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This brief update from the UK's Royal Astronomical Society, which is mentioned and linked to in the article, is pertinent. It was posted on 22nd December 2022.
by proactivesvcs 4y ago
This brief update from the UK's Royal Astronomical Society, which is mentioned and linked to in the article, is pertinent. It was posted on 22nd December 2022.
https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/update-ras-and-jwst https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/update-ras-and-jwst
"The RAS recently wrote to the UK Space Agency, ESA and NASA to express its concerns about the original JWST naming process, the apparent failure to investigate James Webb’s background and the dismissal of requests to rename the telescope.
NASA has now published the findings of an investigation into Webb by its official historian. The Society welcomes this report, and notes that it finds no evidence that Webb took an active part in the ‘Lavender Scare’, the purges of gay men from the United States federal workforce in the 1940s and 1950s."
- rnk 4y agoWe are a screwed up world, even as we attempt to improve things and grudgingly admit our problems in the past. I was reminded of the uk's own struggles with destroying the life of Turing in the 1950s. I'm not blaming the UK, the US was pretty terrible and you can add in our own racism, sexism, genocidal actions against native Americans. The little compassion we have for each other today will probably be seen as unbelievable in the future - I hope compassion will increase.
- proactivesvcs 4y agoThe UK has a very deep, dark history that we have to work to recover from, and ensure never happens again. History that must not be forgotten, if this is to be the case.
- crackercrews 4y agoI thought the key text was: > In the light of this, the RAS will now allow authors submitting scientific papers to its journals to use either James Webb Space Telescope or the acronym JWST to refer to the observatory, should they wish to do so. Authors can spell out the acronym at first mention if they wish.