[REMOVE ADS]




Page 235 of 341 FirstFirst ... 135 185 225 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 245 285 335 ... LastLast
Results 11,701 to 11,750 of 17046

Thread: Google doodles

  1. #11701
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    February 26, 2019

    Antonio Rivas Mercado’s 166th Birthday




    An icon of Mexican architecture, Antonio Rivas Mercado left an indelible mark all over Mexico during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After extensive training in Europe, he returned home where he restored historic haciendas and government buildings, and taught at the National School of Fine Arts. He also designed such landmarks as the iconic Monumento a la Independencia aka “El Ángel,” [The Angel] in downtown Mexico City, which is depicted in today's Doodle by Mexican guest artist Elena Boils.

    Born in Tepic, the capital of Nayarit, on this day in 1853, Mercado was sent by his parents to study in Europe, sailing by himself at age eleven. After graduating from England’s Jesuit College of Stonyhurst, he traveled to Paris, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and at the Sorbonne.

    Returning to Mexico in 1879, Mercado undertook important restorations such as the Hacienda de Tecajete in the State of Hidalgo and the facade of the City Hall in Mexico City. Mercado was known for a distinctly eclectic style, as seen in his designs for the Juárez de Guanajuato Theater, built between 1892 and 1903, which combines a neoclassical exterior with Neo-Moorish interior.

    Mercado made a lasting impact as director of the National School of Fine Arts of Mexico City, where he separated the Architecture and Civil Engineering curriculum into two separate disciplines. His legacy lives on through his home in Mexico City’s Colonia Guerrero—also the home of his daughter, writer and patron of the arts Antonieta—which was restored and opened to the public.

    Feliz cumpleaños, Antonio Rivas Mercado!

  2. #11702
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    January 22, 2018

    Sergei Eisenstein’s 120th Birthday





    Born this day in 1898, Sergei Eisenstein was a Soviet artist and avantgarde director of several groundbreaking films, including Battleship Potemkin, Strike, and The General Line.

    Known as the father of montage — the film technique of editing a fast-paced sequence of short shots to transcend time or suggest thematic juxtapositions — Eisenstein deployed arresting images in sequences of psychological precision. His films were also revolutionary in another sense, as he often depicted the struggle of downtrodden workers against the ruling class.

    Today, we celebrate his 120th birthday with a tribute to his pioneering technique. Happy birthday, Sergei Eisenstein!

    A closer look at the film strips in today's Doodle, all inspired by iconic imagery in some of Eisenstein's films


  3. #11703
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Jan 23, 2018

    Stephen Keshi’s 56th Birthday



    Today we celebrate the life of Nigerian football icon Stephen Keshi. Football took Keshi all over the world, as he played across Africa, Europe, and the US. Known affectionately as “Big Boss,” he was beloved as a player for Nigeria’s national team, where he earned more than 60 caps, each for an appearance in an international match, and represented the country at the FIFA World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.

    After his great success as a player, Keshi moved into the next phase of his career: coaching. When the “Big Boss” became coach of the Togo national team, he brought his trademark passion with him. Against the odds, Keshi led Togo all the way to a qualifying spot in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

    He achieved his personal dream in 2011, when he became the Nigerian national coach, cementing his place in African [and world] football history. Coaching the Nigerian team, Keshi won the African Cup of Nations in 2013, and in 2014 became the first coach of an African nation to make it to the knockout round of a World Cup.

    Keshi is one of only two men to win the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a manager - a testament to his wit, talent, and love for the sport.

    A big cheer for this football legend, on what would’ve been his 56th birthday!

  4. #11704
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    January 23, 2013

    Andrija Mohorovičić's 156th Birthday



    Andrija Mohorovičić was a Croatian geophysicist. He is best known for the eponymous Mohorovičić discontinuity and is considered one of the founders of modern seismology.

    Crater Mohorovičić [on the Moon's far side] is named in his honour. A gymnasium in Rijeka, Croatia and a school ship in the Croatian Navy are named after him, as was [in 1996] asteroid 8422 Mohorovičıć.

  5. #11705
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    January 25, 2015

    Youssef Chahine’s 89th Birthday




    Youssef Chahine was an Egyptian film director. He was active in the Egyptian film industry from 1950 until his death. He directed twelve films that were listed in the Top 100 Egyptian films list. A winner of the Cannes 50th Anniversary Award [for lifetime achievement], Chahine was credited with launching the career of actor Omar Sharif. A well-regarded director with critics, he was often present at film festivals during the earlier decades of his work. Chahine gained his largest international audiences as one of the co-directors of 11'9"01 September 11 [2002].

  6. #11706
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    January 25, 2011

    Tom Jobim's Birthday




    Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim, better known by his stage name , Tom Jobim, was a composer , conductor , pianist , singer , Brazilian arranger and guitarist. He is considered the greatest exponent of Brazilian popular music of all time by Rolling Stone magazine and one of the creators of the bossa nova, with his music and melody, alongside the lyrics and poetry of Vinicius de Moraesand the voice and guitar ofJoão Gilberto.

  7. #11707
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    February 28, 2019

    Trịnh Công Sơn's 80th Birthday



    Today’s Doodle celebrates the life and legacy of Trịnh Công Sơn, a prolific and powerful Vietnamese musician, songwriter, poet, and painter.

    Born in Đắk Lắk in Vietnam’s central highlands on this day in 1939, Sơn was raised in a Buddhist family by parents who both wrote poetry. His father was imprisoned for several years during Sơn’s youth in the capital city of Buôn Ma Thuột for his vocal resistance to the Vietnamese War. In fact, around the age of 10, Sơn spent a year living with him in Thừa Phủ Prison. Educated at the Lycée Francais school in the ancient imperial capital city of Huế, Sơn also studied philosophy at Lycée Jean Jacques Rousseau in Saigon.

    Sơn first worked as a teacher before pivoting careers to become a songwriter in the 1950s. His songs protesting the Vietnam War—particularly those on the 1966 collection Songs of Golden Skin—were popular with soldiers on both sides of the conflict. After the war ended, much of his family fled their homeland, but Sơn chose to stay, writing songs about the unification of North and South Vietnam that displeased government authorities, who sent him to do forced labor in a “re-education camp.” Following his release, he continued to record music and paint throughout his life.

