Editing Larry Page (section)

== PhD studies and research ==
After enrolling in a [[computer science]] PhD program at [[Stanford University]], Page was in search of a [[dissertation]] theme and considered exploring the mathematical properties of the [[World Wide Web]], understanding its link structure as a huge [[Graph (discrete mathematics)|graph]]. His supervisor, [[Terry Winograd]], encouraged him to pursue the idea, and Page recalled in 2008 that it was the best advice he had ever received.<ref>{{cite web|title=The best advice I ever got|url=http://archive.fortune.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0804/gallery.bestadvice.fortune/2.html|website=Fortune|access-date=February 2, 2015|date=April 30, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112043148/http://archive.fortune.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0804/gallery.bestadvice.fortune/2.html|archive-date=January 12, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> He also considered doing research on [[telepresence]] and [[self-driving car]]s during this time.<ref>{{cite web|title=Google Faculty Summit 2009: Meet Google Founder Larry Page|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUNqsYUVPQY|website=GoogleTechTalks on YouTube|access-date=February 2, 2015 |date=October 5, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311042501/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUNqsYUVPQY|archive-date=March 11, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="doi10.1016/S0169-75529800110-X">{{Cite journal|last1=Brin|first1=Sergey|author-link1=Sergey Brin|last2=Page|first2=Lawrence|author-link2=Larry Page|doi=10.1016/S0169-7552(98)00110-X|title=The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual Web search engine|journal=Computer Networks and ISDN Systems|volume=30|issue=1|pages=107–117|location=[Amsterdam]|publisher=Elsevier Science Publishers|date=April 1998|s2cid=7587743 |issn=0169-7552|lccn=86641126|oclc=884480703|url=https://cumincad.architexturez.net/system/files/pdf/2873.content.pdf|access-date=September 25, 2019|archive-date=July 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719203459/https://cumincad.architexturez.net/system/files/pdf/2873.content.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brin|first1=Sergey|author-link1=Sergey Brin|last2=Page|author-link2=Larry Page|first2=Lawrence|title=Reprint of: The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual web search engine|journal=Computer Networks|location=Amsterdam, Netherlands|publisher=Elsiver|date=December 17, 2012|volume=56|issue=18|pages=3825–3833|issn=1389-1286|doi=10.1016/j.comnet.2012.10.007 |s2cid=911040 |lccn=sn99047167|oclc=610365057 }}</ref><ref name="wiredbirth"/>

Page focused on the problem of finding out which web pages linked to a given page, considering the number and nature of such backlinks as valuable information for that page. The role of [[citation]]s in [[academic publishing]] would also become pertinent for the research.<ref name="wiredbirth">{{cite magazine|author1=John Battelle|title=The Birth of Google|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/battelle.html?tw=wn_tophead_4|magazine=Wired|publisher=Condé Nast Digital|access-date=February 22, 2015|date=August 13, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107160749/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/battelle.html?tw=wn_tophead_4|archive-date=November 7, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Sergey Brin]], a fellow Stanford PhD student, would soon join Page's research project, nicknamed "[[BackRub]]."<ref name="wiredbirth"/> Together, the pair authored a research paper titled "The Anatomy of a Large-Scale [[Hypertext]]ual Web Search Engine", which became one of the most downloaded scientific documents in the history of the Internet at the time.<ref name="achievement.org"/><ref name="doi10.1016/S0169-75529800110-X"/>

[[John Battelle]], co-founder of ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'' magazine, wrote that Page had reasoned that:

<blockquote>"[the] entire Web was loosely based on the premise of citation—after all, what is a link but a citation? If he could devise a method to count and qualify each backlink on the Web, as Page puts it "the Web would become a more valuable place.""<ref name="wiredbirth"/></blockquote>

Battelle further described how Page and Brin began working together on the project:

<blockquote>"At the time Page conceived of BackRub, the Web comprised an estimated 10 million documents, with an untold number of links between them. The computing resources required to crawl such a beast were well beyond the usual bounds of a student project. Unaware of exactly what he was getting into, Page began building his crawler. The idea's complexity and scale lured Brin to the job. A [[polymath]] who had jumped from project to project without settling on a thesis topic, he found the premise behind BackRub fascinating. "I talked to lots of research groups" around the school, Brin recalls, "and this was the most exciting project, both because it tackled the Web, which represents human knowledge, and because I liked Larry.""<ref name=wiredbirth/></blockquote>

=== Search engine development ===
To convert the backlink data gathered by BackRub's [[web crawler]] into a measure of importance for a given web page, Brin and Page developed the PageRank algorithm, and realized that it could be used to build a [[search engine]] far superior to existing ones.<ref name="wiredbirth"/> The algorithm relied on a new technology that analyzed the relevance of the [[backlink]]s that connected one web page to another.<ref name="Moschovitis">Moschovitis Group. ''The Internet: A Historical Encyclopedia'', ABC-CLIO, 2005.</ref>

