Editing Larry Page (section)

=== 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]]