Sputnik was the first artificial satellite to achieve orbit. It started off the great Space Race, and the United States and the Soviet Union both made amazing advances in those decades. But Sputnik was, after all, a creation of the Soviet Union, and it’s frustrated some onlookers to see Google honor it.
Several days ago, a Google doodle incorporated a picture of Sputnik; this is the way in which Google celebrates many special occasions, including St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, and Roald Dahl’s birthday. But Joseph Farah, the editor of WorldNetDaily.com, noted a couple of omissions.
“When they ignore Veterans Day and Memorial Day, I think they’re telling us something about the way they view America,” Farah said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Maybe. Or maybe not. But the issue of Sergey Brin’s heritage complicates matters even more; Brin, one of Google’s cofounders, was born in Moscow in 1973.
Still, even if penicillin was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming, it’s not usually tied to Scotland. Ditto for radium, Marie Curie, and France (or Poland). Maybe more time needs to go by before people can let go of Sputnik’s Soviet connection – Thursday was only the 50th anniversary – but Google probably didn’t mean any harm by celebrating the launch. It just doesn’t hurt to stay on the good side of a country with around 143 million citizens.
