Inventors and Their Inventions
Kirt's Cogitations™ #325

RF Cafe University"Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and "Tech Topics Smorgasbord" are all manifestations of my ranting on various subjects relevant (usually) to the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:

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Google image search on "american inventors" - RF Cafe

The first few pages of a Google image search on "american inventors."

Google image search on "american inventors" (people only) - RF Cafe

Here is a version with only people.

When doing some research for creating a new quiz on inventors and their inventions, I decided to look for people according to their countries. I almost always do image searches since doing so does a good job of filtering out pages that merely mention the topic of interest. My first Google search was "american inventors." I expected to see the familiar faces of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, George Westinghouse, Marie Curie, Alexander Graham Bell, George Washington Carver, Edwin Armstrong, Hedy Lamarr, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Goddard, Albert Einstein, the Wright Brothers, Samuel Morse, William Shockley, etc. Those are the names that first come to my mind, and admittedly the list is dominated by White men. Imagine my surprise when the Google search results belied my perception. Take a look (to the left) at the first few pages of results to see what I mean. Note that the search results will change over time, so you probably will not receive the exact same set as shown here.

Google image search on "canadian inventors" - RF Cafe

The first few pages of a Google image search on "canadian inventors."

Here is a version with only people.

Next, I moved on to an image search for "canadian inventors." Then, I tried "english inventors" and "french inventors." Next came "german inventors," "chinese inventors," and "mexican inventors." Is it just my imagination, or is there a very obvious difference between the American inventors results and all the other countries' results? Are our history records being changed to fit a preferred political narrative? Is essential, truthful information being denied us? Similar results were had using Bing, Yahoo, and Duck Duck Go search engines. Winston Smith, call your office...

Google image search on "english inventors"

The first few pages of a Google image search on "english inventors."

Google image search on "english inventors" (people only) - RF CafeHere is a version with only people.

Google image search on "french inventors"

The first few pages of a Google image search on "french inventors."

Here is a version with only people.

Google image search on "chinese inventors"

The first few pages of a Google image search on "chinese inventors."

Here is a version with only people.

Google image search on "mexican inventors"

The first few pages of a Google image search on "mexican inventors."

Here is a version with only people.

Google image search on "german inventors"

The first few pages of a Google image search on "german inventors."

Here is a version with only people.

 

 

Posted February 25, 2021