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Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

bbc.com

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Re: Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

#21
post #11

I'm not biased anyway but thinking Is it fair to attribute this entire thing to one person leaving out the team of collaborators? Doesn't it sound like what happens with Jobsism? Edit: While I'm being rapidly downvoted, I'd like to clarify that I didn't mean to demean this because it's a female nor any of the feat this research has achieved. My point was only about why is it reported as if individual feat while many…

Yes, and she's the first to acknowledge this:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1021332602552304...

Re: Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

#22
post #11

I'm not biased anyway but thinking Is it fair to attribute this entire thing to one person leaving out the team of collaborators? Doesn't it sound like what happens with Jobsism? Edit: While I'm being rapidly downvoted, I'd like to clarify that I didn't mean to demean this because it's a female nor any of the feat this research has achieved. My point was only about why is it reported as if individual feat while many…

From article: But Dr Bouman, now an assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences at the California Institute of Technology, insisted the team that helped her deserves equal credit.

The effort to capture the image, using telescopes in locations ranging from Antarctica to Chile, involved a team of more than 200 scientists.

"No one of us could've done it alone," she told CNN. "It came together because of lots of different people from many different backgrounds."

Re: Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

#23

Is it me or is the article written like for 5 year olds? It feels like I am reading a child book. However, this is such a great achievement. Would be awesome to learn more about the algorithm.

Because it is. If it reads like a child book they did a great job. If you studied journalism you’d know making it as easy as possible for all audiences is a key skill each journalist needs to have. It’s not a science journal that it needs to be full of jargon. It’s meant for general audience and they did a great job. If you want a hard piece go read the journal papers that got published.

Re: Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

#24
post #6

Relevant repository - https://github.com/achael/eht-imaging

> https://github.com/achael/eht-imaging/graphs/contributors Huh, I wonder how accurate this is. All the code is beyond me in any case, I'm in no position to judge the relative value of any of it.

I'm not sure what the idea behind posting this is? In a large scale project rarely does someone high up the command chain do any of the "grunt" work (i.e. programming). Also, by training she appears to be dealing more with theory than the actual implementation aspect of this all.

Re: Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

#25
post #12

How come she is everywhere on the internet but not at the presentation panel on live conference that was yesterday? Jeez why the downvotes? It's a legitimate question I had.

hidden figures? eerily similar

She is getting a lot of press:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/computer-scientists-play-key-ro...

Re: Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

#26
post #15
post #11

I'm not biased anyway but thinking Is it fair to attribute this entire thing to one person leaving out the team of collaborators? Doesn't it sound like what happens with Jobsism? Edit: While I'm being rapidly downvoted, I'd like to clarify that I didn't mean to demean this because it's a female nor any of the feat this research has achieved. My point was only about why is it reported as if individual feat while many…

I'm annoyed because of the breathless coverage. One would see less hyperbole if a dog had done the work. The worst thing is how soul crushing academia is. I left my physics PhD when I actually started talking to my colleagues and seeing my career trajectory. I bailed as soon as I realized I will be working until my 40s on the per hour pay of a fast food employee. I do not see why you want to push women to a field tha…

> One would see less hyperbole if a dog had done the work.

I think you should take a moment to think about just how offensive that statement is.

Re: Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

#27
post #15
post #11

I'm not biased anyway but thinking Is it fair to attribute this entire thing to one person leaving out the team of collaborators? Doesn't it sound like what happens with Jobsism? Edit: While I'm being rapidly downvoted, I'd like to clarify that I didn't mean to demean this because it's a female nor any of the feat this research has achieved. My point was only about why is it reported as if individual feat while many…

I'm annoyed because of the breathless coverage. One would see less hyperbole if a dog had done the work. The worst thing is how soul crushing academia is. I left my physics PhD when I actually started talking to my colleagues and seeing my career trajectory. I bailed as soon as I realized I will be working until my 40s on the per hour pay of a fast food employee. I do not see why you want to push women to a field tha…

why are you equating PhD with money? Why shouldn't a fast food employee be paid the same as you? Is PhD even a job? What is life?

Re: Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

#28
Until yesterday, everyone was in awe and gender was nowhere in the picture. But political people will use this for their propaganda (can already see references on social media), unfortunately. Fortunately, gender identity/politics is not the factor for talented people.

Re: Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

#29
This is extremely misleading and fake news. 200 scientists from 40 countries participated in the project [1], not just this one. Saying that she's the one "behind the first black hole image" is clearly pushing for some propaganda, ignoring all other people work.

I have also seen countless tweets on Twitter that feature both her picture and Margaret Hamilton, saying that "The first one took us to Moon, and the second one showed us black holes", getting in total more than 1 million likes and retweets. Both are fake news and straightforward wrong.

[1]: https://erc.europa.eu/news/eu-funded-scientists-unveil-first...

Re: Katie Bouman, the computer scientist behind the first black hole image

#30
post #15
post #11

I'm not biased anyway but thinking Is it fair to attribute this entire thing to one person leaving out the team of collaborators? Doesn't it sound like what happens with Jobsism? Edit: While I'm being rapidly downvoted, I'd like to clarify that I didn't mean to demean this because it's a female nor any of the feat this research has achieved. My point was only about why is it reported as if individual feat while many…

I'm annoyed because of the breathless coverage. One would see less hyperbole if a dog had done the work. The worst thing is how soul crushing academia is. I left my physics PhD when I actually started talking to my colleagues and seeing my career trajectory. I bailed as soon as I realized I will be working until my 40s on the per hour pay of a fast food employee. I do not see why you want to push women to a field tha…

I thought scientists and academicians do it for the heck of it (and have large amount of wealth to inherit anyway) not because they want to get paid more.
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