telescope images James Webbthe most powerful ever placed in space, were successful last week by showing, for the first time, records of distant galaxies formed after the Big Bang.
The excitement, however, has reignited calls from some scientific communities who want to rename the space instrument because of NASA scientist James Edwin Webb’s alleged involvement in government policies to persecute the LGBTQIA+ community.
After serving as US Under Secretary of State from 1949 to 1952, Webb became the second administrator of the US space agency, a position he held from 1961 to 1968.
Over these seven years, he was accused several times of being an accomplice of the US government in the systematic dismissal of LGBTQIA+ employees, an action that became known as part of the Lavender Scare (Lavender Scare, in free translation).
At that time, people who did not identify as straight or cis were considered a danger to the US and seen as “an evil to be fought”. They were forced to resign or were fired from public service because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
In a statement to NBC News, a NASA spokesperson said Tuesday that the agency’s historians have conducted an “exhaustive search of currently accessible archives on James Webb and his career.” The work included conversations with experts who “have extensively researched this topic before”.
“NASA has found no evidence at this time to justify the telescope’s name change,” the statement said. “They are compiling their information now in an update the agency will share.”
Despite this, the defense organization Just Space Alliance released a 40-minute documentary detailing evidence of Webb’s involvement in discriminatory policies.
“I think NASA is making life difficult for everyone by not being willing to initiate or even participate in a kind of transparent, open conversation about the issue at hand, with this specific name for this specific telescope and the idea of what we can name. telescopes and other instruments in general,” says astrophysicist Brian Nord in the film.
* Intern at R7under the supervision of Pablo Marques
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