--- title: Eva Ekeblad: Google Doodle Celebrates Swedish Agronomist description: The 18th-century agronomist popularized potatoes in Europe and helped avert famine in Sweden. canonical: https://time.com/4850975/google-doodle-eva-ekeblad/ author: Joseph Hincks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-10T07:16:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:29.230Z og:title: A Google Doodle Celebrates Swedish Agronomist Eva Ekeblad og:description: The 18th-century agronomist popularized potatoes in Europe og:url: https://time.com/4850975/google-doodle-eva-ekeblad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt337cfeabf1200cae/6988d501ab6d7730ee6aee2d/eva-ekeblads-293rd-birthday-5169157527044096-4-2x-2.jpg?branch=production&width=711&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 711 og:image:height: 400 og:image:alt: eva-ekeblads-293rd-birthday-5169157527044096.4-2x 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Google Doodle Celebrates Swedish Agronomist Eva Ekeblad twitter:description: The 18th-century agronomist popularized potatoes in Europe twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt337cfeabf1200cae/6988d501ab6d7730ee6aee2d/eva-ekeblads-293rd-birthday-5169157527044096-4-2x-2.jpg?branch=production&width=711&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A New Google Doodle Celebrates the Life of Swedish Agronomist Eva Ekeblad > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_ by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Jul 10, 2017 7:16 AM UTC  Google Doodle to commemorate Eva Ekeblad, on 07, 10, 2017. Google Doodle to commemorate Eva Ekeblad, on 07, 10, 2017. Google Doodle by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Jul 10, 2017 7:16 AM UTC Until Eva Ekeblad came along the presence of potatoes in much of Europe was, well, small potatoes. In Sweden the potato was mostly restricted to aristocratic greenhouses and thought of as animal feed. Ekeblad changed all of that. And on Monday, which would have been her 293rd [birthday,](https://www.google.com/doodles/eva-ekeblads-293rd-birthday) Google put out a Doodle to commemorate her achievements. After learning that [people in Germany were making liquor from potatoes](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/07/09/eva-ekeblad-did-make-flour-alcohol-potatoes1/), the Swedish agronomist grew her own batch and began experimenting. The breakthrough came in 1746 when Ekeblad discovered that a flour could be made from cooking, drying, and crushing potatoes. She also figured out how to distill them to make vodka. In 1748, Ekeblad became the first woman elected to Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences — it would be more than 200 years before the next one was elected. Ekeblad’s discoveries coincided with a food shortage in Sweden and to helped avert a national famine. They also led to a spike in alcohol consumption in the country. Skål, Eva! 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