The 14 Best Google Doodle's Of All Time

In 1998, before most had ever heard of Google, the company's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, were preparing for Burning Man. They wanted a playful way to tell users that the founders were out of office, so they meddled with the company logo. Visitors to the site would temporarily see a drawing of a stick figure in place of the second "o" in Google (via Google). The idea of modifying the company logo to signify special days stuck.

Two years later, Page and Brin asked then-intern Dennis Hwang to create a modified logo celebrating Bastille Day. It was such a hit that Hwang was named Chief Doodler and the Google Doodle was born. Since those early doodles, an entire team has sprung up to handle the demand. More than 5,000 doodles have been crafted over the last two decades commemorating significant days, holidays, inventions, birthdays, and notable moments.

In the flood of information available online, the Google Doodle offers a lighthouse. A passive yet alluring invitation to learn about a person, place, or thing you might not have otherwise considered. But over the years Google Doodles have become interactive and adaptive to new technologies. Best of all, Google maintains an archive so you can revisit your favorite doodles from years past, including these classics.

While there's no single person solely credited with the invention of the internet, many trace the origin of the web back to March 12, 1989. On that day, Tim Berners-Lee delivered a proposal entitled "Information Management: A Proposal" to his boss at CERN. It was intended as a way for scientists all over the world to quickly share information with one another (via CERN).

For the first few years, that's what the World Wide Web was for. In fact, according to CERN, the first ever website was dedicated to this scientific endeavor and was hosted on Berners-Lee's own computer. Then, in 1993, CERN made the software public domain, and the internet took off. It's still used to do science, of course, but it's also used for just about every other aspect of modern life.

On March 12, 2019, Google released its doodle celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the day Berners-Lee delivered his conception of the internet. It's an unassuming doodle drawn in pixel art. In place of the second "o" you'll find an early computer connected to a phone line and the slowly emerging image of a spinning globe on the screen. It's a familiar sight for users of the early internet and a perfect homage to the moment that made all of this possible.

Few video games are more beloved than Pac-Man. On May 21, 2010, Google changed its logo to one modeled after a classic Pac-Man level. The walls of the level had been shifted, of course, to spell out the company logo. Not only did it celebrate the game's 30^th anniversary, but this was also the first interactive Google Doodle, marking an important moment in Google Doodle history.

Below the logo, Google users are presented a button labeled "Insert Coin." When pressed, the logo becomes a playable level of Pac-Man. Using the arrow keys you can navigate the classic character through a logo-shaped maze, gobbling up little dots and running from ghosts.

According to Google, the programmers worked hard to remain faithful to the true experience of playing classic Pac-Man. They included the original game logic and graphics and even included some bugs from the original game. If you've got a friend sitting next to you, clicking "Insert Coin" a second time populates Ms. Pac-Man and lets you rock a little multiplayer by way of the WASD keys. The only downside is the gameplay is short. Once you clear the field it just starts over. There is no second level. Still, it was a fun surprise and a worthy homage.

It can be difficult to pin down a precise moment manhy cultural elements were born. When it comes to the birth of hip-hop, Google put its chips down on August 11, 1973. According to Google, that's the day Kool Herc, a Jamaican American DJ from the Bronx, mixed the best parts of a bunch of tracks together while his friend Coke La Rock worked the crowd. That combination of music and vocals would eventually become hip-hop. On the 44^th anniversary of that day, in 2017, Google celebrated the moment with another interactive doodle.

Users are presented with a Google logo done in the style of street graffiti and a pulsing Play button where the second "o" should be. When pressed, a video essay begins detailing the history of hip-hop as well as surrounding cultural shifts including break dancing, DJs, fashion, and more. Then the screen transitions into two turntables and a crossfader. Users can then select from a number of songs by flipping through a digital box of vinyl records. Then they can experiment with mixing tracks in an easy-to-use interface.

