Sergey Brin

2.1. Birth and Family

Sergey Mikhailovich Brin was born on August 21, 1973, in Moscow, Soviet Union. His parents, Mikhail and Eugenia Brin, were both mathematicians who graduated from Moscow State University. His father later became a mathematics professor at the University of Maryland, and his mother worked as a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The Brin family, including Sergey's paternal grandmother, lived in a three-room apartment in central Moscow.

2.2. Immigration and Upbringing

In 1977, after attending a mathematics conference in Warsaw, Poland, Sergey's father, Mikhail Brin, decided that the family should emigrate. They formally applied for an exit visa in September 1978, which resulted in his father being immediately fired from his job, and his mother also having to leave her position. For eight months, the family faced financial hardship, relying on temporary jobs while fearing their request would be denied, as was common for many refuseniks. In May 1979, their official exit visas were granted, allowing them to leave the country. The Brin family briefly resided in Vienna and Paris before Mikhail secured a teaching position at the University of Maryland with assistance from Anatole Katok. They received support from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) during this period, arriving in the United States on October 25, 1979. Despite their new life in the U.S., his family helped him maintain his Russian language skills.

2.3. Early Education

Brin attended elementary school at Paint Branch Montessori School in Adelphi, Maryland. He also received further education at home, where his father, a mathematics professor, actively encouraged his interest in mathematics. He later attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Maryland.

3.1. University of Maryland

In September 1990, Brin enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park. He pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Mathematics, graduating with honors in 1993 at the age of 19. During 1993, he also completed an internship at Wolfram Research, the developers of Mathematica.

3.2. Stanford University

Following his undergraduate studies, Brin began his graduate work in computer science at Stanford University in September 1993, supported by a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship. He earned his Master of Science degree in computer science in 1995. As of 2008, he was on leave from his PhD studies at Stanford, having interrupted them to focus on Google. In 2003, Brin, along with Larry Page, was awarded an honorary MBA from IE Business School in Spain, recognizing their entrepreneurial spirit and contributions to new business creation.

4.1. Meeting Larry Page

Brin first met Larry Page during an orientation for new students at Stanford University in 1995. Initially, the two had differing viewpoints and seemed to disagree on most subjects. However, after spending more time together, they discovered a shared intellectual interest in finding and extracting relevant information from large datasets, eventually becoming "intellectual soul-mates and close friends."

4.2. Search Engine Development

Brin's academic focus was on developing data mining systems, while Page was interested in extending the concept of inferring the importance of a research paper from its citations in other papers. Their combined interests led them to co-author a seminal paper titled "The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine." To measure the importance of web pages, Brin and Page developed the PageRank algorithm, which analyzed the relevance of backlinks connecting one web page to another. This algorithm, named after Page, determined a page's rank based on the number and quality of its incoming links, leading them to realize they could build a search engine far superior to existing ones.

They began their work in Page's dormitory room, which they converted into a machine laboratory, using spare parts from inexpensive computers to connect their nascent search engine to Stanford's broadband campus network. As their project grew, they transformed Brin's dorm room into an office and programming center for testing new search engine designs. The rapid expansion of their project eventually caused issues for Stanford's computing infrastructure.

Page and Brin, utilizing Page's basic HTML programming skills, created a simple search page for users, as they lacked a dedicated web page developer for elaborate visual designs. They scavenged computer parts to assemble the necessary computing power to handle queries from multiple users. As their search engine gained popularity among Stanford users, it demanded additional servers to process the increasing number of queries. In August 1996, the initial version of Google, then known as BackRub, was made available on the Stanford Web site. By August 29, 1996, BackRub had indexed 75.23 million HTML URLs and downloaded 207.022 GB of content. It was written in Java and Python and ran on Sun Ultra series and Intel Pentium machines running Linux.

BackRub already possessed the fundamental characteristics of a search engine: it accepted a query and provided a list of backlinks ranked by importance. Page noted that by mid-1998, they realized the full potential of their project when they reached 10,000 searches a day, leading them to believe "maybe this is really real."

4.3. Founding Google

With the success of their search engine, Brin and Page decided to leave academia. They discontinued their PhD studies at Stanford to officially establish Google in 1998, initially operating from a garage owned by Susan Wojcicki in Menlo Park.

5.1. President of Technology

Sergey Brin served as the President of Technology at Google, a role in which he guided the company's technological vision and oversaw its development initiatives. His leadership was crucial in shaping Google's innovative approach to information technology.

