Google has published a detailed timeline of its 15-year history, from the days in 1998 when a project by Stanford University researchers Sergey Brin and Larry Page known as ‘BackRub’ evolved into a monster corporation employing close to 50,000 people with annual revenues of more than US$50bn.
The timeline begins with the early days of Google, when Brin and Page were running around Stanford University in California maxing out credit cards to buy server space to put their theories into practice.
It includes links to important documents, such as the original research paper written by Brin and Page entitled The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine.
It includes pictures of the Menlo Park, California, garage where Google began and the company’s employee No 1, Craig Silverstein.
Pivotal moments, such as the move to the Mountain View, California, offices in 1999, the first doodle series, and the launch of Google AdWords in 2000 are also featured in the timeline.
There’s also Eric Schmidt joining the company as CEO in March 2001, and the production of Google’s first Search Appliance in 2002.
Ireland gets an honourable mention in the timeline, when Google formally opened its European headquarters in Dublin in October 2004.
In 2006, Google acquired YouTube for US$1.6bn and Android was unveiled for the first time in November 2007.
The rest is history. Google it.