Larry Page

An American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who co-founded Google, revolutionizing how we search and access information online.

This biography of Larry Page helps you learn English through real historical stories.

born1973

nationalityAmerican

known forco-founding Google and inventing PageRank

fieldcomputer science and internet technology

Key Takeaways

He co-founded Google with Sergey Brin while studying at Stanford
He invented the PageRank algorithm, which revolutionized internet search
He helped expand Google into products like Android, Maps, and YouTube
He became the CEO of Alphabet Inc. to oversee Google's ambitious future projects

Life Timeline

1973

Born in East Lansing, Michigan

1995

Met Sergey Brin at Stanford University

1996

Began working on the search engine BackRub (later Google)

1998

Co-founded Google Inc. in a garage

2001

Stepped down as CEO, becoming President of Products

2015

Became CEO of Alphabet Inc., Google's new parent company

Biography Reading: Larry Page

background

Lawrence Edward Page was born in 1973 in Michigan to parents who were both computer science professors. Growing up in a house full of computers and tech magazines, he developed a fascination with technology at an early age. He studied computer engineering at the University of Michigan, where he famously built printers out of Lego bricks, and later pursued a Ph.D. at Stanford University. It was at Stanford that he met Sergey Brin, a fellow student who shared his intellectual curiosity and passion for organizing data.

achievement

In 1996, Page and Brin began working on a research project to understand the mathematical structure of the World Wide Web. Page created an algorithm called PageRank, which ranked webpages based on the number and quality of links pointing to them. This was a massive improvement over early search engines that only counted how many times a keyword appeared on a page. In 1998, they officially launched their search engine, renaming it Google—a play on the mathematical term "googol," representing the vast amount of information they intended to organize.

impact

Google quickly became the world's most popular search engine, fundamentally changing how humanity accesses knowledge. Under Page's leadership, the company expanded far beyond search, developing products like Google Maps, the Android operating system, and acquiring YouTube. In 2015, Page spearheaded the creation of Alphabet Inc., a parent company designed to oversee Google and its ambitious side projects, such as self-driving cars and life-extension research. Although he has since stepped back from day-to-day management, his vision of organizing the world's information remains the core of the digital age.