Google Doodle has celebrated its 16th birthday

Google’s 16th ‘birthday’ is being celebrated with an animated doodle on Saturday, despite September 27 not being the date of the company’s incorporation. The first time Google created a doodle to celebrate its birthday was way back in 2002, to mark Google’s 4th birthday. Google was founded on September 4, 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. At that point in time, the two were Ph.D. students at Stanford University who didn’t know they were going to change the world forever.

Happy sweet 16, Google Doodle! The quirky art featured on the search giant’s homepage celebrated its 16th birthday on Saturday with, appropriately, an animated Google Doodle. In it, the G in Google’s logo measures the growth of the O and L. Google’s unique art has celebrated a variety of people, events and causes over the years. Its topics have ranged from sci-fi show Doctor Who to iconic actress Audrey Hepburn, as well as social causes including International Women’s Day, the Sochi Winter Olympics gay-rights controversy and the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Over the years, Google has become more technically ambitious with its Doodles, including an audio partnership with NPR radio program This American Life for Valentine’s Day, a playable guitar in honor of Les Paul and a working Rubix cube. Also, let’s not forget the Pac-Man Google Doodle that distracted us all from work in 2010.