumano Kodo trails in the Kii Mountains. Winding past waterfalls and pagodas, this network of seven pilgrimage routes is one of just two such routes in the world to be recognized by UNESCO as part of humanity’s intangible heritage.

[9A]

11 August 2016
Mountain Day 2016

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12 November 2018
Hind Rostom’s 87th Birthday





Hailed as “The First Lady of Egyptian Cinema,” Hind Rostom starred in over 80 films, first as a non-speaking extra in 1949 and breaking through in 1955 with a standout performance in Hassan Al-Imam’s Banat el Lail [Women of the Night]. Throughout her career she portrayed strong, outspoken female characters alongside legendary actors like Farid Shawqi and Omar Sharif, defying stereotypical gender norms.

Born in Alexandria on this day in 1929 to a Turkish father and an Egyptian mother, Hind Rostom [formerly Nariman Hussein Murad] played the lead role in seventeen films in just two years—always portraying witty and independent-minded women. But it was her role as an irrepressible lemonade vendor in Youssef Chahine’s 1958 Bab al-Hadid [Cairo Station] that gave humanity to people at the margins of society and cemented her reputation as a great actor.

Her work on the big screen won her numerous awards including a special mention at the 1957 Venice Film Festival, Best Actress in 1975 from the Association of Egyptian Cinema Writers and Critics, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arab World Institute in Paris.

Rostom retired in 1979 while still at the peak of her creative powers, and refused all attempts to coax her back into the spotlight. She was even offered the opportunity to adapt her life story into a dramatic series. “My life is not for sale,” she said. Her work, however, lives on.
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Happy Birthday, Hind Rostom!

[9A]

12 November 2011
Hua Luogeng's 101st Birthday




Hua Luogeng was well known for two important contributions. One was his work on one of the greatest unsolved mathematical problems, known as Goldbach's Conjecture.... and yes, it is a little trickier than 1+1, though it involves prime numbers! [We celebrated one of his students, Chen Jungrun, in a previous doodle, who made significant progress on this problem].

Luogeng was also known for his methodology on achieving efficiency, known as "Overall Coordination." His analogy, taught to most schoolchildren, lays out the premise of wanting to drink tea when you don't yet have boiled water. The most optimized approach is that you first rinse and fill the kettle and place it on the burner. Meanwhile, you should wash the serving teapot, the tea cups, and prepare the tea leaves. When the water has boiled, you can immediately brew your tea. That's multi-tasking boiled down for you!