how to name a telescope: why james webb?

WHYYYYYY? Why is it the James Webb Space Telescope? Why?
Links in video:
Johnson library interview: discoverlbj.or...
JFK meeting: history.nasa.g...
NPR interview with O'keefe: www.npr.org/20...
Dan Savage blog: www.thestrange...
Medium article: / was-nasas-historic-lea...
Scientific American article:
www.scientific...
/ acollierastro
#jwst #renameJWST

[@BrutalSnuggles]

Here I was, as a casual science fan, thinking I was gonna get the lesson I've been hoping for about the great scientific achievements of James Webb 😂

[@fmdj]

ahahah she got us good :)

[@CDWCAULDRON]

I want to name a Space telescope Vogon Constructor Fleet. Because it is at points like this that i turn to, Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy “In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” I still want to see whats out there .

[@Dunybrook]

He wasn't a scientist but did a lot to advance science and secure the funding that made space exploration possible.

[@sofiaatomo5175]

right???

[@sjappelodorus]

The fact that JWST is a joint project with the European and Canadian space agencies seems like another reason not to name it after a NASA guy

[@galev3955]

Okay now That sounds like an actual good reason.

[@octavohombre2]

It's up to them to request a change of name, then.

[@justmoritz]

@@galev3955you didn't watch the video I take it?

[@irisfailsafe]

NASA designed it, Northrop Grumman built it, CSA and ESA put money in order to be granted partnership. ESA payed for the launch which is why it was launched with an Ariane rocket

[@robnobert]

lmao 🤦‍♂️ just shows how ignorant you are about Europe's contribution to JWST, their involvement almost wrecked the project and the only thing they really added was the launch vehicle - which frankly is meh as JWST could've launched on another vehicle if required. Europe piggy backs on our program because they're too incompetent to get anything done all on their own. 🫶 Even RUSSIA Russia!!!! And before the Soviets! Had a better space program. ESA is an embarrassment and a pathetic joke. There are many many stories about how ESA almost ruined the entire JWST project due to their incompetency. It was right to name JWST after an American. As a long time gay, I just don't care about his politics. James Webb is maybe the ONLY person a telescope is named after who WHOLE HARDEDLY 💯💯💯 deserves the accolade. Galileo is an old fart nobody cares about him anymore. And Hubble is a cool scope and all but literally nobody ever met the guy irl.

[@coolsenjoyer]

I'm glad most scientists usually just refer to it as JWST and I can just imagine it stands for Jace Welescope Space Telescope. If they had to name something after James Webb, they should've saved it for like the first administrative building on a moon base or something, that would actually be fitting since he administrated humans to the moon

[@judychurley6623]

It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter.

[@Simon-fg8iz]

And most pronounce it Jay-Boo-Es-Tee, because spelling out W makes the acronym as long as the actual phrase.

[@wodthehunter8145]

@@Simon-fg8iz Also because JWST is Bae

[@princessmaly]

I'm sure I don't know what you mean, it IS named the Jace Welescope Space Telescope. I refuse to hear anything else on the matter.

[@brianarbenz1329]

How bout the Just What the Shit they Tryin telescope?

[@GreenEarth20]

Shoulda named it Telescopey McTelescopeface, literally shaking my head family.

[@ewthmatth]

Colbert reference? :)

[@keres993]

@@ewthmatth Boaty McBoatface reference.

[@writerightmathnation9481]

“family”?

[@writerightmathnation9481]

We have an entire college that sucked away several departments from other colleges, named after someone who never taught a college course, never worked in academia, and most of us never heard of. It’s all because he wanted to purchase a college to be named after him, for 310 million $, requiring us to provide a match of (I believe) half. Most of the rest of the university is being decimated in favor of that college, and we aren’t sure we’ll meet the match requirement. Education is named after anti-intellectuals nowadays.

[@gabotron94]

James Webbescope Space Telescope

[@retrohipster1060]

"And then the nuclear boys.. they they open up the nucleus and all the science falls out" had me nearly laughing myself to death. LOL Jesus Christ that was such comedic reenactment of the tape. 😂 I love it by the way, when people try to explain the importance of a complex topic by going to an even more complex topic.

[@wr2382]

He wasn't trying to explain a complex topic by referring to nuclear physics. He was referring to nuclear weapons and their importance to the US.

[@retrohipster1060]

@@wr2382 okay, that's fair. I still laugh my ass off at the whole "and the nuclear boys they opened up the nucleus and all the science falls out" comment though.

