9 best Google Doodles from around the world

Google is famous for its doodle illustrations that transform Google’s homepage into something different in order to honour anniversaries, events or birthdays. Thankfully, Google has an archive full of all its past Google Doodles.

We combed through them to find our favourites. From honouring the first man and woman to adventure into space to creating an interactive Les Paul Google logo that lets you record your own song, we’ve collected the nine best Google Doodles we’ve seen so far.

2014 Olympic Games in Sochi



Google stood up against Russia’s anti-gay laws the night before the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi with this Doodle that quoted the Olympic Charter and highlighted why the right to practice sports is a human right.

Playable Pac-Man



To celebrate Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary, Google created its first playable Doodle that let you play the classic arcade game right from your browser.

50th anniversary of the first man in space



Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person to venture into space back in 1961. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of his journey into orbit aboard the Vostok spacecraft, Google created this beautiful and vintage Doodle with a hidden animated space shuttle.

John Lennon’s 70th birthday



To mark what would have been musician John Lennon’s 70th birthday, the Google Doodle team created this beautiful animation — its very first — to honour the Beatles co-founder.

India Republic Day 2015



The Google Doodle on January 26, 2015 marked India’s 66th Republic Day on its homepage. Drawn in the form of a parade tableau, it shows India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan on top, with men and women in traditional Indian attires waving from it.

Gideon Sundback’s 132nd birthday



Gideon Sundback helped invent the zipper, so the Google Doodle team decided to let you ‘unzip’ the Google homepage on his 132nd birthday to reveal the search results for the man himself.

Les Paul’s 96th birthday



Google created an interactive Doodle for musician and inventor Les Paul’s 96th birthday, celebrating the man who “made the sound of rock and roll possible.” You can record your own 30-second song by using your mouse to virtually strum the Doodle’s guitar strings and tapping the keys of your keyboard.

Amelia Earhart’s 115th birthday



Google created this gorgeous illustration of Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and a fierce supporter of equal rights. This inspiring Doodle perfectly captures the adventurous spirit of Earhart and was published on what would have been her 115th birthday.

Alessandro Volta’s 270th birthday

Alessandro Volta was the man who invented the first electrical battery, so Google created a fitting animated Doodle to celebrate the 270th birthday of the 18th century Italian physicist and chemist.