Google’s first doodle, which is a special logo that appears on the homepage to mark an important event or anniversary, was created in 1998 to celebrate the Burning Man Festival.
Google, the world’s most popular search engine, celebrates its 25th birthday on September 27, 2023. The company has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a research project by two Stanford University students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Here are some of the most fascinating facts about Google and its history.
How Google started
Google was originally called Backrub, because it used backlinks to rank web pages based on their importance. Page and Brin met in 1995 at Stanford, where they were both pursuing their PhDs in computer science. They decided to collaborate on a search engine that would organize the vast amount of information on the Internet. They registered the domain name Google.com on September 15, 1997, which was a misspelling of the word googol, a mathematical term for the number one followed by 100 zeros1. They chose this name to reflect their vision of providing access to all the world’s information.
Google’s first office and employee
Google’s first office was actually a garage in Menlo Park, California, which they rented from Susan Wojcicki, who later became the CEO of YouTube. Their first employee was Craig Silverstein, who was also a Stanford graduate student and stayed with the company for over 10 years before joining Khan Academy. Google’s first server was made of 10 4GB hard drives encased in Lego bricks, which could store about 40 million web pages.
Google’s first doodle and logo
Google’s first doodle, which is a special logo that appears on the homepage to mark an important event or anniversary, was created in 1998 to celebrate the Burning Man Festival. Page and Brin wanted to let people know that they were out of the office and attending the festival in Nevada. The doodle featured a stick figure behind the second “o” in Google. Google’s first official logo was designed by Ruth Kedar, a graphic designer and Stanford professor, who used the Adobe Garamond typeface and added an exclamation mark at the end to mimic Yahoo!.
Google’s acquisitions and products
Google has acquired more than 200 companies since 2001, including YouTube, Android, Waze, Nest, and Fitbit. Some of these acquisitions have led to the development of some of Google’s most popular products and services, such as Gmail, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Chrome, Google Assistant, and Google Cloud. Google also owns several subsidiaries that operate independently, such as Waymo (self-driving cars), Verily (life sciences), Calico (biotechnology), and DeepMind (artificial intelligence).
Google’s revenue and market share
Google generates most of its revenue from advertising, which accounted for $116.3 billion in 2018. Google Ads is the main platform that allows advertisers to display their ads on Google’s search results pages, websites, apps, and videos. Google also earns money from its other products and services, such as Google Play, YouTube Premium, Google Cloud, and Google Hardware. According to StatCounter, Google has a global market share of 92% among search engines as of August 2021, making it the undisputed leader in the industry.
Google’s headquarters and culture
Google’s headquarters is known as the Googleplex and is located in Mountain View, California. The campus covers an area of about 2 million square feet and features various amenities for its employees, such as free meals, fitness centers, massage rooms, nap pods, bike rentals, and electric car charging stations. There is also a giant statue of a T-Rex dinosaur outside one of the buildings, which is often decorated with pink flamingos. Some say that this is a reminder to Google employees not to let the company become extinct. Another quirky feature of the Googleplex is that it hires goats to graze on the grass instead of using lawnmowers.
Google’s innovations and achievements
Google has been at the forefront of innovation and research in various fields of technology, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology, and renewable energy. Some of its notable achievements include:
- Launching Google Image Search in 2001 with 250 million searchable images. The idea was inspired by the green Versace dress that Jennifer Lopez wore to the Grammy Awards in 2000, which became one of the most popular search queries on Google at that time.
- Developing Google Translate in 2006 with support for two languages: English and Arabic. Today, it supports over 100 languages and can translate text, speech, images, and web pages.
- Introducing Gmail in 2004 with an initial storage capacity of 1 GB, which was 500 times more than the average email service at that time. Gmail was first announced on April Fool’s Day, which made many people think that it was a joke.
- Creating Google Earth in 2005, which allows users to explore the planet in 3D using satellite imagery, aerial photography, and geographic data. Google Earth has been used for various purposes, such as education, tourism, environmental activism, and disaster relief.
