Search engine major Google on Friday celebrated the 160th birth anniversary of the German scientist and inventor Julius Richard Petri with a minute-long animate doodle.
The doodle showcases Petri’s invention, popularly called ‘Petri dish’. The invention played a pivotal role in research and allowed scientists to identify disease-causing microbes.
A ‘Petri dish’ is basically a shallow cylindrical container made either of glass or plastic. It is used primarily by biologists and scientists for cell culture/ study. It is also commonly used in laboratories in schools and colleges.
The doodle has seven coloured Petri dishes replacing the Google logo along with a play button on one of them.
After pressing the play button, a hand appears with a swab applying a solution on each of the dishes followed by appearance of bacteria on all the dishes. Bringing the cursor on the dishes, reveal the cause of the bacteria. The dishes show bacteria present in used socks, door knobs, keyboards, pet dogs, plants, and a wet sponge.
Julius Richard Petri was born in 1853 in Barmen (Germany). He studied medicine at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Academy for Military Physicians and got his medical degree in 1876.
At the Imperial Health Office, Petri invented the dish in 1877 while working as an assistant to Robert Koch, the founder of modern bacteriology.
He served as a military physician till 1882. He passed away on December 20, 1921, in Zeitz.