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Google homepage gets working zipper to honor inventor

The next time someone awkwardly points out that your fly is down — hopefully using a delightful euphemism involving a barn door — don't get flustered. Instead zip that thing up with pride, in memory of Gideon Sundbäck, the inventor honored by Google today with a functional, if virtual, zipper.Until the Google homepage was turned into a gigantic zipper, many of us probably never even knew the
Google / Today

The next time someone awkwardly points out that your fly is down — hopefully using a delightful euphemism involving a barn door — don't get flustered. Instead zip that thing up with pride, in memory of Gideon Sundbäck, the inventor honored by Google today with a functional, if virtual, zipper.

Until the Google homepage was turned into a gigantic zipper, many of us probably never even knew the man's name. That's a bit disheartening given the impact of his invention, but it does go to show how Google Doodles — redesigned versions of the Google homepage logo — can teach us a thing or two.

Sundbäck, as you might've learned already, wasn't the first one to come up with the idea for the device, but he is considered the father of the modern zipper. He spent seven years perfecting it, creating what we now see when we glance down at our jackets and pants.

So take a moment today to remember Sundbäck, who died in in 1954 — and the brilliant invention that keeps us from letting it all hang out.

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