FOOTPRINTS

  Dr. Michiaki Takahashi, Japanese virologist who developed the first vaccine against chickenpox. Takahashi’s vaccine has since been administered to millions of children around the world, as an effective measure, to prevent severe cases of the contagious viral disease, and its transmission.     Michiaki Takahashi, was born on 17 February, 1928, in Osaka, Japan. He earned his medical degree, from Osaka University,  and joined the Research Institute for Microbial Disease, Osaka University, in 1959.  After studying measles and polio viruses, Dr. Takahashi, accepted a research fellowship in 1963, at Baylor College in the United States. It was during this time, that his son developed a serious bout of chickenpox, leading him to turn his expertise, toward combating the highly transmissible illness.  Dr. Takahashi returned to Japan in 1965, and began culturing live, but weakened chickenpox viruses, in animal and human tissue. After just five short years of d...

Georges Seurat, a French painter celebrates his 162nd Birthday today (2 December, 2021). He captured the natural qualities of light, in scenes of contemporary Parisian life, with his signature painting techniques, known as Pointillism and Divisionism.  Seurat’s innovative methods, gave rise to the school of Neo-Impressionism, an avant-garde 19th century movement, that forever changed the course of modern art.        Georges Seurat was born into a prosperous family, in Paris, France, on 2 December, 1859. He began formal artistic training as a teenager, and furthered his education, at the prestigious fine arts institution, École des Beaux-Arts, in 1878.  He delved into the scientific study, of color theory and optical physics, to develop an original style he coined, “chromo-luminarism,” later known as Pointillism or Divisionism.  After many drafts on small boards, a meeting with a 100-year-old chemist, and years of experimentation, Seurat finished the pa...

Lotfi Zedeh , Azerbaijani-American computer scientist, electrical engineer, and professor. On 30 November, 1964, Zadeh submitted “Fuzzy Sets,” a groundbreaking paper, that introduced the world to his innovative mathematical framework called, “fuzzy logic.”  Lotfi Asker Zadeh, was born on February 4, 1921, in Baku, Azerbaijan (then a Soviet Socialist republic).  At 10 years old, he moved with his family, to his father’s homeland of Iran.  His exceptional academic achievements, brought him to the U.S., to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for his graduate studies.  He went on, to earn his doctorate in electrical engineering, in 1949, and later, taught systems theory, at Columbia University in New York.  In 1959, he became a professor, at the University of California, Berkeley, which remained his academic home throughout his career, and where he made his most famous and fuzzy breakthrough.  In 1965, he published “Fuzzy Sets,” which has since be...

Taroko National Park's 35th anniversary In the language of Taiwan’s indigenous Truku people, taroko, means magnificent or beautiful.  Taroko Park, the Truku people’s ancestral home, was established, to formally conserve the nation’s natural beauty and biodiversity. The Google Doodle artwork, depicts the Taroko Gorge Waterfalls, and the Eternal Spring Shrine.   Taroko Park serves as an epicenter of scientific research, and environmental education. The reserve spans over 350 square miles, ranging across an expansive Pacific shoreline, to 140 rugged mountain peaks, 27 of which stand among the nation’s 100 tallest mountains!  Taroko’s widely varied geography, creates several climate zones, that provide habitats for hundreds of species of flora and fauna. The alpine forests of the park’s higher elevations, support tree-dwelling mammals, like the Formosan rock macaque, Taiwan’s only indigenous primate.  Happy 35th Anniversary, Taroko National Park!

Thanksgiving Day, is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2021, occurs on Thursday, November 25.  In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag, shared an autumn harvest feast, that is acknowledged today, as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.  For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.  Today, however, nearly 90 percent of Americans eat the bird, Turkey, whether roasted, baked or deep-fried, on Thanksgiving, according to the National Turkey Federation.  Other traditional foods include, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Volunteering is a common Thanksgiving Day activity, and communities often hold food drives, and host free dinners for the less fortunate.  Parades have also become an ...

