Astronomers have advocated for a renaming of two galaxies, currently named the Large and Small Megellanic Clouds after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, due to his record of “violent colonialism”. Astronomer Mia de los Reyes of Amherst College in Massachusetts expressed this viewpoint in the journal APS Physics, noting Magellan’s acts allegedly committed on “indigenous populations” during his 1519 voyage. She argued such historical figures should not be honored in astronomical nomenclature, suggesting that continuing this practice could somehow harm people today.
Opposition to the current naming system is also backed by Professor David Hogg (different David Hogg, we checked) of New York University, who said the clouds were not discovered by Magellan and were only named after him in the 19th century. Indigenous populations in the southern hemisphere, he says, already had names for these objects. Now, a potential alternative name has been suggested. That name is ‘Milky Clouds’.
This call is in line with broader efforts to replace the names of public places and institutions named after individuals who have supposedly engaged in “harmful” acts in their past. The latest move is said to have been inspired significantly by the Marxist Black Lives Matter protests.
