Jewish Invention Myths: The Internet Search Engine

One ‘jewish invention’ claim that often makes an appearance in discussions of ‘jewish contributions’ is the assertion that ‘jews invented Google’ (1) and this is true in the sense that the Google Algorithm has formed the basis for most modern search engines.

However, the claim that ‘jews invented Google’ isn’t that… well… ‘jews invented Google’ but rather the implied claim is that jews invented the internet search engines, because when people generally think of internet search engines then they think of Google not its various other modern competitors like DuckDuckGo, Yandex etc nor its original rivals like MSN and Yahoo!

The problem with this ‘jewish invention’ claim isn’t the specific claim – Larry Page and Sergey Brin did found Google and both are jewish – but rather the implied claim which isn’t just Google but rather the concept of Googling (i.e., using an internet search engine to find information). (2)

The truth is that – as I’ve already implied – Google didn’t invent the internet search engine, but rather is simply an updated modern form of an already extant concept.

The concept of the internet search engine was created and set up in the early 1970s by Elizabeth Feinler at Stanford University who created a searchable directory system for ARPANET we still use today called WHOIS. (3)

In 1992 Englishman Sir Tim Berners-Lee created an improved online directory called VLib (short for Virtual Library) and a year later – 2nd September 1993 - Dutch computer scientist Oscar Nierstrasz unveiled the first true internet search engine called ‘W3Catalog’, (4) while fellow Dutchman and software engineer Martijn Koster unveiled the second true internet search engine called ‘AliWeb’ (short for ‘Archie-Like Indexing for the Web’) shortly after on 30th November 1993. (5)

Now none of these individuals are jewish in any way, shape or form from what I can find about them.

So no jews didn’t invent the internet search engine either!

References

(1) For example: https://boulderjewishnews.org/2009/an-informal-list-of-jewish-inventions-innovations-and-radical-ideas/ ; https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/08/01/did-you-know-these-inventions-were-made-by-jews/ ; https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/did-you-know-that-jews-invented-everything-g0z36e86 ; https://aish.com/10-big-jewish-inventions/

(2) See the wording/claims used in Ibid.

(3) Claire Evans, 2018, ‘Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet’, 1st Edition, Penguin: New York, p. 116

(4) http://www.searchenginehistory.com/

(5) Ibid.