Katie Bouman helped create the black hole image. You know what followed.

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New Delhi: The first direct image of a black hole was celebrated as an important scientific and technological knowledge. But research by Katie Bouman, a researcher who helped create the image, showed that women continue to be harassed online and face barriers that prevent their contributions from being recognized.

Shortly after the photo of the black hole of the M87 became viral on social media Wednesday, Bouman has also gained a reputation on the Internet. A photo of the 29-year-old researcher was broadcast on Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, as well as notes recognizing her role in obtaining the image.

The Twitter account of the MIT computer and artificial intelligence laboratory congratulated Bouman and say"Three years ago, Katie Bouman, a graduate student at MIT, led the creation of a new algorithm designed to produce the very first image of a black hole."

This led many to think that she was the only one responsible for creating the image, although in reality, 215 people were part of the project. Bouman also said in a Facebook message that "no algorithm or person created this image".

However, the trolls quickly began to make false claims that she did not have "a lot of role" in the project. On Reddit, YouTube and Instagram, several users claimed that it was a male colleague who deserved credit for the image.

Although Bouman's colleagues have since defended, the incident highlights misleading and misogynistic comments from women in social media who are trying to reduce their contributions.

according to NBC NewsOn Friday, the lies surrounding Bouman's role in the project exceeded "legitimate coverage in YouTube and Instagram search results."

Twitter users pointed out that the first search result of "Katie Bouman" on YouTube was a video titled "A woman makes 6% of the work but gets 100% of the credit". According to some sources, the video is inaccurate and is based on lies pushed by a "human rights" community.

YouTube later corrected its algorithm and the search result is now a video of Bouman presenting a TED talk.

The inaccurate video claims that Andrew Chael, a "white man and straight", did most of the work. This assertion was based on a number of publicly available lines of code published on the Github repository.

Responding on Twitter, Chael, an astrophysicist who worked with Bouman, called the theory theory "terrible and sexist". He also made it clear that he was actually gay. According to rumors that Chael wrote 850,000 lines of code, the Harvard University graduate student said that the current version of the software contained only 68,000 lines of code.

He added that he was delighted that Bouman was recognized for his work and inspired people as "an example of women's leadership in STEM".

"I am also delighted that she pointed out that it was a team effort involving many beginning scientists, including many junior women scientists," she said. did he declare.

A YouTube spokesperson told NBC that the platform was working to "change its system to value authoritative content."

We have taken a number of steps to address this issue, including the release of more authoritative content on our site for people looking for news, starting to reduce the number of limiting content recommendations, and displaying information boards with more sources where they can check their own information. , "Said the spokesman.

Becca Lewis, a research subsidiary of Data & Society, a non-profit research institute, also told the chain that the incident proved that YouTube's algorithm rewarded the commitment and the time spent on the site to "maximize advertising revenue" instead of facts.

"We often find that it leads YouTube to recommend sensationalist content that is often conspiratorial or sectarian," Lewis said. "In return, content creators are encouraged to create this type of content, and a deeply reactionary culture has emerged on the platform."

On Instagram too, "Katie Bouman" was an account that personified her. According to reports, it was created late Thursday night and made false statements about it.

The incident highlights Vitriol women scientists on social media, but should also remember that their bad experiences are not limited to such platforms. For example, studies have shown that articles with early female writers received 10% fewer citations than comparable articles with early male authors.

An article published in 2013 revealed that examiners to whom abstracts had been awarded, ostensibly written by women or men, gave male authors a higher scientific quality.

When scientists analyzed the results of peer reviews for postdoctoral fellowships in Sweden, they found that it was "stigmatized". Women also received lower skill ratings than men whose publication impact was less than half.

Bouman probably became the representative of the 215-member team after a photo of her, her hands on her mouth and the excitement of the occasion on her face, perfectly captured the feeling of thousands of people. As Mary Beth Griggs pointed out in The edge"It's hard to keep 215 names and faces in your head. It is easy to remember a delighted face on a photo. "

In 2017, when three scientists won the Nobel Prize for the first direct detection of gravitational waves, Popular science pointed out that 1,011 people had participated in the experiment. He listed their names as "legion of non-songs," while drawing attention to how prices help the deleterious myth of the "solitary genius" to continue.

But like The edge argues that highlighting the role of a female scientist in such a historic project shows "a model of a scientist different from the one we grew up with". This is also why films like Hidden figures must recognize the contributions of three black women – Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson – in the "space race".

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