February 16, 2007 at 14:56The Brin family: biography details
A journalist from Moment came to visit Sergei's parents: they live in their own house in a suburb of Washington. The situation in the house of Mikhail and Eugenia Brinov is rather modest, without any signs of luxury, except that the big TV and Lexus in the yard give out the parents of the billionaire. They look modern, young and cheerful, often and pleasantly laugh. Mikhail and Eugene talked with the journalist for several hours, interrupting only on Michael’s small breaks - for this, the head of the family went out with the dog.
Smoking is a habit that Mikhail Brin brought with him from the Soviet Union in 1979, from where he emigrated to the United States with his mother Maya, his wife and six-year-old Sergey (his second son, Sam, was born in 1987). Sergei’s grandfather, also a professor of mathematics, wanted to stay in Moscow and did not go with his family.
My father’s name is Michael, 59 years old; he is a professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland. For 25 years, he has been teaching dynamic systems and statistics there. In fact, from childhood, Mikhail wanted to become an astronomer, but hidden anti-Semitism in Russia did not allow him to do this. This shameful phenomenon really existed, for example, it was practically impossible for Jews to enter the physics department of Moscow State University at that time, because the Communist Party did not want to trust them with its nuclear program. Astronomy, to Michael’s disappointment, fell under the same “article." I had to go to study mathematics at another faculty, which Mikhail graduated in 1970 with honors (only three fours) and went to work at the State Planning Commission by distribution, but continued to study mathematics on his own, wrote scientific papers and visited the university. He defended his Ph.D. at Kharkov University,
Eugenia Brin (one year younger than her husband) works as a researcher at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In Moscow, she graduated from the Mehmat and worked at the Institute of Oil and Gas. With her husband and his mother, they lived in a three-room apartment in the center of Moscow. Sergey was born on August 21, 1973.
Mom Zhenya (as she is called in the family) speaks slowly, with a Russian accent and a sweet voice. According to her, Sergei from childhood was a very capable boy, he loved mathematics and computers.
Michael has a slightly softer accent, not the same as his wife. He is a big fan of Google, at least even at home wears clothes with the company logo.
Father told a lot of stories. For example, in the summer of 1990, 17-year-old Sergey Brin, together with a group of gifted young mathematicians, went to the USSR under a student exchange program. The young man was shocked by the reality that he saw. Upon returning two weeks later, he went to his father, looked into his eyes and said: "Thank you for taking us all from Russia."
When the boy was small, he did not understand why his parents were leaving. He was only four years old when dad announced this decision. The decision came to his father after attending a scientific conference in Warsaw in 1977, where he met with colleagues from the USA, France, Great Britain and Germany and made sure that they were “not at all monsters”. Eugene and mother did not want to go at first, but over time he persuaded them. They applied for a visa in September 1978, after which Mikhail was immediately fired from his job. He began to study programming and translated technical books into English for money.
In May 1979, their application for exit was approved. Then Vienna, meeting with the Jewish organization of emigrants and a temporary shelter in the suburbs of Paris, where their long-time friend Anatoly Katok (he was the real scientific supervisor at Mikhail) found a suitable vacancy at the local institute. The family only arrived in America on October 25, 1979.
The Brin family rented a house in Maryland. Borrowing $ 2,000 from diaspora representatives, they bought a 1973 Ford Maverick. And, on Katk’s advice, they sent little Sergey to the prestigious Paint Branch Montessori School in Adelphi, Maryland. This is an unusual school, where the “free” teaching method and special techniques for the development of intelligence and creativity are used.
The first year of study was very difficult, because the boy did not know English, but in the future Sergey showed himself from the best side: he was a very talented child. Later, he studied at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, where he was already advancing ahead of the normal study schedule. For three years, he learned the college program and entered the University of Maryland, where he was one of the best in the group. Then Sergey won the prestigious National Science Foundation scholarship and tried to enter MIT, but they didn’t take him there, and Sergey entered Stanford.
In the spring of 1995, Sergei met a computer student, Larry Page (the son of a computer professor, one of the first professors in the field in the United States, and computer programmers). Soon, he decided to leave Stanford and establish his own company with Larry, which upset his parents very much. Businessmen received their first $ 100,000 in venture capital investments from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, before Google, Inc. was legally framed. Further history has already become a legend.
