Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said few of the company's recent hires have been as significant as Cerf, widely regarded as one of the internet's creators because of his seminal work developing the network's essential communications protocols, TCP/IP, at Stanford University in the 1970s.

"He is one of the most important people alive today," said Schmidt, who has been friends with Cerf for more than 20 years. "Vint has put his heart and soul into making the internet happen. I know he is going to jump right in here and start shoveling out new ideas for Google."

When he starts work at Google on Oct. 3, Cerf's official title will be "chief Internet evangelist," but he is determined to be more than a figurehead or detached visionary.

"What I have done in the past is not going to be important at Google," Cerf said, "What's important at Google is what you are doing today and what you going to do tomorrow. That's the metric I will be measured by."

Cerf will remain chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the oversight agency for internet domain names.

He also will continue as a visiting scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he has been focusing on a very Google-like project — trying to figure out a way to connect the internet to outer space. He said working at Google is "really my dream job."