Today, September 27th, marks Google’s birthday. It celebrates its first 25 years on the web, although over the years this anniversary has occurred on other days in September. Founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page after their time at Stanford University, they brought the well-known internet search engine to life in a small garage near the university campus.
In early 1996, two young university students who were pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at Stanford University had a great idea: to organize all the information on the web. The project was called BackRub, a name they soon changed to Google. The word was inspired by the term “googol,” coined by Edward Kasner in 1920 to describe a mathematical unit equivalent to 10 raised to the power of 100. Those two young men were Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the eventual creators of Google LLC. Undoubtedly, one of the most important big tech companies of the moment, whose search engine has been the most used in the world for over two decades.
It’s estimated that every second, there are 81,000 searches on Google, nearly 5 million per minute, totaling 292 million searches per day. Google’s current headquarters, known as Googleplex, is in Mountain View, California. The American company operates more than 20 data centers worldwide to serve its users in 150 different languages.
The name Google comes from the mathematical term representing the number 10 raised to the power of 100. However, the company’s original name was supposed to be BackRub, but it was changed to Googol, which is actually the term coined by mathematician Edward Kasner. A spelling error in the trademark registration led to the final name of Google.
In 2006, the term Google became a verb in the dictionary. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary included the word Google with the meaning “to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (someone or something) on the World Wide Web.” On February 25, 2009, Google sent its first tweet on the network now owned by Elon Musk, written in binary code. When translated into English, it conveyed the message: “I’m feeling lucky.” The original message was “”I’m 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 01111001 00001010”.
To avoid user typos, Google also considered possible mistypes on their computers. Therefore, if you type www.gogle.com or www.google.com, it will always redirect to the search engine’s pages. Google introduced Yoshka as the company’s first official dog. Yoshka passed away in 2011, but his memory lives on, naming the main cafeteria in Google’s office Building 43 as Yoshka’s Café.
Few are unfamiliar with Google Doodles today. They are specific drawings or animations on the search engine customized for a particular event or anniversary. If you type “Happy Birthday” into the Google search engine today, the screen will fill with virtual confetti while displaying references to the early searches. Typing the term “askew” in the search engine will cause the screen to tilt slightly, playing with the visual presentation.
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There are many stories about Google’s care for its employees. From offices that resemble more a playground than a workplace, three free meals a day, free gym for employees, to special medical care. Additionally, there’s an insurance policy where if an employee passes away, their partner receives 50% of their salary for a decade.
As usual on this day, the search engine has changed the user interface logo to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its founding. However, it has been less original than other times. Google has changed its logo more times than we remember. In today’s doodle, we can see how the two “O”s in its name have been replaced by the number “25“. The image is also surrounded by confetti in its identifying colors (blue, red, yellow, and green).
It’s hard to remember what the company’s logo looked like in its early days, even if we were among the first to use the search engine. But looking back through the archives and seeing how it has evolved over time, we quickly realize that it has gone through all the internet trends. From embossed effects to 3D effects, passing through shadows, and finally, minimalism. It has also changed typography several times, and there was a time when it even included an exclamation mark at the end.
Meanwhile, Google India’s profile on X (Twitter) has posted a GIF showing all the doodles published by the company every September 27th. However, since it turned four years old, this initiative has survived to this day. Thanks to it, we can see how the search engine has always played with transforming the letters of its name into numbers and, above all, has let its imagination soar.
In this case, Google seems to have been more restrained and less original in designing its doodle, which may be due to its facing a lawsuit that could end up costing it the throne of the Internet. In any case, what really matters today is that the company that forever changed the way we use the internet has turned 25 years old.
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