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The Black Hole Photo Was Created with the Help of a 29-Year-Old Female Scientist, Because Who Run the World?!

The first-ever image of a black hole went viral this week (and inspired a variety of memes, our favorite being Game of Thrones-related, of course). This marks a massive feat for science, since the gravity around a black hole is so strong it even sucks in visible light, and this particular black hole is 54 million light-years away.

Therefore, we've never seen a photo of a black hole before...until now. And we have 29-year-old computer scientist Katie Bouman to thank for ushering in a new era of astrophysics. NBD.

According to CNN, M.I.T. computer science grad student Bouman helped develop an algorithm for the imaging method used to capture the photo. A team of senior scientists also worked on the team, too. In total, Bouman was one of 200 researchers on the Event Horizon Telescope team that imaged the first black hole ever seen by humanity, nearly 100 years after Einstein predicted as much with his general theory of relativity.

While Bouman was quick to point out she wasn't the only researcher on the project (about 40 women were on the team of 200 scientists and also deserve serious recognition), the image of her excitement over the discovery has gone viral.

Her algorithm, along with others, helped create the groundbreaking image (which is actually lots of images pieced together)—the final lopsided orange-ring picture we’ve seen all over the web this week.

So, who run the world universe? Girls (and Einstein, relativity speaking).



RF1

Director, Branded Content + Cohost, Royally Obsessed Podcast

As Director of Branded Content at Gallery Media Group, Roberta helps oversee the ideation and execution of sponsored content and experiential campaigns across PureWow and ONE37pm, including PureWow’s 24 in ’24. She began her career in editorial nine years ago, and has written and edited countless articles on news, trends, fashion, beauty and the royal family. She’s also cohost of the Royally Obsessed podcast, named one of the best royals podcasts by The New York Times and Town & Country. She cowrote the book Royal Trivia: Your Guide to the Modern British Royal Family.