Bosnia & Herzegovina Statehood Day 2021 Exactly 78 years ago today, hundreds of representatives from across Bosnia and Herzegovina, gathered to form a council, that established independent statehood, and declared equality for all citizens.  Following the restoration of Bosnia & Herzegovina in 1943, the nation was assigned its own coat of arms. In 1998, the unified national flag was officially adopted.  This flag features a blue band, emblazoned with a yellow triangle, seven full stars, and two half stars.   The triangle mirrors the shape of the Eastern European country, and symbolizes the multiethnic structure of all its citizens.  Each color symbolizes Bosnia’s historical neutrality, while the blue background illustrates the nation’s solidarity with Europe, referencing the European Union’s flag.   Happy Statehood Day, Bosnia & Herzegovina! 

Edmond Dédé was Creole classical musician, and composer. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on 20 November, 1827, Dédé picked up the clarinet from his father, a bandmaster in a local military band.  He switched to the violin, which soon became Dédé’s instrument of choice, as he developed into a musical prodigy. Apprenticing under prominent New Orleans musicians, Dédé left home for Mexico, to escape the increasing racial prejudice in the American South.     He returned home in 1851, and published “Mon Pauvre Cœur.”  In the late 1850s, he landed a position at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, where his creativity thrived. He also worked at the Théâtre de l'Alcazar, and the Folies Bordelaises.  The melody to his 1851 composition, “Mon Pauvre Cœur” (My Poor Heart), remains one of the oldest surviving pieces of sheet music, by a Black Creole composer in New Orleans.  Despite living in a time of severe racial discrimination, Dédé’s talent, led him to...

Fanny Hensel , was born Fanny Zippora Mendelssohn , on 14 November, 1805, in Hamburg, Germany, into an upper-class family. At 13, Hensel astonished a private audience in Berlin, with a memorized performance, of 24 preludes from Bach’s masterpiece, “The Well-Tempered Clavier” (1722-1742).  Although her public image was overshadowed by her brother Felix’s career, she devoted herself to developing the Mendelssohnian style, in over 450 compositions.  At age 41, she published Opus 1, the first original work published in her name, and among the first published compositions by a woman, paving the way for women, to pursue a classical tradition, historically dominated by men.  In 2010, musicologists uncovered the Easter Sonata, a masterful, solo piano piece, written by Hensel, when she was 22 years old, that had been mistakenly attributed to her brother. The piece was performed under her name for the first time in 2017, nearly 190 years after its composition.  

Fairy bread is a nostalgic childhood treat, popular in Australia and New Zealand, celebrated on the birthday of Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson.  Many linguistic scholars believe that, Robert Louis Stevenson, first coined the term in his 1885 poem, “Fairy Bread”, in “A Child’s Garden of Verses.”  Traditional Fairy bread unifies three simple ingredients - triangularly sliced white bread, slathered in butter, and topped with rainbow sprinkles (known colloquially as “hundreds and thousands”).   If you decide to whip up some Fairy bread of your own, keep in mind that to many, removing the crust means you’ve removed the dish's authenticity.  

  Google Doodle celebrates Russian entertainer Lyudmila Gurchenko's 86th Birthday Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko, was born in Kharkov, Ukraine, USSR (now Ukraine), on 12 November, in 1935, to musician parents, who fostered her talent from a young age.  Gurchenko, moved to Moscow, to study at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography. She rose to fame, with her debut in the Russian flim musical, “Carnival Night”, in 1956.   In the wake of the movie’s success, Gurchenko began performing popular numbers from the film, on a national tour. However, her career was stunted for over a decade, by detractors in the government, who criticized her for accepting compensation above state wages.  Yet, Russian filmmakers couldn’t ignore her prodigious talent. In 1973, she returned to the big screen, with a leading role in the Soviet drama, “Old Walls.”  She made a comeback, as a star of Soviet entertainment into her 70s, appearing in over 130 acting roles, and recording...

  Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer, is widely regarded as one among the greatest Dutch painters of all time. On 12 November, 1995, an eponymous exhibition opened at Washington D.C.’s, National Gallery of Art, featuring 21 of his 35 existing works.  Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft, the Netherlands, at the height of the Dutch Golden Age, in 1632.  By the 1650s, Vermeer began to paint subtly lit interiors, with intricate symbology—a style that became his hallmark. He captured the commonplace in radiant and exquisite detail, creating masterworks, including, “The Girl with the Pearl Earring '' (1665), which is currently on display at the Mauritshuis museum, in The Hague, the Netherlands.  The artistic techniques Vermeer employed are still up for debate. Some art historians suggest, he traced images projected from a camera obscura (a predecessor to the photographic camera), but with no physical evidence to back up such claims, some Vermeer specialists remain unconvince...

Colombian artist, Débora Arango's 114th Birthday Débora Arango, was born on 11 November, 1904, in Medellín, Colombia. Arango, was encouraged by her mother, to become a painter.  She first exhibited her work, at a 1939 competition for professional artists, in Medellín. Her work was awarded first place, sparking widespread outrage, due to her exhibition’s scandalous nature, that rebelled against the status quo.    Overcoming decades of censorship, both at home and abroad, Arango, was finally able to exhibit 100 paintings in Medellín, in 1975.            Arango was awarded with the  Order of Bocaya - Colombia’s highest civilian honor. Today, Colombians exchange 2,000 peso bills, emblazoned with her portrait, and the Medellín Museum of Modern Art, displays a permanent collection of Arango’s paintings. 

Happy Veterans' Day 2021 Today’s(11 November, 2021) Google Doodle celebrates Veterans Day, in honor of the efforts and sacrifices, made by members of the U.S. armed forces.  The occasion first celebrated the end of the first World War, which concluded with a peace treaty, that took effect at 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918 - the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  The first “Armistice Day”, was observed one year later, before being declared an official federal holiday, in 1938, and renamed Veterans Day, in 1954.  Veterans Day, is an expression of gratitude, to those who have served in the military, whether the Air Force, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, Army, or Space Force.  Many public buildings fly the American flag at half-mast, and some communities observe a moment of silence at 11 a.m., in remembrance of the moment, when the Armistice first took effect in 1918.   Happy Veterans Day!

  Kamal Samarath , better known as Kamal Ranadive , was born on 8 November, 1917, in Pune, India.  Her father’s encouragement to pursue a medical education, inspired Ranadive, to excel academically, but she found her calling in biology instead. In 1949, she received a doctorate in cytology, the study of cells, while working as a researcher, in the Indian Cancer Research Center (ICRC).  After a fellowship, at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, she returned to Mumbai (then Bombay) and the ICRC, where she established the country’s first tissue culture laboratory.  Ranadive studied Mycobacterium leprae, the bacterium that causes leprosy, and aided in developing a vaccine. In 1973, Dr. Ranadive, and 11 colleagues, founded the, Indian Women Scientists’ Association (IWSA), to support women in scientific fields.  Ranadive encouraged students and Indian scholars abroad, to return to India, and put their knowledge to work for their communities.  A...

Charles Kuen Kao aka Charles K. Kao , Chinese-born, British-American physicist and educator, is considered as the father of fiber optics. His innovations revolutionized global communication, and laid the groundwork for today’s high-speed internet.  Charles Kuen Kao, was born on 4 November, 1933, in Shanghai, China. He went on to study electrical engineering in England, and worked as an engineer, at Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd., where his colleagues invented the laser in 1960.   Shortly after earning his doctorate, Kao and his collaborator, George Hockham, published a groundbreaking paper in 1966, that proposed, fibers fabricated with purified glass, could carry a gigahertz (1 billion hertz) of information, over long distances, using lasers.  Kao led the development of this revolutionary technology, and in 1977, the first telephone network, carried live signals through optical fibers.  By the 1980s, Kao, was overseeing the implementation of fiber-optic ne...

