Rubik’s Cube Birthday: 19 May

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Rubik’s Cube is a three-dimensional puzzle invented in 1974 by ErnÅ‘ Rubik. Google celebrates the birthday of the well-known toy on the 19th of May.

Ernő Rubik was a professor of architecture at the Budapest College of Applied Arts. To explain spacial relationship to his students, he created a 3D puzzle using wood and rubber bands. It took him a month to solve it himself.

The cube’s popularity soared when it was introduced globally in 1979-80 and it soon became a bestseller. The cube is the largest selling toy in history!

Rubik’s Cube is actually a simple looking toy. Anyone who holds a scrambled cube immediate understands that the aim is to place all the 6 coloured pieces on their respective sides. It’s this simplicity, without any detailed instructions, that has lead to the immense popularity of the toy.

By the way, the cube can be arranged in 519 quintillion (519,000,000,000,000,000,000) possible combinations. This number “519”, has lead Google to celebrate the Rubik’s Cube birthday on the 19th of May (5-19).