The James Webb Space Telescope is the most advanced observatory in human history, and it is just now starting to show amazing images of the universe.
Some members of the astronomy community have pointed out that the name of the company is a reference to the time when NASA was hostile to queer employees.
A group of scientists wrote in Scientific American last year that, as someone in management, he bore responsibility for policies enacted under his leadership, including homophobic ones that were in place when he became NASA administrator. We agree. NASA isn't naming its telescope after its entire administration.
Nobody was calling for a complete cancellation of the work done by the man. It's reasonable to ask why NASA chose to name the telescope after a leader with so much baggage. The telescope could be renamed after the Underground Railway hero, who almost certainly used rudimentary astronomy to guide her way to freedom after her daring escape from slavery.
NASA was not compelled by that line of argument. After the outrcry, it launched an investigation into the history of the space telescope and found no evidence to change its name.
Critics said the investigation didn't do enough to scrutinize him or hold him accountable. Lucianne Walkowicz, an astronomer with NASA, resigned over the controversy.
Walkowicz wrote at the time that NASA would prefer a committee of Yes Men.
Nature released emails that show more handwringing over the decision than NASA made public when it dismissed the allegations and refused to rename the telescope.
Particularly troubling are emails showing that an external researcher flagged to NASA leadership 1969 court records in which a judge found that it had been custom within the agency to fire employees.
The emails obtained by the request show that the external researcher wrote to the program scientist about the paragraph being troubling.
At least internally, NASA leadership took those concerns seriously. In a white paper obtained by Nature, NASA workers appear to have conceded that the administration of James Webb had the power to change the practice.
According to the paper, NASA had decided to remove homosexual employees.
NASA's brusque public dismissal of the concerns raised hackles in the research community.
The rationale and explanation from the Agency was insufficient, non-transparent, and uninformative, according to a group of NASA advisors.
The scientists who had previously criticized the decision not to rename the telescope expressed disappointment in NASA in light of the new emails.
According to Nature, Walkowicz and the others authors of the Scientific American piece said that the emails paint a stark portrait of how astronomy outside the LGBTQ+ community ignores the experiences of their queer colleagues.
Why has NASA not hired more black and brown astronauts?
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