Rajeev Motwani
Stanford professor who mentored Google’s founders
- Lived
- 47 yrs
- 1962 – 2009
- Works listed
- 1
- Book
- Honours
- 1
- Most recent 2001
- Profile views
- 0
- 0 followers
Rajeev Motwani was an Indian-American computer scientist at Stanford who did major work on randomised algorithms and data streams. He advised Larry Page and Sergey Brin during the research that led to Google and invested in many start-ups. He died in 2009.
Biography
Education
Motwani studied computer science at IIT Kanpur and earned his PhD at UC Berkeley under Richard Karp in 1988.
Research
At Stanford he co-wrote Randomized Algorithms (1995) with Prabhakar Raghavan and contributed to the PCP theorem, winning the Gödel Prize in 2001.
He advised Page and Brin, co-authored a PageRank-related paper and was an early investor. He was also an angel investor in many companies.
Death
He drowned in his home swimming pool in 2009, aged 47.
Timeline
-
1962
Born in Jammu, India
-
1988
PhD from UC Berkeley; joins Stanford
-
1995
Randomized Algorithms
-
1998
Advises Google’s founders
-
2001
Gödel Prize
-
2009
Dies
-
2009
Died, aged 47
Notable works
-
1995
Randomized Algorithms Book
With Prabhakar Raghavan.
Awards and honours
-
Gödel Prize
2001
Did you know?
-
1
Sergey Brin wrote a tribute calling him a mentor.
-
2
He was a special adviser to Sequoia Capital.
-
3
He co-wrote a later edition of the automata-theory textbook with John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman.
Connections
Frequently asked
Who is Rajeev Motwani?
Rajeev Motwani was an Indian-American computer scientist at Stanford who did major work on randomised algorithms and data streams. He advised Larry Page and Sergey Brin during the research that led to Google and invested in many start-ups. He died in 2009.
When did Rajeev Motwani die?
Rajeev Motwani died on 5 June 2009 at the age of 47.
Where is Rajeev Motwani from?
Rajeev Motwani was born in Jammu, India.
What is Rajeev Motwani known for?
Rajeev Motwani is best known for Randomized Algorithms; mentoring Larry Page and Sergey Brin; early Google adviser; Gödel Prize 2001.
What awards has Rajeev Motwani received?
Notable honours include Gödel Prize (2001).
References
- Rajeev Motwani — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Rajeev Motwani — Hindi Wikipedia. Wikipedia (Hindi). Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Official website. theory.stanford.edu. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Rajeev Motwani (Q92963) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Rajeev Motwani”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Rajeev Motwani.” TrackFame, last updated 4 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/rajeev-motwani
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