Google Doodle Honors Dr. Michiaki Takahashi, Inventor of the Chickenpox Vaccine on Feb. 17

Google on Thursday celebrated the 94th birth anniversary of Japanese virologist Dr. Michiaki Takahashi, who developed the world's first vaccine against chickenpox with a Doodle. Takahashi was born on February 17, 1928 in Osaka, Japan. After studying measles and polio viruses, Takahashi accepted a research fellowship in 1963 at Baylor College in the United States. He earned his medical degree from Osaka University and joined the Research Institute for Microbial Disease, Osaka University in 1959. It was during this time that his son developed a serious bout of chickenpox, leading him to turn his expertise toward combating the highly transmissible illness. This prompted Dr. Takahashi to look for a way to combat the contagious disease.

Two years after he moved to the U.S., Dr. Takahashi was back in Japan, experimenting with weakened chickenpox viruses in 1965. Five years later, Dr Michiaki Takahashi's chickenpox vaccine was ready for human trials, and by 1974, Dr. Takahashi had succeeded in developing the world's first vaccine against the varicella chickenpox virus. The vaccine also successfully passed rigorous tests on patients with reduced ability to fight infections and other diseases, and Osaka University became the first WHO-approved varicella vaccine in 1986, which was also rolled out to other countries. Dr. Michiaki Takahashi passed away in December 2013, at the age of 85.

Now the question is how does the chickenpox vaccine work?

The chickenpox vaccine is a live vaccine and contains a small amount of weakened chickenpox-causing virus. The vaccine stimulates your immune system to produce antibodies that will help protect against chickenpox. The vaccine is given as 2 separate injections, usually into the upper arm, 4 to 8 weeks apart. It was subsequently subjected to rigorous research with immunosuppressed patients and was proven to be extremely effective.

"It has since been utilized in over 80 countries and administered to millions of children around the world as an effective measure to prevent severe cases of the contagious viral disease and its transmission," Google said in a statement. The Google Doodle was created by guest artist, Tatsuro Kiuchi, according to the company, and the Japan-based artist said that he didn't know who Dr. Takahashi was when he was approached about working on the Doodle. The new Doodle in tribute to Dr. Takahashi was eventually visible in over 80 countries: Japan, India, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, the US, and Iceland, according to Google.