If there's anyone who needs no introduction, it's Johann Sebastian Bach. His name is synonymous with classical music and Google saw fit to celebrate that with its first doodle powered by artificial intelligence.

On March 21, 2019, Google users were presented with an animated image of Bach sitting at a piano. The Google logo flutters up and down on wooden clockwork as Bach taps at the keys. When you click the play button, the view shifts to three musicians with Bach at the center. Below are fragments of sheet music illustrating the music being played. Once their song is over, the user is invited to join the band.

This is where artificial intelligence comes in. Users can select any collection of notes they want and the A.I. will find a way to harmonize with it and meld it into something akin to a Bach composition. According to Google, the A.I. was trained on 306 compositions to get the hang of Bach's style. Once you and the digital ghost of Bach finish your classical jam session, there's an Easter egg that unlocks an '80s rock version by clicking the guitar amp on the right side of the screen.

Farrokh Bulsara was born September 5, 1946, in Stone Town, Zanzibar. When he was 18, his family moved to England, where Farrokh began calling himself Freddie. Later, he took Mercury as his surname, a reference to the song "My Fairy King," according to the Los Angeles Times. He was destined for stardom.

The band Queen blended various genres of music into bombastic, sometimes totally experimental rock songs. As explained by Britannica, Queen wasn't necessarily appreciated by the music critics of the day but their unique musical stylings catapulted them to the top of the charts, making them one of the most popular bands of the '70s and '80s thanks in large part to the face-melting guitar licks of Brian May and the angelic vocals of frontman Freddie Mercury.

Tragically, Queen's meteoric rise was cut short in the early '90s as Mercury grew increasingly sick. On Saturday, November 23, 1991, when Mercury was only 45 years old, he confirmed to the world that he was battling HIV. Mercury died the very next day, (via The Guardian). While Freddie died too young, his legacy lives on and Google collaborated with guitarist Brian May to celebrate his life on what would have been his 65^th birthday. The second "o" in the logo was replaced with a gilded play button that, when pressed, displays an animated video celebrating one of rock's greatest voices.

In the early 20th century Frank Zamboni ran an ice-making plant in Southern California. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the rise of refrigeration technology threatened to dismantle Zamboni's business, so he decided to diversify. In 1939 he opened a small rink for ice skating. The trouble was that skating cuts up the ice and it quickly becomes uneven and potentially dangerous. That necessitated an hours-long process to resurface the ice by hand. Zamboni believed there had to be a better way.

He began experimenting with war surplus machinery. After years of tinkering, he sent a patent application for his new machine, which he named after himself, and the Zamboni was born. According to the patent, it works by shaving a layer of ice off and then applying a thin layer of liquid water to the surface. When that water freezes, a new layer of freshly smooth ice is left over.

The Zamboni revolutionized ice-dependent activities from hockey to figure skating and became an expected part of any trip to the rink. On January 16, 2013, Google released a doodle celebrating the wonder of the Zamboni, with a playable game. Users play as the Zamboni driver on a mission to keep the ice clear while children and hockey players muck up the place.

Lunar eclipses are more common than solar eclipses — a consequence of the relationship between the sizes of the Earth, Moon, and Sun, their orbits, and their shadows — but lunar eclipses are still fascinating celestial events. If you happen to find yourself within the path of an eclipse, they are awe-inspiring to watch. You can keep tabs on upcoming eclipses on NASA's eclipse page.

Of course, any particular eclipse is only visible to a fraction of the globe and that's only if the weather cooperates. Many an eclipse watch party has been spoiled by cloud cover. On June 15, 2011, a lunar eclipse was set to unfold over parts of Africa, Eurasia, Australia, and South America (via Time and Date) and Google did its part to make sure everyone could watch it. At least everyone with access to Google.

The 2011 lunar eclipse doodle used data from the Slooh Space Camera to provide a simulation of the eclipse in place of the second "o" in the Google logo. Users who accessed Google during the eclipse were treated to a digital recreation of the eclipse in real-time.