Had the Argentine poet, philosopher, and writer, Jorge Luis Borges lived long enough, he'd be celebrating his 112^th birthday today. Instead, if you turned on your Google page, you will have seen an homage paid by the giant search engine to the man whose work is considered to be ahead of his times for someone who lived way before digital computers.

Borges was born in Buenos Aires in 1899. He moved to Switzerland with his family and his parents taught him at home until he was 11. With a large home library at his disposal, Borges learned to speak many languages. He became known best for his writing about animals, dreams, fictional writers, labyrinths, libraries, religion, and God. His most famous stories were: "The Aleph," "The House of Asterion," "The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths," and "The Secret Miracle."

He never received a Nobel Prize for his work and he once joked that, "Not granting me the Nobel Prize has become a Scandinavian tradition; since I was born they have not been granting it to me."

Although he contributed much to science fiction, he was unable to support himself as a writer. He followed a career as lecturer and professor of literature, teaching at the University of Buenos Aires. One of his short stories, "Emma Zunz," was made into a film under the name "Dias di Odio" (Days of Hate)  in 1954. By the late 1950’s, Borgess had lost his sight completely, but continued to write with the help of his mother, to whom he was very close.

Jorge Luis Borges died in Geneva, Switzerland, in June 1986.

Google's tribute to Borges's 112th birthday

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The Google Doodle shows a complex scene of an aging man overlooking great architecture from behind glass. Upon studying the illustration closer one sees a library on the right, and images from “The Garden of Forking Paths,” a short story of his in which Borges describes the future in multiple ways.

Google celebrated other well-known personalities and occasions, such as Hans Christian Andersen, Tchaikovsky,  Jules Verne, first man in space, Shakespeare, famous inventions and celebrations with cleverly penned doodles. Personally, I enjoy marking and studying such occasions remembered through the perception of Google artists and collect a copy of each writer, composer, philanthropist and important event in a folder on my hard drive. Here are a few examples.

Summer Solstice 2011

Gregor Mendelson's 189th birthday

Martha Graham's 117th birthday

 World Cup Finale 2010

170th birthday of Tchaikovsky

400th year of Galileo's telescope

Birthday of H.G. Wells 

First man in space 

Google marks Chinese Internet censorship

Google applauds Pseudoscience

Happy birthday Joseph Franz

Google's 12th birthday

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Sources:

The Guardian

Christian Science Monitor