Talk:Sergey Brin/Archive 1

Anti-semitism

Sergey Brin's father was a professor in Russia? And yet:

"Sergey was born in Moscow, the son of Michael Brin, a mathematician and economist. In 1979, when Sergey was five, his family immigrated to Palo Alto, California in the U.S. to avoid anti-semitism in the Soviet Union ."

...I tell you, that's some persecution in a country, if the virilent anti-semitism only allows you to have such a lowly job as professor!

Umm what's your point? Einstein won his Nobel when he lived in Germany. He moved to the US in his 50s because of an offer of a position at Princeton, but I don't think many deny the rising Anti-Semitism in Germany was a factor. USSR was obviously not like Germany right before the Nazi take over, when it came to Anti-Semitism I mean, but the idea "he couldn't have faced virulent Anti-Semitism, he had a good job" is pretty silly.--T. Anthony 12:25, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

I also fail to see why it is so absurd to leave a good job when everybody hates you. Anti-semitism comes in more forms than what sort of job you are allowed; often, it's the subtle things; perhaps the government-provided housing (as the USSR held complete control over these and similar matters) was sub-optimal, or there were other academic positions that his father felt barred from, or just that the family felt uncomfortable in a community that did not respect their beliefs. I grew up in an American city that played host to a large number of Russian Jews who left home for its anti-semitism; my family left Russia a hundred years ago for the same reason. If your neighbors regularly scowled at you or looked down on you, you would move, too. Regardless of your financial situation. -- Adam Katz 20:11, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Further information :

Sergey's father, on the other hand, had faced formidable barriers simply for being Jewish. Michael Brin's dream of becoming an astronomer was thwarted even before he reached college, a casualty of the virulent antisemitism in the Moscow State University physics department, which refused to admit anyone of Jewish ancestry. (Soviet leaders thought Jews weren't to be trusted with nuclear rocket research.). Instead, Michael opted for studies in mathematics, a field where some Jewish students had been able to circumvent discrimination. He landed a job as an economist for the state planning agency, earned a Ph.D. in math (despite a virtual ban on Jews attending graduate school), and even got a 100-ruble raise.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.169.25.73 (talk) 11:08, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

This has been mentioned on the Jewish magazine Moment at http://www.momentmag.com/Exclusive/2007/2007-02/200702-BrinFeature.html (retrieved 2007/03/01) as saying:

I’m curious as to whether Sergey has been a target of anti-Semitism since he left the Soviet Union. “I’ve experienced it,” he tells me. “Usually it is fairly subtle. People harp on all media companies being run by Jewish executives, with the implication of a conspiracy.” As an example, he cites the entry about him in Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia that famously accepts submissions and edits from anyone. “The Wikipedia page about me will be subtly edited in an anti-Semitic way,” he says.

He doesn’t elaborate, so I later take a look myself. Wikipedia retains the old versions of each of its pages and in that archive I find a number of occasions where people have added, moved or deleted references to Sergey’s Jewishness. Most seem harmless or ambiguous, but one jumps out. Several months ago, someone anonymously deleted a long-standing reference to the reason his parents had left Russia: “anti-Semitism.”

That bit seems to read as a request from Brin himself to return that fact to the article. -- Adam Katz 20:11, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Now it says they moved to Palo Alto so his father could teach in Maryland. Huh? —James S. 07:20, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Sergey Brin pronunciation

I'm wondering how to pronounce his name. If anyone can write his name in IPA, I really appreciate. I want to translate this to Thai Wikipedia though.

I'm not familiar with IPA, but his name is pronounced: sir-gay brin (like Bring without the G)

Neither am I, but I looked it up. It's probably /sʲɪr'gʲej brʲin/. Notice r (not ɾ), and palatalization.

Pies and Page

I have removed a reference to throwing pies with Larry Page. Please don't replace it unless we have an actual reliable source. Capitalistroadster 20:44, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Removed a weasel word sentence stating that Google was wrong for hiring exclusively from elite universities. That has nothing to do with Brin and has the minor inconvenience of not being true. Ryanluck 20:31, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Paternal name

Why is his paternal name included? The person does not live in Russia anymore so I do not think it should be included. It's very improper and might even be offensive to include those things because of the person's country of birth. I suggest "Mikhailovich" to be removed [Northern 13:57, 30 December 2006 (UTC)]

Paternal name removed since nobody justified it. [Northern 13:58, 30 December 2006 (UTC)]

http://infolab.stanford.edu/~sergey/ is the real one! ― Sturr ★彡 ^Refill/lol 20:18, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

I think so, too, and have therefore deleted the link to the fake site.--84.165.77.181 12:34, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Of course it's a fake site, just look at the whois information: http://whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=mysergeybrin&tld=com Registered by someone in Bulgaria... with a GMail address... Some people have absolutely no shame at all... But besides that, it only takes a minute or two to realize that's a fake... made by some people with really bad taste... and such poor English ("Google is a company in Mowntown (?!?) View) etc. Come on! --Vlad|-> 21:37, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

I wonder how it's all related to this article containing Sergey's "paternal name". This name is common in Russia. He no longer lives there and nowhere does he write his name like that so I think it's in fact offensive to add it.Northern (talk) 02:28, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Steve Ballmer "poor man" this year? :-)

I saw the list of forbes, jumping nearly 500 places from 2004 is impressive. Why is that not noted? I think the people at Google will reach the top within a few years. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.213.91.94 (talk) 06:28, 10 March 2007 (UTC).

