Google Doodles

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is New Year's Eve 2017.



Our feathery friends have enjoyed their delicious traditions and are now ringing in the new year with sparklers in hand. As they all admire the fireworks overhead, they think about how much fun it was to spend this time together.

Tomorrow, follow along as our penguin friends start a new day in a new year.

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is New Year's Day 2018.



After closing out the holidays with a bang, our penguin pals watch as the sun rises on a brand new year and look forward to what’s ahead.

Happy New Year!

[Gopher Gary]

I missed the winter solstice doodle while I was gone. I don't care about the Christmas ones I missed, because I don't understand the penguin thing, but I've been following this cute little rodent all year and I like him.

December 21, 2017
Winter Solstice 2017 (Northern Hemisphere)



As 2017 slowly winds to a close, you may have noticed the sun beginning to set earlier and earlier, and you’re right! As the seasons begin to change, so too does the earth’s allocation of daylight.

December 21st marks the 2017 winter solstice, as well as the first day of winter on the astronomical calendar. On this day, the tilt of the earth’s North Pole is at its farthest from the sun, resulting in the shortest day and the longest night of the calendar year.

Though most refer to the solstice as an entire day, in reality, the solstice is defined as a single moment: when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Capricorn. This year, that moment will occur at 16:28 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). After this point in time, periods of daylight will once again begin to grow longer.

Happy winter!

[Fun With Matches]

I like that animation! It’s soo cute!

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Zhou Youguang’s 112th birthday.



The O’s in today’s Doodle flip from Pinyin (Gǔgē) to Chinese characters (谷歌). Were it not for celebrated linguist Zhou Youguang, this phonetic translation would never have come to life, and the world would still be referring to ‘Beijing’ as ‘Peking,’ and to ‘Chongqing’ as ‘Chungking.’

Popularly dubbed ‘the Father of Pinyin,’ Youguang spent three years developing the system of ‘spelled sounds’ that is now the international standard for Romanized Chinese. The new system transformed China’s literacy rate, providing more natural passage into the written language, which requires mastering thousands of characters. It bridged multiple Chinese dialects with its shared designations of sound. Today, schoolchildren learn Pinyin before characters, and it is often used to input characters on smartphones and computers.

Pursuing his love of language throughout his life, Youguang authored more than 40 books and translated the Encyclopedia Britannica into Chinese. Born on this day as Zhou Yaoping, this storied linguist later adopted the pen name ‘Yougang’ because he wanted to ‘bring light’ to the world. Today, we celebrate what would’ve been Yougang’s 112th birthday with a special place in the spotlight.

Doodle by Cynthia Yuan Cheng

[Gopher Gary]

While I was looking up today's doodle, I also saw this one. I like it so I'm posting it too. I think I like the alternate version better.   

5th African Nations Championship



Can you feel the excitement in the air? Once again, the African Nations Championship is upon us!

Today we’re celebrating the start of the 5th African Nations Championship, a football tournament drawing in teams from across Africa to compete for the coveted title. The first tournament was held in Ivory Coast in 2009, designed to showcase the football talent amongst the best African national teams. The Confederation of African Football organizes the competition every two years and only allows footballers playing for their country’s domestic team to participate. As a result, the best African talent will be on display - you won’t want to miss it!

All the action is taking place in Morocco as the first games of the 2018 tournament kick off today. Sixteen teams will descend upon various stadiums across Morocco, but only one will be crowned the champion, during the final game on February 4, played in Casablanca.

Today’s doodle features players wearing each of the flags of the countries represented. They’re practicing their skills, just like each of the African Nations have done all year.

Good luck to all the players (and fans!) across Africa!

An alternate version of the players holding traditional African shields by the artist.

[odeon]

Shithole countries kicking ball.

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2018.



“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”

-Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., Baptist minister, Nobel Laureate, and civil rights activist who dedicated his life working tirelessly for peace, social justice, and opportunity for all Americans - irrespective of color or creed.

On November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor Dr. King. It was federally observed for the first time on January 20, 1986, and over 30 years later, the day is traditionally celebrated as a day of service, with people volunteering time and talent to help others, thus paying homage to Dr. King’s legacy.

Today’s Doodle by guest artist Cannaday Chapman was also developed in collaboration with the Black Googlers Network (BGN), one of the largest employee resource groups at Google. The image depicts a young girl perched on her father’s shoulders, enthralled by the power and eloquence of Dr. King’s words. The scene is evocative of Dr. King’s dream for children everywhere to one day live in a better world.

Cannaday shares his thoughts on today’s Doodle below:

Q: What does MLK and MLK day mean to you personally?

A: Martin Luther King Jr.'s message is especially relevant today and will be relevant for the remainder of civilization. Dr. King is most remembered for fighting for the rights of African Americans, but he fought for the rights of all Americans. He believed in fairness and equity for everyone. As a black man, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing today if it wasn't for him and the brave people of the civil rights movement.

Q: What were your first thoughts when you were approached for this project?

A: I felt very honored to have the opportunity to pay tribute to one of America's bravest leaders. I was pretty busy when I was approached for this assignment, but it's Google and Martin Luther King Jr. That's an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

Q: Did you draw inspiration from anything in particular for this Doodle?

A: I was inspired by people. It may appear that this movement or any civil rights movement was brought about by one person, but it's the people that have the power to bring change. I wanted to make an image about those people.

Q: What message would you like for people to get after seeing the Doodle?

A: I would like people to reflect on this moment in history. I would like people to remember that current events and our actions today will shape the future generations of tomorrow. What kind of example do we want to set for our children and our children's children?

