Can the James Webb Telescope be renamed? understand the discussion

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the most powerful telescope ever built. Equipped with 18 hexagonal mirrors, it can capture sharper images as well as travel further into space and is the first person to reach a greater distance than Earth’s orbit.

But even in orbit about 1,500,000 kilometers from Earth at a point known as the Lagrange L2 point, the James Webb Space Telescope has failed to keep itself out of controversy.

The telescope was launched into space on December 25, 2021; On July 12, 2022, the equipment dazzled the world with the release of the first scientific photographs it produced.

The telescope is named in honor of a former NASA administrator named James Edwin Webb (1906 – 1992), who during his tenure between 1961 and 1968 oversaw projects such as the first manned flight and the first attempt to bring man to Earth. The moon is on the Apollo 1 mission.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) says it won’t change the name chosen for the christening of the most powerful telescope ever built, even with protests and petitions against it.

But where is the problem? The documents show that Webb participated in a gay and lesbian hunt called “Lavender Fear,” which was dismissed by US government officials when they were found or even suspected of having a sexual orientation other than heteroaffective.

Therefore, since the name was published, astrophysicists from the universities of Chicago, New Hampshire, Washington, JustSpace AllianceHe produced a document denouncing James Webb’s discriminatory behavior and filed an online petition with NASA to rename the telescope without prejudice to people and paying tribute to someone responsible for material and emotional harm. queer.

NASA opened an investigation into the case, but claimed in September 2021 that it would not change the name due to lack of evidence. But recent documents obtained by the journal Nature show that the agency knew the facts that occurred during Webb’s administration and that even today people from the LGBTQIA+ community still face prejudice and discrimination in the world of astronomy.

Despite telling the scientists who requested the name change that they value equality and fairness, NASA was excused by repeating the mistakes of the past, spreading prejudices as well as explaining the reasons for the decision not to be made. perform the name change.