Combining their ideas, the pair began utilizing Page's dormitory room as a machine laboratory, and extracted spare parts from inexpensive computers to create a device that they used to connect the now nascent search engine with Stanford's broadband campus network.<ref name="wiredbirth"/> After filling Page's room with equipment, they then converted Brin's dorm room into an office and programming center, where they tested their new search engine designs on the Web. The rapid growth of their project caused Stanford's computing infrastructure to experience problems.<ref name="economist.com">{{cite news|title=Enlightenment man|url=http://www.economist.com/node/12673407|newspaper=The Economist|publisher=The Economist Newspaper Limited|access-date=February 2, 2015|date=December 4, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123005321/http://www.economist.com/node/12673407|archive-date=January 23, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

Page and Brin used the former's basic [[HTML]] programming skills to set up a simple search page for users, as they did not have a web page developer to create anything visually elaborate. They also began using any computer part they could find to assemble the necessary computing power to handle searches by multiple users. As their search engine grew in popularity among Stanford users, it required additional [[server (computing)|server]]s to process the queries. In August 1996, the initial version of Google, still on the Stanford University website, was made available to Internet users.<ref name="wiredbirth"/>

[[File:PageRanks-Example.svg|thumb|The mathematical website interlinking that the [[PageRank]] algorithm facilitates, illustrated by size-percentage correlation of the circles. The [[algorithm]] was named after Page himself.]]

By early 1997, the BackRub page described the state as follows:
{{blockquote|"Some Rough Statistics (from August 29, 1996)

Total indexable HTML URLs: 75.2306 Million

Total content downloaded: 207.022 gigabytes

...

BackRub is written in Java and Python and runs on several Sun Ultras and Intel Pentiums running [[Linux]]. The primary database is kept on a [[Sun Ultra series]] II with 28GB of a disk. Scott Hassan and Alan Steremberg have provided a great deal of very talented implementation help. Sergey Brin has also been very involved and deserves many thanks."|Larry Page {{nospam|page|cs.stanford.edu}}<ref>[http://backrub.c63.be/1997/backrub.htm Downloaded 11 – February 2009]. Backrub.c63.be. Retrieved May 29, 2011  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130613155605/http://backrub.c63.be/1997/backrub.htm |date=June 13, 2013 }}</ref>}}

BackRub already exhibited the rudimentary functions and characteristics of a search engine: a query input was entered and it provided a list of backlinks ranked by importance. Page recalled: "We realized that we had a querying tool. It gave you a good overall ranking of pages and ordering of follow-up pages."<ref name="archive.wired.com">{{cite magazine |url = http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/battelle.html?pg=2&topic=battelle&topic_set= |title = Wired 13.08: The Birth of Google |magazine = Wired |access-date = January 23, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150709201400/http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/battelle.html?pg=2&topic=battelle&topic_set= |archive-date = July 9, 2015 |url-status=live |df = mdy-all |last1 = Battelle |first1 = John }}</ref> Page said that in mid-1998 they finally realized the further potential of their project: "Pretty soon, we had 10,000 searches a day. And we figured, maybe this is real."<ref name="economist.com"/>

Page and Brin's vision has been compared to that of [[Johannes Gutenberg]], the inventor of modern printing:<ref>[http://www.librarystuff.net/2009/10/01/google-the-gutenberg/ "Google the Gutenberg"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119215310/http://www.librarystuff.net/2009/10/01/google-the-gutenberg/ |date=January 19, 2015 }}. ''Information Technology''. October 1, 2009</ref>
<blockquote>"In 1440, Johannes Gutenberg introduced Europe to the mechanical printing press, printing Bibles for mass consumption. The technology allowed for books and manuscripts – originally replicated by hand – to be printed at a much faster rate, thus spreading knowledge and helping to usher in the European Renaissance [...] Google has done a similar job."</blockquote>

The comparison was also noted by the authors of ''The Google Story'': "Not since Gutenberg [...] has any new invention empowered individuals, and transformed [[access to information]], as profoundly as Google."<ref name="googleStory">{{cite book |last1=Vise |first1=David |author-link1=David A. Vise |last2=Malseed |first2=Mark |author-link2=Mark Malseed |title=The Google Story |date=2008 |publisher=Delacorte Press |isbn=9780385342728 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780385342728}}</ref> Also, not long after the two "cooked up their new engine for web searches, they began thinking about information that was at the time beyond the web" such as digitizing books and expanding health information.<ref name="economist.com"/>

[[File: Larry Page.jpg|thumb|Page in 2003]]