This 29-year-old computer scientist has become an internet sensation after the first image of the black hole was unveiled on Wednesday. Dr Katie Bouman developed an algorithm that helped capture the groundbreaking image of the black hole.
Bouman developed this algorithm during the graduation years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US. Her algorithm helped to patch data from 8 telescopes spread across the 5 continents aiming at the black hole.
Social media reactions started pouring in for Bouman after a photo of her watching the black hole visual in astonishment went viral:
It’s a black hole 53 MILLION light years away and it’s 6.5 BILLION times the size of our sun.. Amazing work.. And here’s to more women in science!!! #WomenInSTEM #KatieBouman pic.twitter.com/lkrqltrhTv
— Betty Amy (@BettyAmy4) April 11, 2019
She is one of my new idols… Her expression of excitement is so perfect! #KatieBouman STEM superhero! https://t.co/abHYmySlPe
— Aranzazu Carmona Orbezo (@ACarmonaOPhD) April 10, 2019
Congratulations to #KatieBouman to whom we owe the first photograph of a black hole ever. Not seeing her name circulate nearly enough in the press
Amazing work. and here’s to more women in science ( getting their credit and being remembered in history) pic.twitter.com/yHPiFUEJxU
— Moez Ullah Khan (@MoezUllah) April 10, 2019
Thanking her team, Bouman wrote a Facebook post: “No one algorithm or person made this image, it required the amazing talent of a team of scientists from around the globe and years of hard work to develop the instrument, data processing, imaging methods, and analysis techniques that were necessary to pull off this seemingly impossible feat.”