[@scottsanford1451]

That's my take on it. All my laymans study of quantum physics just teaches me that I don't understand oatmeal. Cause it's all oatmeal to me. I guess you have to be a scientist to get the science to fall out. Or am I not shaking it hard enough? @@retrohipster1060

[@Frrk]

The funny thing I find is that it sounds like Webb wouldn't have cared less to have a telescope named after him. Imagine getting something named after you that you're completely indifferent towards. Like naming a shopping cart after you. But yeah it would have been much more inspirational if it were named after an actual scientist.

[@takanara7]

Yeah but it's funny b/c the people who decided what the name should be were Nasa administrators and they decided to name it after someone who had the same job as them. But the other thing to consider is that these scientists wouldn't get to do this science if it wasn't for people doing administrative work to make it all happen. On the other hand, it's kind of like naming the scope after the politicians who voted to fund it, or whatever lol.

[@CapnSnackbeard]

named by a NASA administrator who is hoping one day some wise and ambitious future NASA administrator names something cool after him.

[@Michael-kp4bd]

@@CapnSnackbeardgood point damn lmao

[@agentdarkboote]

tbf, if it was humanity's greatest shopping cart, I'd be pretty proud.

[@SamAronow]

@@takanara7 I mean, we do name post offices and train stations after the politicians who vote to fund them.

[@erictaylor5462]

Frankly, I doubt James Webb would have been impressed with having a telescope named after him.

[@wayando]

I think anyone would know it's a big deal.

[@ronald3836]

But Sean O'Keefe can't wait to have one named after him!!

[@EinsteinsHair]

Not impressed? James Webb administrated the organization that went from nothing to boots on the moon in ten years! They put his name on something that cost like ten times the original estimate and was a decade past the original 10 year schedule. He might be irate.

[@mikemcaulay9507]

This honestly feels like the typical CEO answer. The guy who made the call was an administrator. I think it clearly reveals his opinion on the importance of that role in ALL that NASA does. CEOs tend to have this kind of perspective. That they are the true driver of value in the company. I think the naming of the telescope boils down to ego.

[@haldorasgirson9463]

No different than naming important warships after politicians. The people who control the money all hope that something will be named after them in the future and the best way to pave the way for that is to do it today.

[@mikemcaulay9507]

@@haldorasgirson9463 while I can see your point, one of the things raised in the video is just how unusual this was for this type of object. I think most of us wouldn't blink at someone naming an aircraft carrier the Lincoln, etc. But when it comes to scientific instruments, there has been a strong tradition of careful examination of the device's mission in order to find one of the most relevant scientists that played a part in the field that that instrument will be enriching. As I mentioned in my own comment, this felt a lot more like an executive reflecting on the importance of their own position and deciding to "make the call," to laud someone in a similar position. This may be the first time a name was decided without any real effort to form consensus. Going around and saying, "What do you think of Webb Space Telescope," falls woefully short.

[@kylegonewild]

@@haldorasgirson9463The US President is by law the supreme commander of the combined armed forces of the US. Naming *any* military thing after a current/former President is seen as routine.

[@RScholar]

This would also be supported by the fact that he is a Republican appointed by Bush 43; in the modern era, conservative political ideology is predicated upon the practitioner's self-importance/narcissism.

[@diego-dias]

I love the JWST, currently the greatest achievement in human engineering Jean-Luc and his friend Worf Space Telescope

[@arielerlanger]

i love the mental image of you sitting at a desk in grad school, bright eyed and bushy tailed, hoping today is the day you get to learn all about about the Webb Equation

[@Aleteos]

In my heart it is forever the Alan Turing Space Telescope. The AT-ST, if you will.

[@An_Iron_God69420]

but why?

[@brianarbenz1329]

Why? Because what you typed that question on exists because of Turing. More importantly, holocaust survivors probably survived because of him.

[@Aleteos]

@@An_Iron_God69420 ok, so I thought I wouldn't respond to this, but now I'm thinking maybe I do need to explain my reasoning. 1. Naming it after a famous gay person is a rejection of lavender scare politics. 2. Naming it after a person who was instrumental in defeating the nazis is... again a rejection of bigotry, but also just cool and 'based' and all that, and will probably at the very least annoy the very worst people alive today. 3. AT-ST is the designation for the cool as heck bipedal imperial walkers from Star Wars, so... nerd cred, which I'm sure every cosmologist can appreciate.

