Google Doodle honours woman who solved mystery of sand ripples

Google treats visitors to its homepage with a new Google Doodle featuring a British engineer, mathematician, physicist and inventor, who studied the scientific mystery of ripple marks on sand and water.

For years, people have been baffled why ripples appear when a wave washes over sand. Hertha Marks Ayrton was the first woman to explain this in her work, “The Origin and Growth of Ripple Marks” in 1904. In addition to making a permanent contribution to the canon of physical science, she was known for her triumph over discrimination among women.

In celebration of Ayrton’s 162nd birthday, Google tasked Lydia Nichols to design a doodle showing Ayrton framed by her breakthrough findings. Through the simple tribute, the search engine giant acknowledges “her impact still rippling through the scientific community,” Google said in its statement.

Prior to her work about sand ripples, Ayrton was also credited for her studies on electric arc in 1902. While her research was published, cementing her contributions to electrical engineering, she was snubbed by prestigious scientific societies, including the Royal Society.

After publishing “The Electric Arc ,” she was nominated to become a Fellow of the Royal Society by renowned electrical engineer John Perry. However, her application was rejected because the council ruled that “married women are not eligible as Fellows of the Royal Society.” There were no published articles about Ayrton’s response to being turned down.

Four years after, however, she got her redemption when she was awarded the Royal Society’s prestigious Hughes Medal for her experimental investigations on the electric arc, and also on sand ripples. In one of her biographies, Ayrton was said to be the fifth recipient of this prize, awarded annually since 1902 “in recognition of an original discovery in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism or their applications.” So far, she’s only one of two recipients of the award.

Last month, Google also honoured women in its International Women’s Day through an eye-opening doodle featuring real women who shared their “One day I will…” hopes.