Jewish

How come it is not mentioned in the article that he is a jew? The opening should be: "...is a Jewish Russian born American entrepreneur who co-founded Google with Larry Page." 88.155.99.121 09:12, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

It was mentioned until 3 weeks, and then it was deleted with no reason the article, like somone is trying to hide it. 88.155.99.121 09:14, 18 May 2007 (UTC).

It was removed fromn the lead sentence per WP:MOSBIO. No body is trying to hide anything. Cheers, --Tom 16:12, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

That is incorrect. The information was deleted, not moved.--Runcorn 14:34, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

Please, I said removed, not moved. Anyways, its back in, OK? --Tom 14:32, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. 88.154.134.164 09:46, 26 May 2007 (UTC).

Russian born?

Who added the Russian born to the article? We already stated in two places that he was born in Russia, so why add it to the nationality?

Just as the manual of style for biographies states:
Ethnicity should generally not be emphasized in the opening unless it is relevant to the subject's notability Northern 13:46, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

I might have added that trying to conform to some standardization for foreign born Americans. The guideline above, wp:mosbio, also says "In the normal case this will mean the country of which the person is a citizen or national, or was a citizen when the person became notable.". I actually prefer the way it reads now, but others might argue with that. --Tom 14:15, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

You must forgive me but I think it's actually very offensive to the person. He's American, not Russian American (otherwise, where do you draw the line? Someone whose parents are British might too be considered British American). Anyway, I think it must be checked and unless he stated somewhere that he wants to be called Russian American, I think we should leave it as it is now. Northern 16:01, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
P.S it's disputed but in some cases, national may mean "citizen." For example, officially if one is a naturalized citizen in the United States, he's considered a US National. In other words, US national doesn't have to be a citizen by birth. So, it's basically the same as citizen

He should be called what reliable sources call him, period. --Tom 18:06, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Absolutely. He's called American and it's noted that he's born in Russia. Period.
In this case, there's no such thing as reliable source. The only reliable source is the one he wrote. Northern 19:16, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Russian born, U.S. citizen. What exactly is the issue here? Go spend your time on something else.

-G

Edit Request

{{Editprotected}}

just wondering how it would be possible to add an internal link to Sergey's elementary school "Paint Branch Montessori School" and how to state that he graduated from the school rather than say "Brin attended grade school at Paint Branch Montessori School in Adelphi, Maryland, but he received further education at home"—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Pbmontessori (talk • contribs).

This page is semiprotected; any username more than a few days old can edit it. There is no need for administrator assistance to edit this page. — Carl (CBM · talk) 02:33, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict)This page does not need an editprotected request. The article is only semiprotected, so almost any editor can make these changes. Four days after your account creation, you'll be able to make changes to semiprotected articles as well. Also, please remember to sign talk pages using four tildes (~~~~). Cheers. --MZMcBride 02:34, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

AS of September 21, Sergey Brin is worth $18.5 billion and is tied for 5th richest person in the world with Larry Page (the other Google founder). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.243.84.206 (talk) 13:34, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Salary?

Um in the info box the salary is...

Salary: $43,726 USD (2005)

That's gotta be wrong --Huper Phuff ^talk 22:27, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Bill Gates only makes a 1 million a year. Salaries are only ONE of the income people like get their money from. Stocks, etc.

-G —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.117.158.83 (talk) 02:55, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Not sure on the salary...but why is he on the <$10 salary list (along with Larry Page and Steve Jobs) if he is making over $43k?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.92.194.174 (talk) 05:35, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

The $42k consists of a $1 salary + some trivial expense refunds. think it was security or something —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.175.230.115 (talk) 14:26, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Ashkenazi Jew?

G2019S is the gene mutation which is common amongst Ashkenazi jews and amongst people with Parkinson's disease. I wonder if Brin is Ashkenazi. Kittybrewster ☎ 00:11, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Surely what matters here is not what Brin is or "identifies as", but what his mother's ancestry is? The text of the article seems to indicate that he inherited the mutation from her.

At any rate - even though Brin mentioned this publicly, shouldn't information about a living individual's genome be too sensitive to put on a Wikipedia article? (This is a general question of policy - has it already been resolved?) Feketekave (talk) 20:54, 14 October 2008 (UTC)