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Doodle 4 Google 2017 - US Winner



Nine years in, the U.S. Doodle 4 Google Contest draws thousands of creative submissions from talented young artists across the country. Roughly 140,000 participants answered this year's prompt, "What I see for the future." Some imagined a future with modernized homes, others dreamed of a planet without endangered animals, while some saw a compassionate world built around communal harmony.

Five incredibly talented national finalists spent the day at Google HQ in Mountain View, California. Of those five masterpieces, Connecticut 10th grader Sarah Harrison's Doodle, "A Peaceful Future" was chosen as the national winner! Today, millions in the U.S. can enjoy her masterpeice on the Google homepage.

Sarah says, “My future is a world where we can all learn to love each other despite our religion, gender, race, ethnicity, or sexuality. I dream of a future where everyone is safe and accepted wherever they go, whoever they are.”

Thank you to all those who submitted and to our finalists for sharing your creativity and imagination with us. And a heartfelt congratulations to our national winner, Sarah Harrison!

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Payut Ngaokrachang’s 88th Birthday



Today’s Doodle celebrates renowned Thai cartoonist and animation pioneer Payut Ngaokrachang with a depiction of one of his best-known animations, and Thai cinema's first cel-animated feature film, “The Adventure of Sudsakorn.”

Released in 1979, “Sudsakorn” was one of Thailand’s earliest full-length animations, and was based on author Sudthornpu’s book Pra Apai Manee. It follows the exploits of the boy hero as he battles with mythical creatures and other dangerous adversaries. The animation was created on a very tight budget, and the innovative Payut was said to have crafted some of his movie-making equipment using discarded military machinery to keep costs low.

On what would be his 88th birthday, we celebrate Payut Ngaokrachang and his significant contribution to animation.

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Fazlur Rahman Khan’s 88th Birthday



Today we celebrate structural engineer Fazlur R. Khan's 88th birthday.

Below, get a glimpse of his life, accomplishments, and passions in the words of his daughter, Yasmin Sabina Khan:

As a youth my father never imagined that one day he would be building skyscrapers. He was born in East Bengal, British India, which became East Pakistan in 1947 and then Bangladesh in 1971. Graduate studies first brought him to the United States and the promise of challenging work drew him to a busy design office in Chicago – that of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill – where he remained until his death in 1982. A surge in demand for residential and office space in the 1960s and early 1970s made tall buildings desirable, but traditional design and construction methods were uneconomical, having evolved for shorter structures. He recognized that a new approach to skyscraper design was needed and set his mind to the task.

In 1972, at 42 years old, he was named Construction’s Man of the Year by Engineering News-Record. His pioneering work in skyscraper design was rejuvenating the design profession as he developed new ways of framing tall buildings, dramatically improving structural efficiency and economy. In 1965 he had initiated the “trussed tube” structural system with his design for Chicago’s 100-story John Hancock Center. By 1971 he was designing the world’s tallest building, the Sears Tower, using his latest innovation, the “bundled tube” (the Sears Tower, now Willis Tower, remained the “world’s tallest” for the next 22 years). His innovations subsequently formed the basis of tall building design.

A humanitarian in his personal as well as professional life, he was inspired by the belief that his work had a positive impact and he encouraged other engineers not to lose track of the purpose of their profession. When he was named Construction’s Man of the Year, he reflected, “The technical man must not be lost in his own technology. He must be able to appreciate life, and life is art, drama, music and, most importantly, people.”

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Chu Ming Silveira’s 76th Birthday



“Hello? Can you hear me?” In Brazil’s phone booths before 1971, the answer was usually, “No.” Chu Ming Silveira, an architect, answered her country’s call to design a better payphone booth. Durable yet lightweight, and inexpensive to manufacture, install, and maintain, her Orelhão has become one of the country’s most recognizable and beloved pieces of “street furniture.”

Orelhão, which is Portuguese for “big ear,” shelter callers from Brazil’s baking sun and torrential downpours, as well as a wide range of temperatures. Best of all? Callers can actually hear the person on the other end of the line. Chu Ming drew her inspiration from the shape of an egg, which provides excellent acoustics and has a pleasing natural form.

There are more than 52,000 Orelhão in Brazil today, and adaptations of Chu Ming’s design can be found in Peru, Colombia, Angola, Mozambique, and China.

Today’s Doodle pays tribute to Chu Ming’s creativity and innovation on what would have been her 76th birthday.

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Doodle 4 Google 2017 - Ireland Winner



The 2017 Doodle 4 Google winner for Ireland is Erica Redmond from Scoil Carmel in Dublin, Ireland! The theme for this year's competition was "If I could create anything..."

Erica's Doodle is titled "My Happy Robot Tom," and she had this to say about her artwork:

"I designed a happy robot called Tom to help with my chores and be my friend. Tom is always happy and loves to play games with me. I gave him multicoloured legs because I love rainbows. I used all the letters from Google as parts of my robot, the G's are ears, the O's are eyes and the L and E are my robots power switches connected with curly cables."

Congratulations, Erica!

