AS VIRAL IMAGES GO, SCIENTISTS COULDN’T HAVE asked for a better one-two combo. On April 10, the first-ever image of a black hole and its burning ring of gas was seen around the world. Next came a different kind of caught-in-the-moment radiance—the overjoyed reaction of Katherine Bouman, whose algorithm played a role in the black hole’s capture.
It was a good day for science, as well as for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
It was also, unfortunately, a rare day, with the black hole representing a troubling metaphor. That term might describe the experience of many girls who, despite their love of STEM, don’t receive the same encouragement that boys do. Often called the “leaky pipeline,” this problem grows during the high school years, when interest in…