Rajeev Motwani

Rajeev Motwani was an Indian-born American computer scientist who made significant contributions to the fields of theoretical computer science, data privacy, web search, robotics, and computational drug design. He was also a mentor and advisor to many successful entrepreneurs and startups, including Google, PayPal, Kaboodle, Mimosa Systems, and Tapulous. Motwani was born on March 24, 1962 in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India. His father was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army and his mother was a homemaker. He had two brothers, Sanjeev and Suneev. Motwani developed a passion for reading and mathematics from an early age. He attended various missionary schools across India as his family moved frequently due to his father's job. He was particularly inspired by the books on great scientists and mathematicians that his parents had at home. In 1974, when Motwani was twelve years old, his family settled in New Delhi. He enrolled in the prestigious St Columba's High School, where he excelled in mathematics and science. He also participated in various Olympiads and competitions. He skipped the final year of high school and took the entrance exam for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in 1978. He was admitted to IIT Kanpur, where he studied computer science and engineering. He graduated with a B.Tech degree in 1983. Motwani then moved to the United States to pursue his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He worked under the supervision of Richard M. Karp, a renowned computer scientist and Turing Award winner. His doctoral thesis was on probabilistic analysis of matching and network flow algorithms. He received his Ph.D. degree in 1988. Motwani joined Stanford University as an assistant professor of computer science in 1988. He became a full professor in 2000 and held the position until his death in 2009. He founded the Mining Data at Stanford project (MIDAS), an umbrella organization for several groups working on new and innovative data management concepts. His research interests spanned various areas of computer science, such as randomized algorithms, complexity theory, streaming databases, data mining, data privacy, web search, robotics, and computational drug design. Motwani was one of the co-authors (with Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Terry Winograd) of an influential early paper on the PageRank algorithm, which is the basis for Google's search engine. He also co-authored another seminal paper on web search with the same authors. Motwani advised or taught many of Google's developers and researchers, including Craig Silverstein, the first employee of Google. He also mentored and invested in several other startups that emerged from Stanford or Silicon Valley, such as PayPal, Kaboodle, Mimosa Systems (acquired by Iron Mountain Incorporated), Adchemy (acquired by Walmart Labs), Baynote (acquired by Kibo Software), Vuclip (acquired by PCCW Media), NeoPath Networks (acquired by Cisco Systems), Tapulous (acquired by Disney), and Stanford Student Enterprises. Motwani was an author of two widely used theoretical computer science textbooks: Randomized Algorithms with Prabhakar Raghavan and Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation with John Hopcroft and Jeffrey Ullman. He also published over 200 papers in journals and conferences. He received many awards and honors for his research and teaching, such as the Gödel Prize in 2001, the Okawa Foundation Research Award in 2006, the Arthur Sloan Research Fellowship, the National Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Kanpur in 2006, the Bergmann Memorial Award from the US-Israel Bi-National Science Foundation, and the IBM Faculty Award. Motwani was married to Asha Jadeja Motwani, an angel investor and philanthropist. They had two daughters, Naitri and Anya. Motwani was fond of music, movies, cricket, and chess. He was also a generous donor to various causes and organizations, such as Asha for Education, Pratham, and IIT Kanpur. Motwani died on June 5, 2009 at the age of 47. He was found dead in his pool in the backyard of his home in Atherton, California. The cause of death was ruled as accidental drowning by the San Mateo County coroner. Toxicology tests showed that his blood alcohol level was 0.26 percent at the time of his death. Motwani did not know how to swim and may have fallen into the pool accidentally. His death was mourned by his family, friends, colleagues, students, and admirers around the world. He was buried at the Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, California. Motwani left behind a legacy of excellence and innovation in computer science and entrepreneurship. He was a visionary leader who inspired and supported many people to pursue their dreams and passions. He was a brilliant researcher who advanced the frontiers of knowledge and technology. He was a beloved teacher who imparted wisdom and guidance to generations of students. He was a humble and kind human being who touched many lives with his generosity and compassion.