NASA won t rename James Webb telescope and astronomers are angry

NASA has decided not to rename its soon-to-be-launched flagship observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), after investigating whether its namesake, former NASA administrator James Webb, was involved in persecuting gay and lesbian people in the 1950s and 1960s. The agency says it found no evidence to support the allegations.

The decision and the lack of transparency with which it was announced NASA released no report about the scope of the investigation has angered a number of astronomers.

I m disappointed, says Johanna Teske, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC. Without knowing what factors were considered, it s hard for me to respect the decision to keep the current name.

via www.nature.com

Angry astronomers. Very, very angry astronomers. Some of them anyway.