Google Doodle Honors Nicolas Steno

If you were surprised to see some rocks on Google doodle on Wednesday, you might be more surprised to learn the origin: the doodle is honoring the “father of geology” Nicolas Steno, whose 347th birthday is Jan. 11. The Danish anatomist and geologist was behind the “principle of original horizontality,” the theory that rocks are formed horizontally, and the “law of superposition,” the theory that the oldest layers of the earth are at the bottom. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in the late 1980s. The Google doodle pays tribute to him by presenting each letter of the logo with colorful pictures of fossils and the ecosystem.