The article was contributed to Space.com's expert voices: op-ed and insights.
Alice is an Associate Professor in Archaeology and Space Studies at the university.
The first images from the space telescope are amazing. The telescope is shining light on regions of the universe that have never been seen before.
NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency collaborated on the project.
It is easy to forget the controversy surrounding the telescope. It is named after a NASA administrator who was associated with the persecution of queer people in theLavender Scare of the 1950s and '60s.
"Behind the Name: James Webb Space Telescope" highlights the troubled legacy of the observatory's namesake, James Webb, who headed NASA during the Cold War and many say was actively involved in the federal government's of purge gay employees. pic.twitter.com/B7sywTrUVWJuly 15, 2022
You can see more.
The James Webb Space Telescope lets us see the first galaxies in the universe, and it's called a Cosmic Time Machine.
He was born in North Carolina. He earned degrees in education and law while in the Marines.
A senior position in the State Department was held by him.
The position of NASA administrator has been held by two people since the agency was established in 1958.
He was in charge of the Apollo program to land people on the moon. He was successful in getting Congress to support him, as well as navigating NASA through the aftermath of the Apollo 1 tragedy, in which three astronauts died.
In the Cold War environment, science was a political tool. He promoted psychological warfare, or propaganda.
Before Apollo 11 flew to the moon, webb left NASA. He served on various advisory boards and was involved with the flagship cluster of museums in the U.S. He passed away in 1992.
Western capitalist democracies were worried about communists during the cold war. This was known as the Red Scare. The paranoia was entwined with the " lavender scare"
Proponents of these ideas argued that because of the social stigma attached to their sexuality, they were at risk of being blackmailed into becoming soviet spies. The purge of LGBTQ+ people from US government employment began in the late 1940s.
The Lavender Scare's exact role is a subject of much debate. Astronomers are petitioning to have the telescope renamed due to the fact that it was involved in high-level meetings about lavender scare policies.
The authors of the Scientific American article were led by a cosmologist.
The records show that he handed over homophobic material. There is no record of him standing up for those being mistreated.
David Johnson, a historian at the University of South Florida, who wrote the 2004 book The Lavender Scare, says he doesn't know of any evidence of persecution. The context of the White House meeting on the threat posed by gay people was to contain the hysteria that members of congress were creating. Johnson doesn't think he's a leader in the Lavender Scare.
Is it any better if the policies were enacted instead of leading the persecution? The investigation and firing of employees of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer community was opposed by other departments.
The public is usually invited to contribute to the naming of space instruments. It's not uncommon for names to be changed. The Gamma Ray Observatory was renamed after physicist Arthur Holly Compton after it was launched.
The name of the telescope was chosen by Sean O'Keefe.
There is no evidence at this point that warrants changing the name of the telescope, according to NASA.
The question for some people is whether or not he was personally gay.
It's similar to the controversy surrounding German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, who was involved in the Third Reich.
Von Braun was a key player in the US space program.
Von Braun's Nazi past is mentioned on NASA's website. According to space historian Michael J. Neufeld, his Nazi record was not known until after he died.
Von Braun's political loyalties are said to be due to his desire to launch rockets into space.
Two experts explain what we have learned from the first images of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Issues that have come to the fore in recent times can be traced back to the James Webb space telescope.
There has been a backlash against the memorialization of colonial "heroes" who were involved in violence against Indigenous and enslaved people.
Some people don't like the idea of inclusivity. Historical barriers to participation in science are based on race, class, gender and disability.
Science is supposed to be objective and not prejudiced. Scientists and science administrators are like any other person with their own beliefs and flaws.
We don't know if we judge them by the standards of their time or by the ones we hold today.
The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 states that space belongs to everyone.
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