NASA Pressed to Rename Leading Telescope Over Anti-LGBT Claims – Investigation Opens | science

The $8.8 billion (£6.32 billion) probe will peer into space when it launches later this year and is NASA’s astronomical flagship. However, the space agency is considering changing its name after reports emerged that James Webb, named after him, was involved in the persecution of gays and lesbians during his career in the US government. Some astronomers claim that defending his name would glorify anti-LGBT+ vibes, while others say there isn’t enough evidence against Webb yet.

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Webb, a former NASA administrator, oversaw the space agency from the beginning of the Kennedy era to the end of the Johnson administration.

In May, four prominent scientists, citing Webb’s alleged involvement in discrimination, launched a petition to change the telescope’s name.

It has garnered 1,250 signatories, including experts who have been given observation time at the telescope.

NASA has now launched an investigation into the allegations.

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Brian Odom, NASA’s chief historian, is working with non-agency historians to review archival documents about Webb’s policies and actions, authorities said.

Only after the investigation is complete will NASA decide what to do.

Paul Hertz, head of NASA’s astrophysics division, told the agency’s advisory committee on June 29: “We have to make a conscious decision.

“We have to be transparent to the community and the public about the reasons for every decision we make.”

Former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe decided in 2002 to name the probe after Webb.

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Petitioner wrote in Scientific American earlier this year, “The records clearly show that Webb planned and attended a meeting where he presented homophobic material.”

But David Johnson, a historian at the University of South Florida in Tampa who wrote The Lavender Scare in 2004, said he had no evidence that Webb led or instigated the persecution.

He told Nature, “I don’t see him as some kind of leader in the fear of lavender.”

NASA has not yet made an estimate of when its research will be completed.

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