Today on Google is an interactive Google Logo (aka Google Doodle) for the 61st birthday of the late Douglas Adams. Here is a static image of the special Don't Panic Google Doodle:
Douglas Adam, an English writer most well known as the author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," died at the young age of 49 on May 11, 2001.
The book, Don't Panic: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy started in 1978 and went on to five books that sold over 15 million copies. It also resulted in a television series, several stage plays, comics, a computer game, and in 2005 a feature film.
Adams was also honored to be in the The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame in the UK.
To celebrate his contributions to the world, Google has a special logo for his life and in rare interactive form.
Oh, and why the number 42? Just Google this for the answer. ;-)
The Doodler for this is Sophia Foster-Dimino. For more details on the background of this Doodle, see this page, here is an excerpt:
The world (to be fair, the universe) of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is complex, chaotic, and often contradictory, with multiple timelines and probability axes colliding in assuredly comic ways. The various exotic planets, alien races, and intergalactic sociopolitical situations are usually filtered through the lens of the series' most useful piece of futuristic technology – the Guide itself, published out of Ursa Minor Beta. The Guide's task of organizing the galaxy's information struck a chord with us, which is why we gave it special attention in our doodle. Through it, you can get a small peek into the unrelentingly hilarious universe created by Douglas Adams.But The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in all its many and varied manifestations, is not the limit of Douglas Adams' wit, creativity, and compassion. True fans know and love the episodes he wrote for the British sci-fi show Dr. Who, starring Tom Baker as the fourth doctor. He also created Dirk Gently, protagonist of several genre-defying detective novels. And he co-created, with zoologist Mark Carwardine, the radio documentary and nonfiction book series Last Chance to See, documenting many expeditions to examine near-extinct animals across the globe.
This is a logo Googlers have been asking for for a while. We have had requests in 2011 for a logo like this.
You can play with the interactive doodle on Google.com or at the Google Doodles archive.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
