[nerdy]

I didn't say he developed it. He used it 3-4 years before it became widely known and was responsible at least in part for its proliferation.

Finding your way to an elegant solution does not mean you created that solution. In 1999, Google had 8 employees. Not every algorithm was available at his fingertips. He had to care, seek, and find that solution to use it back then, which might not seem like much now. That's a manifestation of his caring about his craft; not inventing an algorithm.