Sergey Brin

Sergey Mikhailovich Brin (Russian: Сергей Михайлович Брин) (born August 21, 1973) is an American entrepreneur. Born in Russia, Brin studied computer science and mathematics before co-founding Google with Larry Page. Brin is currently the President of Technology at Google and has a net worth estimated at States Dollar|$" target="_blank" >^*12.9 billion, making him the 26th richest person in the world.

Early life

Sergey was born in Moscow, Russia to a Jewish family. At the age of 6, Sergey and his family emigrated to the U.S. to escape anti-Semitism in what was then the U.S.S.R,. His father is Michael Brin, a mathematician who currently works at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he continues to teach today. His mother is Eugenia Brin, a mathematician and civil engineer by training who currently works as a specialist at NASA. Sergey also has a younger brother Samuel Brin.

Sergey attributes his success to many factors. Growing up during the microcomputer revolution, he had an interest in computers from early in his childhood. He received his first computer, a Commodore 64, as a present from his father on his ninth birthday. Sergey's talent for mathematics and computing was apparent during his first years of schooling. In the first grade, Sergey surprised a teacher by submitting a project in the form of a printout, at a time before computers were commonplace in the home.

Education

Sergey attended grade school in the U.S. at Paint Branch Montessori School in Adelphi, Maryland, but he received further education at home; his father nurtured his interest in mathematics and his family helped him retain his Russian language skills. In September 1990, after having attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Sergey enrolled in the University of Maryland, College Park to study Computer Science and Mathematics, where he received his Bachelors of Science in May 1993 with high honors. After graduating from Maryland, Sergey received a graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation, which allowed him to study for his masters degree in Computer Science at Stanford University. Sergey received his masters degree in August 1995 ahead of schedule in the process of his Ph.D. studies. Though still enrolled in the Stanford doctoral program, Sergey has suspended his Ph.D. studies indefinitely while he is working at Google.

Sergey also received an honorary MBA from the Instituto de Empresa.

Interest in search engines

Sergey expressed interest in the Internet very early on in his studies at Stanford. He authored and co-authored various papers on data-mining and pattern extraction. He also wrote software to ease the process of putting scientific papers often written in TeX, a text processing language, into HTML form, as well as a website for film ratings.

The defining moment for Sergey, however, was when he met future co-president of Google, Larry Page. Sergey was assigned to show Larry around the university on a weekend tour. Reportedly, they did not get on well to begin with, arguing about every topic they discussed, and even throwing a few pies at each other. However, they soon found a common interest: retrieving relevant information from large data sets. Together, the pair authored what is widely considered their seminal contribution, a paper entitled "The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine." The paper has since gone on to become the tenth most accessed scientific paper at Stanford University.

Miscellaneous

Sergey is often invited to speak at conferences and forums for academia, business, and technology. He has appeared on television shows and documentaries, including the Charlie Rose Show, CNBC and CNN. In 2004, he and Larry Page were named "Persons of the Week" by ABC World News Tonight. In January 2005 Sergey Brin was nominated to be one of the World Economic Forum's "Young Global Leaders."

Sergey and Larry Page recently purchased a Boeing 767 airliner for their business and personal needs, which was to be, according to the words of Eric Schmidt, a "party airplane". The plane's interior was supposed to be redesigned by aviation designer Leslie Jennings, but a legal battle between the designer and the holding company that owns the plane stalled the renovation. The plane would hold about 50 passengers when refurbished, and would include a California King Size Bed, although it is not known if it is necessary given his height.

External links

Interviews

Linux Journal interview - 31 August 2000
Net Café Television Interview - 6 October 2000. Interview starts around 18 minutes and 15 seconds in.
Search Engine Watch interview - 16 October 2003
Lecture at UCB - ^*.
UK Channel 4 television interview with Sergey Brin - 31st March 2004
Time Magazine Podcast about Google and its founders

Articles

Forbes.com: Fortunes That Roared In 2004

References

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