    Widely considered one of Vietnam’s most important modern musicians, Sơn was admired by international singers such as Joan Baez. His song “Ngủ Đi Con” [[Lullaby) about the mother of a fallen soldier was a hit in Japan. Today, his music is still recorded by popular Vietnamese singers, such as Hồng Nhung.

    Happy Birthday, Trịnh Công Sơn!

  8. #11708
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    March 21, 2019

    Celebrating Johann Sebastian Bach



    Behind the Doodle: Celebrating Johann Sebastian Bach



    Today we celebrate world renowned German composer and musician Johann Sebastian Bach with our first ever AI-powered Doodle! Made in partnership with the Google Magenta and Google PAIR teams, the Doodle is an interactive experience encouraging players to compose a two measure melody of their choice. With the press of a button, the Doodle then uses machine learning to harmonize the custom melody into Bach’s signature music style [or a Bach 80's rock style hybrid if you happen to find a very special easter egg in the Doodle...].

    The first step in developing the Doodle? Creating a machine learning model to power it. Machine learning is the process of teaching a computer to come up with its own answers by showing it a lot of examples, instead of giving it a set of rules to follow as is done in traditional computer programming. The model used in today's Doodle was developed by Magenta Team AI Resident Anna Huang, who developed Coconet: a versatile model that can be used in a wide range of musical tasks—such as harmonizing melodies or composing from scratch [check out more of these technical details in today’s Magenta blog post].

    Specifically, Coconet was trained on 306 of Bach’s chorale harmonizations. His chorales always have four voices, each carrying their own melodic line, while creating a rich harmonic progression when played together. This concise structure made them good training data for a machine learning model.

    Next came our partners at PAIR who used TensorFlow.js to allow machine learning to happen entirely within the web browser [versus it running utilizing tons of servers, as machine learning traditionally does]. For cases where someone’s computer or device might not be fast enough to run the Doodle using TensorFlow.js, the Doodle is also served with Google’s new Tensor Processing Units [TPUs], a way of quickly handling machine learning tasks in data centers— yet another Doodle first!

    These components, combined with art and engineering from the Doodle team, helped create what you see today.



    Johann Sebastian Bach was born in the small German town of Eisenach on this day in 1685 [under the old Julian calendar]. He grew up in a large musical family: his father played multiple instruments and also worked as director of the town’s musicians. His eldest brother, also a musician, raised young Bach from the age of 10 after his father’s passing. Primarily known as an exceptional organist during his lifetime, Bach also understood how to build and repair the complex inner mechanisms of pipe organs [which are depicted in today’s interactive Doodle].

    Composing music at a prolific pace [sometimes at the rate of one cantata per week!], Bach was a humble man who attributed his success to divine inspiration and a strict work ethic. He lived to see only a handful of his works published, but more than 1,000 that survived in manuscript form are now published and performed all over the world.

    Bach’s reputation soared following the 19th century “Bach revival,” as the music world gained new appreciation for his innovative use of four-part harmony, modulations of key, and mastery of counterpoint and fugue. Perhaps the best measure of his legacy is his impact on other artists, ranging from classical to contemporary over the centuries.

    Musicians weren’t the only ones affected by Bach’s music, however. After the Voyager 2 deep space probe launched, scientist and author Lewis Thomas suggested that the human race broadcast his music to the outermost reaches of the solar system. “I would vote for Bach, all of Bach,” he wrote. “We would be bragging, of course.”

    Here’s to Bach!

    Last edited by 9A; 08-09-2022 at 06:54 AM.

  9. #11709
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    March 21, 2013

    Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro's 167th Birthday




    Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro was a Portuguese artist known for his illustration, caricatures, sculpture, and ceramics designs. Bordalo Pinheiro created the popular cartoon character Zé Povinho [1875] and is considered the first Portuguese comics creator.

    The Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro Museum in Lisbon is dedicated to his life and works.

  10. #11710
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Mar 31, 2011

    Robert Bunsen's 200th Birthday




    Science or chemistry was never one of my stronger classes in school [as the chemically unsound set-up within the doodle might indicate], but I get nostalgic every time I see a chemistry set and a bunsen burner. I think we can all relate to that feeling of anticipation and discovery in the classroom, not to mention feeling just a little more grown up. If only we got to wear the white lab coats too!

    Working on the doodle itself was a bit of an experiment as well. I collaborated with software engineer, Jonathan Tang, giving him all of the artwork assets, which he then recreated using modern web technology. On updated web browsers, you can move your mouse anywhere on the screen to control the intensity of the flame and the level of the fluids in the beakers. It was a pretty intense session getting all of the work done in time for the doodle to launch, but don't worry, we managed to avoid any [major] lab disasters and/or explosions in the process.

    posted by Mike Dutton
    Last edited by 9A; 08-09-2022 at 07:08 AM.

  11. #11711
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    April 25, 2015

    100th anniversary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli





    The landing at Anzac Cove on Sunday, 25 April 1915, also known as the landing at Gaba Tepe and, to the Turks, as the Arıburnu Battle, was part of the amphibious invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula by the forces of the British Empire, which began the land phase of the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War. The assault troops, mostly from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps [ANZAC], landed at night on the western [Aegean Sea] side of the peninsula.

  12. #11712
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    June 18, 2019

    Celebrating Falafel




    Today’s Doodle celebrates falafel, the best thing that ever happened to chickpeas—with the possible exception of hummus, of course.

    Although the exact origins of this spicy street food have been lost to the mists of time, falafel has been enjoyed for centuries in many different cultures. India produces the vast majority of the world’s chickpea crop, which currently is in high season. In Egypt, fava beans are ground to make these delicious, crispy balls of fried plant protein, known in Egypt as “ta'amiya.” Israel has a song to celebrate its love affair with the tried-and-true treat, entitled And We Have Falafel.

