New Delhi: Google doodled on Thursday to mark the 137th birthday of Harry Houdini, arguably the greatest magician and escape artist of all time.
The Google logo depicted the legendary magician in one of his most famous escape acts, hands handcuffed and an intense look on his face, obstructing partially, the 'L' in the Google logo.
The logo led to a search page on the fabled magician who was born with the name Ehrich Weisz on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary.
It is said that as a child, Houdini learned to open locked cabinets to get at pies and sweets his mother had baked.
Houdini experimented with escape stunts all his life. In 1912 he introduced his Chinese Water Torture Cell act during which Houdini's feet would be locked in stocks, and he would be lowered upside down into a tank filled with water. The mahogany and metal cell featured a glass front, through which audiences could clearly see Houdini.
Several of his stunts almost cost him his life. He spent a large part of his life debunking self-proclaimed psychics and mediums. He was a member of a Scientific American committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities.
He died reportedly of a ruptured appendix. It’s speculated that Houdini's death was caused by a student who delivered multiple blows to Houdini's abdomen to test Houdini's claim that he was able to take any blow to the body above the waist without injury.
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