Google Dedicates Doodle to Microbiologist Hans Christian Gram on his 166th Birth Anniversary5Photo© firstpost.com

Google Dedicates Doodle to Microbiologist Hans Christian Gram on his 166th Birth Anniversary

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Today's Google Doodle celebrates Danish microbiologist Hans Christian Gram's 166th birthday with depictions of Gram surrounded by some of his most important work over the years till his demise on 4 November 1938. The Doodle was illustrated by Mikkel Sommer, a guest artist from Denmark.

One of the most important of Gram's inventions is a mainstay in microbiology: the Gram-staining technique used world-over to identify bacteria. Scientists, doctors and medical technicians still use this method to identify and classify bacteria into different types. Gram was drawn to natural science early in life, earning a B.A. at the Copenhagen Metropolitan School in Copenhagen, Denmark. He also worked as a research assistant in botany at the local zoo, which cultivated his interested in medicine. Gram went on to earn his M.D. in 1878 from the University of Copenhagen.

After years of holding several assistant positions in Copenhagen hospitals, he authored an award-winning essay on the size and number of human erythrocytes (red blood cells) in patients with chlorosis, a.k.a "green sickness", which gave them a distinct skin green tinge. He went to defend his thesis the following year — an elaborate report on the size of red blood cells.