5.2. Activities at Alphabet

On December 3, 2019, Brin stepped down from his role as President of Alphabet Inc., concurrently with Larry Page's departure as CEO. Despite stepping down from their executive positions, Brin and Page remain actively involved in Alphabet as co-founders, controlling shareholders, and members of the board of directors.

6.1. Space Exploration and Aviation

In June 2008, Brin invested 4.50 M USD in Space Adventures, a Virginia-based space tourism company, expressing his interest in space exploration. Brin and Larry Page jointly own a customized Boeing 767-200 and a Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet. They pay 1.30 M USD annually to house these aircraft, along with two Gulfstream V jets owned by Google executives, at Moffett Federal Airfield. The Boeing 767 is equipped with scientific instruments installed by NASA, allowing for the collection of experimental data during flights.

6.2. New Technology Investments

Brin is a notable backer of LTA Research & Exploration LLC, a company specializing in airship manufacturing. In October 2023, LTA's flagship airship, Pathfinder 1, measuring 407 ft ^{(124 m)} in length, received clearance for flight testing. This marked it as the largest airship since the Hindenburg to be cleared for such tests, permitted to fly up to 1509 ft ^{(460 m)} over the airspaces of Moffett Field and the neighboring Palo Alto Airport. Brin has also invested in Tesla Motors, a company known for developing electric vehicles, including the Tesla Roadster.

7.1. Marriage and Children

Brin was raised Jewish but identifies as non-religious. In May 2007, he married biotechnology analyst and entrepreneur Anne Wojcicki in the Bahamas. They had a son in late 2008 and a daughter in late 2011. On November 7, 2018, Brin married Nicole Shanahan, a legal tech founder, and they had a daughter in late 2018.

7.2. Divorce

In August 2013, it was publicly announced that Brin and Wojcicki were living separately, following reports of Brin having an extramarital affair with a Google Glass colleague. Their divorce was finalized in June 2015. Brin and Shanahan separated on December 15, 2021, and Brin filed for divorce on January 4, 2022. Their divorce was finalized in the summer of 2023. The Wall Street Journal reported that a "brief affair" in 2021 between Shanahan and Elon Musk was a factor in their separation.

8.1. Support for Parkinson's Disease Research

Brin's mother, Eugenia, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. This personal connection inspired him to become a major benefactor for research into the disease. In 2008, he made a substantial donation to the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where his mother had received treatment. According to Forbes, Brin has quietly donated over 1.00 B USD to fund Parkinson's disease research. He has also contributed extensively to The Michael J. Fox Foundation, a prominent organization dedicated to Parkinson's research.

8.2. Information Access and Tech Ethics

Brin is often referred to as an "Enlightenment Man" by publications like The Economist, reflecting his belief that "knowledge is always good, and certainly better than ignorance." This philosophy is encapsulated in Google's mission statement: "Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," and its former unofficial motto, "Don't be evil."

His philanthropic activities extend to supporting organizations that align with his values. In 2009, he and Anne Wojcicki jointly donated 1.00 M USD to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the organization that assisted his family's immigration to the United States. Brin has also been a donor to Democratic Party candidates and organizations, contributing 5.00 K USD to Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and 30.80 K USD to the DNC. Notably, he attended the second inauguration of Donald Trump, sitting alongside Trump supporters and other technology moguls. Until 2014, Brin and Wojcicki jointly managed The Brin Wojcicki Foundation; subsequently, Brin has conducted his philanthropic giving through the Sergey Brin Family Foundation and a donor-advised fund.

9.1. Net Worth and Wealth Rankings

As of December 2024, Sergey Brin's estimated net worth is 164.00 B USD, making him the 7th richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes. His wealth saw a significant increase, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, with Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., reporting improved performance due to increased access to YouTube and Google Search. In the first four months of 2021 alone, his wealth grew by 20.40 B USD. Earlier estimates placed his net worth at approximately 18.70 B USD in March 2008 (ranking 32nd globally), and 50.60 B USD in October 2018 (ranking 13th).

9.2. Evaluation as an Influential Figure

Brin is widely recognized as a significant and influential figure in the technology and business sectors. In 2004, he and Larry Page were named "Man of the Week" by ABC World News Tonight. In January 2005, he was nominated as one of the "Young Global Leaders" at the World Economic Forum. In 2007, PC World magazine ranked Brin, along with Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, as the number one most important person among the 50 most important individuals in the web world.