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Google’s Bunsen Burner Logo: Robert Bunsen 200th Birthday

Barry Schwartz on March 31, 2011 at 9:11 am

Today on the Google home page you will see a special logo for Robert Bunsen’s 200th birthday. The Google logo is an interactive chemical lab set with a Bunsen burner. Robert Bunsen was the co-inventor of the Bunsen burner.

You can use the logo by placing your mouse over the burner or other areas of the logo and it will begin to do things. For example:

Pull your mouse slowly down the page, and the flame will get smaller
Push your mouse up the page and above the logo, and the flame will grow
Move your mouse left and right, and the flame will change colors.
Move your mouse left and right quickly, and the flame will appear to flicker
Move your mouse down to the right diagonally, and you get a small blue flame
Move your mouse up and to the left diagonally, and you get a large yellow flame
Move diagonally up or down, as above, and to other degrees of right and left to get flames of different sizes or colors

Look closely after the logo first loads on the Google home page, and you’ll see the beaker on the left fill with water. Several of the beakers will bubble as the logo plays, and steam emerges and the lid comes off the coffee-pot like vessel.

Here is a video of the logo in action:

Bunsen died in Germany on August 16, 1899. He along with inventing the Bunsen burner, he was known for the discoveries of cesium and rubidium, developing the carbon-zinc electrochemical cell; methods of gas analysis; development of spectrochemical analysis and he was awarded the Copley medal in 1860.

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About The Author

Barry Schwartz

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 SEM topics.