--- title: Google Doodle Celebrates Dr. Virginia Apgar's 109th Birthday description: Google Doodle is celebrating Dr. Virginia Apgar, who invented the Apgar score that has saved countless newborn lives. She would have 109 canonical: https://time.com/5304372/google-doodle-virginia-apgar/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-07T13:19:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:16.231Z og:title: Meet Dr. Virginia Apgar, the Anesthesiologist Credited With Saving Many Newborn Babies' Lives og:description: She would have been 109 today og:url: https://time.com/5304372/google-doodle-virginia-apgar/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3672fcfde2872f7c/69893287ab6d779a446b2e47/virginia-apgar-google-doodle.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: virginia-apgar-google-doodle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet Dr. Virginia Apgar, the Anesthesiologist Credited With Saving Many Newborn Babies' Lives twitter:description: She would have been 109 today twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3672fcfde2872f7c/69893287ab6d779a446b2e47/virginia-apgar-google-doodle.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Doodle Honors Dr. Virginia Apgar, the Anesthesiologist Credited With Saving Many Newborn Babies' Lives ## 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 [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jun 7, 2018 1:19 PM UTC  Google by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jun 7, 2018 1:19 PM UTC Google is celebrating Dr. Virginia Apgar, a groundbreaking figure in the field of anesthesiology known for inventing a scoring system that is credited with saving countless newborn babies’ lives, with its new [Google Doodle](https://www.google.com/doodles/dr-virginia-apgars-109th-birthday). Born in 1909 in New Jersey, she is best known for inventing the Apgar Score, the first standardized way to test a newborn baby’s health in the first few minutes after the baby is born. Babies are assessed under five factors: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration. The first letter of each factor spells out Apgar’s name. While Apgar died in 1974, the Google Doodle celebrates what would have been Apgar’s 109th birthday and features a cartoon of her conducting her namesake test, which was invented the test in 1952. > [](https://twitter.com/JohnsHopkinsSPH/status/1004696690899800064) Aside from the Apgar Score, she also accomplished numerous feats throughout her career. Apgar was the first woman to become a full professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. But her path to success was filled with numerous obstacles. Although she was determined to become a surgeon, Apgar was [discouraged from the pursuit](https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography%5F12.html) by Dr. Alan Whipple, who was the chair of surgery at Columbia. Whipple maintained that the other women he had trained had failed to establish successful careers in surgery. But Whipple also recognized that Apgar’s skill could further the field of anesthesia, and she spent a year training in it after completing her surgical residency in 1937\. Ahead of her time, Apgar had trouble finding people to work for her until anesthesia became a more acknowledged specialty in the 1940s, according to the [U.S. National Library of Medicine](https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography%5F12.html). Later, Apgar’s studies of obstetrical anesthesia led to her creating the Apgar score. After some initial resistance, the testing method became widely used throughout the world and is still used today. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5304372/google-doodle-virginia-apgar/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5304372/google-doodle-virginia-apgar/"},"headline":"Google Doodle Honors Dr. Virginia Apgar, the Anesthesiologist Credited With Saving Many Newborn Babies' Lives","datePublished":"2018-06-07T13:19:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:16.231Z","description":"She would have been 109 today","url":"https://time.com/5304372/google-doodle-virginia-apgar/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google Doodle","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3672fcfde2872f7c/69893287ab6d779a446b2e47/virginia-apgar-google-doodle.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3672fcfde2872f7c/69893287ab6d779a446b2e47/virginia-apgar-google-doodle.gif?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"virginia-apgar-google-doodle","caption":"","creditText":"Google","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5304372/google-doodle-virginia-apgar/","name":"Google Doodle Honors Dr. Virginia Apgar, the Anesthesiologist Credited With Saving Many Newborn Babies' Lives"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Google Makes its Doodles","description":"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","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/upF0qp1E/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-07-07T16:09:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5304372/google-doodle-virginia-apgar/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5304372/google-doodle-virginia-apgar/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```