    Over time, more eclectic toppings has been introduced all over the world, ranging from German sauerkraut, to Iraqi fried eggplant, to Indian mango sauce, to Yemeni hot sauce. Even newer variations such as the red falafel—made with jalapeños roasted peppers, tomatoes, and spicy yogurt—or the orange falafel—made with sweet potatoes, cabbage, honey, and ginger tahini—preserve the basic formula of ground legumes, seasoned and fried in oil. The world’s largest falafel, weighing 74.8 kilograms [164.8 pounds] and reaching 152 centimeters [59.8 inches] in height, was fried for 25 minutes at the Landmark Hotel in Amman, Jordan.

    Happy chickpea season!

  13. #11713
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    June 18, 2022

    Ștefania Mărăcineanu's 140th Birthday



    Ștefania Mărăcineanu was one of the pioneering women in the discovery and research of radioactivity. Today’s Doodle celebrates the Romanian physicist’s 140th Birthday.

    Mărăcineanu graduated with a physical and chemical science degree in 1910, starting her career as a teacher at the Central School for Girls in Bucharest. While there, Mărăcineanu earned a scholarship from the Romanian Ministry of Science. She decided to pursue graduate research at the Radium Institute in Paris.

    The Radium Institute was quickly becoming a worldwide center for the study of radioactivity under the direction of physicist Marie Curie. Mărăcineanu began working on her PhD thesis on polonium, an element that Curie discovered.

    During her research on the half-life of polonium, Mărăcineanu noticed that the half-life seemed dependent on the type of metal it was placed on. This got her wondering if the alpha rays from the polonium had transferred some atoms of the metal into radioactive isotopes. Her research led to what is most likely the first example of artificial radioactivity.

    Mărăcineanu enrolled at Sorbonne University in Paris to finish her PhD in physics, which she earned in just two years! After working for four years at the Astronomical Observatory in Meudon, she returned to Romania and founded her homeland’s first laboratory for the study of Radioactivity.

    Mărăcineanu dedicated her time to researching artificial rain, which included a trip to Algeria to test her results. She also studied the link between earthquakes and rainfall, becoming the first to report that there is significant increase of radioactivity in the epicenter leading up to an earthquake.

    In 1935, Irène Currie, daughter of Marie Curie, and her husband received a joint Nobel prize for their discovery of artificial radioactivity. Mărăcineanu didn’t contest the Nobel prize, but asked that her role in the discovery be recognized. Mărăcineanu’s work was recognized by the Academy of Sciences of Romania in 1936 where she was elected to serve as a Director of research, but she never received global recognition for the discovery.

    The Curie Museum in Paris contains the original chemical laboratory in the Radium Institute, where Mărăcineanu worked. Today’s Doodle honors Ștefania Mărăcineanu’s 140th birthday and pays tribute to her legacy.

  14. #11714
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    May 24, 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.”

  15. #11715
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    May 24, 2016

    Suzanne Lenglen’s 117th Birthday




    Back in the day, tennis was a rigid affair. Amateurs couldn’t compete with pros, and participation fees for important matches were astronomical. Then Suzanne Lenglen came along.

    Lenglen picked up her first racket in 1910 for health reasons. In less than five years, she became the sport’s youngest champion. She had a staggeringly successful career, and even starred in one of the earliest instructional films. More importantly, she broke down barriers through her passionate play, non-traditional wardrobe, and outspoken stance against the sport’s formalities.

    With Lenglen’s influence, tennis gained the attention it deserved, and became a sport not just for some, but for all.

  16. #11716
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Jun 21, 2002

    La Fête de la Musique 2002





    The Fête de la Musique, also known in English as Music Day, Make Music Day or World Music Day, is an annual music celebration that takes place on 21 June. On Music Day, citizens and residents are urged to play music outside in their neighborhoods or in public spaces and parks. Free concerts are also organized, where musicians play for fun and not for payment.

    The first all-day musical celebration on the day of the summer solstice was originated by Jack Lang, then Minister of Culture of France, as well as by Maurice Fleuret; it was celebrated in Paris in 1982. Music Day later became celebrated in 120 countries around the world.

  17. #11717
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    June 21, 2015

    Summer Solstice 2015 [Northern Hemisphere]



    Sticky fingers? It must be summer!

    Today marks the beginning of the year’s sweetest season, a time of hot days, short nights, and soaking up the sun: the Summer Solstice.

    What is Solstice, you ask? it’s an astronomical event that creates the longest day of the year in one of the two hemispheres. Today, the Earth’s northern half will be bathed in light for the greatest percentage of a single day. Giving us all a good excuse to stay outside for another hour. Or two. Or until the fireflies come out!

    So get out of the house, slather on some sunscreen, and enjoy the summer, before it melts away…

    Doodle by guest artist, Kirsten Lepore.

  18. #11718
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    June 21, 2012

    Viktor Tsoi's 50th Birthday







    Viktor Robertovich Tsoi was a Soviet singer and songwriter who co-founded Kino, one of the most popular and musically influential bands in the history of Russian-language music.

    Born and raised in Leningrad [now known as Saint Petersburg], Tsoi started writing songs as a teenager. Throughout his career, Tsoi contributed a plethora of musical and artistic works, including ten albums. After Kino appeared and performed in the 1987 Soviet film Assa, the band's popularity surged, triggering a period referred to as "Kinomania", and leading to Tsoi's leading role in the 1988 Kazakh new wave art film The Needle. In 1990, after their high-profile concert at the Luzhniki Stadium, Tsoi briefly relocated to Latvia with bandmate Yuri Kasparyan to work on the band's next album. Two months after the concert, Tsoi died in a car collision.

    He is regarded as one of the most important pioneers of Russian/Soviet rock and is credited with popularizing the genre throughout the Soviet Union. He retains a devoted following in many ex-Soviet countries, such as Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, where he is known as one of the most influential and popular people in the history of Russian music.
    Last edited by 9A; 08-10-2022 at 07:15 AM.

  19. #11719
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Jun 28, 2012


    Sergiu Celibidache's 100th Birthday




    Sergiu Celibidache was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures as principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Sicilian Symphony Orchestra and several other European orchestras. Later in life, he taught at Mainz University in Germany and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

  20. #11720
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    June 28, 2012

    Luigi Pirandello's 145th Birthday




    Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power to turn psychological analysis into good theatre." He was an Italian nationalist and supported Fascism in a moderate way, at one point giving his Nobel Prize medal to the Fascist government to be melted down as part of the 1935 Oro alla Patria ["Gold to the Fatherland"] campaign during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written in Sicilian. Pirandello's tragic farces are often seen as forerunners of the Theatre of the Absurd.

