The Burning Man Stick Figure That Invented the Google Doodle

The Burning Man Stick Figure That Invented the Google Doodle

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Episode description

The Burning Man Stick Figure That Invented the Google Doodle

On 30 August 1998, two Stanford PhD students modified their search engine’s logo before heading to a desert festival. Larry Page and Sergey Brin added a crude stick figure behind the second ‘O’ in Google, a visual out-of-office notice in case their servers crashed whilst they attended Burning Man. That improvised gesture became the first Google Doodle, launching a design tradition now seen by hundreds of millions daily. Also on this date: scientists announced the discovery of an 800-kilometre canyon hidden beneath Greenland’s ice sheet, larger than the Grand Canyon and carved by ancient rivers before the ice arrived. In 2019, amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov spotted the second confirmed interstellar object passing through our solar system, a comet from another star that gave astronomers months to study before it departed forever. And in 2002, America’s first privately operated subway closed in Birmingham, Alabama, a 300-metre line built beneath a department store to ferry shoppers from car park to shop floor. A day of accidental inventions, hidden wonders, and gloriously niche infrastructure.

Chapters

  • Intro A desert festival, two distracted computer scientists, and a stick figure made of fire accidentally invented one of the internet’s most recognisable design traditions as an out-of-office message.
  • The First Google Doodle On 30 August 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin modified Google’s homepage logo with a Burning Man stick figure before heading to the Nevada desert, creating the first Google Doodle as a visual notice in case their servers crashed. That improvised gesture launched a design tradition that now encompasses thousands of doodles seen by billions, all starting from two people who didn’t want anyone to panic if the internet broke.
  • The Grand Canyon of Greenland On 30 August 2013, scientists announced the discovery of an 800-kilometre canyon beneath Greenland’s ice sheet, larger than the Grand Canyon, carved by ancient rivers and hidden under two kilometres of ice for millions of years. Discovered using ice-penetrating radar, it remains one of Earth’s longest canyons, visited by no one.
  • 2I/Borisov: The Visitor From Somewhere Else On 30 August 2019, amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov spotted the second confirmed interstellar object passing through our solar system. The comet, designated 2I/Borisov, came from another star system and gave astronomers months to observe it before it departed towards Cassiopeia, revealing that comet chemistry may be common across the galaxy.
  • Leonard’s Subway: America’s Most Niche Underground Railway On 30 August 2002, Leonard’s Subway closed in Birmingham, Alabama. Built in 1972 beneath Pizitz department store, the 300-metre privately operated subway ferried shoppers from car park to shop floor for nearly three decades. The tunnel still exists beneath what is now a food hall.
  • Outro A stick figure that started a tradition, a canyon that hid for millions of years, a comet from another star, and a department store that built itself a subway. History is not short of ideas, just short of people paying attention.

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