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THE STORY BEHIND THE APP Google

JACKSON PETERS

MASON CREST MIAMI

Mason Crest PO Box 221876, Hollywood, FL 33022 (866) MCP-BOOK (toll-free) • www.masoncrest.com

Copyright © 2024 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. First printing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN (hardback) 978-1-4222-4777-8 ISBN (series) 978-1-4222-4773-0 ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4222-7042-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Peters, Jackson, author. Title: Google: the story behind the app / Jackson Peters. Description: Hollywood, FL: Mason Crest, [2024] | Series: Tech titans | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2023014379 | ISBN 9781422247778 (hardback) | ISBN 9781422270424 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Google (Firm)--Juvenile literature. | Internet industry--Juvenile literature. Classification: LCC HD9696.8.U64 G6658 2024 | DDC 338.4/7004678--dc23/eng/20230626

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023014379 Developed and Produced by National Highlights, Inc. Editor: Andrew Luke Interior and cover design: Tara Raymo • CreativelyTara Production: Crafted Content LLC Publisher’s Note: Websites listed in this book were active at the time of publication. The publisher is not responsible for websites that have changed their address or discontinued operation since the date of publication. The publisher reviews and updates the websites each time the book is reprinted.

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Story of a Startup . ......................................... 7 Chapter 2: Rise to the Top . ............................................ 21 Chapter 3: Market Domination ...................................... 33 Chapter 4: Beyond the Boardroom . ........................... 47 Chapter 5: On the Horizon ............................................. 61 Series Glossary of Key Terms . ....................................... 74 Further Reading . ................................................ 76 Internet Resources ......................................................... 77 Index . ............................................................................... 78 Author’s Biography & Credits . ................................... 80 KEY ICONS TO LOOK FOR:

Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic sports moments, and much more! Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

WORDS TO UNDERSTAND

discrimination: unfair treatment of a group innovator: someone who comes up with a new and creative way of doing things practical: useful; not silly

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chapter 1

STORY OF A STARTUP

MAGNIFICENT MATCH Through the years, some of the biggest names in politics, business, sports, and entertainment have walked the sprawling and scenic Stanford University campus in Northern California as college students. In the mid-1990s, two students from opposite ends of the globe met on that 8,180-acre campus while pursuing PhDs in computer science. This connection would ignite one of the most dynamic duos in tech history and later result in a creation known worldwide: Google. Russian-born Sergey Brin and Larry Page, born in Michigan’s state capital of Lansing, met at Stanford. What they would proceed to do in the ensuing years not only catapulted them to enormous fame and fortune, but it also landed them at the top of a dazzling and impressive list of students who have attended the prestigious university. Among those they joined are former US presidents Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy; Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female judge of the US Supreme Court; professional golfing great Tiger Woods; entrepreneur and investor Elon Musk; actresses Reese Witherspoon and Sigourney Weaver; and the list goes on. Stanford was the starting point of a journey for two magnificent

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Sergey Brin (left) and Larry Page (right) have changed the world with their work together. Today, Google is one of the most important companies on the planet.

men who would go on to forever change how the world searches for answers, information, and so much more. Google’s story is a fascinating one. It begins with two men with big dreams and brilliant minds who have a chance encounter on a college campus. Both Brin and Page became interested in technology from an early age, although their childhoods were very different.

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LARRY PAGE Page was born in 1973, eight years after his father became one of the first people to earn a PhD in computer science. His mother, Gloria, was also interested in computers. She and her husband taught computer science classes at Michigan State University. Their interests greatly influenced young Larry, who started playing with computers at the age of six and wanted to learn everything he could about them. One of the reasons Page was so ahead of his time was that the education he received was not typical. He went to the Radmoor Montessori School in Okemos, Michigan, which allowed students to

Larry Page learned about computers at the University of Michigan while his parents were computer science teachers at Michigan State University.

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Story of a Startup

learn at their own pace and included many different age groups in one classroom. Page was allowed to be creative and choose what he wanted to do, which helped him identify and develop his strengths rather than be stuck in classes that were not challenging and unfulfilling. Page learned early on that the best way to understand how something works is to take it apart and examine it. However, he wasn’t just interested in taking something apart and moving on to another activity. Putting it back together was also part of his learning experience. Taking apart various machines sparked two more interests in Page: invention and business. Page’s desire to be a computer scientist, just like his parents, never faded. He attended the University of Michigan after graduating from high school in 1991 and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering. By the time he graduated from college, Page was a well-known innovator among his peers. However, that was not nearly enough for him. He wanted to further his education, so Page did so by earning a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. He then entered a PhD program shortly after completing his master’s degree. One of the requirements to earning a Phd—a doctorate degree—is writing a long research essay known as a dissertation. Like all PhD students, Page needed to pick a specific topic and spend years learning about it before writing his research paper. The subject he chose was the World Wide Web and how web pages are searched for and found. The Internet offers a wealth of information to people who use it, but only if the person can find a useful web page. Search

