It was April 2019 when the whole world witnessed, for the first time, the image of black hole. Social media was abuzz with stories around two subjects – ‘Black Hole’ and “Katie Bauman”. She is the scientist behind the algorithm that made imaging of ‘black hole’ possible.
Who is Katie Bouman?
Katherine Louise Bouman (30 yrs) is an American computer scientist. It was her who led the development of an algorithm for imaging black holes. The algorithm focusses on Continuous High-resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors also called as CHIRP, She was a member of the Event Horizon Telescope team that captured the first image of a black hole.
As per the latest update, She is likely to join the faculty of California Institute of Technology in June 2019 as an assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences.
Katie Bouman played a crucial role in the first-ever photo of a black hole which was revealed on April 10, 2019. This is from her Facebook Profile – Status which reads: “Watching in disbelief as the first image I ever made of a black hole was in the process of being reconstructed.” (Photo: From Facebook)
Katie Bouman conducted imaging research at Purdue University where she managed to learn about the Event Horizon Telescope while in school in the same year.
Bouman studied electrical engineering at the University of Michigan and in the year 2011 graduated summa cum laude. In 2013, She earned master’s degree and in 2017, her doctoral degree with electrical engineering and computer science from the prestigious MIT.
Prior to receiving her doctoral degree, Bouman delivered a TEDx talk, where she explained on How to Take a Picture of a Black Hole. Here is the video:
