Doodles are the fun, surprising, and sometimes spontaneous changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists.
February 22, 2016
Lantern Festival 2016
February 22, 2016
Lantern Festival 2016 (HK)
The Lantern Festival marks the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, the last day of the Spring Festival, and one very bright day for the night sky.
Guest Doodler Patrick Leger chose to honor this day with a tribute to the lighting of paper lanterns, which speckle the night sky on this special occasion. The lanterns represent a smooth transition into the new year and the shedding of one’s past.
February 22, 2016
Tamaki Miura’s 132nd Birthday
A master of operatic performances in French, German, and Italian, Tamaki Miura was the first internationally heralded Japanese soprano. She was best known for her role in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, which she performed for enraptured audiences over 2,000 times in theaters from London to San Francisco. As one critic for The Evening Post noted after a 1920 performance in Chicago, her artistry was sensational both “vocally and dramatically”, and “many [in the audience] were in tears.”
17 February 2016
Rene Laennec’s 235th Birthday
René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (French: [laɛnɛk]; 17 February 1781 – 13 August 1826) was a French physician. He invented the stethoscope in 1816, while working at the Hôpital Necker and pioneered its use in diagnosing various chest conditions.
He became a lecturer at the Collège de France in 1822 and professor of medicine in 1823. His final appointments were that of Head of the Medical Clinic at the Hôpital de la Charité and Professor at the Collège de France. He died of tuberculosis in 1826 at the age of 45.
16 February 2016
Lithuania Independence Day 2016
Happy Independence day, Lithuania! Today's Doodle marks the 98th year of Lithuanian Independence, established by the "The Act of February 16" in 1918. To commemorate this day, the Google team in Lithuania brainstormed ideas for a doodle representing a grand and iconic structure to symbolize the rich heritage of the country.
16 February 2016
Serbia National Day 2016
Happy Statehood day, Serbia! Today's Doodle celebrates Дан државности, which is Serbia's National Day. Doodler Alyssa Winans and the Serbia team choose to commemorate today with a painting of the famous rock towers of "Devil's Town" or Đavolja Varoš (Ђавоља варош). These unusual formations were sculpted by volcanic eruptions across southern Serbia's sandy soil, near the village of Механе. The government of Serbia has designated these formations national monuments, and they are a symbol of the natural beauty of the Serbian countryside.
14 February 2016
Happy Valentine's Day From Google
12 February 2016
475 Anniversary of Santiago City Foundation
A lot can happen in the 475 years of a city’s existence. Since its foundation on February 12th, 1541 by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia, Santiago de Chile has emerged as a cultural icon and landmark city of South America. It's now the sixth largest city on the continent, with just over 5.5 million people.
The city was originally named after St. James, the patron saint of Spain. The name Santiago actually derives from a colloquial Latin pronunciation of St. James: Sanctu Iacobu. That’s why St. James in English is Santiago in Spanish. Write that one down for your next trivia night.
8 February 2016
Happy Lunar New Year!
Lunar New Year is celebrated in many countries such as China, Korea, Mongolia, and Vietnam. Though not officially used in the United States, the lunar calendar plays an important role in global timekeeping.
The calendar is marked by the Shēngxiào or Chinese Zodiac, which is used to predict health, wealth, and compatibility. You've probably heard of the animal designations prescribed to various years: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, pig or dog. Each year is also associated with one of five fixed elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, or water.
2016 is the year of the Fire Monkey, which is the 9th in the 12 year cycle of the zodiac. The monkey sign represents quick-wittedness and smarts, and people born under it are thought to be adaptable and flexible in their thinking.
8 February 2016
Lunar New Year 2016 (Vietnam)
The celebration of Lunar New Year in Vietnam, known as Tết, often spans several days. Following the new moon, the streets are thick with the crackle of firecrackers and cry of various percussion instruments to chase away nefarious spirits and welcome happiness and opportunity. This time is also reserved for visiting with family, friends, and teachers, and spreading the joy and hope of a fresh new year.
8 February 2016
Dmitri Mendeleev’s 182nd Birthday
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev; 8 February 1834 – 2 February 1907 O.S. 27 January 1834 – 20 January 1907) was a Russian chemist and inventor. He formulated the Periodic Law, created a farsighted version of the periodic table of elements, and used it to correct the properties of some already discovered elements and also to predict the properties of eight elements yet to be discovered.
05 February 2016
Františka Plamínková’s 141st Birthday
When she was born in 1875, Františka Plamínková's native country of Czechoslovakia was already embroiled in the debate on women's role in society. By the time Plamínková began her career as a teacher, this ethical and cultural discussion had become even more heated, and Plaminkova didn't hesitate to dive in. She was deeply involved in community organization and and furthering the cause for women's suffrage. A brilliant teacher, journalist, and debator, Plamínková, nicknamed Plamka or "a small flame," stoked the embers for Czech women's suffrage.
04 February 2016
Weiberfastnacht 2016
Fat Thursday is a traditional Catholic Christian feast marking the last Thursday before Lent and is associated with the celebration of Carnival. Because Lent is a time of fasting, the next opportunity to feast would not be until Easter. Traditionally it is a day dedicated to eating, when people meet in their homes or cafés with their friends and relatives and eat large quantities of sweets, cakes and other meals usually not eaten during Lent. Among the most popular all-national dishes served on that day are pączki in Poland or berliner, fist-sized donuts filled with rose marmalade, and faworki, French dough fingers served with lots of powdered sugar.
04 February 2016
Yam Kim Fai’s 103rd Birthday
Yam Kim Fai (Chinese: 任劍輝, 4 February 1913 (Lunar 29 December 1912) – 29 November 1989), also known as Ren Jianhui[1] was a renowned Cantonese opera actress in China and Hong Kong. She was most notable for her unique ability to sing in the lower register. That her opera voice was indistinguishable from a male one allowed her to play either male or female roles, though she usually performed male ones.
03 February 2016
Doodle 4 Google 2015 - New Zealand Winner
The 2015 Doodle 4 Google winner for New Zealand is Oliver Lonsdale of Rolleston School, Christchurch. The theme for the competition was, "If I could travel back in time..."
1 February 2016
Celebrating Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement from Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory[4] and incisive antislavery writings. He stood as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Even many Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave.