  21. #11721
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    June 28, 2012

    JJ Rousseau's 300th Birthday




    Jean-Jacques Rousseau progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the development of modern political, economic, and educational thought.

  22. #11722
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    June 28, 2019

    185th Anniversary of the Publication of Pan Tadeusz Poem



    On this day in 1834, the Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz published his masterpiece, Pan Tadeusz, often considered one of the last great epic poems in European literature. Written in Paris, the 12-part saga captures the spirit of Poland at a time when much of its territory was partitioned between Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

    Set during the years 1811 and 1812 in a Lithuanian village, the narrative focuses on a feud between two prominent families, complicated by the love between Tadeusz and a daughter of the rival family named Zosia. A revolt against the local Russian garrison brings the families together, inspired by a shared passion to restore Poland to its former glory: “When talk was to raise Poland again from this rubble.”

    Required reading in Polish schools, Pan Tadeusz has been translated into many languages and adapted into TV and film versions, most recently in 1999 by Polish director Andrzej Wajda. Mickiewicz writes with great feeling, expressing his love and longing for all aspects of Polish life from the landscape [“These fields, painted with various grain, gilded with wheat, silvered with rye”], to the food [“mere words cannot tell of its wondrous taste, colour and marvellous smell”], to even the wildlife [“No frogs croak as divinely as Polish ones do”].

  23. #11723
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Jun 30, 2019

    Celebrating Puerto Princesa Underground River




    Something strange happens on the Philippine island of Palawan when the Cabayugan River reaches the 1,000-meter [3,280.8-feet] high limestone mountain called Saint Paul: the flowing water vanishes under the earth. Today’s Doodle celebrates the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, a Philippines National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site protected by the Ramsar Convention on this day in 2012.

    An international body created for the conservation of important wetlands, Ramsar designated this underground river as “unique in the biogeographic region because it connects a range of important ecosystems from the mountain-to-the-sea, including a limestone karst landscape with a complex cave system, mangrove forests, lowland evergreen tropical rainforests, and freshwater swamps.”

    The river is one of the world’s longest underground waterways at 8.2-kilometers [5.1-miles]—and one of the few that flows into the sea, creating the largest subterranean estuary in the world. Small boats carry sightseers underground to marvel at dramatic stalactite and stalagmite formations.

    The 24-kilometer [14.9-mile] matrix of caves—including the 360-meter [1181.1-feet] long, 80-meter [262.5-feet] high Italian’s Chamber, one of the largest cave halls in the world—is home to some 800 plant species as well as many animals found nowhere else, including giant spiders, crabs, fish, and snakes, as well as bats, swallows, and fossils dating back millions of years. The critically endangered Philippine cockatoo and Hawksbill turtle, and the endangered Green sea turtle and Nordmann’s greenshank are just a few of the protected species who survive in this one-of-a-kind habitat.

  24. #11724
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    June 30, 2017

    Celebrating Victor Hugo


    [Turn down your volume a little.]

    Today we celebrate world-renowned poet, statesman, and human rights activist Victor Hugo. The final chapter of his epic novel Les Misérables was published on this date in 1862.

    Before he turned 30, Hugo was already an established poet, dramatist, artist, and novelist. Today's Doodle depicts some of his best-known works, including Notre Dame de Paris [The Hunchback of Notre-Dame] [1831] and the poetry collection Les Contemplations [1856]. Between those milestones, Hugo began his legendary novel Les Misérables, about social injustice, redemption, and revolution.

    By the time Les Misérables was published in 1862, Hugo had been exiled almost 10 years for his political views. During that time, he produced three poetry collections, plus numerous books about social and economic disparity, including Les Travailleurs de la Mer [Toilers of the Sea] and L’Homme Qui Rit [The Man Who Laughs]. Hugo later founded the Association Litteraire et Artistique Internationale to support artists’ rights.

    Hugo appeared on a French banknote and is honored with streets, parks, hiking trails, and statues in most large French cities, as well as in Guernsey, where he lived in exile. Today's Doodle is a fitting addition to the long list of tributes to the venerable Victor Hugo.


    Doodle by Sophie Diao
    Last edited by 9A; 08-11-2022 at 06:20 AM.

  25. #11725
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    June 30, 2013

    Herta Heuwer's 100th Birthday




    Herta Charlotte Heuwer owned and ran a food kiosk in West Berlin. She is frequently credited with the invention of the take-out dish that would become the currywurst, supposedly on 4 September 1949. The original Currywurst was a boiled sausage, fried, with a sauce of tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, curry powder and other ingredients.

    Heuwer was born in Königsberg. In January 1951, she registered a trademark for her sauce, Chillup.

    Food historians such as Petra Foede believe that, as with most culinary creation myths, several rather than a single person were involved in developing this dish, sausage sellers experimenting with various spice mixes in order to replace the tomato ketchup that was unavailable during the immediate postwar years.

  26. #11726
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    March 21, 2020

    Leonid Utyosov’s 125th Birthday



    Today’s Doodle celebrates the 125th birthday of Soviet musician, singer, and actor Leonid Utyosov who is credited with leading one of the Soviet Union’s early jazz bands.

    Lazar Iosifovich Weissbein was born on this day 1895 to a middle-class family in Odessa [now part of Ukraine]. By the end of his teen years, he had taken work as a circus acrobat, stand-up comedian, and theater actor, assuming the stage name Leonid Utyosov. After winning a singing competition, the multi-talented Utyosov formed a band and began touring Moscow, appearing regularly at the city’s famous Hermitage Theater.

    While on tour in 1928, Utyosov experienced his first encounter with American jazz, and he was hooked. The next year, he debuted the Tea-Jazz Orchestra, which blended diverse styles, including American jazz, Jewish folk music, Argentinian tangos, and Russian lullabies, and achieved major popularity.