- Building Google Books in 2004, which aims to digitize and make available online the world’s books. Google Books has scanned over 40 million books from libraries and publishers around the world, covering more than 400 languages and spanning over 2000 years of history.
- Releasing Google Street View in 2007, which provides panoramic views of streets and landmarks in over 80 countries. Google Street View uses specially equipped vehicles, bikes, backpacks, and cameras to capture the images.
- Developing Google Glass in 2013, which is a wearable device that displays information on a small screen in front of the user’s eye. Google Glass can perform various functions, such as taking photos, recording videos, making calls, sending messages, and accessing the Internet.
- Launching Google Loon in 2013, which is a network of high-altitude balloons that provide Internet access to remote and rural areas. Google Loon has delivered Internet service to over 35 countries, including Kenya, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Sri Lanka.
- Achieving quantum supremacy in 2019, which means that a quantum computer can perform a task that is impossible for a classical computer. Google claimed that its quantum processor, called Sycamore, could perform a calculation in 200 seconds that would take the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years.
- Winning the AlphaGo challenge in 2016, which was a historic match between a human professional Go player and an artificial intelligence program. Go is a complex board game that requires intuition and creativity. Google’s AlphaGo program defeated Lee Sedol, one of the world’s best Go players, by 4 games to 1.
Google’s impact and future
Google has had a profound impact on the world and society in many ways. It has changed how people access information, communicate, learn, work, play, and more. It has also contributed to various causes and initiatives, such as supporting education, empowering women, promoting diversity, fighting climate change, and advancing health care. Google’s mission statement is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”, and its unofficial motto is “Don’t be evil”. As Google celebrates its 25th birthday, it continues to pursue its vision of making the world a better place through technology.
15 Interesting Facts about Google
- Google was originally called Backrub, because it used backlinks to rank web pages based on their importance.
- Google’s first server was made of 10 4GB hard drives encased in Lego bricks, which could store about 40 million web pages.
- Google’s first doodle, which is a special logo that appears on the homepage to mark an important event or anniversary, was created in 1998 to celebrate the Burning Man Festival.
- Google hires goats to graze on the grass at its headquarters instead of using lawnmowers.
- Google has a giant statue of a T-Rex dinosaur outside one of its buildings, which is often decorated with pink flamingos. Some say that this is a reminder to Google employees not to let the company become extinct.
- Google’s first official logo was designed by Ruth Kedar, a graphic designer and Stanford professor, who used the Adobe Garamond typeface and added an exclamation mark at the end to mimic Yahoo!.
- Google generates most of its revenue from advertising, which accounted for $116.3 billion in 2018.
- Google has acquired more than 200 companies since 2001, including YouTube, Android, Waze, Nest, and Fitbit.
- Google Translate supports over 100 languages and can translate text, speech, images, and web pages.
- Google Earth has scanned over 40 million books from libraries and publishers around the world, covering more than 400 languages and spanning over 2000 years of history.
- Google Street View uses specially equipped vehicles, bikes, backpacks, and cameras to capture panoramic views of streets and landmarks in over 80 countries.
- Google Glass is a wearable device that displays information on a small screen in front of the user’s eye. Google Glass can perform various functions, such as taking photos, recording videos, making calls, sending messages, and accessing the Internet.
- Google Loon is a network of high-altitude balloons that provide Internet access to remote and rural areas. Google Loon has delivered Internet service to over 35 countries, including Kenya, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Sri Lanka.
- Google achieved quantum supremacy in 2019, which means that a quantum computer can perform a task that is impossible for a classical computer. Google claimed that its quantum processor, called Sycamore, could perform a calculation in 200 seconds that would take the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years.
- Google won the AlphaGo challenge in 2016, which was a historic match between a human professional Go player and an artificial intelligence program. Go is a complex board game that requires intuition and creativity. Google’s AlphaGo program defeated Lee Sedol, one of the world’s best Go players, by 4 games to 1.
Copright@ India CSR
Also Read: Quarter-Century of Innovation: Google’s 25th Anniversary Voyage