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Mary Pickford’s 125th Birthday



Lights, camera, action! Today’s doodle honors the “Queen of the Movies,” Mary Pickford. An actress, a film director, and a producer, Mary Pickford proved that actors weren’t relegated to careers in front of the camera. She co-founded the film studio United Artists and was one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Before she became one of the most powerful women who has ever worked in Hollywood, she was “the girl with the curls,” and one of the most beloved stars of the silent film era. She appeared in as many as 50 films per year, and eventually negotiated wages that were equal to half of each of her films’ profits. She went on to demand full creative and financial control of her films, a feat still unheard of to this day.

She used her stardom to bring awareness to causes close to her heart. She sold Liberty Bonds during World War I, created the Motion Picture Relief Fund, and revolutionized the film industry by giving independent film producers a way to distribute their films outside the studio system. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress, for her role in Coquette (1929), and an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 1976.

Today, we pay tribute to Mary Pickford’s enterprising leadership on what would be her 125th birthday.

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Bella Akhmadulina’s 80th Birthday



“O magic theater of a poem,” Bella Akhmadulina wrote in one of her verses. These characteristic words perfectly capture the Russian poet’s approach to her craft. Marked by dramatic imagery and an emotional delivery, her distinctive work earned her a spot among Russia’s most acclaimed literary voices of the 20th century.

Unlike many of her contemporaries, Akhmadulina’s writings focused on everyday life and relationships, rather than politics. Because of this, she faced criticism early in her career. But she persisted and was eventually admitted to the Soviet Writers’ Union, publishing her first volume of poetry, Struna (“The String”), in 1962. She went on to publish many other collections throughout her lifetime and was awarded the State Prize of the Soviet Union in 1989, as well as the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 2004.

Along with showcasing her talents in print, Akhmadulina was also famous for her theatrical readings, which drew thousands to venues across Russia. Today’s Doodle brings an animated version of this to the Google homepage, honoring the late poet on what would’ve been her 80th birthday.

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Misuzu Kaneko’s 114th Birthday



Simple and expressive enough for children yet deep and accessible enough for adults, the works of Misuzu Kaneko were nearly lost to time until they were rediscovered four decades later. Misuzu is known throughout Japan as a poet who expressed childlike wonderment and humility simply and beautifully through her words.

Born Teru Kaneko in the fishing village of Senzaki, twenty-year-old Misuzu sent her first poems to several Tokyo children’s magazines in 1923. Her mother, who ran a bookstore in the small town of Shimonoseki, ensured her daughter was highly educated. Misuzu became a voracious reader, in turn inspiring her to try her own hand at writing. What resulted were internationally read poems beloved by several generations.

Today’s Doodle took its inspiration from Misuzu’s poem “A Bell, A Bird, and Me.”

No matter how I spread my arms
I can not fly at all,
But unlike me, a flying bird
Can not run fast on ground.

Though I rock my body back and forth
It makes no pretty sounds,
Yet unlike me, a ringing bell
Does not know many songs.

A bell, a bird, and also me,
All are different, all are good.

The poem exemplify Misuzu’s insatiable curiosity about nature and her ability to find the good in adversity. Another early Doodle sketch captures the spirit of her poem “Are You An Echo?”, aired by TV stations to inspire volunteers helping in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

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Jamini Roy’s 130th Birthday



Celebrated modernist Jamini Roy is famous for creating bold artworks reimagining traditional South Asian folk art. During his lifetime he was honored with the prestigious Padma Bhushan award, and his works are considered national treasures of India.

Born in 1887, he spent his early artistic career studying at the Government School of Art in Kolkata, and by mid-century was exhibiting his distinctive paintings in London and New York. His simplistic style evolved throughout the years, from post-impressionist to paintings created on woven fabrics and inspired by Bengali tribal art.

On what would be Jamini Roy’s 130th birthday, we celebrate his significant contribution to the global art world with this Doodle homage, featuring one of his popular subjects.

Be sure to check out Jamini Roy’s new exhibit on Google Arts & Culture for an in-depth look at some of his most iconic works, courtesy of the National Gallery of Modern Art.

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Celebrating Henrietta Augusta Dugdale



On this date in 1869, the Melbourne Argus published a momentous letter. It was written by Australian feminist and suffragist Henrietta Augusta Dugdale, and its demand was simple but profound: equal justice for women. Dugdale made this plea in response to a bill that claimed to secure property rights for women but did not go far enough. Known for using fiery, provocative language, Dugdale called the bill a "poor and partial remedy for a great and crying evil" and a "piece of the grossest injustice."

Born in 1827 in London, Dugdale moved to Melbourne in 1852. She soon became a prominent figure in the Australian women's rights movement, and she served as president of the first Victorian Women's Suffrage Society. Her 1883 booklet A Few Hours in a Far-Off Age envisioned a utopian future of equality, intelligence, and social justice. Dugdale's inspiring letters and rousing speeches helped make Australia the second country to grant women the right to vote, in 1902.

Today, we pay tribute to a woman who knew the power of her pen, and used it to fight for equal justice and rights for women.