This is so absurd that I still half think it must be a hoax. The Baltimore Sun has an interview with relatives of mathematician Edward Kasner. Kasner was a mathemtician who popularized the use of the term googol to refer to 10^100, and Google clearly played on the term in naming their company and search engine.
And now Kasner’s descendants want a piece of the Google action. Kanser’s great-neice Peri Fleischer whines to the Sun,
They are playing off that number and not compensating us even a little bit. Ethically, they could have been more giving. If nothing else, they should have given us the opportunity to operate as insiders for the IPO.
. . .
But you believe Google has an obligation to compensate you and your family for using the name coined by your great uncle, correct?
Legally, that’s an open question we’re exploring. But ethically, courteously, yes. I see some hypocrisy there. They have ignored us. Other than changing a couple of letters on the name, they are capitalizing on it. This is a business. These guys are going to make billions of dollars. It’s not a cute little thing.
I’m simply speechless.
Source:
Have your Google people talk to my ‘googol’ people. Gerald P. Merrell, Baltimore Sun, May 16, 2004.
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