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LINK UP Hyperlinks, or links, are pieces of text used to link one web page to another. They act as a set of directions, helping users find exactly what they are looking for when a link is clicked. Almost every web page uses links to make navigating the web easier. So, when Page tracked where links were used and where those links directed users, it was one of the first steps toward building a successful search engine. engines let users search for websites using keywords and phrases. Today, some of the most popular search engines are Google, Bing, and Yahoo, but these were not around when Page was working on his PhD As a result, people had no way to easily find what they were looking for on the web, leading to lots of frustration and unproductive time. Shortly after his research began, Page’s goal became clear. “I figured I could get a dissertation and do something fun and perhaps practical at the same time, which is really what motivated me,” he said. So, he began his research by tracing links back to their source. This all happened at about the same time he met Brin, laying the early groundwork for a partnership that would impact the world. SERGEY BRIN Brin was born in 1973, the same year as his future partner, Page. He spent the first few years of his life in Moscow, the capital city of Russia. Both of his parents are Jewish, which made their lives in

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Story of a Startup

Brin and Page met at Stanford University, where the two were working on new ideas in information technology.

Russia difficult because of the policies of the Russian communist party. Members of the communist party did not treat Jewish people fairly and often took steps to keep them out of important roles in society. Jewish people were prohibited from studying certain sciences under the communist party’s leadership, including physics. Many Jewish people were barred from universities altogether, and Brin’s family was no exception. Brin’s father, Michael, was forced to give up his dreams of one day becoming an astronomer. He went on to study

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mathematics instead and became highly skilled in his field, even though it was never what he truly wanted to do. Michael faced constant discrimination while living in Russia, but after attending a mathematics conference in Poland, he realized how different his family’s life could be. At the conference, he was allowed to talk with mathematicians from all over the world, and he realized that he was being treated unfairly. “We cannot stay here anymore,” he told his family after returning home from Poland. Michael insisted that his family leave

Brin’s life growing up in Russia was very different from Page’s American childhood.

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Story of a Startup

Russia in pursuit of a better life. At first, Michael’s wife, Genia, did not want to leave. What ultimately caused his wife to agree to leave the country was the thought of Brin’s future. She realized that he would have a better life in another country. Brin’s parents decided to move their family to the United States so he would be able to pursue any education he wanted to. Michael had already taught himself some basic computer programming before leaving Russia. He passed what he learned on to his son, who was a natural at it. Sergey tinkered with computers throughout his childhood and even began writing simple programs of his own. Brin’s father also taught his son about the importance of mathematics. Brin went on to study computer science and mathematics in college. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and went to Stanford University for his graduate studies. Page and Brin bumped into each other in March 1995 during a meeting for new PhD students. Brin was trying to find an interesting project to work on and became intrigued by what Page was doing. While Page was concerned with the links that connected web pages, Brin was more interested in the data that made up each web page. Their two areas of focus turned out to be perfect for the beginnings of a search engine. They wrote a paper together about their research explaining how a powerful search engine could work, and soon they started programming a search engine very much like the one they had written about. One of the first projects they worked on was known as BackRub, where they built a computer program for searching the Internet. The amount of information they were

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While many millions of people use the Internet today, when Brin and Page were creating Google, the Internet was still new for most people.

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Story of a Startup

collecting was so large that the Stanford computer network could barely handle it. One of the most significant changes they came up with was called PageRank, a ranking system they developed for how websites would be displayed following a search. Users who search using Google can see PageRank in action. The websites with the highest PageRank are displayed higher on a list of search results. The first version of Google was hosted on Stanford’s network in 1996, a full two years before Google became an official company. Google’s original web address was google.stanford.edu, which was part of Stanford University’s website. Google became so popular, though, that it was too much for an education website to handle. It needed to be moved to its own web address (also known as a web domain). Google.com was registered as a website in 1997. “When we were trying to name Google, we actually went through thousands of names,” Page explained in an interview. “We settled on googol because it sounds fun. It also means a very large number. It means one followed by a thousand zeros.” Google was used instead of googol to show that the search engine was different from the large number. STARTING THE COMPANY By the end of 1997, Google was finding its place on the World Wide Web. The duo left Stanford behind, effectively putting their education on hold, to pursue the great idea that would become one of the most well-known search engines on the Web. Google, Inc. officially began in 1998 and was already experiencing great success. The first version of the website was simple, and has

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