9781422287187

13

Distant Beginnings

said in an interview. But Larry wasn’t just interested in taking something apart. Putting a piece of equipment back together after he had taken it apart was also part of his learning experience. Taking apart various machines sparked two more interests in Larry: invention and business. During one interview, he said, “I became really interested in technology and also then, soon after, in business, because I figured that inventing things wasn’t any good; you had to get them out into the world and have people use them to have any effect. So probably from when I was twelve, I knew I was going to start a company eventually.” Larry’s desire to be a computer scientist just like his parents never faded. He attended the University of Michigan after graduating from high school in 1991 and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering. Larry went above and beyond what was required of him by becoming the president of Eta Kappa Nu, an electrical and computer engineering honor society. Larry’s time in college was spent honing his invention and experimentation skills. In one interview, he recalls, “In college I built an inkjet printer out of Legos, because I wanted to be able to print really big images. I figured you could print really big posters really cheaply using inkjet cartridges. So I reverse-engineered the cartridge, and built all the electronics and machines to drive it.” By the time Larry graduated from college, he was a well-known innovator among his peers. However, that was not enough for Larry. He wanted to further his education, so he did so by earning a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. Larry then entered a Ph.D. program at Stanford University shortly after completing his master’s degree. It was at this point that Larry began working on his most inspiring work. One of the requirements to earning a Ph.D.—a doctorate degree—is writing a long research essay known as a dissertation. Like all Ph.D.