Ladislao José Biro, ballpoint pen inventor, celebrated with Google Doodle
THE MAN who invented the ball point pen has been remembered on the Google homepage.
To celebrate the 117th birthday of Ladislao José Biro, the search engine has created a special doodle for the Hungarian.
Born in Budapest in 1899, Biro, was working as a journalist when he noticed that the ink used in newspaper printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge-free.
He tried using the same ink in a fountain pen but the experiment did not seem to work.
Not giving up Biro, developed a new tip consisting of a ball that was free to turn in a socket, and as it turned it would pick up ink from a cartridge and then roll to deposit it on the paper.
The invention was presented in Paris in 1938 and by 1943, Biro Pens of Argentina was patented.
Members of the Royal Air Force crew used the new design in the UK as they found it worked much better than fountain pens at high altitude.
Bic brought the patent for Biro in 1945 and it become the company’s main product.
Biro died in Argentina in 1985.
Other inventors who have been featured on Google’s homepage include Thomas Edison and Gideon Sundback who invented the zip.
First seen in 2000, the Google Doodles are made to the company’s logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries and the lives of famous artists and scientists.
Earlier this month, Google marked the 37th anniversary of The Neverending Story.
The company doodled scenes from the much-loved book, starting off with the main character Bastian Balthazar Bux reading.
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