Successful Refugees and Immigrants Leading the Way, Part 10: Computer Scientist Sergey Brin

Today, we will introduce another prominent refugee, Sergey Brin. He left the Soviet Union, now Russia, at the age of six and, in his college years, co-founded a technology company that continues to shape the way we access knowledge and will likely do so for generations to come.

Since June 2000, Google has become the world’s largest and most popular search engine and never looked back. Over the past two decades, Google Inc. has developed into one of the most successful technology companies ever and started new initiatives such as the Android mobile operating system and entered the fields of self-driving cars, renewable energy and much more. With Google Inc.’s stellar commercial success, Mr. Brin has become the richest refugee immigrant in the USA and one of the world’s leading philanthropists.

In 2005, Mr. Brin and Mr. Page allocated US$1 billion worth of Google Inc. stock and future profits to fund Google.org, the company’s philanthropy arm. Google.org’s noteworthy projects in 2020 include committing US$100 million and 50,000 pro bono hours to a worldwide COVID-19 response and collaborating with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Australia to deploy artificial intelligence (AI)-based camera systems to monitor how wildlife recovers after the devastating “Black Summer” bushfires.

Mr. Brin funded the world’s first lab-grown hamburger developed by a team of Dutch scientists in 2013. He supported this project for animal welfare reasons and said, “When you see how these cows are treated, it's certainly something I'm not comfortable with.”

Mr. Brin is also the founder of Global Support and Development (GSD), a nonprofit organization specializing in disaster relief and humanitarian support around the globe.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: “Gratefully present Mr. Sergey Brin the Shining World Invention and Humanitarian Award, with gratitude and praises for all the brilliant inventions and noble assistance to humanity and animal co-inhabitants. May Heaven forever Love and reward you with abundant Blessing and Grace.”