The doodle, illustrated by Baltimore-based guest artist Ashanti Fortson, shows the elderly moustachioed figure against a background of wheelchair athletes competing in a range of sports.

Guttmann - born in Tost, Germany on this day (June 3) in 1899 – was a Jewish doctor who became one of the country’s top specialist surgeons for spinal cord injuries before fleeing to Britain in 1939 to escape Nazi persecution.

In 1944, at the request of the British Government, Guttmann opened a spinal injuries centre at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and in time, rehabilitation sport practised there evolved to recreational sport and then to competitive sport.

On July 29, 1948, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the London 1948 Olympic Games, Guttmann organised the first competition for wheelchair athletes, which he named the Stoke Mandeville Games.

This milestone in Paralympic history involved 16 injured servicemen and women who took part in archery.

The Stoke Mandeville Games later became the Paralympic Games, which first took place in Rome, Italy, in 1960 featuring 400 athletes from 23 countries.

Since then they have taken place every four years.

Guttmann, who died aged 80 in 1980, also founded the International Medical Society of Paraplegia (the International Spinal Cord Society) and, in 1961, the British Sports Association for the Disabled (Activity Alliance).

He received numerous accolades, the highest among which was being knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 1966.

The Paralympic Games continues to be a driving force for promoting the rights and independence of people with disabilities.