[@chrisl6546]

I think you nailed it at 23:40 - vanity. When he was appointed, O'Keefe gave some presentations and he seemed a little defensive about heading NASA without having a science or engineering background, and then at some presentation after he named it he gave the distinct impression that he was doing it to set a precedent of naming things after administrators, with a hint of "maybe a later one after Shaun O'Keefe". He wasn't really around long enough to be able to claim credit that "without Shaun, there would be no [cool mission of some sort]" But if you're going to name it after any nonscience person of the period, Barbara Mikulski would be a much better choice (at risk of rankling people at centers besides GSFC), but in 2002/3 nobody was really anticipating how late and expensive it was going to turn out to be, or how important Mikulski would be in it surviving the budget cycles to get to launch. It could very easily have ended up like the Superconducting Super Collider, whose cancellation 10 years earlier was still fresh in a lot of minds (Herman Wouk's 2004 "A Hole in Texas" is some entertaining lablit about that). My own preference at the time was Pepsi Generation Space Telescope - there was a push toward commercialization of space for more than just telecom and weather satellites and given the cost of what was then called NGST, selling naming rights to Pepsi seemed natural.

[@tibbygaycat]

Oh god that name is so cursed

[@turun_ambartanen]

Another rabbit hole about the supercollider: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6e5q3qmr9OqZ7c

[@xmlthegreat]

Thankfully there was never any other commercialisation of space after that.... Ohhh noooooo

[@zaraizabella]

Oh god, the Pepsi Co Mission to Mars, where Pepsi outbids Mars Bars for the naming rights And launches an ad campaign all about space, and how Pepsi is forging the future Forcing astronauts to sign contracts to slowly walk towards the camera, Pepsi in hand Taste the Satisfaction Ahh ❤

[@tissuepaper9962]

​​@@zaraizabella anything, for a price. If PepsiCo singlehandedly funded NASA for ten years or something, then fuck it, they earned that ad campaign. I don't think people appreciate how much of the feasibility of space travel just comes down to money, with enough money we could have sent the Pepsi Generation Space Telescope to space and been collecting data a decade earlier.

[@Fritzbedeek]

You've convinced me that , at least, JW kept JFK from strapping people to the outside of some rocket.

[@matter9]

Ask not… 😂

[@matter9]

“Well, that didn’t work!… Who’s next?” 😂

[@gcollins1992]

Two things: 1. I'm so glad that this video approaches the reason the current admin of NASA chose a former admin with as much skepticism as I do. I thought immediately that this was the first and only reason a non-scientist would be chosen. 2. As someone who sits in a quasi-technical space it's very funny to hear that acollierastro was looking beyond the recorded conversation and she could "hear" the scientists' words in his mouth. That's very much how it is for me. I explain to the executives why it isn't as simple as they think it is, then I go back to the technical team and discover through their explanation why it's even more complicated than I thought it was.

[@benjaminkuhn2878]

The interesting bit about the "JFK-Webb-conversation" is, that there are multiple levels of dumbing down information, from science to administration to politics. And that this is necessary to make a political decision to found an organization that employs the actual scientist and engineers and then produces those resources (science and technology) to make such things as "going to the moon" possible. Therefore you also *need* heads of administration like Webb, that can translates the language of the scientists into a language that can be understood by decision makers (politicians). Then when it comes to other political decisions like naming stuff, those politicians will remember those people who they were talking to, or to put it plainly, the middle manager will get the rewards.

[@iankrasnow5383]

This is how things work, and somehow despite that, we got to the moon.

[@cesardejeronimo8184]

I thought the rhetoric was a bit harsh on James Webb. He basically built NASA into what it is today. Its quite impressive he was able to keep the program funded well during his tenure. Also maintaining NASA's reputation after the Apollo 1 disaster. Especially for a science program that the public may have been skeptical about. For me, it's no different than how we recognize FDR as leading the US out of the Great Depression and WW2.

[@hypothalapotamus5293]

How I hope the JWST conversation didn't go... Politician: My kid's into Gundam and won't stop talkin about the principality of Zeon vs the federation. Administrator: We're going to park this space telescope at Earth-Sun Lagrange point L2. Politician: Isn't that where the space nazis in gundam are from? Admin: Close, but I believe that's Earth-moon L2. However, once there, it will unfurl like a gundam. Politician: So, we'll be able to keep an eye on the space nazis hiding behind the moon...

[@scribbitb.4519]

Pouring one out for all of the administrators so they stop asking for their own telescope, I guess

[@acollierastro]

May they enjoy their atriums and hallways!

