Because that's how the world works, project leaders get fame and line workers don't.
Somehow people are OK when Elon Musk gets credit for Tesla and SpaceX, Steve Jobs for the iPhone but suddenly if it's a women people will dig the github accounts.
I don't think the Elon Musk or Steve Jobs analogy is accurate. Katie Bouman was co-leader of one of four imaging teams on the project. It seems to me the other person who co-led that team deserves equal praise and fame, and perhaps also the leaders of the other 3 teams.
Having said that, the look of excitement and joy on Dr Bouman's face in that photo is so lovely and relatable that the pic was always destined to go viral. So in that sense you could say she was bound to become the human face of the project.
Somehow people are OK when Elon Musk gets credit for Tesla and SpaceX, Steve Jobs for the iPhone but suddenly if it's a women people will dig the github accounts.