Sergey Brin

Sergey Brin was born in Moscow in August 1973, to Jewish parents named Michael and Eugenia Brin. Both of his parents graduated from Moscow State University, and today, his mother is a scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center and his father is a professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland. The family moved from Russia when Sergey was six years old, and he followed in his father's footsteps, studying mathematics, with a second major in computer science.

Sergey BrinAfter he graduated, he went to Stanford for his computer science Ph.D. There, he struck up a friendship with Larry Page, and the two filled their dorm room with cheap computers and used a data mining system that Brin devised in order to build a search engine. The program was such a success that they put their studies on hold, and opened Google out of a garage.

Brin had hard times growing up; in interviews, his father said that he'd been forced to abandon his plan to become an astronomer. Although the USSR did not officially espouse anti-Semitism, Brin said that the Communist leaders kept Jews from the upper ranks of companies by forbidding them university entry. Therefore, Michael Brin chose to major in mathematics, but could not go to graduate school.

The Brins lived in a 350-square foot apartment with other family members, and Michael wanted the family to move to America after he was able to attend a conference in Poland and mingle freely with his American counterparts. However, Sergey's mother was reluctant to leave. The family applied for an exit visa in 1978, and it was approved in 1979, paving the way for the Brins to leave Russia and move to America.