[@BrianWoodruff-Jr]

@@acollierastro Why do we name shit after these people? Couldn't get a browner nose.

[@GalgalimEyes]

I took it for granted that James Webb was probably a super cool scientist. Learning that not only is he not super cool, but he is also not a scientist, is a big disappointment. The collection of Malazan books in the background brings me a little bit of comfort though. Great video!

[@AB-ee5tb]

I want to read malazan but I’ve heard it’s HARD

[@GalgalimEyes]

​@@AB-ee5tb I abandoned the first book twice before I finally decided to stick with it and it ended up being my favorite fantasy series. It's definitely a more difficult read than most series but in my opinion it's worth the effort

[@guuslohlefink378]

Amazing! Because I never checked, I just thought James Webb was a famous cosmologist of whom I hadn't heard for some reason. Indeed a building, a foundation or a school should be named after him, but why this telescope? Probably you are right: breaking the tradition and naming this flagship ;-) after an administrator will increase the chance of some other instrument being named after another administrator later on. His role reminds me of the position Oppenheimer had at the Manhattan project by the way, although Oppenheimer was a scientist and did some serious science. Both had to do the impossible.

[@ObiWahn68]

If anything it's more like the position Brigadier General Leslie Groves had at the Manhattan project.

[@joeo6378]

A telescope was named after a bureaucrat for a mundane bureaucratic reason. oof Webb should be the name of a filing cabinet.

[@ericborczuk135]

"There's just not enough Hubbletime" is my new slogan

[@ps.2]

STOP Hubbletime

[@perfidy1103]

Saying "without James Webb NASA would not exist" is very reminiscent of people crediting the achievements of large organisations to their CEOs/owners (most notably, the achievements of SpaceX to Elon Musk). It's so incredibly insulting to the engineers, the programmers, the researchers, but not just that, it's insulting to the cleaners, the cooks, the low level administrators, all of whom were necessary to the achievements of these organisations. But then I'd love it if we stopped trying to find heroes to put on pedestals at all.

[@psychohist]

You don't understand what "without James Webb NASA would not exist" means. It means "without James Webb NASA would just build rockets and would not do science." Would we be fine with that?

[@SWard-oe8oj]

​@@psychohist James Webb was replaceable. He was not doing things no other person had the qualifications for

[@dantower8268]

Delivery of Jenny Nichols, Sparse background of Big Joel, Humor of Rebeca Watson. I think this channel is going to be big.

[@napoleonfeanor]

Humor and Rebecca Watson? Did you get that idea in an elevator? ;)

[@terenzo50]

The name I most remember from the 1960s man-in-space era of NASA is Chris Kraft. James Webb may have been the head honcho, but Chris Kraft was directing things in the trenches throughout, so to speak.

[@psychohist]

James Webb was busy defending the unmanned parts of NASA research so Kennedy and Johnson didn't axe them.

[@erikitter6773]

Agree. An instrument should be named after a person (or group) for their groundbreaking activity, usually working out/ publishing the scientific breakthrough. Organizing the funding is not that. One can name a room and put a plaque on its wall for that. And the reason to make the distinction is, I agree again, how you tell the story of science to audiences -- and JWST is only the right label if your focus is attracting administrators.

[@timg6125]

It could have been the Carl Sagan Space Telescope. After I thought about it, that's kind of where I arrived at the question. And the process was obviously completely wrong. It shouldn't be decided on a whim by the NASA administrator all by himself. There should be nominees and it should be discussed without prejudice. But the fact that the NASA administrator unilaterally chose one of his own predecessors is very sus. It does seem like he was trying to set a precedent that might eventually lead to himself being given the same honor.

[@bryannacaldwellsoccer]

This is what I thought too

[@wacksnack157]

Aw man Carl Sagan or ann druyan would have been really cool

[@matter9]

CSADST

[@escottronic]

1. i love how you write/structure your videos but i love the cohesion of this one in particular 2. the picard shade (chef's kiss)

[@robertma6068]

I've watched your channel for only about a week now, but I've come to love it. You are soooooo meticulous, and you seem to put all your effort...and I mean all, into research. If I were in a coversation with you and had a disagreement with you, it'd be such an honest disagreement, because I'd know that you did so much research; you'd be totally backed up in your opinion. You don't shy away from investigating anything. You were born to be a presenter and teacher. I've seen some videos on presenting scientific principles on your channel, and you strike me as so comfortable and passioante about what you're speaking on. It feels almost more like a conversation than a lesson, but the vidoes have all the best elements of being more formal too. Bravo!

