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Google honors László Bíró with ballpoint pen homepage

Biro presented the first prototype of the ballpoint pen at the Budapest International Fair in 1931, later patenting his invention in 1938. To this day, the ballpoint pen is still referred to as the 'Biro'

Google has honored legendary Hungarian ballpoint pen creator László Bíró, on what would have been his 177th birthday, with a doodle on their search page.

Users who visit Google's homepage today will notice artwork depicting the use of a Biro to write out the word Google while an animated zoom displays how the ballpoint pen operates.

Biro, whose name now appears on ballpoint pens around the world, was frustrated with how long the ink from fountain pens took to dry and sought a more efficient way to write.

"He worked with his brother, György Biró, a chemist, to develop a new type of pen made up of a ball that turned in a socket. As the ball turned, it picked up ink from a cartridge and rolled to deposit it on paper, much like a newsprint roller transfers an inked image to paper," Google writes of his ballpoint invention.

"Biró presented the first prototype of the ballpoint pen at the Budapest International Fair in 1931, later patenting his invention in 1938. To this day, the ballpoint pen is still referred to as the 'Biro' in several countries."

Notably, that patent was later bought by Marcel Bich, the co-founder of Bic who in honor of Biro has continued to name its pens after him.