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Veronika Dudarova’s 101st Birthday



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

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

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

On what would’ve been Dudarova’s 101st birthday, we honor the conductor’s dramatic style as she leads the Google letters in a passionate, homepage-worthy performance.

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Finland Independence Day 2017



December 6 is observed across Finland as Independence Day. This year marks the centennial anniversary of this joyous occasion, adding just a bit more sparkle to traditional celebrations.

On cold (and sometimes snowy) Independence Day evenings, family and friends come together over warm drinks and sweet treats, tuning in to watch the Annual Independence Day Reception at the Presidential Palace.

The ones willing to brave the cold outdoors are treated to the best of Finnish culture — hockey games, concerts, art festivals, and celebratory parades. Everywhere you turn, you’re met with infectious enthusiasm and good cheer.

Today’s Doodle by Helsinki-based illustrator Janine Rewell depicts Finland’s native animals harmoniously gathered on a winter’s night. A single candle burns in the backdrop, just like the candles that light the windows of homes across the country. Captured in the colors of Finland’s national flag, the doodle reflects the spirit of cozy camaraderie and warmth in the snowy cold.

Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää, Suomi!

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Elvia Carrillo Puerto's 139th Birthday



Born on this day in Yucatán in 1878, Elvia Carrillo Puerto, known as The Red Nun, or La monja roja, helped propel feminism to the forefront of Mexican politics in the early 20th century. Poet and early feminist Rita Cetina Gutiérrez taught the young Puerto ideas of equality between the sexes, which would form the framework for Puerto’s lifelong work as a socialist and a feminist.

As Puerto grew up, she dedicated her life to fixing the injustices caused by gender inequality, founding feminist resistance organizations like the Rita Cetina Gutiérrez League (named for her former teacher and mentor). These leagues would deliver lectures to the public about women's health and the need for women in government.

Puerto helped get women the right to vote and be elected in the state of Yucatán. She was elected to the legislature in 1923, continuing to fight for women's rights long after serving in that post. Her work would be influential in the introduction of Mexican women’s suffrage nationally in 1953.

Mexico City-based illustrator Hilda Palafox created today’s Doodle in solidarity with Elvia Carrillo Puerto on what would be her 139th birthday. Today we honor her activism and advocacy, which have led women all over the world to fight for equality and representation.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Elvia!

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Jan Ingenhousz’s 287th Birthday



From the mind of a Dutch scientist in the 18th century sprouted a flowering understanding of the secret life of plants. Jan Ingenhousz – born on this day in Breda in 1730 – is remembered as the inspired thinker who discovered the photosynthetic process.

Ingenhousz began studying medicine at the age of 16 and developed an interest in inoculation. He followed that passion to London, where he immunized hundreds of village people who were at risk for smallpox. The Austrian Empress Maria Theresa heard of this remarkable feat and sent for Ingenhousz to come to Vienna and inoculate the entire Habsburg family. In those days, inoculations consisted of pricking the skin with a needle that had been dipped into the pus of an infected person’s wound – not a very pleasant-sounding business! Ingenhousz’s mission was a success, and the Empress brought him on as the family’s doctor.

His interests, however, expanded beyond inoculation and even medicine. Among his other accomplishments were discoveries around energy generation, particle motion and of course, photosynthesis. Though it was already known that plants produced and absorbed gases, it was Ingenhousz who first noticed that oxygen was produced by leaves in sunlight, and carbon dioxide produced in darkness. He published these findings in 1779, significantly influencing further research on plant life in the centuries to follow.

In today’s Doodle, we celebrate the lasting contributions of this scientist to our understanding of the natural world. For those digging into their biology textbooks this school year, be sure to thank Jan Ingenhousz!

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Begum Rokeya’s 137th Birthday



Begum Rokeya was a pioneer in Bengali feminist thinking and writing. Born in 1880 in present-day Bangladesh, she became a persistent advocate for female education in her country, helping set a new precedent for the era. Today we celebrate her accomplishments on what would have been her 137th birthday.

Rokeya’s literary career spanned published essays, poems, short stories, and books, but her most well-known work is Sultana’s Dream, a science-fiction piece depicting a feminist utopia. She was one of the first Muslim women to express these progressive opinions and witty insights, championing equality in the treatment of men and women. Rokeya was a major advocate for women’s education, believing deeply that the disparity in available education for men and women was the root cause of inequality.

A few years after writing Sultana’s Dream, Rokeya established the first school for Bengali Muslim women in Calcutta, which remains a successful school for girls and women. Later she created the Muslim Women’s Association, developed to support women’s education and employment causes. Rokeya believed firmly in narrowing the gap in opportunities for men and women, and dedicated her entire life to the cause.

Happy birthday, Begum Rokeya!