[@casaroli]

It’s so weird that for a long time, I just assumed that there was a scientist named James Webb and never looked up who it was until close to its launch.

[@SkorjOlafsen]

Hopefully the Carl Sagan Space Telescope proposal does get funded. It would be nice to return to sensible naming, among all the other good reasons.

[@RobinBanks419]

From a different angle though... From what you're saying, it sounds like James Webb was a champion of making sure scientists were listened to. Which is actually a pretty good narrative to promote today.

[@the_unrepentant_anarchist.]

Unfortunately, someone mentioned the 'B' word about something they're not sure whether he did or not *sixty years ago,* so now they want him gone, the name of the 'scope changed, and his reputation tarnishing. Id've expected a massive Twitter campaign, seeing as the 'B' word was being bandied about, but the truth is, 99.9999% of the world's population *absolutely do not give a shit- of any kind-* about what the telescope is called. 🍄

[@the_unrepentant_anarchist.]

Unfortunately, someone mentioned the 'B' word about something they're not sure whether he did or not *sixty years ago,* so now they want him gone, the name of the 'scope changed, and his reputation tarnishing. Id've expected a massive Twitter campaign, seeing as the 'B' word was being bandied about, but the truth is, 99.9999% of the world's population *absolutely do not give a shit- of any kind-* about what the telescope is called. 🍄

[@carloscostacox]

Unless they weren't straight

[@jimcoughlin5012]

That accusation was researched and there was zero evidence he was aware of or involved in the firing of ​Clifford Norton or involved going after homosexuals. Part of this can be blamed on the misattribution of a quote by another administrator to Webb. He did take NASA from the least racially integrated program to the most via progressive thinking and recruitment at HBCU. @@carloscostacox

[@ChristopherSadlowski]

As someone who has a degree in English I can confidently say you can massage a decent story or of this mess. Not a great story, not even a good one, but something approaching possible and plausible. It would have been better to name it after some really cool scientist who did really cool things and not, at the end of it all, a bean counter...

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

If James Webb was so revolutionary in administration it advanced science 🧪 more than many scientists 🧑‍🔬, this would make more sense.

[@alphanaut14]

Thank you for your take on the economics of Space Science. I find myself having to repeat over and over to folks that we are not blasting money into space. It's going to pay for people to do things here on earth. One take I hear a lot is that the money should be going to house and feed the homeless. I have to explain that it's going to house and feed scientists, tradespeople, graduate students, and hopefully interns as well. People who work hard for the money.

[@MuffinsAPlenty]

The people who are saying it should go to house and feed the homeless are the same people who fight tooth and nail to prevent any money going to house and feed the homeless.

[@GeekProdigyGuy]

​@@MuffinsAPlentyyup. and they accuse NASA of "politicized" climate research as they themselves accept massive campaign money from the biggest emissions offenders... while supporting the military getting about 35x the budget...

[@dexterrity]

I still find it hard to believe the Universe (outside our galaxy) was only discovered 100 years ago

[@nickcarroll8565]

The sandbox got an update

[@v1jayanand]

JWST should have been named BHCST (Big Hexagonal Cluster Space Telescope) or something of that sort, the way actual engineers would name it, like VLT (Very Large Telescope) and ELT (Extremely Large Telescope), both ESA's telescopes in Chile.

[@hewhoadds]

herbert hoover hated hydro power but some rascal named the dam after him hopefully the telescope will have the same vibes

[@dipi71]

The final 20 seconds or so of your video seem muted (no subtitles too). But great arguments for renaming the JWST, and a great insight into how some folks seem to misunderstand where that money went. Cheers!

[@domogdeilig]

I love the 20:40 "I want you to repeat it back to me". I have been in many meetings were that hasn't been done and the obvious predictable catastrophe happens because we didnt do that thing because they didnt really understand it.

[@UCjNrKLyRJI-abFA8qiNo92Q]

OK then it's the Richard Nixon space telescope

[@musstakrakish]

What

[@grubgoblin]

the nuclear boys opened the nucleus and all the science came out

[@needsmorsleep]

no one loves admin the way admin does

[@Me1le]

At least it beats the Wernher von Braun space telescope.

[@jesusordeath]

Let's rename it "Politician Space Telescope"

[@Blarpington]

I really like listening to you talk. Thanks for taking the time to talk at us.

[@Bonglyza]

Naming the telescope after James Webb is kinda like if Christopher Nolan named his atomic-bomb movie "Groves."

