Looking for the scientist's spouse?

Leslie Vosshal noticed yesterday that when you search for a woman scientist, Google seems to often predict that it's their spouse you really want to read about.

Top 5 search suggestions for female scientists often include "husband". WTF? pic.twitter.com/6EuSkEO0AC

— Leslie Vosshall (@pollyp1) May 20, 2016

Matt Davis noted that the same often happens when you search for famous men.

@pollyp1 mere observation: google famous non-scientist men and "wife" is suggested for most of them.

— Matthew Davis (@deadsmiths) May 20, 2016

This made me curious and I decided to check the Google suggestions for the first 50 women listed on the HHMI site, comparing to the first 50 HHMI men. (Yes, I did that late on a Friday night. No, in retrospect, it was not the most riveting experience. At least, with kids asleep and the wife at a conference, I wasn't being anti-social.)

One of the four Google suggestions was "husband" for 3/50 women. For the men, Google recommended "wife" for 2/50 scientists. So, it appears that the spouse search auto-completion isn't very common, and it may not be all that different for men versus women. 

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HHMI Women:

HHMI Men: