Mundaneum co-founder Paul Otlet's 147th Birthday

History’s most prolific thinkers had the vision to see how the world might look a year, a decade, even a century into the future. These innovators thought up today’s most advanced technology well before it was even possible to create it.

For many of us, it’s hard to imagine a world before the Internet. Belgian lawyer Paul Otlet lived in that world. In 1895, he worked with Henri La Fontaine to create the Universal Bibliography in Brussels, a repository of more than 12 million searchable index cards that came to be called the Mundaneum in the early 1900's. 

Years later, Paul brought clarity and a future to the project through his vision for the Mundaneum: a universal system of written, visual, and audio information that people could access from the comfort of their own homes. The roots of that vision took hold just a few decades later when engineers planted the technological seeds that brought electronic information sharing to life. 

Early sketches and reference notes

Before Google, pioneers like Paul Otlet imagined a world where information was free and accessible. Created by Googler Leon Hong, Today’s Doodle pays tribute to Paul’s pioneering work on the Mundaneum. The collection of knowledge stored in the Mundaneum’s drawers are the foundational work for everything that happens at Google. In early drafts, you can watch the concept come to life.

New exhibits from the Mundaneum and Google
The Mundaneum and Google have worked closely together to curate 9 exclusive online exhibitions for the Google Cultural Institute. The team behind the reopening of the Mundaneum this year also worked with the Cultural Institute engineers to launch a dedicated mobile app.

Check out three new exhibits below about the co-founder Paul Otlet’s life and achievements, the visualization systems invented by Otlet, and the Nobel Prize received by co-founder Henri La Fontaine:

Towards the Information Age 
Paul Otlet (1868–1944), founder of the Mundaneum

Mapping Knowledge
The Visualizations of Paul Otlet

The 100th Anniversary of a Nobel Peace Prize
Henri La Fontaine (1854-1943), Nobel Peace Prize in 1913