How Katie Bouman Accidentally Became the Face of the Black Hole Project

“Honestly, it was a dream come true,” Sandra Bustamante, a telescope instrumentalist who worked on the project, said in an interview this week.

Feryal Ozel, an astronomy and astrophysics professor at the University of Arizona who was on the science council for the project, first published a paper on black hole imaging in 2000. She called the unveiling “a sweet moment that’s been a long time in the making.”

In an interview on Thursday, Dr. Ozel said that it was exciting to see people interested in the role of women in science, but she highlighted the contributions of other women and men. That included one of her male graduate students, who took multiple trips to the South Pole, where one of the telescopes was located.

“I think giving credit to any single individual — whether this is a woman or man, young or old — harms the collaboration,” she said.

Penn Sheppard, who works with Girls Inc., an organization that empowers young women and offers after-school programming to support girls learning in science, technology, engineering and math, said that Dr. Bouman’s story resonated in an industry in which women are underrepresented — and in a world in which their scientific contributions have historically gone unacknowledged.

“It was an opportunity to see an accomplished woman play a significant role, and being acknowledged in that role,” she said. “That’s significant because girls and young boys are starting to see that women are scientists — not just you can be, but you are.”

Ms. Issaoun said she also wanted to celebrate the success of a diverse collaboration of scientists, but she said she understood why the photo of Dr. Bouman went viral.

“We love this photo too, because she looks so happy,” said Ms. Issaoun, who said she got shivers when she saw the image of a black hole. “I think her expression really captures how we all felt when we first saw it.”