Fearless Nadia’s 110th Birthday Google Doodle

Mary Ann Evans, also known by her married name Mary Evans Wadia and her stage name Fearless Nadia (8 January 1908 – 9 January 1996) was an actress and stuntwoman, who is most remembered as the masked, cloaked adventurer in Hunterwali (Woman with a whip) released in 1935, which was one of the earliest female-lead Indian films.

The Search Engine Google is showing Doodle in India for Fearless Nadia’s 110th Birthday on Jan 8, 2018.

Fearless Nadia was born as Mary Ann Evans on 8 January 1908 in Perth, Western Australia. She was the daughter of Scotsman Herbertt Evans, a volunteer in the British Army, and Margret. They lived in Australia, before coming to India. Mary was one year old when Herbertt's regiment was seconded to Bombay. Mary came to Bombay in 1913 at the age of five with her father.

She had earlier tried her hand at a job in the Army & Navy Store in Bombay as a salesgirl and had at one point wanted to learn "short-hand and typing to get a better job". 

She toured India as a theatre artist and began working for Zarko Circus in 1930. She was introduced to Hindi films by Jamshed "J.B.H." Wadia who was the founder of Wadia Movietone, the behemoth of stunts and action in 1930s Bombay. 

In 1993, Nadia's great grandnephew, Riyad Vinci Wadia, made a documentary of her life and films, called Fearless: The Hunterwali Story. After watching the documentary at the 1993 Berlin International Film Festival, Dorothee Wenner, a German freelance writer, and film curator, wrote Fearless Nadia - The true story of Bollywood's original stunt queen, which was subsequently translated into English in 2005.

Vishal Bharadwaj's Hindi movie Rangoon supposedly portrays her life and times with Kangana Ranaut playing her role. Nadia married Homi Wadia in 1961 and thus became Nadia Wadia.

Her first film as a lead, Hunterwali, was a huge success. Nadia’s movies always had a cause – emancipation of women, social injustice or corruption. With each blockbuster, her stunts got more dangerous. She performed them without safety measures or even health insurance. 

She led a happy and successful life, barring a rough patch when she was battling alcoholism. In her 50s, she married Homi Wadia after the death of the latter’s mother, who didn’t approve of Homi marrying a non-Parsi.

She also had a son in 1926 named Robert Jones. While the name of the father was never disclosed, Robert (who was nicknamed Bobby) was introduced as her cousin or her brother. It was only after her husband Homi officially adopted Bobby did they acknowledge their relationship. Saif Ali Khan’s character seems to be loosely based on Homi.

Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa’s 113th Birthday Google Doodle

Kuppalli Venkatappa Puttappa popularly known by the nickname Kuvempu or by K. V. Puttappa, was an Indian Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Critic and Thinker.

He is widely regarded as the greatest Kannada Poet of the 20th century. He is the first among Kannada writers to be decorated with the prestigious Jnanapith Award.

The Search Engine Google is showing Doodle in India for Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa’s 113th Birthday on Dec 29, 2017.

Kuvempu studied at Mysore University in 1920’s, taught there for nearly 3 decades and rose to be Vice-Chancellor of the University (1956-60). He initiated Teaching in Kannada Medium.

For his contributions to Kannada Literature, the Government of Karnataka decorated him with the honorific Rashtrakavi (“National Poet”) in 1958 and Karnataka Ratna (“Gem of Karnataka”) in 1992.

His epic narrative Sri Ramayana Darshanam, a modern rendering of the Indian Hindu epic Ramayana is regarded as the revival of the era of Mahakavya (“Great Epic poetry”) in contemporary form and charm. His writings and his contribution to “Universal Humanism” (in his own words, “Vishwa maanavataa Vaada”) gives him a unique place in modern Indian literature.

He was conferred the Padma Vibhushan by Government of India in 1988. He penned the Karnataka State Anthem Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate.

Read more at http://www.rtoz.org/2017/12/29/kuppali-venkatappa-puttappas-113th-birthday-google-doodle/

December global festivities | Holidays 2017

The Search Engine Google is showing a slideshow doodle in many countries for the December global festivities. It is the Day 1 Doodle from the series of Doodles to be shown for the Holidays 2017.

Google are beginning the countdown to Christmas with a festive series of Doodles, beginning on Monday, December 18.

Interactive, animated images feature penguins and parrots arranging to spend the big day together.

In the comic strip, a pair of 'slippery-footed siblings' are gearing up for the holidays as they can be seen talking to their 'warm weather relative' over phone.

In the next image, the penguins are seen packing their bags inside their icy igloo. The final panel hint at the series' next installments - Dec. 25, Christmas Day, Dec. 31, New Year's Eve, and finally, Jan. 1, New Year's Day.

