In the mid-1990’s, two doctorate students at Stanford University met and shared an uncommon love—the love for search engine development. Eventually, these two ‘nice boys,’ Sergey Brin and Larry Page, created Google in a friend’s garage. Find out some interesting facts about Sergey Brin, an almost timid young man with a kind heart and great vision.
Sergey Brin is a Jewish native of Moscow, Russia. His family immigrated to America in 1979, shortly before the Gorbachev era closed the borders for Jews migrating out of Russia.
Sergey Brin is the exemplification of the phrase ‘nothing gained easy is worth having.’ Sergey was only 7 when his family immigrated, and adjusting to life in America was not easy. Sergey struggled with language and cultural barriers.
Mark Malseed, coauthor (with David Vise) of The Google Story, quotes Sergey’s mother, Genia, as saying: “It was a difficult year for him, the first year…We were constantly discussing the fact we had been told that children are like sponges, that they immediately grasp the language and have no problem, and that wasn’t the case.”
As a youngster, Sergey found his niche in puzzles, maps and mathematics. Math is, after all, the same in every language.
Sergey’s education flourished under his parent’s supervision and the Montessori method—a method that fosters creativity rather than grade point averages.
Mark Malseed, coauthor (with David Vise) of The Google Story, explains that shortly before his 17th birthday, Sergey’s father chaperoned a trip of gifted math students to the Soviet Union. It was on this trip that the young Sergey thanked his father for taking them out of the then communist Russia.
On the same trip, the teenage Sergey showed his defiance for the Soviet Union’s communist control by throwing pebbles at a police car. Thankfully, his parents were able to speak to the upset police officers and save Sergey from any fines or other punishment.
Sergey Brin’s education credits include a Bachelor of Science degree with honours in mathematics and computer science from the University of Maryland at College Park.
Sergey Brin and Larry Page met during the doctoral program at Stanford in the late 1990’s, eventually developing a search engine the world has come to know and love as Google.
Google lore has it that Sergey and his partner Larry Page were not instant best friends. It was hard work and a love for retrieving relevant information for large data sets that developed the friendship-and company-that would last a lifetime.
Sergey Brin and Larry Page co-authored the 10th most downloaded scientific paper at Stanford, “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine.” Sergey also has dozens of other academic and scientific research publications under his belt.
It is no secret that Google began as a search engine created by two quiet computer geeks. Interestingly enough, it began in Susan Wojcicki’s basement. She now serves as an executive at Google, which shows that even with their fame and fortune, the Google co-founders have not forgotten their roots.
Sergey Brin is in a serious relationship with a nice girl, Anne Wojcicki. Don’t worry, Anne is not after Sergey’s money-in fact, her sister Susan Wojcicki serves as a Google executive and the families have known each other for many years.
Sergey Brin may not have a Ph.D., but he is recognized by the Instituto de Empresa with an honorary MBA, and is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship. Sergey Brin was nominated to be one of the 2005 World Economic Forum's "Young Global Leaders."
Sergey Brin is currently reported as ‘on leave’ from the Ph.D. program at Stanford. It would be easy to assume that as a young billionaire, Sergey Brin will not return to graduate with his doctorate.
Mark Malseed, author of The Google Story, reports that Sergey’s Russian-Jewish parents are not ready to let the young man off the hook from following in his family footsteps and gaining his Ph.D.
Lazy is not the word many would associate with Sergey. Intelligent, kind, sweet, and especially modest are the phrases often used to describe the young man who co-founded Google. Even so, ABC New’s Peter Jennings quotes Sergey as stating “I am sometimes something of a lazy person, so when I end up spending a lot of time using something myself — as I did with Google in the earliest of days, I knew it was a big deal.”
Since co-founding Google with Larry Page, Sergey has become one the 14th richest person in the United States, with an estimated value exceeding $14 billion dollars in 2006, according to Forbes.
Hey, if Al Gore can run for president, Sergey Brin can make a movie. Sergey Brin is the executive producer of Broken Arrows, a film written and directed by Reid Gershbein. The film is due for release in 2007. A drama about love and destiny, Broken Arrows stars Lori Petty, Peter Quartaroli, and Mackenzie Firgens.
The Google mantra-‘Don’t Be Evil’ has some clarification through Sergey. Eric Schmidt has famously said, “Evil is whatever Sergey says is evil.” And as long as Sergey stays away from the dark side of the force, Internet searchers can rest easy.
According to ABC New’s Peter Jennings, Sergey Brin holds to more than success. He stresses the importance of innovation, ethics, and especially making a difference in the world. This can be seen in the decision of Sergey and co-founder Larry Page’s 20-year, $1 billion, commitment to world-wide philanthropy.
Sergey Brin is so well loved by the Internet community that some unknown person purchased all possible domain names under "Sergey Brin".
Sergey believes in simplicity of business and lifestyle. In an interview with CNNMoney.com, Sergey Brin explains why Google is so successful: “ Simplicity is an important trend we are focused on. Technology has this way of becoming overly complex, but simplicity was one of the reasons that people gravitated to Google initially. This complexity is an issue that has to be solved for online technologies, for devices, for computers, and it's very difficult. Success will come from simplicity.”
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