The Voice of Science - "Colouring Black Holes: Epistemic and Aesthetic Choices in Astronomical Images" with Dr Rodrigo Ochigame

by Dr Rodrigo Ochigame (Université de Leiden)

Monday 30 Jun 2025, 13:30 → 14:30 Europe/Zurich

52/1-052 (CERN)

The event is aimed at the CERN community and CERN Alumni and Retirees, therefore in-person attendance will require having a valid CERN access card.

CERN Alumni should use this form to request CERN access cards.

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Last year, CERN celebrated 70 years of groundbreaking scientific collaboration and innovation, with science communication playing a pivotal role in highlighting these achievements. Join us for an exciting series of events "The Voice of Science" centered on science communication, featuring renowned speakers who will share their expertise and insights into making complex scientific ideas accessible and engaging for all. The events will take place at the CERN Library located in Blg. 52/1-052.

The sixth talk will be by Rodrigo Ochigame. In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration published the first image of a black hole from observation. This iconic image, featuring the shadow of the supermassive black hole at the core of galaxy Messier 87, made news headlines around the world. Although the EHT published only a single image, this was the outcome of a long process of construction involving many choices. The collaboration considered different algorithms, parameters, and colors, producing countless images along the way. This presentation will examine the epistemic and aesthetic choices involved in the construction of black hole images. For each stage of the process, it will show how the images would have looked if scientists had made alternative choices, draw comparisons to historical and contemporary cases of other researchers who faced similar problems, and raise philosophical questions about the making of astronomical images and scientific evidence.

Rodrigo Ochigame is an assistant professor in the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University. Their research examines unorthodox models of computational rationality, such as nonclassical logics from Brazil, nonbinary Turing machines from India, and frameworks of information science from Cuba. Their teaching specialties include digital anthropology, the anthropology of science and technology, and the social dimensions of robotics and artificial intelligence. Ochigame received a BA with highest honours from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Information from: Rodrigo Ochigame - Leiden University