Today, Dr. King’s dream continues to inspire people of all ages, races, and nationalities to stand united against injustice and never abandon hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is 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.”

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is 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!

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Virginia Woolf’s 136th birthday.



“I see children running in the garden…The sound of the sea at night…
almost forty years of life, all built on that, permeated by that: so much I could never explain."

These childhood memories inspired the settings and themes of English author Virginia Woolf’s powerful stream-of-consciousness narratives, a unique literary style that established Woolf as one of modern feminism’s most influential voices.

Born in London in 1882, Woolf grew up in a home with a large library, and a constant stream of literary visitors come to call on her author and historian father. Unsurprisingly, Woolf would become an integral member of the Bloomsbury Group, a collective of prominent contemporary intellectuals and artists.

Woolf’s lyrical writing thrived on the introspection of her characters, revealing the complex emotions underlying seemingly mundane events — how the ringing of the Big Ben evokes the passage of time in Mrs. Dalloway (1925) or a family’s visit to the coast hides deep-seated tensions in To the Lighthouse (1927).   

Nonfiction works like A Room of One’s Own (1929) and Three Guineas (1938) showcase Woolf’s unflinching feminist perspective by documenting the gendered intellectual stratification and resulting male-dominated power dynamics of the period.

Created by London-based illustrator Louise Pomeroy, today’s Doodle celebrates Woolf’s minimalist style — her iconic profile surrounded by the falling autumn leaves (a frequent visual theme in her work). In Woolf’s words: “The autumn trees gleam in the yellow moonlight, in the light of harvest moons, the light which mellows the energy of labor, and smooths the stubble, and brings the wave lapping blue to the shore.”

Happy 136th birthday, Virginia Woolf!

[renaeden]

Kayleigh wrote an essay about Virginia Woolf at uni.

I tried reading To the Lighthouse but found it beyond me.

[Gopher Gary]

Kayleigh wrote an essay about Virginia Woolf at uni.

I tried reading To the Lighthouse but found it beyond me.

I might have been forced to read something of hers in school at some point, but I don't remember. 

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Wilder Penfield’s 127th birthday.



You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to know why we’re celebrating Wilder Penfield’s 127th birthday today, but it doesn’t hurt! Penfield was once considered “the greatest living Canadian” for his trailblazing advancements in mapping the brain and brain surgery techniques to treat epilepsy.

A Rhodes scholar trained at Oxford and Princeton, Penfield believed studying medicine was “the best way to make the world a better place.” Penfield later became Montreal’s first neurosurgeon and established the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1934.

By 1950, he experimented with using electrical probes to treat seizure activity in the brain while a patient was fully awake. This surgery, called the Montreal Procedure, led to a greater discovery: stimulating certain physical parts of the brain could evoke memory recall, like the smell of burnt toast (depicted in today’s Doodle). Penfield’s contributions to modern neuroscience elevated Canada’s global status in healthcare, science, and discovery while his innovations created better lives for people with epilepsy.

In later years, Penfield became an author and a champion of university education and childhood bilingualism, commemorated by the Montreal streets, schools, and universities that bear his name. He was awarded the Lister Medal for surgical science and was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. He also became a cultural icon when Philip Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, described the fictional Penfield Mood Organ, a device used to change a mood by “dialing it in” on a number pad.

Happy 127th birthday, Wilder Penfield!

[Gopher Gary]

Today's Google Doodle is Celebrating Carter G. Woodson.



Today’s Doodle by Virginia-based illustrator Shannon Wright and developed in collaboration with the Black Googlers Network (one of the largest employee resource groups at Google), marks the beginning of Black History Month by celebrating Carter G. Woodson - the man often called the “Father of Black History.” Woodson’s legacy inspired me to become an African American Studies major in college, and I am honored to kick off Google’s celebration this month by highlighting the life of this great American scholar.

Woodson was born in 1875 in New Canton, Virginia, to former slaves Anne Eliza and James Henry Woodson. His parents never had the opportunity to learn to read and write, but he had an appetite for education from the very beginning. As a young man, he helped support his family through farming and working as a miner, which meant that most of his education came via self-instruction. He eventually entered high school at the age of 20 and earned his diploma in less than two years!

Woodson went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, after which he became the second African-American ever to receive a doctorate from Harvard University. He was also one of the first scholars to focus on the study of African-American history, writing over a dozen books on the topic over the years.

In addition to studying it himself, Woodson was committed to bringing African-American history front and center and ensuring it was taught in schools and studied by other scholars. He devised a program to encourage this study, which began in February of 1926 as a weeklong event. Woodson chose February for this celebration to commemorate the birth months of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln. This program eventually expanded to become what we now today as Black History Month.

Woodson’s commitment to achieve an education for himself and spread awareness and pride in Black history inspired me and continues to do so in so many ways. As a black woman from an underserved, underperforming public school in Richmond, California, many in my community didn’t expect me to achieve much beyond the four corners of my neighborhood. When I voiced my ambition to go to Harvard, I was told by teachers, guidance counselors, and even some family members that “people like me” didn’t go to schools like that. Fortunately, my parents believed in me and supported ambitions beyond their vision and experience. That support, along with the inspiration of great American leaders like Woodson, gave me the confidence to follow my dreams and achieve more than I’ve ever imagined.

This Black History Month, I encourage others to learn more about the incredible legacy, contribution, and journey of black people in the United States. I also hope they will be inspired by the example of Carter G. Woodson and challenge themselves to push beyond any perceived limitations to achieve a goal they may think is just out of reach.

-Sherice Torres, Director of Brand Marketing at Google & Black Googlers Network member