How Google Doodles became one of the best ways to showcase the science and tech heroes you’ve never heard of

People use the search engine trillions of times per day. When they stumble on figures like Ignacio Anaya García, for example, it gives news organisations a chance to demystify their legacies

What do a high school student, the inventor of nachos and Britain’s first female surgeon have in common? They all spent this week having an unexpected and spectacular leap in their fame.

All three of those people – Arantza Peña Popo, Ignacio Anaya García and Louisa Aldrich-Blake, respectively – featured on Google Doodles, immediately letting them be seen by millions of people. And that in turn meant their stories were told, dozens of times across some of the biggest news organisations in the world.

People search Google trillions of times per day. And when they do, they go to a Google page that is lit up with a drawing depicting someone related to that day – and clicking on that drawing usually takes people through to a search for their name.