Aside from Webb's human rights record, isn't it wildly inappropriate for a major international scientific collaboration to be named after one of the host country's (non-scientist) bureaucrats?<p>This is one of the greatest scientific instruments ever produced, shouldn't it be named after an astronomer/astrophysicist? Shouldn't the scientists that worked on it for decades be the ones to pick the name?
Note that the actual title is <i>NASA Shares James Webb History Report</i>, not the title as of this posting <i>NASA Declines to Rename JWST</i>. If the poster feels that the title is clickbaity, I think that it could be simply clarified to <i>Results of NASA Investigation on the James Webb Period</i>, but I think that the original title is neutral enough.<p>Edit 2022-11-18 20:06: I think that the full title of the report, <i>NASA Historical Investigation into James E. Webb’s Relationship to the Lavender Scare</i> is actually okay but too long for HN. <i>NASA Investigation into Webb’s Relationship to the Lavender Scare</i> is concise enough.
Even if they had participated in the lavender scare, they are a product of their time. The governments themselves did it, which is funny why we somehow now trust those systems today.<p>We can both condemn the actions of a historical figure and also respect them for their achievements that did good. By trying to erase history we cannot learn from it.<p>There are significantly more important issues affecting us. Who cares about the name of a telescope when homelessness and socioeconomic inequality prevents many from even having a decent quality of living?<p>Our lives are not infinite, public action is not infinite. choose what you're going to spend it on. Twitter doesn't count.
I liked the idea of renaming it after Harriet Tubman. She help lead slaves to freedom using the stars for navigation or something, so it's <i>far</i> more appropriate to name a telescope after her than some random white guy no one's ever heard of, who also supported official intolerance LGBTQIA+ people.
Isn't it amazing how they use this ill-defined term "lavender scare"? Like it's just some fact of history. No one in charge could have prevented it. No one is to blame. Not even the literal NASA Administrator.<p>They looked for
"Notable examples would be any documentation/correspondence which James Webb was either presented with actions on the firing of homosexual employees, any policy documents requesting his approval/review, or any reports in which additional information concerning the firing of homosexual employees was presented to James Webb."<p>So, since no one complained to Webb about gay men being fired, Webb has no culpability?
No honor should adhere to those who purvey hate, especially in an official capacity.<p>Tear their statues down, rename the streets, municipalities, and telescopes.
This is kind of sad for me. I'm always impressed by the JWST's engineering and the incredible work put in over decades by talented engineers to see it completed. But the name is a painful reminder of the discrimination and outright cruelty of the federal government, even in supposedly more "meritocratic" agencies like NASA. As a compromise, I choose to only refer to the JWST by its acronym, which as far as I'm concerned lends none of its accomplishments to James Webb.