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Homai Vyarawalla's 104th Birthday



Homai Vyarawalla may have caught some of the 20th century’s most prominent figures in her lens, but from the 1940s through the 1960s in New Delhi, she was a familiar sight herself. Biking to assignments with a sari sailing behind her and equipment bags on her shoulders, India’s first female photojournalist stood out among her male colleagues. But it was her electric images of India’s independence movement and candid shots of such people as the Dalai Lama, Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. that earned Vyarawalla lasting recognition.

Born in Navsari, Gujarat in 1913, Vyarawalla spent much of her childhood on the road due to her father’s role in a traveling theater company. Landing in Bombay (now Mumbai), Vyarawalla began photographing day-to-day life in the city, eventually earning an art school degree and becoming a professional photographer.

In 1942, Vyarawalla secured a position at the British Information Services in New Delhi. There, she snapshotted the meeting where Congress members voted for the partition of India. Vyarawalla went on to document many important moments in the country’s journey to independence and chronicled everything from Gandhi’s cremation to the Dalai Lama’s entrance into India.

In 2010, Vyarawalla earned the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor. Today’s Doodle honors India’s “First Lady of the Lens” on what would have been her 104th birthday with a tapestry of Indian life and history drawn by guest Doodler and Mumbai artist Sameer Kulavoor. Vyarawalla is at the center.

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Celebrating Robert Koch



On this day in 1905, German physician and microbiologist Robert Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Perhaps better than anyone else at the time, Koch understood that sometimes the keys to solving big problems lay in their microcosms. He dedicated his life to studying germs – some of the tiniest of living organisms on Earth – and how they cause infectious diseases. Countless lives have been saved thanks to his role in proving the revolutionary idea that germs cause diseases, and in identifying the bacterium for anthrax, cholera, and tuberculosis.

Koch’s legacy doesn’t end there. By developing many of the basic principles and techniques of modern bacteriology, he inspired a new generation of scientists and “microbe-hunters,” ushering in a Golden Age of bacteriology. During this Golden Age, scientists discovered the microorganisms responsible for causing twenty-one different diseases. “As soon as the right method was found, discoveries came as easily as ripe apples from a tree,” Koch explained.

Today’s Doodle illustrates potato slices – the original media he used to isolate pure bacterial cells to help with his research. Koch experimented with potato slices until his assistant, Julius Petri, invented the Petri dish (also depicted in the Doodle, and bearing Koch’s image).

Thank you for your truly groundbreaking work, Dr. Koch!

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Celebrating Grazia Deledda



When Grazia Deledda submitted a short story to a fashion magazine at the age of 13, she could not have known she was setting the stage for a decades-long career and a Nobel Prize. Today’s Doodle celebrates her accomplishments as one of Italy’s great authors.

Deledda was born in 1871 in the village of Nuoro on the island of Sardinia, which is off the western coast of Italy. Her family and surroundings were instrumental in shaping her future as a writer. Her father was a sociable man with many friends in the surrounding towns, and his visitors became the basis for many of the characters in her novels. She was also inspired by her island home, often using Sardinia’s landscape as a metaphor for the challenges her characters faced.

As a female writer in the late 19th century, Deledda faced her own challenges as well. Her formal education ended at age 11, and she relied on private lessons and self-study in order to further her craft. Her work — which often touched on themes like temptation and sin — was often criticized by those in her traditional hometown, despite the inspiration she drew from the region.

These obstacles didn’t sway her though, and Deledda continued to produce many highly praised works. In 1926, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, making her the first Italian woman and the fourth woman ever to receive a Nobel Prize.

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Max Born’s 135th Birthday



An atom is the smallest unit of matter. Quantum mechanics is a chapter of physics that studies matter at this incredibly granular level, leading to the invention of personal computers, lasers, and medical imaging devices (MRI), among other game-changing technologies.

Today's Doodle celebrates the 135th birthday of Max Born, German physicist and mathematician who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his contribution to the field of quantum mechanics.

An outstanding student, Born earned his Ph.D. at Göttingen University where he later became a professor of theoretical physics, collaborating with and mentoring some of the most famous scientists of the time. In 1933 he was forced to flee Germany for England, where he served as the Tait Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh for nearly two decades until his retirement in 1954 when he returned home to Göttingen.

Born was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954 for the Born Rule — a quantum theory that uses mathematical probability to predict the location of wave particles in a quantum system. Previous theories proposed that wave equations were exact measurements, involving cumbersome physical measurement experiments. A gifted mathematician, Born discovered that matrices or “arrays of numbers by rows and columns” could yield a similar result, relying on predictions of probability. This revolutionary theory now provides the basis for practically all quantum physics predictions.

Try to spot the wave function in today’s Doodle, created by guest artist Kati Szilagyi, to honor this pioneering physicist.

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Holidays 2017 (Day 1)



Holidays 2017 (Day 2)



New Year's Eve 2017