Meet Katie Bouman, the woman behind first-ever black hole image
In years to come, April 10 will be seen as a historic day for humanity, the day when we witnessed the first-ever image of a supermassive black hole. The photo transforms our understanding of the universe, but none of this would have been possible if it weren't for Katie Bouman, the woman who helped with the production of this mind-boggling shot. Here's more about her.
ESO's Event Horizon Telescope project photographed black hole
Photographing a black hole 54 million light-years away is similar to capturing an orange on Moon. Additionally, these voids don't allow any light to escape, which means it is theoretically impossible to see and photograph them directly. However, ESO's Event Horizon Telescope project tried capturing the event horizon of a black hole, the region where light is so strong it orbits the void.
Eight observatories stared at the M87
As part of the effort, an array formed from eight radio telescopes located around the world were used to stare at the heart of Messier 87, the galaxy where a supermassive black hole existed. The observatories captured millions of gigabytes worth of data about M87, but the information still had certain gaps - this is where Bouman came in.
Bouman's algorithm helped with image production
Three years ago, while studying computer science and artificial intelligence at MIT, Bouman helped with the development of a unique computer imaging algorithm. The program, along with others, filled the missing pieces of the puzzle and led to the creation of the historic image we saw yesterday, CNN reported. Additionally, Bouman also defined the imaging parameters and led tests to verify the produced images.
The moment when Bouman's algorithm data was processed
Here's what Bouman said about the breakthrough
"We developed ways to generate synthetic data and used different algorithms and tested blindly to see if we can recover an image," Bouman told CNN. "No one of us could've done it alone. It came together because of lots of different people from many backgrounds."
Social media praises Bouman for her contribution
Since the release of the photograph, people have taken to social media platforms, praising Bouman for her contribution to the project. Her photo with a stack of hard drives containing the black hole data has gone viral on the internet. Many have also compared the image with a shot of Margaret Hamilton with the printout of the Apollo guidance software code she developed.
