James Webb telescope: celebrating homophobia?

Submitted by AWL on 18 January, 2022 - 5:30
James Webb and JFK

James Webb (right) with JFK


In writing (Solidarity 619) about the science of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) I omitted the political dispute about its name.

James Webb was the NASA administrator (effectively, the Chief Executive Officer) from 1961 to 1968: the “Apollo Era”, which saw the birth of human space-flight. During his tenure, Webb was keen to stress the dual purpose of NASA, as an agency not just for space flight and exploration, but also scientific discovery. He was right to do so.

For this reason Webb’s eventual successor, the NASA administrator in 2002, Robert O’Keefe, named the telescope in his predecessor’s honour. This was the first major telescope to be named after a bureaucrat rather than a scientist (perhaps O’Keefe wanted to set a precedent?).

But in the same Webb era thousands of LGBTQ staff in US governmental workforces were being sacked for being “national security risks” and/or communist sympathisers via anti-LGBTQ “Lavender Scare” laws. Between 1949-1952, the Under-Secretary of State heavily involved in the implementation and drawing up of such State Department policies was one James Webb.

Whilst Webb was there hundreds of staff were either denied jobs or sacked for being gay. Shortly after Webb’s departure as Undersecretary (in 1953) a Presidential Executive Order was signed that was later used during Webb’s tenure at NASA to sack others. Webb bears significant responsibility for the appalling, discriminatory treatment of LGBTQ workers. He should not have been honoured with the naming of the JWST.

A petition to rename the telescope was launched in March 2021 and amassed over 1700 signatories (stating the Harriet Tubman Space Telescope would have been more appropriate). After agreeing to investigate Webb’s history, NASA concluded in October that there was “no evidence” to warrant a name change. This investigation was never published publicly.

With only the ability to call on the current administrator to “do the right thing”, the views of those central to the project apparently count for nothing. Clearly there is more wrong than just the name of JWST; NASA has concentrated far too much power in the role of its administrator (accountable only to one person, the US President, who hand-picks them).

The science users of the telescope, the engineers who designed and built it, the operators scheduling its observations, and the public who will benefit from its discoveries should decide this. A more vigorous campaign to democratise how science is done is well overdue; winning the right to decide what we call our experiments must form a part of this.

Josh Lovell, Cambridge

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