The controversial legacy of James Webb, the man after whom the world’s most powerful telescope is named

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – the most powerful one ever to be launched into space – gave us the deepest look into the images yet. Even as the world is wowed by stunning photographs of far-flung galaxies, there’s a growing call among astronomers to rename the telescope. But why?

Absolutely breathtaking views of the @NASAWebb telescope’s first full-color images to the world 🔭 #UnfoldTheUniverse @OneTimesSq @NASA ✨ pic.twitter.com/jZu2DLrhlT

— Times Square (@TimesSquareNYC) July 12, 2022

Who is James Webb? The pathbreaking telescope is named after James Webb, an American official who was the second administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He led the space agency during the 1960s, as it was readying to land on the moon. The man described by The New York Times as “a staunch supporter of space science” also served as the United States undersecretary from 1949 to 1952. In 2002, NASA announced that its next telescope would be named after James Webb. While some astronomers were not pleased that the instrument was named after an administrator, others had far more serious concerns. Webb was allegedly responsible for the “Lavender Scare” witch-hunt in the 1950s and ’60s. Also read: Explained: The James Webb telescope that brought us an image of how the universe looked 13 billion years ago What is the Lavender Scare? The Lavender Scare is the persecution of the LGBTQ+ community in the US government offices. During this time, those suspected to be homosexuals were fired from their jobs. In March, after the launch of the telescope, Nature magazine reported about the case of Clifford Norton, who had been fired from NASA in 1963 for being gay. He was laid off for “immoral, indecent, and disgraceful conduct” after being grilled for allegedly being a homosexual man. Norton appealed and won a landmark case against such discrimination in 1969, according to a report in NYT. Nature had also published 400 pages of internal NASA documents along with a white paper that said, “Nasa had decided that removal of homosexual employees would be its policy. They had a choice during Webb’s tenure as administrator to set or change that policy.” [caption id=“attachment_10907451” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  The telescope is named after James Webb, an American official who was the second administrator of NASA. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] What was Webb’s role? When Norton was dismissed, Webb was the administrator of the space agency. He was alleged to have played a role in the sacking of other LGBTQ+ employees. The controversy came to the fore once again last year when four astronomers — Lucianne Walkowicz, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Brian Nord, and Sarah Tuttle — published an op-ed in Scientific American headlined “The James Webb Space Telescope Needs to Be Renamed.” They said that it was unfortunate that NASA named the “incredible instrument” after a man “whose legacy at best is complicated and at worst reflects complicity in homophobic discrimination in the federal government”. “When he (Webb) arrived at NASA in 1961, his leadership role meant he was in part responsible for implementing what was by then federal policy: the purging of LGBT individuals from the workforce. When he was at State, this policy was enforced by those who worked under him. As early as 1950, he was aware of this policy, which was a forerunner to the antigay witch hunt known today as the lavender scare,” the astronomers wrote. The op-ed mentions “archival evidence” found by Columbia University astronomer Adrian Lucy underlining “Webb’s role as a facilitator of homophobic policy discussions with members of the Senate”. [caption id=“attachment_10907461” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  This NASA photo shows the primary mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope inside a cleanroom at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Scientists and astronomers have been demanding that the name of the telescope be changed since 2021. AFP[/caption] When did the fight for the name change begin? Scientists and astronomers have been demanding that the name of the telescope be changed since 2021. A petition was signed by more than 17,000 people from the community. Dr Prescod-Weinstein, one of the researchers leading the renaming petition, tweeted on Monday, “As one of the people who has been leading the push to change the name, today feels bittersweet, I’m so excited for the new images and so angry at Nasa HQ.” “Nasa leadership has stubbornly refused to acknowledge that what is now public info about JW’s legacy means he does not merit having a great observatory named after him,” she said.

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American astronomer Phil Plait said that the telescope is named after “someone irrevocably tied to bigotry and homophobia” and NASA “has botched the way they handled the situation”. What is NASA saying? NASA said it would investigate the allegations but in September last year, Bill Nelson, the current administrator of the space agency and a former senator, announced that the telescope’s name would not be changed. A one-sentence statement was released to some media outlets saying, “We have found no evidence at this time that warrants changing the name of the James Webb Space Telescope.” In November of 2021, NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Committee asked the agency for a fuller report. Sean O’Keefe, who was the administrator in 2002 when the agency announced the decision to name the telescope after Webb, defended the decision in an email. “Arguably, were it not for James Webb’s determination to fulfill the most audacious vision of his time, our capacity to explore today would be starkly different,” O’Keefe said, according to the NYT report. After the first images of the Webb telescope were released on Tuesday, a NASA spokesperson said that historians at the space agency were looking into the allegations against Webb. With inputs agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.