Sergey has become a billionaire, but still buys products at Costco and looks at the price tags. He loves to cook, especially Chernobyl Chili sauce (45 minutes in the microwave).
According to the magazine of the Jewish diaspora, the slogan “Don't Be Evil” is an interpretation of the Kabbalistic concept of “correcting the world” (tikkun olam).
Smoking is a habit that Mikhail Brin brought with him from the Soviet Union in 1979, from where he emigrated to the United States with his mother Maya, his wife and six-year-old Sergey (his second son, Sam, was born in 1987). Sergei’s grandfather, also a professor of mathematics, wanted to stay in Moscow and did not go with his family.
My father’s name is Michael, 59 years old; he is a professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland. For 25 years, he has been teaching dynamic systems and statistics there. In fact, from childhood, Mikhail wanted to become an astronomer, but hidden anti-Semitism in Russia did not allow him to do this. This shameful phenomenon really existed, for example, it was practically impossible for Jews to enter the physics department of Moscow State University at that time, because the Communist Party did not want to trust them with its nuclear program. Astronomy, to Michael’s disappointment, fell under the same “article." I had to go to study mathematics at another faculty, which Mikhail graduated in 1970 with honors (only three fours) and went to work at the State Planning Commission by distribution, but continued to study mathematics on his own, wrote scientific papers and visited the university. He defended his Ph.D. at Kharkov University,
Eugenia Brin (one year younger than her husband) works as a researcher at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In Moscow, she graduated from the Mehmat and worked at the Institute of Oil and Gas. With her husband and his mother, they lived in a three-room apartment in the center of Moscow. Sergey was born on August 21, 1973.
Mom Zhenya (as she is called in the family) speaks slowly, with a Russian accent and a sweet voice. According to her, Sergei from childhood was a very capable boy, he loved mathematics and computers.
Michael has a slightly softer accent, not the same as his wife. He is a big fan of Google, at least even at home wears clothes with the company logo.
Father told a lot of stories. For example, in the summer of 1990, 17-year-old Sergey Brin, together with a group of gifted young mathematicians, went to the USSR under a student exchange program. The young man was shocked by the reality that he saw. Upon returning two weeks later, he went to his father, looked into his eyes and said: "Thank you for taking us all from Russia."When the boy was small, he did not understand why his parents were leaving. He was only four years old when dad announced this decision. The decision came to his father after attending a scientific conference in Warsaw in 1977, where he met with colleagues from the USA, France, Great Britain and Germany and made sure that they were “not at all monsters”. Eugene and mother did not want to go at first, but over time he persuaded them. They applied for a visa in September 1978, after which Mikhail was immediately fired from his job. He began to study programming and translated technical books into English for money.
In May 1979, their application for exit was approved. Then Vienna, meeting with the Jewish organization of emigrants and a temporary shelter in the suburbs of Paris, where their long-time friend Anatoly Katok (he was the real scientific supervisor at Mikhail) found a suitable vacancy at the local institute. The family only arrived in America on October 25, 1979.
The Brin family rented a house in Maryland. Borrowing $ 2,000 from diaspora representatives, they bought a 1973 Ford Maverick. And, on Katk’s advice, they sent little Sergey to the prestigious Paint Branch Montessori School in Adelphi, Maryland. This is an unusual school, where the “free” teaching method and special techniques for the development of intelligence and creativity are used.
The first year of study was very difficult, because the boy did not know English, but in the future Sergey showed himself from the best side: he was a very talented child. Later, he studied at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, where he was already advancing ahead of the normal study schedule. For three years, he learned the college program and entered the University of Maryland, where he was one of the best in the group. Then Sergey won the prestigious National Science Foundation scholarship and tried to enter MIT, but they didn’t take him there, and Sergey entered Stanford.
In the spring of 1995, Sergei met a computer student, Larry Page (the son of a computer professor, one of the first professors in the field in the United States, and computer programmers). Soon, he decided to leave Stanford and establish his own company with Larry, which upset his parents very much. Businessmen received their first $ 100,000 in venture capital investments from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, before Google, Inc. was legally framed. Further history has already become a legend.
Sergey has become a billionaire, but still buys products at Costco and looks at the price tags. He loves to cook, especially Chernobyl Chili sauce (45 minutes in the microwave).
According to the magazine of the Jewish diaspora, the slogan “Don't Be Evil” is an interpretation of the Kabbalistic concept of “correcting the world” (tikkun olam).
