Meet the 29-year-old woman who helped us bring the first-ever black hole image

The groundbreaking first-ever image of a black hole was captured by a network of eight linked telescopes known as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration.

 

But a second image has been also shared on social media and went viral, of a 29-year-old woman, Dr. Katie Bouman, Computer scientist.

She developed told an algorithm which has stitched together a picture of a black hole. She told nobody except her colleagues. Until today. That's when Event Horizon Telescope team, of which Bouman is a member, unveiled the first image of a black hole.

 

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I led the creation of an algorithm that helped capture the first ever image of a black hole. #EHTBlackHole #BlackHoleDay #BlackHole #KatieBouman #womeninstem #universe #science #computer #EVENTHORIZONTELES #EE #electricalengineering #scientist #MIT #EVENTHORIZONTELES

A post shared by Katie Bouman (@dr.katiebouman) on Apr 11, 2019 at 8:53am PDT

“When we saw it for the first time, we were all in disbelief. It was quite spectacular,” Bouman told BBC Radio 5 live.

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a vocal proponent of women in leadership, praised Bouman’s “enormous contribution to the advancements of science and mankind.”

Take your rightful seat in history, Dr. Bouman! 🔭

Congratulations and thank you for your enormous contribution to the advancements of science and mankind.

Here’s to #WomenInSTEM!
👩🏻‍🔬👩🏾‍💻👩🏼‍🏭👩🏿‍🏫 https://t.co/3cs9QYrz9C

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 10, 2019

President Donald Trump’s daughter and White House advisor Ivanka Trump tweeted: “Big congrats! Hooray for #WomenInSTEM like Bouman!”

Today, the world saw the 1st-ever image of a #BlackHole - an amazing accomplishment made possible by Scientist Katie Bouman.

Big congrats! 👏

Hooray for #WomenInSTEM like Bouman! https://t.co/se32OTFMJ6

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) April 10, 2019

“3 years ago MIT grad student Katie Bouman led the creation of a new algorithm to produce the first-ever image of a black hole,” MIT’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab wrote.