Google. One of the most revolutionary inventions of the 20th century, which -among other things- managed to change the way the internet is used; something particularly remarkable for a company that barely exceeds two decades of life.
The most popular search engine was born on September 27, 1998, thanks to an idea of two Stanford students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Page and Brin met in 1995 at an event at the university. At the time, both of them had a common goal that was directly related to the ever-increasing Internet penetration: how to organize all the information that can be found online and how to make it easier to browse the internet world. In January 1996, they began to work together, building a first search engine called BackRub. Larry Page, who was already an expert in the software, tried to create an electronic environment that everyone could access, even with computers with limited capabilities. In less than a year, its creation became extremely popular among Stanford students. On top of this environment, the Google Empire was built.
Essentially, Google Inc. (as it was renamed after BackRub, to which several features and improvements were adapted) first operated in a garage in Menlo Park, California. Its name came from a word game of the word Googol: This is a mathematical term introduced by American mathematician Milton Sirotta for number 10100 (1 followed by 100 zeros). With this name, Page and Brin wanted to state the mission of the company, which was to organize the huge amount of information on the internet.
In 1999, the company moved to Palo Alto, in the heart of Silicon Valley, and since 2003 is in Mountain View and the famous Googleplex (near San Jose, CA). Today, Google has 80 offices in 41 countries around the world and has released some of the successful apps and platforms of all time (like Google Maps and YouTube in 2005). Of course, the company was not limited to the internet game, with its range of activities extending to robotics, home automation services, scientific research and self-driving.
Apart from its history, there are a few things you need to know about it.
1. The first edition
In her maiden version, the search engine could analyze 50 sites / second. Now this number has risen, at the same time, to 1,000,000.
2. The incorrect move by Yahoo!
In 1997, Yahoo! it could have redeemed Google for $1,000,000. Today, the value of Page and Brin compay is $200,000,000,000.
3. The original doodle
Google’s first doodle was devoted to the Burning Man popular festival. On August 30, 1998, Larry and Sergey considered it a good idea to communicate with the world.
4. A choice without luck
The famous “I’m Feeling Lucky” actually brings the company a loss of a few million dollars a year. It is kept, however, because many users like it very much.
5. The success of the spell checker
When Google launched the spell checker, with the phrase “Maybe you meant …”, search engine traffic doubled immediately.
6. Google Goats
HQs in California host goats, which the company rents to eat the lawn. Reducing environmental impact is a priority for Google.
7. The Development
Only over the last four years, more than 50,000,000 new pages have been added to Google.
8. Google and Star Trek
Among the 80 languages that “Google Translate” can translate, is Klingon, the artificial language spoken by characters from the Star Trek universe.
9. The birth of Gmail and Google News
20% of Google’s staff work exclusively on new and innovative projects. From these people’s brainstorming, “Gmail” and “Google News” came.
10. Company’s policy on death
If a Google employee dies, his wife or spouse receives 1/2 of his salary for the next 10 years.
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