Nicolas Steno's birth anniversary celebrated with Google Doodle

Google is celebrating the 374th birth anniversary of Danish geologist Nicolas Steno with a Doodle today.

Nicolas Steno was born Niels Stensen in Copenhagen on January 11, 1638 and is widely considered to be the father of geology as a science.  However, he was also an anatomist and studied medicine before turning his attention to rock formations.

He is most famous for his law of supersposition in which he reasoned that layers of rock are arranged in a time sequence with the newest layer at the very top. Steno's work on rock formation and the fossils they contain are the fulcrum of modern geology.

In memory of his work, the Doodle depicts stylized rock formations with fossils in the bottom layers and a green surface.