Google celebrates anthropologist Mary Leakey’s 100th with exploratory-inspired doodle

“I dug things up. I was curious. I liked to draw what I found” … “I had never passed a single school exam, and clearly never would.”
~~ Mary Leakey
(February 6, 1913 – December 9, 1996) British archaeologist and anthropologist, and world renown distinguished fossil hunter. Leakey discovered the first fossilized Proconsul skull, an extinct ape now believed to be ancestral to humans.

Today, would have been Leakey’s 100th birthday, and Google paid homage to her life and works with a lovely doodle, an exploratory-inspired theme representing one of her many achievements – the discovery of 3.5 million-year-old fossilised hominid footprints. She is also known as a “giant in the study of human origins.”

Happy 100th B-Day Mary Leakey! Leakey also discovered the robust Zinjanthropus skull at Olduvai Gorge. For much of her career she worked together with her husband, Louis Leakey, in Olduvai Gorge, uncovering the tools and fossils of ancient hominines.

She developed a system for classifying the stone tools found at Olduvai. She also discovered the Laetoli footprints.


In 1960 she became director of excavation at Olduvai and subsequently took it over, building her own staff. After the death of her husband, she became a leading palaeoanthropologist, helping to establish the Leakey tradition by training her son, Richard, in the field.

Leakey, a renowned paleoanthropologist, had not only conducted significant research of her own, but had been invaluable to the research careers of her husband Louis Leakey and their sons Richard, Philip and Jonathan.

“Mother gave us every freedom to learn by experience as early as I can remember …This gave me tremendous self-confidence and taught me responsibility at an early age. As I grew I was able to take on more responsibility and in a way it always put us as children ahead of the pack. It encouraged and enhanced leadership skills.” ~~Philip Leakey , youngest of 3 sons to Mary and Louis Leakey (source: *Christian Science Monitor, see below)



Other Resources
♦ Mary Leakey 100th birthday: A son on her adventuresome parenting, Christian Science Monitor
♦ Leakey.com website
♦ Mary Leakey, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Leakey
♦ Mary Leakey 100th birthday: Google doodle honours famous Brithsh archaeologist and anthropologist, Mirror UK
♦ Mary Leakey’s 100th Birthday, National Geographic
♦ Leakey family discovers human ancestors, PBS http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/do59le.html
♦ The Leakey Collection, Jewelry natural, African-made, sustainable jewelry by Katy and Philip Leakey http://www.leakeycollection.com/


All photos courtesy of Wikimedia and screen shots taken from video and websites. All other photos will be credited as required.


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Family and friends celebrate centennial birthday gala of President Richard Nixon's 100th birthday, January 9, 2013

“Life isn't meant to be easy. It's hard to take being on the top - or on the bottom. I guess I'm something of a fatalist. You have to have a sense of history, I think, to survive some of these things... Life is one crisis after another.”
~~ President Richard Nixon
(January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) The 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974

Happy 100th B-Day to Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974, when he became the only president to resign the office. Nixon had previously served as a Republican U.S. representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. Kickoff celebration began today (Sunday, January 6th) at his boyhood home in Yorba Linda, CA.

Born to Francis A. Nixon and Hannah (Milhous) Nixon on January 9, 1913, in a house his father built in Yorba Linda, California. Nixon had four brothers: Harold (1909–33), Donald (1914–87), Arthur (1918–25), and Edward (born 1930). Four of the five Nixon boys were named after kings who had ruled in historical or legendary England; Richard, for example, was named after Richard the Lionheart.

Nixon graduated from Whittier College in 1934 and Duke University School of Law in 1937, returning to California to practice law. He and his wife, Pat Nixon, moved to Washington to work for the federal government in 1942.


“We were poor, but the glory of it was, we didn't know it.” ~~ President Richard Nixon
Nixon quoted a saying of Eisenhower to describe his boyhood and early life hardship



He subsequently served in the United States Navy during World War II. Nixon was elected in California to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950. His pursuit of the Alger Hiss case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and elevated him to national prominence. He was the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election.

Nixon served for eight years as vice president and waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, losing to John F. Kennedy by a narrow margin.

Photo left: President Nixon with his family at Airport - Richard and Pat Nixon introduce General Dwight D. Eisenhower—Richard Nixon's running mate—to their daughters Tricia (standing) and Julie (carried by her father), Washington National Airport, September 10, 1952.

Although there was much controversy especially during the height of Watergate, the legacy of Nixon will be his foreign relations particularly with China (1971 – 1972) – Nixon’s amazing brilliance coaxed China out of the Cold War, initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Soviet Union, and he also brought our troops out of VietNam.

Nixon’s actions were very similar to what appears to be going on in the United States today with Afghanistan, Iran and North VietNam. So the saying goes "history repeats itself," and political histories do the same. This is an excellent example of how we can learn from lessons of the past.

Domestically, his administration generally embraced policies that transferred power from Washington to the states.

Among other things, he initiated initiatives to fight cancer and illegal drugs, imposed wage and price controls, enforced desegregation of some Southern schools, and established the Environmental Protection Agency.

Though he presided over the lunar landings beginning with Apollo 11, he scaled back manned space exploration. He was re-elected by a landslide in 1972.

Today, January 9, 2013 would have been Nixon’s 100th birthday, and many who worked with him will be celebrating his life on his centennial celebration at the Yorba Linda Library in Yorba Linda, California.

Also a pre-celebration of the Nixon Centennial kicked off today (Sunday, January 6th at 11 a.m. PT) at his boyhood home in Yorba Linda, CA.



All photos courtesy of Wikimedia and screen shots taken from video and websites. All other photos will be credited as required.

Additional resources:
♦YouTube Video of Richard Nixon, “I’m not a crook”
♦ The Nixon Foundation
♦ President Richard Nixon’s Centennial Birthday Celebration
♦ President Richard Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, CA
♦ Public invited to free centennial celebration of President Nixon's 100th birthday


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Happy 100th B-Day Mary Blair!

Happy 100th B-Day to Mary Blair, American artist known for producing art and animation for The Walt Disney Company, and drawing concept art for such films as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Song of the South and Cinderella.


After the completion of Peter Pan, Mary resigned from Disney and worked as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, creating advertising campaigns for companies such as Nabisco, Pepsodent, Maxwell House, Beatrice Foods and others. She also illustrated several Golden Books for publisher Simon & Schuster, some of which remain in print today, and designed Christmas and Easter sets for Radio City Music Hall. Several of her illustrated children's books from the 1950s remain in print, such as “I Can Fly” by Ruth Krauss. Blair was honored as a Disney Legend in 1991.

Born Mary Browne Robinson on October 21, 1911, in McAlester, Oklahoma, her family moved to Texas while she was a small child, and later to California. In 1934, she married another artist, Lee Everett Blair (October 1, 1911 – April 19, 1993).


She was the sister-in-law of animator Preston Blair (1908–1994). Mary Blair died of a cerebral hemorrhage on July 26, 1978 at the age of 67.

Today, October 21, 2011 would have been Blair’s 100th birthday, Google paid homage to Blair's life and works with a doodle themed with colorful patterns.

Click here for more information about Mary Blair.