Solar Eclipse Science Google Doodle

A solar eclipse (as seen from the planet Earth) is a type of eclipse that occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, and when the Moon fully or partially blocks (“occults”) the Sun. 

This can happen only at new moon when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth in an alignment referred to as syzygy. In a total eclipse, the disk of the Sun is fully obscured by the Moon. In partial and annular eclipses, only part of the Sun is obscured

There are two kinds of eclipses. lunar and solar. In a solar eclipse, the moon comes between Earth and the Sun, casting a shadow on the surface of Earth.A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth comes between the sun and a full moon, blocking light from the sun and casting a shadow on the surface of the moon.

Eclipses affect animals too: the sudden darkness and resulting drop in temperature during a total solar eclipse can cause critters to behave as it it were dusk.

The Search Engine Google is showing an animated Doodle in United States for the Great American Eclipse 2017

Skywatchers on the American continent today are in for a special astronomical treat: front row seats to a total solar eclipse. An eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth, blocking the light of the sun from reaching us. 

While eclipses aren’t rare, a total eclipse, when viewers from Earth are at the very center of the moon’s shadow, only happens once every 18 months. To see one requires you to be in just the right place on earth, and a total eclipse in the same location only happens every 375 years on average.

Read more about solar eclipse at http://www.rtoz.org/2017/08/21/solar-eclipse-2017-google-doodle/

Marshall McLuhan 106th Birthday

Herbert Marshall McLuhan was born on July 21, 1911 in Edmonton, Alberta, the son of Elsie Naomi (née Hall) and Herbert Ernest McLuhan. 

The Search Engine Google is showing this Doodle in many Countries for the Marshall McLuhan’s 106th Birthday on 21st July 2017.

He was a Canadian professor, philosopher, and public intellectual. His mother was a Baptist school teacher who later became an actress; his father was a Methodist and had a real estate business in Edmonton. 

His work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory, as well as having practical applications in the advertising and television industries. 

He was educated at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge; he began his teaching career as a Professor of English at several universities in the U.S. and Canada before moving to the University of Toronto, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Marshall McLuhan is known for coining the expression "the medium is the message" and the term global village, and for predicting the World Wide Web almost thirty years before it was invented

He was a fixture in media discourse in the late 1960s, though his influence began to wane in the early 1970s

McLuhan's 1942 Cambridge University doctoral dissertation surveys the history of the verbal arts (grammar, logic, and rhetoric—collectively known as the trivium) from the time of Cicero down to the time of Thomas Nashe.

McLuhan also started the journal Explorations with anthropologist Edmund "Ted" Carpenter

He never fully recovered from the stroke and died in his sleep on December 31, 1980.

Eva Ekeblad Google Doodle. Eva Ekeblad’s 293rd birthday

Eva De la Gardie was born to statesman count Magnus Julius De la Gardie (1668–1741) and the amateur politiciany and salonist Hedvig Catharina Lilje: sister of Captain Carl Julius De la Gardie and Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie and the aunt of Axel von Fersen the Younger.

She  was a Swedish agronomist, scientist, Salonist and noble (Countess)

The Search Engine Google is showing this Doodle in many countries for Eva Ekeblad’s 293rd Birthday on 10th july 2017.

In 1746, Ekeblad wrote to the Royal Swedish Academy, of Sciences on her discoveries of how to make flour and alcohol out of potatoes

In 1740, at the age of 16, Eva married the riksråd count Claes Claesson Ekeblad, and became the mother of seven children: one son and six daughters.

She also discovered a method of bleaching cotton textile and yarn with soap in 1751,and of replacing the dangerous ingredients in cosmetics of the time by using potato flour (1752);

she is said to have advertised the plant by using its flowers as hair ornaments.

In 1748, Eva Ekeblad became the first woman elected to Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

In 1751, the Academy came to refer to her as an honorary rather than a full member, as the statutes confined membership to men

After the death of her spouse in 1771, she retired to the countryside. She was died on 15 May 1786

Ferdinand Monoyer Google Doodle

Ferdinand Monoyer was born in   France on May 9, 1836

Ferdinand Monoyer was a French ophthalmologist, known for introducing the dioptre in 1872.

The Search Engine Google is showing this animated Doodle in few Counrties for the Ferdinand Monoyer’s 181st Birthday

He also invented the Monoyer chart, used to test visual acuity.

The visual acuity chart, also known as Monoyer chart, is also his creation.

Monoyer’s Father Was a Military Doctor Who Died When Monoyer Was 5 Years Old

Monoyer grew up in Lyon in France before moving to the University of Strasbourg in 1871.

he was director of the Ophthalmic Clinic of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Nancy from 1872 to 1877.

He was also Professor of medical physics at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lyon from 1877 to 1909

Monoyer passed away on July 11, 1912.