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James Webb Space Telescope



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 7th 04, 04:11 PM
Alan Erskine
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Default James Webb Space Telescope

Is this the James Webb who was the NASA admin some time ago? If so, what
did he do for astronomy?


  #2  
Old February 7th 04, 04:39 PM
Rand Simberg
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Default James Webb Space Telescope

On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 15:11:49 GMT, in a place far, far away, "Alan
Erskine" made the phosphor on my monitor
glow in such a way as to indicate that:

Is this the James Webb who was the NASA admin some time ago? If so, what
did he do for astronomy?


He oversaw the development of much of the technology that makes
space-based astronomy possible.
  #3  
Old February 7th 04, 06:09 PM
Henry Spencer
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Default James Webb Space Telescope

In article ,
Alan Erskine wrote:
Is this the James Webb who was the NASA admin some time ago? If so, what
did he do for astronomy?


It is. A lot of people thought that was a pretty dubious name for a space
telescope; naming the first lunar base after him might make sense, but an
astronomical observatory??
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MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |
  #4  
Old February 7th 04, 09:53 PM
Greg Kuperberg
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Default James Webb Space Telescope

In article ,
Henry Spencer wrote:
It is. A lot of people thought that was a pretty dubious name for a space
telescope; naming the first lunar base after him might make sense, but an
astronomical observatory??


They probably supposed that a name like that would help protect the
project's funding. In light of what just happened to Hubble, it would
be a very astute calculation. The only better name would be the "Ronald
Reagan Space Telescope".

--
/\ Greg Kuperberg (UC Davis)
/ \
\ / Visit the Math ArXiv Front at http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/
\/ * All the math that's fit to e-print *
  #6  
Old February 8th 04, 03:02 AM
Greg Kuperberg
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Default James Webb Space Telescope

In article k.net,
Elden wrote:
No. The name was chosen by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. O'Keefe has
said on numerous occasions that Webb is a personal hero of his.


In that case, it may have been an unintentional political gift from
O'Keefe. Although again, if they had been really cynical about it,
they would have named it after Reagan. Who could possibly cancel the
"Ronald Reagan Space Telescope"?

The only problem is that a name like that could be an invitation to add
Reaganesque things to the project. Here is an example of what I mean,
from Reagan's 1986 State of the Union address: "We are going forward
with research on a new Orient Express that could, by the end of the next
decade, take off from Dulles Airport, accelerate up to 25 times the speed
of sound, attaining low earth orbit or flying to Tokyo within two hours."

Anyway the name "James Webb" is still somewhat politically useful.
I suppose that astronomers who don't like it could secretly say that
"JW" stands for "John Wheeler".
--
/\ Greg Kuperberg (UC Davis)
/ \
\ / Visit the Math ArXiv Front at http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/
\/ * All the math that's fit to e-print *
 




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