[@colt6320]

you guys should name the next deep space telescope after me

[@brandonthesteele]

On the noise around the name of JWST, I just heard of the Lavender Scare stuff, and man did that muddy the waters. There's people vehemently angry that since some of the controversy around Webb is blown out of proportion, everything must be made up and apologies need to be made. I was unaware of the actual story behind the name (some admin floated the name and no one said no). That cuts to the core of the issue in a more substantial way, and I wish I had known about it a year ago. I was certain it had been voted on or something.

[@iankrasnow5383]

Maybe James Webb wasn't instrumental in the Lavender Scare. I mean, "he was only an Administrator", and there were other people in charge of policy. He was focused on making sure the organization functioned. But if the administrator gets credit as the person for everything good that NASA accomplished, then he is also responsible for the campaign to find and persecute gay men. You can't have it both ways. If it happened under his watch and he went along with it, then he's just as responsible for the Lavender Scare as for the moon landing. In fact, only one of those two are things he could have directly intervened and stopped. If he got in the way of the goal to land on the moon, he would have been fired and replaced.

[@brandonthesteele]

@@iankrasnow5383 I edited my comment for clarity (what did I mean by "actual story"?) I agree with you.

[@aamackie]

I think the main reason the incoming administrator would name a major mission after the previous administrator is because he wants to set a precedent for his successor. He wants a telescope named after him when he retires.

[@FlaminTubbyToast]

I think it’s funny how controversial this “pick” is. Like I’m pretty sure James Watney would be a debated but understandable pick. Also the ‘calculators’ where known as computers before they were disband after shortly thereafter. Of course those women would also become some of the first programmers before programming was seen and a man’s job. Dorthy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson, and Mary Jackson would have all made incredible names for the next generation satellite.

[@tempestgrav]

'Malazan Book of the Fallen' is one of the greatest series ever written imo. Much respect 😊

[@BennyKleykens]

Sean O'Keefe is hopeing to get something named after himself obviously 😂😂😂 The scoundrel!!

[@BrutalSnuggles]

I do think the proper way to write this story would be to combine the stories of hubble and webb and make it a tragicomedy about science and capitalism

[@sophiagwen]

"It's fine not to be interested in space" Hmm that's not how I would word it.

[@hisham_hm]

Edit: I wrote the comment below before I reached the 23 minute mark and you said the exact same thing later in the video almost down to the same words! I think we're on to something! The head of NASA simply named it after the previous head of NASA to set a precedent, so that some future major project is named after him.

[@dinobotpwnz]

Or he just wanted to name it after someone whose job he understood? It's annoying to hear this from people who are already making good arguments and don't need to throw in a conspiracy theory.

[@Ojisan642]

There’s a great line in the movie “The Right Stuff” where the astronauts are chafing at the demands and restrictions of the scientists on the humans who will be flying these spacecraft. Attributed to John Glenn (later a US Senator) he says: “You know what makes this bird go up? Funding. Funding makes this bird go up.” To which another astronaut adds, “that’s right - no bucks, no Buck Rogers.” Perhaps you should be less dismissive of the people who dedicate their lives to making sure they navigate the difficult political waters and do the hard work of public relations to ensure that scientists such as yourself get the funding and the resources to do your ivory tower work. By all accounts, James Webb was a great man - a leader, who supported science even after his stint at NASA. He did listen to the scientists, bending the will of politicians to ensure that the program was run based on their needs, not the needs of the politicians. And he started an agency that continues to do science to this day - when many prominent politicians of the time, including the leading Democrats, wanted to cancel the program outright, arguing that the money was better spent on earth.

[@nikolaihedler8883]

No part of this video was dismissive of Webb's contributions. Funding alone cannot achieve anything. There's not enough money in the world to buy scientific progress from any retailer. Scientists do the science.

[@Leadvest]

I've been binge watching your content, and I can't wait to hear what you have to say about which amazing influential and unproblematic astronomer the JST is named after!

[@mmlvx]

Your, ah, idiosyncratic impression of JFK is awesome. And I'd be ok with renaming the telescope.

[@cubandarknez]

wait you have so many videos!! this is like my new favorite content for breaks and meals!

[@jimvee4528]

I think your argument about the name of the telescope being an entry into learning about the history of science was the most compelling of your many points. Love all your videos.

[@soyoltoi]

You're such a good science communicator 😮

[@drbuckley1]

James Webb understood the fundamental limits to space exploration: money. "No bucks, no Buck Rogers."

