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Culture July 20, 2017
Hint: Google is a Libra.
Google is turning 19 years old this year. That’s right. It’s Google’s last year of being a teenager.
But wait, when is Google’s birthday?
Well, according to Google, the search engine is the brainchild of Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The two met when Page was Brin’s tour guide at Stanford University. In fact, Google started out as Page’s research project.
He originally wanted to create a search engine that ranked sites based on how many other sites linked back to the webpage instead of the number of times a specific keyword showed up on the page. The idea behind this is that it follows the academic method of determining a research paper’s credibility. If other research papers cite the original paper, then it’s deemed as more reliable.
From there on, Page and Brin worked together to create the famous search engine.
However, Google’s birthday isn’t the day Page and Brin first met. And no, it’s not when they first decided to carry out their project on the Stanford website, either.
But what is the significance of this day?
The search engine was founded on Sept. 4, 1998, and Google.com was registered Sept. 15, 1998.
At this point, the 27th seems a little arbitrary, right? Yet, Google puts up a doodle on its homepage on the 27th every year. According to The Guardian, this tradition started in 2002. So, it just seems like Google is celebrating the first time they posted a Google birthday doodle on their homepage.
The few exceptions to this tradition are when Google uploaded a birthday doodle on September 26 in 2005, on September 7 in 2004 and on September 8 in 2003.
Although the day they celebrate has changed around quite often, Google’s birthdate remains September 27.
If you’re still confused, here’s more interesting background about the Google logo and its official birthday.
Photo via Google
Google’s first doodle was posted on August 30, 1998, days before Google was even incorporated.
The Google doodle was incorporated when the founders went to Burning Man. They wanted an “out of the office” indication on their homepage, so they drew a little stick figure behind the second “o” in Google.
Then, in 2000, the founders asked Dennis Hwang, webmaster and intern, to create a doodle for Bastille Day. The doodle became so popular that the tradition had to be carried on. From then on, the idea of creating Google doodles was born.
According to The Mirror, the company has stated, “The exact date we celebrate our birthday has moved around over the years, depending on when people feel like having cake.”
And honestly, we’re not mad about their choice to do this, especially when their first birthday doodle wasn’t the mark of their first birthday. Google was incorporated in 1998, but Google’s first birthday doodle was posted in 2002. So technically, the first time Google celebrated its birthday was when it turned four.
Google’s birthdate might forever remain a mystery, but seeing a birthday doodle on our Google home pages every year on the 27th will remain a tradition.
One thing is for sure though: Google was cheated out of four birthday celebrations and birthday cakes.