    In a return to acting, Utyosov starred in the Hollywood-style hit film Vesyolye rebyata [Jolly Fellows, 1934] which introduced Soviet audiences to a variety of new music and earned him increased exposure across the country.

    For his considerable contributions to music and film, Utyosov was designated the 1965 People’s Artist of the USSR, and in 2000, a statue was erected in his honor in his hometown of Odessa.

    С днем рождения, Леонид Утесов! [“Happy birthday, Leonid Utyosov!”]

  27. #11727
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    November 9, 2018

    Celebrating Amanda Crowe




    In honor of Native American Heritage Month, today’s video Doodle celebrates Eastern Band Cherokee Indian woodcarver and educator Amanda Crowe, a prolific artist renowned for her expressive animal figures.

    Led by Doodler Lydia Nichols, the Doodle was created in collaboration with the Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual as well as William “Bill” H. Crowe, Jr., woodcarver and nephew and former student of Amanda Crowe. Aside from highlighting Crowe’s own words and passion for her craft, the Doodle features high resolution imagery of Amanda’s true works housed in her homeland at Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual, the nation’s oldest American Indian cooperative. The music is also an original composition by her nephew, Bill.

    Born in 1928, Crowe was raised within the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina, which is territory owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Her artistic talent emerged early, as she began drawing and carving around the age of four. Although Crowe said she was “barely old enough to handle a knife,” she was determined to express herself. Studying with her uncle Goingback Chiltoskey, a well-known woodcarver in his own right, Crowe honed her skills, carrying her tools to school to pursue her passion for creativity and even selling her carvings as a child.

    In 1946, Crowe earned a scholarship to study at the Art Institute of Chicago, expanding her vision through exposure to the world-renowned museum’s permanent collection of sculpture. She learned to work with plaster, stone, and metal, but always came back to wood as her preferred medium. “The grain challenges me to create objects in three dimensions,” she explained. “A mistake or flaw in the wood will improve your design. To me, a knot can be the best part.”

    After earning her Master of Fine Arts degree, Crowe studied in Mexico with the renowned sculptor José de Creeft before returning to her homeland in the Qualla Boundary. There, she established a studio in the Paint Town community and began teaching art classes at Cherokee High School, where she would teach over 2000 students over the course of 40 years.

    As many prominent American Indian artists studied under Crowe, her tutelage has been credited with fostering a resurgence of Cherokee carving. Crowe’s work can has been showcased in the High Museum in Atlanta and the Mint Museum in Charlotte in addition to private collections all over the world.
    Last edited by 9A; 08-11-2022 at 06:41 AM.

  28. #11728
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    November 9, 2012

    Paul Abadie's 200th Birthday





    Paul Abadie was a French architect and building restorer. He is considered a central representative of French historicism. He was the son of architect Paul Abadie Sr.

    Abadie worked on the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris, Église Sainte-Croix of Bordeaux, Saint-Pierre of Angoulême and Saint-Front of Périgueux. He won the competition in 1873 to design the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on Montmartre in Paris, and saw construction commence on it, though he died long before its completion in 1914.

  29. #11729
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    November 9, 2011

    Hideyo Noguchi's 135th Birthday




    Hideyo Noguchi, also known as Seisaku Noguchi, was a prominent Japanese bacteriologist who in 1911 discovered the agent of syphilis as the cause of progressive paralytic disease.

  30. #11730
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    November 9, 2019

    30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall





    “Tor auf!” [“Open the gate!”] roared the crowds gathered at the Berlin Wall on this evening in 1989. Today’s Doodle, created by Berlin-based guest artist Max Guther, celebrates the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a peaceful revolution that signaled the simultaneous end of the Cold War and the beginning of German reunification.

    Winds of change were blowing across Europe as new leadership in Russia, Poland, and Hungary had high hopes in East Germany for an end to 28 years of strict travel restrictions. During a government press conference, an official spokesman’s hasty statement gave reporters and TV viewers the mistaken impression that East Germany would be allowing free travel between East and West Berlin.

    Within hours, a massive crowd gathered at the wall, far outnumbering the border crossing guards. Some time before midnight, the officer in charge of the Bornholmer Street checkpoint defied his superiors and gave the order to open the gate.

    Word spread quickly, and over the next few days, 2 million jubilant Germans crossed the border, some singing, dancing, and toasting the start of a new era while others began physically dismantling the wall.

    Erected on August 13, 1961, the barbed wire and concrete edifice had long divided East and West Berlin. By the same token, its demolition triggered a series of events that led to the reunion of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.

  31. #11731
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    May 19, 2014

    Rubik's Cube


    The Rubik's Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp in 1980 via businessman Tibor Laczi and Seven Towns founder Tom Kremer. The cube was released internationally in 1980 and became one of the most recognized icons in popular culture. It won the 1980 German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle. As of January 2009, 350 million cubes had been sold worldwide, making it the world's bestselling puzzle game and bestselling toy.

    On the original classic Rubik's Cube, each of the six faces was covered by nine stickers, each of one of six solid colours: white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. Some later versions of the cube have been updated to use coloured plastic panels instead, which prevents peeling and fading. In models as of 1988, white is opposite yellow, blue is opposite green, and orange is opposite red, and the red, white, and blue are arranged in that order in a clockwise arrangement. On early cubes, the position of the colours varied from cube to cube. An internal pivot mechanism enables each face to turn independently, thus mixing up the colours. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be returned to have only one colour. Similar puzzles have now been produced with various numbers of sides, dimensions, and stickers, not all of them by Rubik.

    Although the Rubik's Cube reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1980s, it is still widely known and used. Many speedcubers continue to practice it and similar puzzles; they also compete for the fastest times in various categories. Since 2003, the World Cube Association, the international governing body of the Rubik's Cube, has organised competitions worldwide and recognises world records.

  32. #11732
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    May 19, 2015

    45th Anniversary of the creation of Barbapapa



    "Clickety Click—Barba Trick”

    If you recognize today's doodle, then you probably know what that sound is: Barbapapa is changing forms again! For those of us who are new to the magic of this wonderful family of technicolor shapes, Barbapapa is a series of children's books, started in Paris, France 45 years ago on a beautiful day in May. The authors were a French-American couple, Annette Tison and Talus Taylor.

