Jenny's Noodle

Google Doodle on September 4, 2010.

If you're one of the few who doesn't visit Google daily, you might miss today's Google Doodle. The popular search engine is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the buckyball on September 4. The buckyball image replaces the second yellow "o" in the Google logo, which becomes interactive when you mouse over it.

What is a buckyball?
A buckyball is a spherical fullerene, or a molecular compound made up entirely of carbon [C60]. The name buckyball is actually a colloquialism for buckminsterfullerene, as in Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller, an architect and designer whose geodesic domes and spheres the buckyball resembles.

Buckminsterfullerene was discovered on September 4, 1985 by Harold Kroto, James Heath, Sean O’Brien, Robert Curl and Richard Smalley at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Buckyballs are unique particles that have been the subject of intense research, especially in materials science, electronics, and nanotechnology.

Google Doodles are sort of a fun surprise to discover every so often. Don't you agree?