Yesterday, NASA released the first images from the James Webb space telescope. The instrument - which is the most powerful telescope ever launched - captured a sequence of stunning images of deep space.
However, for many people, the release of the photos was soured by the telescope being named after Webb - a NASA administrator who has historically been accused of persecuting LGBTQ+ people, The Guardian reports.
During his tenure as the second administrator of Nasa, Webb oversaw many of the Apollo missions in the 1960s. Before joining the space agency, he also served as the US undersecretary of state between 1949 and 1952.
Calls for the $10 billion instrument to be renamed have been renewed, with petitions springing up on Change.org and advocates taking to Twitter asking the space agency that they remove Webb's name from the machine.
In recent years, allegations have arisen that Webb was complicit in the Lavender Scare "witch-hunt", which saw gay and lesbian employees dismissed en-masse from US government services during the mid-20th century.
Most notably, Webb oversaw the firing of NASA employee Clifford Norton in 1963. Norton lost his job after being interrogated under suspicion of homosexuality, and later launched a successful lawsuit against the agency, accusing them of wrongful dismissal.
Additionally, per NPR, theoretical physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein said last year: "At best, Webb's record is complicated/not great. And at worst, we're basically just sending this incredible instrument into the sky with the name of a homophobe on it."
Since early 2021, people have been calling on NASA to remove Webb's name from the deep space telescope. One petition - which has been signed by over 1,700 members of the astronomy community - demands "the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), be renamed."
"This new mission reflects the rainbow of possible universes that our community imagines, dreams about, and works for, and its name should reflect its future legacy," it adds.
On Monday, one of the researchers leading the petition - assistant professor of physics at the University of New Hampshire Chanda Prescod-Weinstein - tweeted that the release of the telescope's photos felt "bittersweet".
"Nasa leadership has stubbornly refused to acknowledge that what is now public info about JW’s legacy means he does not merit having a great observatory named after him," she wrote.
Another astronomer Phil Plait also took to social media to pressure NASA, writing: "The observatory will produce amazing science and gorgeous images, certainly the equal of anything Hubble has done. But it’s named after someone irrevocably tied to bigotry and homophobia."
Meanwhile, other petitions have appeared on the campaigning platform Change.org, accusing Webb of being a "bigot". "For those that don't know, the name of the most powerful and complex space telescope to ever look into spacetime is being named after a bigot," one petition read. Another argued: "James Webb was a homophobe [...] Tell NASA to rename this telescope after someone who was not a bigot. "
Per The Guardian, NASA responded to demands to rename the instrument last September, when current administrator Bill Nelson announced: "We have found no evidence at this time that warrants changing the name of the James Webb space telescope."