Google is honouring geochemist Katsuko Saruhashi with a doodle on her 98th birth anniversary with a doodle. Born on March 22, 1920, she is known for her work of measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in seawater., which subsequently showed the evidence of dangers of radioactive fallout due to nuclear experiments in seawater and the atmosphere. Interestingly, World Water Day is observed on March 22 to highlight the importance of freshwater.

Saruhashi's achievements weren't only scientific, and the list of work that others went on to do as a result of her inspiration is even longer. She also worked incredibly hard to ensure that other women got a chance to make the breakthroughs she did, explaining that it was her mission to make the field she worked in more equal.

Saruhashi’s achievements began before she became a renowned academic. She was the first woman to earn a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1957, for instance, and she would continue such achievements by becoming the first woman to win a prestigious geochemistry award.

Google recognised all of those achievements in its Doodle, which was displayed across the world. "Today on her 98th birthday, we pay tribute to Dr. Katsuko Saruhashi for her incredible contributions to science, and for inspiring young scientists everywhere to succeed," it wrote on its page.

Saruhashi is credited with some of the first work that explored the way that nuclear fallout spreads over the world – a field that is crucially relevant in light of nuclear disasters like those at Chernobyl and Fukushima. She died of pneumonia at her Tokyo home September 29, 2007.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 22, 2018 09:07 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).