12/8/2009

in

The search engine Google created a logo in honor of the Popeye cartoonist

Ingrid Bergquist

Today marks Popeye's creator's 115th birthday, announced [Guardian.co.uk.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/08/ec-segar-popeye-google-doodle)  
  
Google honored Elzie Crisler Segar by putting a cartoon image of Popeye the Sailor on the search engine's logo. The cartoonist was born in Illinois on Dec. 8, 1894.  
  
Popeye first appeared in January 1929 in Segar's comic strip Thimble Theatre, which had been published for ten years, before Popeye appeared.  
  
Once Popeye was written out by Segal, the public complained and the character was written back in.  
  
Popeye received his strength from eating spinach and his biceps would turn three times the size.  
  
Segal chose spinach as the source for Popeye's strength because of an 1870 German study which said spinach contains the same amount of iron as red meat.  
  
Later studies showed there was an error with the original calculations that led researchers to believe spinach contained ten times the actual amount of iron.  
  
Popeye has appeared in a 1980 film, television cartoons and advertisements.  
  
Segal died at age 43 in 1938, leaving an iconic character as his legacy.
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