If Louis Daguerre — a physicist, painter and photography pioneer — were alive today, we'd be trying to squeeze 224 candles onto a birthday cake for him. But since that's not the case, we're instead celebrating the anniversary of his birth by watching the Google logo turn into a family portrait.
You're probably aware by now that a Google doodle — a redesigned version of the Google homepage logo — is the highest honor the search engine can bestow on a significant date. Some of the more elaborate ones we've seen in recent memory include a Freddie Mercury birthday video, an animated interpretation of John Lennon's "Imagine," and a playable/recordable Les Paul guitar.
The doodle honoring Daguerre is simpler than some of its animated and interactive predecessors, but it's quite fitting for the man who came up with Daguerreotype photography — a process which allowed photos exposures to take mere minutes, requiring subjects to sit still for only a tolerable amount of time. (Prior to Daguerre's innovation, taking a photograph could take eight hours!)
Related stories:
- Google wishes scientist Marie Curie a happy 144th birthday
- 'Don't stop' Google doodles now, or ever, with Freddie Mercury
- Whoa! Google homepage is a playable Les Paul guitar
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