    The pair came up with the concept for these kooky characters at the Luxembourg Gardens when Taylor, a non-french-speaker, overhead a nearby child asking for "baa baa paa paa." Confused, Taylor asked his wife, Annette what the child meant. She explained that barbe à papa, is literally translated as "father's beard," but also means cotton candy. Later, inspired by the adorable jumble of sounds and the image of a pink-candy-floss beardy-fellow, the couple sketched out a rotund character on a napkin: Barbapapa was born.

    Barbapapa is a friendly and caring creature, always ready to help and use his powers of shapeshifting to benefit others. His adventures lead him to become a town hero and meet a lovely she-barba, a lady in black named Barbamama. In the doodle you can see Barbapapa and Barbamama proudly standing behind their children. Each of the children have a special talent or interest:

    Barbabelle, the beauty queen [purple]

    Barbabravo, an athlete and mystery buff [red]

    Barbalib, an academic [orange]

    Barbabright, a scientist [blue]

    Barbabeau, an artist [black and furry]

    Barbalala, a musician [green]

    Barbazoo, a nature lover [yellow]

    Today's doodle is important not just because Barbapapa has brought joy to families all over the world. We also want to memorialize Talus Taylor, who passed away this year. The beautiful books he created with his wife, Annette have been translated into over 30 languages worldwide, and transformed into comics and a television series, delighting us all with reminders of family, love, kindness and a deep respect for the environment.

    Barbapapa © 2015 Alice Taylor & Thomas Taylor All Rights Reserved

  33. #11733
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    May 19, 2022

    Stacey Park Milbern's 35th Birthday



    Stacey Park Milbern was a queer, Korean-American disability justice activist, who co-founded the disability justice movement and dedicated her life to advocating for marginalized communities. In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, today’s Doodle—illustrated by San Francisco, CA-based guest artist, Art Twink—celebrates Stacey Park Milbern’s legacy on what would be her 35th birthday.

    Milbern was born in 1987 in Seoul, South Korea. She grew up in Fort Bragg, North Carolina and began her service as a leader for disability justice at the age of 16. After noticing a lack of advocacy for disabled LGBTQ+ and people of color, she teamed up with other activists in 2005 to coin disability justice—a framework dedicated to ensuring the perspectives of traditionally marginalized groups within the disabled community weren’t left out of the fight for disability rights.

    At the age of 24, Milbern moved to the Bay Area, California, where she worked tirelessly to organize, write, and speak for the movement, and became Director of Programs at the Center of Independent Living. In 2014, Milbern was appointed to the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities and served as an advisor to the national administration.

    “I want to leave a legacy of disabled people knowing we are powerful and beautiful because of who we are, not despite of it." - Stacey Park Milbern

    From advocating for national legislation to building community through the Disability Justice Culture Club—Stacey Milbern always dreamed big and lived up to her values. Happy 35th birthday, Stacey Park Milbern.

  34. #11734
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    November 8, 2021

    Professor Okoth Okombo's 71st Birthday


    Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Kenya-based guest artist Joe Impressions, celebrates the 71st birthday of acclaimed Kenyan professor and author Okoth Okombo, an eminent researcher of Nilotic linguistics [from the Nile River region] who is widely considered the founder of African sign language studies.

    Duncan Okoth Okombo was born on November 8, 1950 in Kaswanga, a village on the remote Kenyan island of Rusinga. As a member of the Suba tribe raised during a time of colonial rule, Okombo witnessed firsthand how the elevation of the English language eroded his ethnic identity by pushing his mother tongue of Omusuba to near extinction. These experiences inspired Okombo’s lifelong mission to preserve indigenous African heritage through academia with a major focus on educating children in their native languages.

    While pursuing his linguistics doctorate in 1983, Okombo published Masira ki Ndaki [“Misfortune is Inevitable”] in Dholuo, which is considered one of the first novels published in a Kenyan language. He continued to pass down his expertise as a professor of linguistics and literature at his alma mater of the University of Nairobi, where Okombo founded the Kenyan Sign Language [KSL] Research Project in 1991. This project led to the widespread adoption of KSL across Kenya, allowing the nation’s deaf community to secure new opportunities in society.

    For his achievements, the World Federation of the Deaf elected Okombo as its international president from 1992 to 1995. Today, Okombo’s students remember him as a great listener, storyteller, and even a great dancer as his legacy lives on in the ongoing advocacy work of the Kenyan Sign Language Research Project.

    Happy birthday, Professor Okombo!

  35. #11735
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    January 10, 2020

    Vicente Huidobro's 127th Birthday


    “Let's leave the old once and for all...In literature, I like everything that is innovation. Everything that is original.”
    –Vicente Huidobro, Pasando y Pasando: crónicas y Comentarios [1914]

    Today’s Doodle, illustrated by London-based guest artist Luisa Rivera, celebrates avant-garde Chilean poet and writer Vicente Huidobro on his 127th birthday. Widely known as the “father of the Creacionismo [Creationism] literary movement,” Huidobro refused to be confined by literary orthodoxy. Instead, he used the written word to push the limits of creativity.

    Vicente García-Huidobro Fernández was born in 1893 in Santiago, Chile. He became a poet like his mother, first published at the early age of 12, and went on to study literature at the University of Chile.

    Gradually, he began to feel confined by traditional poetic standards, and in 1914 he rejected them in his manifesto, Non Serviam [“I Will Not Serve”].

    Huidobro moved to Paris to collaborate with surrealist poets Guillaume Apollinaire and Pierre Reverdy on the literary magazine they founded, Nord-sud [[North-South). In Paris, he invented Creacionismo, the idea that poets should create their own imaginary worlds instead of writing about nature in traditional styles with traditional language. Poemas árticos [“Arctic Poems,” 1918] and Saisons Choisies [“Chosen Seasons,” 1921] are some examples, but the 1931 long-form poem Altazor is Huidobro’s definitive Creacionismo work.

