If ever you don’t know the answer to something, there’s a better than likely chance that you went immediately to Google to find it. (Unless you are some sort of sociopath that still Asks Jeeves.) And if you went to the world’s most popular search engine today, you’d be greeted with something quite familiar if a tad antiquated. Today’s Google Doodle is a triptych of espresso machines in honor of Angelo Moriondo, the person believed to have invented of the espresso machine.
Born on this day, June 6th, in 1851 in Turin, Italy, Moriondo is credited with patenting the first espresso machine all the way back in 1884. Using steam and boiling water to quickly brew the coffee, Moriondo’s invention is the precursor to the modern espresso machine as we know it, and his invention was awarded the bronze medal at the 1884 General Expo of Turin. (Though I’m sure if Italy could call a redo they’d give him the gold. They are trying to get UNESCO heritage status for espresso after all.)
To honor Moriondo and his invention that truly changed the world, for what would have been his 171st birthday, the Google Doodle—the image above the search bar that gets temporarily altered “to commemorate special events, such as anniversaries, holidays, achievements and notable historical figures,” per Newsweek—features a three-panel gif of espresso being made. And what better medium to use to create such an image than coffee itself? In the brown-hued set of three images, you can see the espresso machine going from prototype sketch to first incarnation to finally something more reminiscent of the modern espresso machine you would see today.
So happy birthday Angelo Moriondo. Without you I wouldn’t be able to spend my days writing about coffee and would instead probably be schmucking it up in a cubicle in some nondescript, sad office building somewhere, bored and undercaffeinated. Your invention had made daily life a touch more manageable each morning.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
