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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

#161

Post by tomhoward »

founderling wrote: post #151
tomhoward wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is anyone knowledgeable about the project calling it a "photo" (i.e., the term you used) or are they calling it (more accurately) an "image"? My take in response to your original question is that it seems like nitpicking or armchair quarterbacking or something else related to that. I'm always wary of succumbing to the "appeal to authority" fallacy, but this does seem like a case where all the experts and leading figu…

Well, what would be a "first image"? There have been countless images depicting black holes since forever: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=black+hole&t=h_&ia=images&iax=imag...

This is an image rendered from photons that had passed around the black hole, and travelled to Earth and been captured by a radio telescope that humans built.

It's the first time that's been done.

All the images in the DDG search are artistic constructions.

Edit: The thing that's so remarkable is that it does look like what scientists predicted it would look like, and thus some of those artistic representations are similar to what we're now seeing in this image.

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

#162

Post by black_puppydog »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #159
scott_s wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Papers are routinely credited to their first author. Everyone understand the co-authors also took part. She also clearly credits the rest of the team in the posted BBC article.

Now we just need the BBC not to wet themselves because a woman #gasp# can do science.

I guess that's gonna happen once these things become so commonplace as not to qualify to be "news". So... they're working on it I guess :D

To clarify: I don't doubt women can do science, just empirically, they don't get to do it as often (at this level) as men.

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

#165

Post by ralfd »

matt4077 wrote: post #85

Here's a HN story from a while back titled "The Man Behind Windows PowerShell"[0]. Of the 129 comments on that story, not one discussed how software development at Microsoft is always a team effort. Or checked any repositories counting LoC to quantify the value of his contribution. Meanwhile, in this thread, I see 6 of 73 comments as of now not discussing a woman's relative contribution to a team effort, and how she…

Not really a fitting comparison. Snover is describing himself as inventor of power shell, he pushed the project against resistance of his peers/superiors in Microsoft and implemented the first prototype. Without him it simply wouldn’t exist.

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

#166

Post by lr4444lr »

threeseed wrote: post #67
warp_factor wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think those comments try to react to the fact that this news got overblown because the researcher is a very talented woman. She definitely did something amazing and unfortunately it turned political because it fits the narrative that some people love to push currently. I'm not a fan of the liberal agenda of positive//negative discrimination. I really believe that it is making everyone worse off, especially women th…

Nobody is aiming to treat women like little kids. We just want to show that you if you accomplish something in tech you aren't going to be diminished or dismissed simply because you're a woman.

Is there some blind spot people have when a woman is involved? Achievements by men are run through a gamut of informed and not-so-informed criticism all the time on HN. Bouman is getting standard treatment.

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

#167

Post by hurryskurry »

telesilla wrote: post #153
bubblewrap wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What prevents you from taking a man as a role model?

I do! And many of them. But imagine you have a strong, particular physical trait and you are in a room with others who do not share that trait. Usually you forget about it, but sometimes it matters because you have to use a different bathroom, or you don't get easily invited out for drinks because of tension or maybe you don't speak the language well, or maybe there are perceived cultural barriers. If you saw someone…

Except in most of STEM there are already an equal number of women. As soon as the baby boomers retire itll be obvious. Women get more PhDs than men, and have been for a while.

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

#168

Post by hurryskurry »

juliendorra wrote: post #103
dunslandsboo wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you want to change the behaviour of women regarding their choice of study field?

You misunderstood. We want any person, women and young girls included, to be able to pursue a career path, if they have even the faintest desire of it, without self-censorship, negative remarks, feeling out of place, their vocation and/or skills being continuously challenged randomly, or having to cope with various forms of harassment. If you build an environment that allow that, women presence in the field surge. An…

In more equal societies women tend to choose STEM less though

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

#169

Post by telesilla »

hurryskurry wrote: post #167
telesilla wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do! And many of them. But imagine you have a strong, particular physical trait and you are in a room with others who do not share that trait. Usually you forget about it, but sometimes it matters because you have to use a different bathroom, or you don't get easily invited out for drinks because of tension or maybe you don't speak the language well, or maybe there are perceived cultural barriers. If you saw someone…

Except in most of STEM there are already an equal number of women. As soon as the baby boomers retire itll be obvious. Women get more PhDs than men, and have been for a while.

Do you work in an office with low-level programmers and hardware designers? I do, and I'm one of a handful of women in the building. Actually at the moment, I'm the only one and I'm lobbying for our new hire of managing director to be a woman but it's likely not going to happen because I can't find someone qualified. When I teach in the field at my university, I'm the only woman. And I live in a very popular, large city. Even less, as owners - when I go to a conference of hundreds of businesses, I'm maybe one or 3 or 4 in my field who owns her company. We're not equal yet. Maybe California and the East Coast have some slight more balance, but it's not distributed to the rest of the world yet.

In spite of this, I'm lucky to have an amazing network of other women in my field, and thanks to the internet and cultural exchanges, we don't feel so alone these days.

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

#170

Post by bubblewrap »

telesilla wrote: post #153
bubblewrap wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What prevents you from taking a man as a role model?

I do! And many of them. But imagine you have a strong, particular physical trait and you are in a room with others who do not share that trait. Usually you forget about it, but sometimes it matters because you have to use a different bathroom, or you don't get easily invited out for drinks because of tension or maybe you don't speak the language well, or maybe there are perceived cultural barriers. If you saw someone…

I must say, I never really felt like that. I never saw another man do something great and then thought "hey, I can also do that, since I am also a man".

In the same vein, I never quite understood fandom of soccer, for example. If "my" team (or my country) wins in soccer, I never felt like it was my achievement somehow. The athletes trained really hard to become good at soccer. I didn't train hard. So I don't feel like I deserve a share of their glory.

And I never felt like every other man, just because I am also a man. Some other men are smarter than me, or more athletic, or more attractive. I never thought I am simply the same, just because I am a man.

Of course, I take not of your view, if you felt like that, it can't be argued with. Just in my personal opinion, it doesn't really make sense. Unless it concerns something that is gender specific, like giving birth. I am not looking at women giving birth and think "I could do that" - I definitely can't, because I am a man...

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