Google Doodle is one of those cool features the search engine has, that makes users become intrigued whenever we enter the search engine and see that the image has changed.
How did the first Google Doodle appear? In 1998, the founders of Google, Larry and Sergei were attending the Burning Man festival and because they wanted to notify users that they will not be available at that time, they added the festival logo behind the Google logo. This first simple Doodle was a hit and so Google decided to celebrate important events by incorporating them in the Google Logo.
Today we are going to remember some of the Doodles we have seen over the years, but we are going to focus on the geeky ones.
1. January 28, 2008: 50th anniversary of the LEGO brick
They stimulate creativity and imagination, are interactive and fun. They are so famous that they turned from proper noun to common noun, as it happened with “Xerox”. What more reasons did Google need to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the LEGO brick?
2. May 21, 2010: Pac-Man‘s 30th anniversary
Pac-Mans is the video game that marked our childhood. It was developed by Namco and it was first released in Japan in 1980. In this maze game, the player has to face ghosts, goblins, octopi and monsters and even today, Pac-Man is considered one of the most influential games in history.
3. July 4, 2010: Rube Goldberg’s birthday
Rube Coldberg was a U.S. inventor and cartoonist, whose name become synonymous with highly complex systems. Rube Goldberg is a sort of device or machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction.
Over time, many people around the world have tried to build various machines that meet the Rube Goldberg expression.
4. July 10, 2009: Nikola Tesla’s birthday
Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist. Everything which we call today advanced technology is based on inventions of Nikola Tesla, some dating back over a century. We owe him the development of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system and many more inventions.
5. March 6, 2011: Will Eisner’s 94th birthday
Eisner was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He is responsible for popularizing the term “graphic novel” and his formal comics studies built the foundation of what we know today as comic books. The Eisner Award was named in his honor and is awarded every year to recognize achievements in the comics industry.
6. February 8, 2011: Jules Verne’s 183rd birthday
Jules Verne (February 8th 1828 – March 24 1905) is seen as one of the founding fathers of science fiction. The action in many of his works takes place in the future and / or space. Also, Jules Verne describes traveling that still could not be undertaken in his time (like in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea), or not even in the preset (Journey to the Center of the Earth). Although he was talented author, Jules Verne’s great chance, was meeting with publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, who published the works of Victor Hugo or feminist writer George Sand.
7. June 6, 2009: 25th anniversary of Tetris
Tetris is one of the games that allows the development of logical thinking, speed of perception and memory. This game is appreciated by children and adults for more than 25 years. It distracts players from daily routine in just a few minutes of relaxation. Tetris trains attention and dexterity and no matter if you’re a beginner or advanced player, anyone can play Tetris.
8. June 5, 2010: 110th birthday of Dennis Gabor, the father of holography
Dennis Gabor was a an electrical engineer and physicist, his most notable achievement being the invention of holography, for which he later received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics, among many other received for his contribution in the world of science. The International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) offers the Dennis Gabor Award annually, for outstanding accomplishments in diffractive wavefront technologies, especially those which further the development of holography and metrology applications.
9. September 21, 2009: H.G. Wells’ birthday
When it comes to science fiction literature, we inevitably think about H.G. Wells. Although, at first his novels were rejected by publishers, Well never gave up and today we thank him for masterpieces like The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau.
10. July 25, 2013: the 93rd birthday of Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin was British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer, who contributed to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA and RNA. Her contribution enabled other important discoveries used today in medicine
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