Yabba Dabba Doodle! Google is celebrating the 50th anniversary of “The Flintstones” Thursday with a special Google Doodle featuring Fred, Wilma and the rest of the Bedrock crew. Long before “The Flintstones” were a lunchtime and afterschool favorite for kids across North America, the show debuted as a prime time comedy series on ABC on September 30, 1960. It lasted six seasons on television, and the franchise has been featured in theme parks, two live-action movies, and assorted merchandise including chewable children’s vitamins.
The Flintstones Google Doodle is just the latest anniversary Google has celebrated. Here’s a look back at 10 other cool Google Doodleversaries.
Claude Monet: November 14, 2001 (Global)
The first historical figure Google celebrated was Claude Monet, the French impressionist painter who was born November 14, 1840. Monet was famous for his paintings that emphasized people and human structures surrounded by their natural landscape.
Sputnik: October 4, 2007 (Global)
Google celebrated the 50th anniversary of Russia’s launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957. Sputnik was the first human-made satellite to orbit the Earth. Launched during the height of the Cold War, Sputnik set off the so-called space race. Shocked by the appearance of Sputnik, the United States accelerated its missile and rocket development programs, which culminated in the NASA moon landing on July 20, 1969.
TCP/IP: January 1, 2008 (Global)
Google kicked off the New Year in 2008 with a celebration of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). On January 1, 1983, ARPANET, the predecessor to the modern Internet, converted to the new technology. TCP/IP are the protocols that manage and reassemble the data packets that make up everything you see or download from the Internet including video, e-mail, Web pages and voice calls.
Large Hadron Collider: September 10, 2008 (Global)
The Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, successfully circulated two proton beams in its main chamber for the first time on September 10, 2008. The LHC is a particle accelerator that is supposed to help scientists study the tiniest particles in the world. It is buried about 328 feet underground and has a circumference of more than 87,000 feet.
The LHC has been notable for its pursuit of the still theoretical Higgs Boson, the so-called God particle that supposedly gave particles in our universe mass, thereby enabling our very existence. The pursuit of the Higgs Boson has set off hysterical theories that the LHC would cause the world to be swallowed up by a black hole. After the LHC had to be shut down because of mechanical failure, two scientists theorized that the particle accelerator had been sabotage by the future.
Martin Luther King Jr.: January 19, 2009 (USA)
For the 80th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth, Google displayed an MLK doodle by artist Shepard Fairy. King was a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement and received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in 1964. His notable “I Have A Dream” speech was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963, during the march on Washington.
July 20, 2009: NASA Moon Landing (Selected countries)
As a follow-up to the Sputnik celebration, Google commemorated the first human moon landing on July 20, 2009. American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first human beings to set foot on the lunar surface (unless the Mayans or Aztecs really were space aliens). The moon landing gave rise to a variety of famous quotes including, “The Eagle has landed” and “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” You can read the original New York Times account of the lunar landing here.
Fall of the Berlin Wall: November 9, 2009 (Germany)
Google’s German users woke up to this dramatic Doodle celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Constructed in 1961, the Berlin Wall was the most iconic symbol of the Cold War and was seen in the West as the ultimate symbol of Soviet oppression. The Soviet Union wouldn’t entirely collapse for another two years after the fall. German was formally reunified on October 3, 1990.
Sesame Street 40th: November 10, 2009 (Selected countries)
The same time that Google was commemorating the end of the Berlin Wall in Germany, it was also celebrating Sesame Street with a variety of Google Doodles. Country specific Sesame Street-themed Google Doodles appeared on November 4 in places such as the Netherlands, India, Israel, Mexico, South Africa and the United States. Each Google Doodle featured a notable Sesame Street character specific to that country. The final Google Doodle seen above appeared on November 10, the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street’s television debut in 1969.
E.C. Segar: December 8, 2009 (Global)
American cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar’s most famous character, Popeye, appeared on Google on December 8, 2009 to celebrate his creator’s 115th birthday. Popeye debuted in Thimble Time, Segar’s newspaper comic strip in 1929. Since then, Popeye has appeared in numerous television cartoons and even got his own movie starring Robin Williams in 1980.
Akira Kurosawa: March 23, 2010 (selected countries)
Google featured Akira Kurosawa, one of the most celebrated filmmakers of all time, for the 100th anniversary of his birth on March 23, 1910. Kurosawa’s legendary films include “Seven Samurai,” “Yojimbo,” “Sanjuro” and “The Hidden Fortress.” Hollywood remade both “Seven Samurai” and “Yojimbo” as “The Magnficent Seven” and “A Fistful of Dollars,” respectively. Kurosawa also served as an inspiration to numerous filmmakers including George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.
There have been many other notable Google Doodles celebrating Pac-Man, Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, Dr. Seuss, Galileo’s telescope, Norman Rockwell and Alexander Graham Bell to name just a few. You can find Google’s entire collection of Google Doodle’s here.
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