In April 2019, when the first image of a black hole was released, a photo of Katie Bouman reacting to it on her laptop went viral. She was 29, and part of the team that made the picture.
She had joined the Event Horizon Telescope project as an MIT graduate student in 2013 and led the development of CHIRP, an imaging algorithm whose ideas shaped how the team checked its images. When some outlets cast her as a lone genius, she faced online harassment, and she kept crediting the whole collaboration.
She joined Caltech as an assistant professor in June 2019 and was promoted to associate professor in 2024. An asteroid, 291387 Katiebouman, is named after her. She was harassed over one photo. She kept working on how to see black holes.
"Your direction matters more than your speed, And that is the reason the compass come before the clock."
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