#HappyBirthdayGoogle: 8 fun facts you may not know about Google
What's the story
In 1998, Google debuted as a digital dog capable of finding/retrieving stuff for internet users. It had a database of 24 million pages but has since evolved into a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate handling not just search but almost every aspect of consumer technology space. The company has turned 21 today, and on the occasion, let's look at some interesting stuff you didn't know about it.
Fact #1
Google was originally 'BackRub'; its co-founders met by chance
We all know Sergey Brin and Larry (Lawrence) Page launched Google as a research project while pursuing their Ph.D. at Stanford University. But, the fun fact is, these two met by fate; Brin was asked to show newcomer Page the campus. After this, the duo got along and collaborated on launching an early version of Google - a web crawler they called BackRub.
Fact #2
The term Google comes from 'Googol'
When Page and Brin decided to get over BackRub and register a domain for their search engine, they went with Google, which interestingly is a wordplay for 'Googol'. Now, if you don't know, Googol is a mathematical term that represents 1 followed by 100 zeros. It was a nod to the infinite amount of data that Google was coded to dig up and deliver.
Fact #3
The company loves goats and dogs
Google is a big fan of goats and dogs, it seems. As part of its green initiative, the company rents goats from a company called California Grazing to mow its lawns. And, apparently, the employees find the goats calming. The staff is also allowed to bring their own puppers to the workplace or play with the company dog Yoshka.
Fact #4
Its first office was a rented garage
Google is now in the heart of Silicon Valley, but back in the day, the company had modest beginnings. In fact, in September 1998, its first office was nothing but a garage rented from Susan Wojcicki, the company's employee number 16 and now the CEO of YouTube. It's located on a quiet street in Menlo Park, California, and was purchased by Google in 2006.
Fact #5
Google launched Gmail on April Fool's Day
Gmail and YouTube are two of Google's most popular products. But, the interesting part is, the former was launched on April Fool's Day 2004 (no joke), while the latter was acquired two years later at a diner over mozzarella sticks. Google shelled out $1.65 billion for YouTube and eventually turned the platform into the most watch video streaming service on the internet.
Fact #6
You can access Google upside down and from common misspellings
When you read the word 'Google' backward, it comes out as 'elgooG,' which is a 'mirror' site that lets you type backward on the Google Search page and use the search engine upside down. Not to mention, you can access Google search (the normal one) from a number of misspellings of the word Google like www.gooogle.com, www.gogle.com, and www.googlr.com
Fact #7
First-ever Google Doodle - The burning man
Over the last 21 years, Google has released thousands of 'doodles' or artistic creations celebrating festivals and famous personalities. However, the first one appeared back in 1998 as the 'Burning Man' stick figure. It was used as a symbol by the founders to let people know that they were visiting the Burning Man festival in Nevada and won't be available to fix technical issues.
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Third man behind Google
Finally, you should know that along with Page and Brin, there was a third man too behind Google - Scott Hassan. He was the programmer who wrote most of the code for the search engine but decided to leave before it became a company.