Right Telescope, Wrong Name
JWST is great for science, but a toxic reminder of homophobia in the enterprise
This week, Science names as our Breakthrough of the Year the James Webb Space Telescope. There’s a great package of stories and video on this achievement.
In my editorial, I talk about the fact that the space program has always been about BOTH science and inspiration. Many scientists joined our profession due to motivation they got from the space program. But Jim Webb’s name is associated with purging of LGBTQ+ folks from NASA and with Congressional testimony asserting that it was a valid practice. Therefore, it is a reminder to us all - but especially to LGBTQ+ individuals — that homophobia has always existed in science - and still does. The fact that NASA posted a mealy-mouthed report doubling down on keeping the name, just rubs salt in the wound.
For a program known for courage, they certainly are not showing any.
There isn't any evidence against James Webb. This is just left-wing hysteria gone off the deep end., See "The controversy continues about naming the Webb Space Telescope; the woke won’t give up in the face of the facts" (https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2022/12/20/the-controversy-continues-about-naming-the-webb-space-telescope-for-the-woke-wont-give-up-in-the-face-of-the-facts/). Quotes
"This article in a recent New York Times tells a sad tale of the vindictiveness of scientific ideologues and their determination to gain control over science by flaunting their own victim status, as well as by blatantly ignoring the truth. It involves the naming of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) over the objections of people who asserted, wrongly, that Webb was a homophobe who fired gay people from NASA and the government (he was administrator of the organization from 1961-1968, and before that the Undersecretary of State from 1949 to 1952)."
and
"Hakeem Oluseyi, who is now the president of the National Society of Black Physicists, was sympathetic to these critics. Then he delved into archives and talked to historians and wrote a carefully sourced essay in Medium in 2021 that laid out his surprising findings.
“I can say conclusively,” Dr. Oluseyi wrote, “that there is zero evidence that Webb is guilty of the allegations against him.”
That, he figured, would be that. He was wrong."
Aren't You Glad You Aren't Named James Webb
http://mileswmathis.com/webb.pdf
Here's some of the best science I've found: https://cataclysmicearthhistory.substack.com/archive
Also: https://substack.com/profile/98340589-len-kinder