    His well-known lines from his poem Arte Poetica [Poetic Art], “Let the verse be like a key / That opens a thousand doors,” represents his style and inspired today’s Doodle art, which infuses different images that appear in his poetry.

    Huidobro wrote over 40 books, including plays, novels, manifestos, and poetry. He constantly encouraged literary experimentation and influenced many Latin American poets who succeeded him.

    ¡Feliz cumpleaños, Vicente Huidobro!

  36. #11736
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Jan 30, 2015

    Vsevolod Nestayko’s 85th Birthday




    Our doodle in Ukraine draws inspiration from the children’s book Toreadors from Vasyukivka for writer Vsevolod Nestayko’s 85th birthday. Nestayko is widely considered to be Ukraine’s best-known author of children’s literature.

  37. #11737
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Feb 2, 2015

    110th Anniversary of first publication of Bécassine



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

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

  38. #11738
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    February 2, 2004

    Gaston Julia's 111th Birthday



    Gaston Maurice Julia was a French mathematician who devised the formula for the Julia set. His works were popularized by French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot; the Julia and Mandelbrot fractals are closely related. He founded, independently with Pierre Fatou, the modern theory of holomorphic dynamics.

  39. #11739
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Mar 24, 2020

    Celebrating Banh Mi





    Today’s Doodle celebrates the savory and satisfying Vietnamese street-food sandwich known as bánh mì, a smorgasbord of flavors that represents a true melting pot of cultures and ingredients alike. On this day in 2011, bánh mì was admitted into the Oxford English Dictionary.

    Some accounts posit bánh mì’s humble beginnings in the late 1950s street stalls of Saigon’s noisy alleys, but an official origin story is yet to be verified. What is universally accepted about bánh mi’s history: its French inspiration, the staple baguette sandwich.

    A traditional bánh mì consists of crispy and airy bread packed with a meat of choice [such as pork pâté, giò lụa, Vietnamese cold cuts, or meatballs], sweet, crunchy veggies and herbs [pickled radishes, carrots, and cilantro], a spread of mayonnaise or margarine, and savory soy sauce, finally topped with chili sauce or peppers. Voilà! By replacing European flavors with Vietnamese ingredients, a tangy and sweet while simultaneously spicy and salty takeaway food was born.

    In current times, one can find countless spin-offs of the sandwich in street stands, markets, and restaurants across the world, from New York, to Seoul, to Saigon. Koreans often enjoy bánh mì’s stuffed with their signature bulgogi [barbeque beef] and kimchi. In the U.S., many popular recipes have traded the baguette with a brioche bun to create a miniaturized version: bánh mì sliders.

    No matter the variation, you can relish the taste of cultures coming together!

  40. #11740
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    March 24, 2008

    Béla Bartók's 127th Birthday



    Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hungary's greatest composers. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became ethnomusicology.

  41. #11741
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    November 27, 2018

    Fe del Mundo’s 107th Birthday



    “I’m glad that I have been very much involved in the care of children, and that I have been relevant to them,” says Filipina physician Fe del Mundo. “They are the most outstanding feature in my life.”

    Born in Manilla on this day in 1911, del Mundo was inspired to study medicine by her older sister who did not herself live to realize her dream of becoming a doctor. Also known as “The Angel of Santo Tomas,” del Mundo devoted her life to child healthcare and revolutionized pediatric medicine in the process.

    A gifted student who became the first woman admitted to Harvard Medical School, del Mundo returned home after completing her studies in the U.S. During World War II, she set up a hospice where she treated more than 400 children and later became director of a government hospital. Frustrated with the bureaucracy, she eventually sold her house and belongings to finance the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines. Del Mundo lived on the second floor of the Children's Medical Center in Quezon City, making early morning rounds until she was 99 years old, even in a wheelchair.

    When she wasn’t treating patients she was teaching students, publishing important research in medical journals, and authoring a definitive ‘Textbook of Pediatrics.’ She established the Institute of Maternal and Child Health to train doctors and nurses, and became the first woman to be conferred the title National Scientist of the Philippines and received many awards for her outstanding service to humankind.

    Happy Birthday, Fe del Mundo!

  42. #11742
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    November 27, 2010

    Bruce Lee's 70th Birthday




    Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong and American martial artist, martial arts instructor, actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that is often credited with paving the way for modern mixed martial arts [MMA]. Lee is considered by critics, media, and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West. He is credited with promoting Hong Kong action cinema and helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films.

  43. #11743
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Nov 26, 2010

    65th Birthday of Pippi Longstocking



    Pippi Longstocking is the fictional main character in an eponymous series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi was named by Lindgren's daughter Karin, who asked her mother for a get-well story when she was off school.

  44. #11744
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    November 26, 2015

    Verghese Kurien’s 94th Birthday



    There are few things to give one’s country as sacred and invaluable as nourishment. Today we salute Verghese Kurien, whose ingenuity transformed India’s milk industry and continues to soothe countless stomachs and minds.

    Verghese Kurien, known as the "Father of the White Revolution" in India,bwas a social entrepreneur whose "billion-litre idea", Operation Flood, made dairy farming India's largest self-sustaining industry and the largest rural employment sector providing a third of all rural income. It made India the world's largest milk producer, doubled the milk available for each person, and increased milk output four-fold in 30 years.

  45. #11745
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Nov 25, 2015

    Asmahan’s 103rd Birthday




    Amal al-Atrash, better known by her stage name, Asmahan, was one of the most acclaimed singers and actresses in Egypt during the 1930s and ‘40s. Known for her powerful voice, versatility, and commanding stage presence, she earned great fame at a time when society often frowned upon women entertainers. Her success helped pave the way for the female performers who came after her.

    Sophie Diao’s animated Doodle honors Asmahan, paying tribute to her signature performing style and highlighting the intimate way she would look deeply into the camera and sing directly to her audience. Diao also captured Asmahan’s iconic, glamorous look, and used black and white coloring to simulate film grain from the time. If you look closely, you may be able to tell what Asmahan is saying [hint, it’s written on the homepage]. [My guess is "Google."]

    Today, for her 103rd birthday, we remember Asmahan for her legendary voice and historic career.
    Last edited by 9A; 08-13-2022 at 07:03 AM.

