Google is celebrating its 25th birthday today, September 27. As the American multinational technology company achieves this significant milestone, it's worth delving into its humble beginnings.
As per information provided on Google's website, Sergey Brin and Larry Page first met at Stanford University in January 1997. This meeting took place when Sergey Brin, who was already a Ph.D. student at the university, was asked to take Larry Page around the campus as Page was contemplating Stanford for his studies. And, Google's journey started.
A year later, the two began working together, in the confines of their dormitory rooms, to develop a search engine. And, they successfully created their first prototype. Their invention began to attract the attention of prominent investors in Silicon Valley, and in August 1998, Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, gave a $100,000 cheque to Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Google Inc. was officially born. With this vital investment, the newly formed team moved out from their dormitories to their first office, which happened to be a garage located in the suburbs of Menlo Park, California.
In the subsequent years, Google witnessed rapid growth, leading to its relocation to its present headquarters, famously known as the 'Googleplex' in Mountain View, California.
In a much earlier blog post, Google said, "A chance encounter between two computer scientists changed the course of the Internet and the lives of millions".
In Google's own words: "Every day, there are billions of searches on Google in more than 150 languages around the globe, and while much has changed from the early days of Google, from its first server housed in a cabinet built out of toy blocks to its servers now being housed in more than 20 data centers globally, its mission of making the world’s information accessible to everyone remains the same."
Today, our favourite search engine owns and operates data centers all over the world, maintaining the 24/7 availability of the internet. Remarkably, the Google Search index has expanded to include hundreds of billions of online pages, exceeding an astounding size of more than 100,000,000 gigabytes.
From its humble beginnings as the first search engine prototype, Google has undergone significant expansion, extending its reach far beyond search functionality.
Today, as we celebrate Google's milestone, here are some fascinating facts from its extraordinary history.
Some captivating tidbits that you should be aware of:
1. According to a Google report, the first meeting between Sergey Brin and Larry Page, was marked by disagreement on almost every subject.
2. The search engine initially relied on analyzing links to assess the importance of individual web pages within the World Wide Web. It was first named 'Backrub' due to its focus on evaluating 'back links' to gauge a website's importance. Subsequently, it underwent a name change to become Google
3. The name Google was a clever play on the mathematical expression representing the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.
4. According to ICANN, the organization in charge of registering domain names at the time, Google.com was registered on September 15, 1997. But, Google, did not launch its website until September 1998.
5. The first office of Google in 1998 was operated from a garage located at Menlo Park, California, which happened to be owned by their employee no. 16 Susan Wojcicki. She would later go on to become the CEO of YouTube, the official online video-sharing platform under Google.
6. Google introduced Yoshka as the first company dog, the first dog to ever visit Google’s campus when the office moved to the Mountain View location. Yoshka passed away in 2011, but his memory lives on. In December 2011, a ceremony was held at a previously unnamed cafe at Google’s Mountain View campus. The unnamed cafe in building 43 was henceforth known as Yoshka’s Cafe, in the dog's honor.
7. The tradition of maintaining a colorful atmosphere in its offices continues even now.
8. In 2006, the term 'Google' became a verb in the dictionary. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary included the word 'Google' with the meaning: "to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (someone or something) on the World Wide Web"
9. On February 25, 2009, Google sent out its first tweet, which was written in binary code and when translated to English conveyed the message, "I'm feeling lucky."
10. Google awards scholarships to students in an effort to encourage them to pursue careers in the field of technology
Happy 25th Birthday, Google!
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