Interactive Google Doodle Celebrates Jules Verne's Birthday

Feb. 8, 2011— -- Google wants to take you on an undersea adventure.

To celebrate the 183rd birthday of science fiction author Jules Verne, the Internet giant today launched a first-of-its-kind interactive Google doodle themed after the French writer's famous novel "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."

On its homepage, it displays a Google logo resembling a collection of submarine portholes looking out onto an underwater landscape. But the fun really begins when you click on a lever to the right of the nautical-looking logo.

As you "pull" the lever down, the doodle takes you on a virtual voyage to the bottom of the ocean, giving you glimpses of starfish, octopi, coral and a few other deep sea dazzlers.

If you click on the logo it takes you to (surprise!) a Google search results page for Jules Verne.

Some sci-fi fans call Verne the "father of science fiction," although others argue the title belongs to H.G. Wells. Among his contributions to the genre are "Journey to the Center of the World" and "Around the World in 80 Days."

"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" recounts the underwater journey of Captain Nemo and his submarine, The Nautilus.

Google posted its first doodle in 1998 and unveiled its first animated doodle in 2010 to celebrate the birthday of Sir Isaac Newton (it showed an apple falling from a tree). Over time, its doodles have become more and more sophisticated.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the popular arcade game Pac-Man last year, Google introduced a logo that doubled as a game Web users could play straight from Google's homepage.