Meet Katie Bouman, One Woman Who Helped Make the World’s First Image of a Black Hole

The space was tiny and hot. On a fateful day last summer, Katie Bouman and three fellow researchers filed into a small room at Harvard University, safe from prying eyes, in order to see an image that had been years in the making.

Researchers from all over the world had combined forces to gather masses of astronomical data — enough to fill a half ton of hard drives — that they hoped to turn into the world's first image of a black hole.

The space was tiny and hot. On a fateful day last summer, Katie Bouman and three fellow researchers filed into a small room at Harvard University, safe from prying eyes, in order to see an image that had been years in the making. Researchers from all over the world had combined forces to gather masses of astronomical data — enough to fill a half ton of hard drives — that they hoped to turn into the world's first image of a black hole.