  46. #11746
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    October 27, 2019

    Sylvia Plath's 87th Birthday



    “How she longed for winter then! –
    Scrupulously austere in its order
    Of white and black
    Ice and rock, each sentiment in border,
    And heart’s frosty discipline
    Exact as a snowflake.”

    —Sylvia Plath, “Spinster”


    Today’s Doodle celebrates the acclaimed American writer Sylvia Plath, whose painfully honest poetry and prose gave voice to the author’s innermost emotions in ways that touched generations of readers. “It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents: joyous positive and despairing negative,” wrote Plath, whose work helped many understand mental illness. “Whichever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it.”

    Born in Boston on this day in 1932, Sylvia Plath grew up with her father, a strict German and biology teacher specializing in the study of bees. Showing an early talent for writing, Plath was published in national publications, won awards, worked as an editor, and graduated from Smith College with honors—all despite suffering a mental breakdown. Her works often used heavy imagery and metaphors, set amongst scenes of winter and frost, as shown in today's Doodle.

    After college, Plath earned a Fulbright scholarship and traveled to England. In 1982, she won a Pulitzer Prize posthumously. While her children’s book, The It-Doesn’t-Matter-Suit, shows a lighter side of her creativity, her poems were described by the novelist Joyce Carol Oates as reading “as if they’ve been chiseled, with a fine surgical instrument, out of arctic ice.”

  47. #11747
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    April 3, 2020

    Lola Álvarez Bravo’s 117th Birthday


    Today’s Doodle celebrates one of Mexico’s first professional female photographers, Lola Álvarez Bravo, on her 117th birthday. Known for her portraits of public figures, as well as street photography chronicling decades of Mexican life, she is considered one of the country’s pioneers of modernist photography.

    Born Dolores Martinez de Anda in Jalisco, Mexico, on this day in 1903, the future photographer moved to Mexico City as a child. It was from her neighbor, Manuel Bravo, that she first learned the basics of photography, including developing photos in the darkroom. The pair married in 1925, and both went on to achieve enormous acclaim for their work.

    Álvarez Bravo became a central figure in Mexico’s post-revolution cultural renaissance, and among her most internationally-renowned photographs were those taken in the mid-1940s of her friend, and one of the country’s most iconic artists, the painter Frida Kahlo. Through her photojournalistic lens, Álvarez Bravo captured scenes of everyday Mexican life, from local traditions to outdoor barbershops, portraying the depth and breadth of the country’s culture across a career spanning more than half a century.


    In 1981, Álvarez Bravo’s home state of Jalisco awarded her a medal of distinction for her contribution to the arts, and four years later, a plaque was installed in her honor in Guadalajara’s historic Degollada Theater.


    ¡Feliz cumpleaños, Lola Álvarez Bravo! Thank you for capturing Mexico from the ground up.

  48. #11748
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    September 17, 2021

    Michiyo Tsujimura's 133rd Birthday



    Have you ever wondered why green tea tastes so bitter when steeped for too long? Thanks to Japanese educator and biochemist Michiyo Tsujimura, and her groundbreaking research into the nutritional benefits of green tea, science has the answers. Today’s Doodle celebrates Michiyo Tsujimura on her 133rd birthday.

    Michiyo Tsujimura was born on this day in 1888 in Okegawa, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. She spent her early career teaching science. In 1920, she chased her dream of becoming a scientific researcher at Hokkaido Imperial University where she began to analyze the nutritional properties of Japanese silkworms.

    A few years later, Tsujimura transferred to Tokyo Imperial University and began researching the biochemistry of green tea alongside Dr. Umetaro Suzuki, famed for his discovery of vitamin B1. Their joint research revealed that green tea contained significant amounts of vitamin C—the first of many yet unknown molecular compounds in green tea that awaited under the microscope. In 1929, she isolated catechin—a bitter ingredient of tea. Then, the next year she isolated tannin, an even more bitter compound. These findings formed the foundation for her doctoral thesis, “On the Chemical Components of Green Tea” when she graduated as Japan’s first woman doctor of agriculture in 1932.

    Outside of her research, Dr. Tsujimura also made history as an educator when she became the first Dean of the Faculty of Home Economics at Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School in 1950. Today, a stone memorial in honor of Dr.Tsujimura’s achievements can be found in her birthplace of Okegawa City.

    Happy Birthday, Michiyo Tsujimura!

  49. #11749
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    September 17, 2011

    Anant Pai's 82nd Birthday




    Anant Pai, popularly known as Uncle Pai, was an Indian educationalist and a pioneer in Indian comics. He is most famous as the creator of two comic book series viz. Amar Chitra Katha, which retold traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories, and biographies of historical characters; and Tinkle, a children's anthology.

  50. #11750
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    20,516
    Rep Power
    464
    Sep 16, 2011

    Albert Szent-Gyorgyi's 118th Birthday




    To say thanks to the scientist responsible for discovering Vitamin-C, I thought it’d be fun to not only rebrand our logo with a few replaced or redrawn letters, but to rebrand Google the Company, right down to our core product, so to speak. In this case, Google became the distributor of all foods and herbs rich in Vitamin-C content!

    Here are a few concept sketches that is very typical of our process when trying to find just the right idea.

    A simple overhead shot of all the produce. However, the idea didn't feel all that – well – fresh.

    Crates seemed fun, but it became less about the food and more about the crates.

    Eventually, I went with the first concept to make it look like the label you might find on a wooden crate or the side of a produce truck. The most enjoyable part of this doodle? The amount of fresh OJ and grapefruit juice I drank as I dove into the... research.

    posted by Mike Dutton
    Last edited by 9A; 08-13-2022 at 07:20 AM.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

[REMOVE ADS]

Ralph Terrana
MODERATOR

Welcome to Soulful Detroit! Kindly Consider Turning Off Your Ad BlockingX
Soulful Detroit is a free service that relies on revenue from ad display [regrettably] and donations. We notice that you are using an ad-blocking program that prevents us from earning revenue during your visit.
Ads are REMOVED for Members who donate to Soulful Detroit. [You must be logged in for ads to disappear]
DONATE HERE »
And have Ads removed.