Indian School Had Wrong Heisenberg Pic As Scientist, And Why Google Search Is To Blame

Today, while scrolling through Twitter, I stumbled across a post that truly blew my mind.

A science department that mistook Heisenberg of uncertainty principle for Heisenberg of Breaking Bad. (2019, AP) pic.twitter.com/aEmacYEv5V

¡ª Rahul M (@twrahul) May 12, 2021

This was an image of a college in Andhra Pradesh (captured by Rahul M) that had framed photographs of four legendary men of science like Max Planck, S. Cannizaro, Werner Heisenberg and Friedrich W?hler. The image was reshared a few days ago with the original post being all the way back in 2019.

However, while other scientists looked just alright, Heisenberg looked nothing like his original images, and more like Bryan Cranston.

To people who still haven¡¯t got what¡¯s wrong with this image, the institution has put the American actor¡¯s character played in popular drama series Breaking Bad where his alias was called Heisenberg.

For reference, this is the actual image of Werner Heisenberg of the famous Uncertainty Principle.

Getty Images

While this might seem like a funny, innocent mistake that should make every science professor furious, I don¡¯t blame the admin staff that probably printed and framed these images in the first place.

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Googling Heisenberg

Anyone who doesn¡¯t know who Heisenberg or Werner Heisenberg really is would search his name on Google. And when I tried to do the same, I was surprised with the result Google had for me.

Google Search

Even though the search result shows Werner Heisenberg and the first image surely is his own, the third image that¡¯s shown is of Bryan Cranston from the show.

However, the moment I clicked on image search results, most images that were shown were of Bryan Cranston¡¯s character.

Google Search

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While it is also crucial to note that Heisenberg is definitely one of the coolest characters in any drama series, period, it's surprising Google Search would club this result with the German theoretical physicist who is regarded as one of the key pioneers of quantum mechanics.

How can one deal with such 'misinformation'?

It goes without saying that this is an innocent mistake that could have happened to anyone. However, for people who rely on Google for finding out about things that they don¡¯t know, it is important that they be a little more attentive about what they pick from their search results. Some more research and reading, as well as looking up multiple sites to be extremely sure could have saved this sad conundrum.

Also Read: Sundar Pichai Explains Why Trump's Photo Comes Up When You Google 'Idiot', And It's Hilarious

This is primarily because search engines, even though they work really well, are still far from perfect when it comes to gauging intent of the search. Moreover, they aren't immune from getting abused -- intentionally or otherwise.

Remember, a few years ago, whenever someone would search for ¡®idiot¡¯ the image that surfaced was that of Donald Trump. Pichai in a congressional hearing explained that Google Search results are all based on Google search indexes web pages, including pictures, and ranks them based on popular keywords -- all this happens with absolutely no human intervention.

While it is true that some responsibility also falls on search engines like Google to make sure that they offer factually accurate information in its search results, we also need to understand that ultimately the onus lies on us for being extra careful while looking up information and facts online.