[@thomasfahey8763]

"Deserve got nuthin' to do with it." -Snoop

[@blahblahblah23424]

"you don't get to take credit for the scientists' work because you [...] did the administrative work" that's news to me lol, boy have I been getting a raw deal

[@EagleM16]

My first ever internet username was Eagle_M-16 and while it has led some people to falsely believe that I'm some hyper-nationalist gun nut, it's actually a reference to the Eagle Nebula, messier object 16. I snagged it because I was captivated by Hubble's Pillars of Creation image.

[@TomMilleyMusic]

I just call it "Hubble 2: Electric Boogaloo"

[@emeraldragon1984]

"...but it's a really exciting telescope"

[@storyspren]

That meeting from 16:48 is hilarious. It's like the moon is this grand prize of ice cream, but you gotta finish your vegetables before you get it and Kennedy's a child who really doesn't care about vegetables and he's going "it's mint ice cream and mint is a leaf" And yes, Webb is not the parent who actually knows why the vegetables are important, he's a teenager tasked with babysitting Kennedy while the parents (the scientists) can't be there for... administrative reasons.

[@storyspren]

Also, alternative name idea: BFST, because it's the largest space telescope we've built

[@willowjavery4652]

Quick note on the Lavender Scare, it did not only affect gay men. Lesbians were also wrapped up in the scare

[@charlie2640]

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the actual VAR! plate several times. Amazing. To think that 100 or so years ago we suddenly understood the universe was so much bigger.

[@oxylepy2]

Thank you for making youtube videos. When the algorithm is good I get channels like yours. When the algorithm is bad I get trash... and can come iver to channels like yours to clense myself of that.

[@beryllium1932]

Let MIT "name" them. Telescope 1, Telescope 2, ... BTW: Hubble looks like a mailbox with it's door. Appropriately, I guess.

[@imagecrafting]

Keep doing exactly what you're doing and speaking exactly the way you speak. You're one of the clearest, well thought out, logical people I've ever heard speak. If we had even a half of one of you in a position of power I think we could change the world. Keep it up, speak truth to power, five stars two thumbs up you rock...

[@technocore1591]

Every time you're saying "It's fine! It's fine!" it's painful. Also GREAT explainer.

[@mollymaybe]

31:18 womp womp but we got a great 4 hour video about picard

[@mac001texas]

"The nuclear boys... they opened the nucleus!" - James Webb

[@natgrant1364]

How about the MI-ST. Massively Important Space Telescope. I dunno. Good video as always but now I'm left wondering why you muted yourself at the end.

[@FransLebin]

Your bit about funding at the end also applies to military spending, by the way

[@lucywucyyy]

who would you name the telescope after? im really curious now about the scientists who made it and the science they did to make this crazy telescope possible

[@jimberk4651]

You're right about the naming; however, it's unfortunate that the scientists didn't care enough to take serious action to prevent such a naming.

[@alphadash8861]

I'm just disappointed that they rejected "Scopey McScopeface"...

[@erictaylor5462]

There are two kinds of engineers, and this is true throughout industry, not just government, There are people who are good at engineering and they engineer, and you have engineers that are not so good at engineering, and typically these are the people who end up being promoted to management position. This is not necessarily a bad thing, so long as the managers understand that the engineers they manage are likely better engineers than they are, it could work out. People who may not be so good at engineering can be quite good at managing. But all to often you get managers who thing that being promoted to a management position is a sign that they are better engineers than the engineers they manage. This can be extremely dangerous. You can end up with engineers telling managers that launching a Space Shuttle in cold weather is a bad idea, and they think that another delay on the launch would be bad for the space program. Or an engineer telling his boss that testing the nuclear reactor under these conditions is not a good idea, so much so that the engineer refuses to perform the test, so the boss fires him, giving the engineer time to get his family and run away.

[@erictaylor5462]

@@rapchee Yes, though I don't know if the engineer got his family and ran away, but I would have if it was me.

[@psychohist]

@@rapchee I'm a nuclear engineer. I was working at Naval Reactors when Chernobyl happened. We were part of the US effort to provide any help to Russia that we could. Chernobyl was not a management mistake. It was an engineering and technician mistake. Some engineer wrote the procedures so some technician could make a mistake that would cause the reactor to burn up. The only management mistake was trusting the engineers too much instead of riding herd on them harder and making them do their jobs better.

[@Zachfive]

Oh, man. Now I need to find out how one sets their phone Lock Screen to the astronomy pic of the day….

