Google marked its 28th birthday on Sunday with a special Doodle featuring a nostalgic version of the company's earliest logo, celebrating nearly three decades since two Stanford students set out to organize the world's information.
This year's Doodle artwork features Google's first-ever logo, created in 1998. In a note accompanying the celebration, the company recalled its "humble beginnings as a research project in a garage," calling it proof that breakthrough moments can start in ordinary places. The interactive Doodle also lets visitors explore the Doodles that appeared on their own birthdays.
The story behind the September 27 date is itself a piece of internet history. Google was legally incorporated on September 4, 1998, after investor Andy Bechtolsheim's $100,000 seed check let Larry Page and Sergey Brin leave their Stanford dorms and set up shop in a Menlo Park garage. In the early 2000s the company celebrated its birthday on several different September dates, including the 7th, 8th and 26th.
September 27 became the fixed public birthday after a September 2005 announcement — in which Google dramatically expanded its search index to assert technical dominance over rivals like Yahoo — aligned with a birthday celebration on that date. Since 2006, the company has consistently used September 27 for its annual Doodle.
What began as a project called Backrub, later renamed Google after the mathematical term "googol," has grown into a global ecosystem. Google Search remains its core service, but the company now runs products used by billions of people, including Android, Gmail, YouTube, Chrome, Maps, Drive and Photos.
Sources:
The Gazette — Google's Birthday: story behind today's celebratory Doodle
Particle — Why Google Marks Its Birthday on September 27 Instead of Its Legal Incorporation Date
This year's Doodle artwork features Google's first-ever logo, created in 1998. In a note accompanying the celebration, the company recalled its "humble beginnings as a research project in a garage," calling it proof that breakthrough moments can start in ordinary places. The interactive Doodle also lets visitors explore the Doodles that appeared on their own birthdays.
The story behind the September 27 date is itself a piece of internet history. Google was legally incorporated on September 4, 1998, after investor Andy Bechtolsheim's $100,000 seed check let Larry Page and Sergey Brin leave their Stanford dorms and set up shop in a Menlo Park garage. In the early 2000s the company celebrated its birthday on several different September dates, including the 7th, 8th and 26th.
September 27 became the fixed public birthday after a September 2005 announcement — in which Google dramatically expanded its search index to assert technical dominance over rivals like Yahoo — aligned with a birthday celebration on that date. Since 2006, the company has consistently used September 27 for its annual Doodle.
What began as a project called Backrub, later renamed Google after the mathematical term "googol," has grown into a global ecosystem. Google Search remains its core service, but the company now runs products used by billions of people, including Android, Gmail, YouTube, Chrome, Maps, Drive and Photos.
Sources:
The Gazette — Google's Birthday: story behind today's celebratory Doodle
Particle — Why Google Marks Its Birthday on September 27 Instead of Its Legal Incorporation Date
