Google Doodle marks the 360th birthday of Bartolomeo Cristofori – the inventor of the Piano – in a rather unique fashion.
Born in 1655 in Padua which was then called the Republic of Venice, Cristofori's biggest contribution to the world of music was creating a hammer mechanism which helped in producing soft and loud sound that ultimately led to the invention of the Pianoforte or Piano, NDTV reminds.
"The use of a hammer made it possible to produce softer or louder sounds depending upon how light or hard a player pressed on the keys. In fact, that's how Cristofori's new instrument got its name — in Italian, piano means soft, while forte means loud. Being able to change the volume was a major breakthrough," Google said.
The mechanism is vividly shown in the doodle which showcases an animated version of Cristofori playing the musical instrument. As Cristofori presses the keyboard a hammer can be seen striking the string and thus producing sound. Alongside the doodle, is a sidebar which gives the viewer an option of increasing the volume of the piano. When the viewer scrolls up the bar the volume of the sound produced increases.