[@ayonmukherjee5539]

Wow! Only three videos in abd this is rapidly becoming one of my favourite physics KZbin channels!! Great to hear a scientist voicing her considered opinion about issues plaguing the scientific community in the US and the world. Being a phenomenological high-energy physicist who has only worked in Europe, these videos are incredibly enlightening to me! Keep up the good work! 👍🏼

[@mnbabd]

I shall refer to it as Jiggly Wiggly Space Telescope from now. Thank you.

[@haldorasgirson9463]

Perhaps it is not as important scientifically as the Deep Field image, but the Pillars of Creation will always be the most emotionally impactful Hubble image to me.

[@christianbenesch1]

O’Keefe(head of NASA) simply created a precedent for naming space things after heads of NASA. Quite transparent. He is looking forward to the O’Keefe moon base.

[@gubunki]

the biggest human achievement is creating semiconductors at nm scale, nothing even comes close to that

[@owangejewice]

I bet in 50 years, just before the USS Shawn O'Keefe lands on Mars, the passengernauts will have a good laugh while watching this video.

[@iand5730]

"And we're going to die in the Climate Wars". Your delivery is incredible LMAO

[@dunsparce4prez560]

We need more Hubbles

[@WAMTAT]

Stop! Hubble time

[@MichaelMarquez-m3b]

Have they ever named a telescope after Tycho Brahe?

[@marktrain9498]

I soooo agree about James Webb. Some administrator apparently chose a prior administrator as the hero.

[@lilithmotherofmonsters6055]

The thousand yard stare between "the coming clinate wars" and "buts its a really neat telescope" at 5:31 really speaks volumes

[@bobnolin9155]

Two thoughts: At least we didn't name it the Richard Nixon Space Telescope. Second, at least the next one will be named after Carl Sagan. Obviously the JWST should have ben the CSST.

[@ronald3836]

At leat they did not call it the Wernher von Braun Space Telescope ;-)

[@PentodeSensations]

OMG - ok, I'm a new subscriber. But I just saw the Erikson books back there. And said, OK THAT'S ENOUGH I MUST LEAVE A COMMENT. haha I loved that series. You're officially the coolest woman on God's green Earth. Thanks so much for all of your efforts to bring awareness to the field of astronomy, the trials and tribulations of being a student (and a woman in scientific academia). It is, in the absolute, a big deal. There's real love here. Thanks so much

[@Incognit05]

Which names would you consider? Thank you for the video!

[@acollierastro]

~Next Generation Telescope~ I'm basic!

[@Mcrawf21]

@@acollierastro Telescope: The Next Generation.

[@JontyLevine]

@@acollierastro Next Generation Space Telescope sounds a lot like it's named after the next generation of astronomers. I don't like this. It's a name that highlights everyone, and therefore no one. Say what you want about "James Webb", but at least that name is distinctive. Perhaps it should have been named after a scientist, but the time to change it would have been 10 years ago, not shortly after the launch. Anyone who they named it after at this point would have the dishonour of being the one who displaced Webb. And if Webb's name really is toxic enough that it needs to be pulled off an already-completed project, then he must have been a truly terrible person to have warranted this response. You say that _not naming a telescope after a person_ does not in itself mean cancelling them. But again, it's quite another matter if the thing is already in space. Renaming it now would make far more of a statement, whether you intend it to or not.

[@MarylandDentist]

This feels like a situation where everyone collectively ignores the name and calls it something else

[@Skank_and_Gutterboy]

Of course, who's going to tell the boss he's full of crap?

[@vicenteherrera]

Next naming: The Homer Simpson Space Telescope. WIth complementary gif of Homer eating chips in space.

[@ps.2]

People will think the acronym is some hyper version of a supersonic transport.

[@GenuineMartin]

Ol' Jaywist, beloved scientist

[@tedjohnson64]

Brilliant video! Really love these deep dives into historical science politics. Would love to see your take on the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s, when so many phenomenal leaps were made in the understanding of electricity: telegraph, telephone, radio, electric grid infrastructure, TV etc. Would also love to see your take on the jaw-dropping technical advancement made in flight in one human’s lifespan: from 1906 (Wright brother’s barely flying) to 1969, a mere 63 years later, and we’re landing a human on the mf’ing moon! Also, what’s up with the insane lack of progress since then? It’s been 54 years since 1969 and not only haven’t we landed on any other planets, but they’re acting like even landing on the moon again is some huge engineering achievement. What’s up with that?