Day of the Dead 2021 Today’s Google Doodle, celebrates the holiday, Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), an annual celebration of life, in honor of those that have passed.   The Aztec people, who are from what is today central Mexico, are believed to be the first to celebrate the Day of the Dead, by using skulls to honor their dead, over 3,000 years ago. Skull symbology has remained an essential element of the day’s celebrations, often seen in the form of colorful calaveras de azúcar (sugar skulls), or paper maché calaveras (skulls), laid on altars in family homes, to welcome the spirits of the departed.  In today's Google Doodle artwork, a family member drops marigold petals for loved ones to follow home.  Although many common themes, connect Mexican communities celebrating the Day of the Dead, each region across the nation observes the holiday with a unique spin, as cultural traditions continue to evolve every year.

Every year, Halloween is celebrated on 31 October, and this year, the festival falls on a Sunday. People celebrate Halloween by going to church, lighting a candle, and praying. It is also celebrated by carving pumpkins, wearing scary costumes, and watching horror movies.  Halloween means holy evening or All Saints Day. In the eighth century, All Saints Day was celebrated to honor saints. The eve of All Saints Day was called All Hallows Eve, which then came to be known as Halloween.  It is also believed that, Halloween originates from an ancient Celtic festival, called Samhain. The festival was celebrated by people wearing spooky costumes, and lighting bonfires at night. The tradition of donning a spooky attire was followed, to keep ghosts away on 31 October. The night of 31 October was believed to be the night, when spirits from the other world visited the living world every year.  The Celtic people who lived around two thousand years ago, also shared the same belief...

Turkey National Day 2021 Google Doodle celebrates the 98th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, with a depiction of the nation’s First Grand National Assembly of Turkey Building. It was here that the Turkish parliament, also known as the Grand National Assembly, declared independence on 29 October, 1923.   Today, the building stands in the Turkish capital of Ankara, as the War of Independence and Republic Museum. Many original artifacts from the early days of the Turkish Republic are preserved in the museum. The parliament moved to its current building in 1961.  Happy National Day, Turkey! 

The name Judo means “the gentle way”, and the sport is built on principles, such as, justice, courtesy, safety, and modesty. Kanō saw the martial art as a way to bring people together, even while throwing opponents to the mat.  Kanō Jigorō was born on 28, October, 1860, in Mikage (now part of Kobe). Kanō moved to Tokyo with his father at age 11. Though he was known as a child prodigy in school, he often faced adversity.  To build strength, he became determined to study the martial art of Jujutsu. During his time as a student at Tokyo University, he finally found someone who would teach him, Jujutsu master and former samurai, Fukuda Hachinosuke.   Judo was first born during a Jujutsu sparring match, when Kanō incorporated a western wrestling move, to bring his much larger opponent to the mat. By removing the most dangerous techniques used in Jujutsu, he created “Judo,” a safe and cooperative sport based on Kanō’s personal philosophy of Seiryoku-Zenyo (maximum efficien...

Otto Wichterle: Czech chemist who invented the first soft contact lenses. Otto Wichterle was born on 27 October, 1913, in Prostĕjov, the Czech Republic (then, Austria-Hungary).  As a lover of science from his youth, Wichterle went on to earn his doctorate in organic chemistry, in 1936, from the Prague Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT).  He taught as a professor at his alma mater during the 1950s, while developing an absorbent and transparent gel for eye implants.   In 1961, Wichterle (a glasses wearer himself), produced the first soft contact lenses, with a DIY apparatus.  As the inventor of countless patents and a lifelong researcher, Wichterle was elected the first President, of the Academy of the Czech Republic, following the country’s establishment in 1993.  Happy birthday, Otto Wichterle!