The more obvious reason there is a signing frog on the Google home page is because today is a leap day, happens about every four years and Google decided to leap with a frog. But the reason the frog is signing like in an opera is because it is the 220th birthday of Gioachino Rossini.

Gioachino Rossini was an Italian composer who was lucky enough to have been born on a leap day. This specific logo combines leap day and his work as a composer, specifically remembering one of his most famous operas named The Barber of Seville.

Gioachino Rossini lived for 76 years, dying from pneumonia and being buried on Friday the 13th (another interesting and unique day) on November 13, 1868 in Paris, France.

For more on his life and work, see Wikipedia.

Other Google Logos:

• Google Wave Logo For 155th Birthday Of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz
• Google Valentine’s Day Logo Features Tony Bennett’s Cold Cold Heart
• The Characters In Google’s Charles Dickens Logo
• Google Logo For Largest Observed Snowflake
• Google’s 5th “Doodle 4 Google” Contest Opens For K-12 Students
• Google Blackens Its Logo To Protest SOPA/PIPA, While Bing & Yahoo Carry On As Usual
• Google Honors Martin Luther King Jr. Day With “I Have A Dream” Logo
• Google Logo For Nicolas Steno: Father Of Modern Geology
• Google Logo Honors Addams Family Creator, Charles Addam

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Logos

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz

Connect with the author via: Email | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn