Royal Astronomical Society rebukes Nasa over alleged homophobic roots of Webb Telescope name

The Royal Astronomical Society is asking all scientists submitting papers referencing the James Webb Space Telescope to use the abbreviation JWST instead of the instrument’s full name, citing a lack of transparency from Nasa over allegations of homophobic behavior by the telescope’s namesake.

Nasa named the Webb telescope after former space agency administrator James Webb, who led Nasa from 1961 through 1968, a period that included the Apollo Moon program.

But recent scholarship by University of South Florida LBGTQA+ historian David K. Johnson suggests Webb may have participated in what Dr Johnson calls the “lavender scare,” a purge of gay and lesbian people from government service in the late 50s and 1960s.

When members of the astronomy community objected to naming the space agency’s new telescope after former administrator Webb, Nasa conducted an internal review of the evidence, They determined there was no substance to the allegations and refused to change the telescope’s name and, notably, they did not make the full report and explanation of its findings public or share them with the astronomical community.

Critics pushed back, arguing that Nasa’s review of the evidence was insufficient. One astronomer advising Nasa quit in protest.

In a Monday media statement, the RAS said it would cease using the full name of the Webb telescope because of “the apparent failure to investigate James Webb’s background and the dismissal of requests to rename the telescope.”

“Until that investigation takes place and the results are made public,” the statement goes on, “the RAS now expects authors submitting scientific papers to its journals to use the JWST acronym rather than the full name of the observatory.”

The society notes in the statement that Nasa dismissed an employee named Clifford Norton in 1963, during administrator Webb’s tenure.

“Dismissing employees for their sexual orientation is entirely unacceptable,” the statement reads.

The RAS has written to Nasa, the UK space agency, and the European Space Agency, concerning the allegations against former administrator Webb — who died in 1992 — adding the society’s voice to that of the American Astronomical Society, AAS, which has also requested Nasa fully explain its decision not to rename the Webb telescope.

Nasa has not responded to the two letters sent by the AAS, the RAS noted in Monday’s statement.

“The UK Space Agency, the European Space Agency, and NASA are all strong public advocates of equity, diversity and inclusion in recruitment and retention of employees, ideas central to the mission of the RAS,” the society’s statement reads. “We therefore share the disappointment of the AAS in NASA’s failure to respond and to investigate Webb’s background.”

The Webb telescope was developed jointly by Nasa, ESA, and the Canadian space agency, but named by Nasa, which has a tradition of naming space observatories after pioneering scientists and administrators.

The Hubble Space Telescope took its name from astronomer Edwin Hubble, who helped establish that the universe is expanding, while the Spitzer Space Telescope took its name from astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer, Jr., the first person to propose putting telescopes in space. The upcoming Nasa Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to be launched in 2026, takes its name from Nasa’s first chief of astronomy.