Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Lenard (crater)

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Keep !votes, if not directly mentioning it, refer to the fact that notability is not temporary; and they point that there is and will be coverage about this in reliable sources. AFD is not the place for the eventual move discussion either. (non-admin closure) RandomCanadian (talk / contribs) 02:01, 4 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Lenard (crater)[edit]

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This crater was indeed named Lenard between 2005 (not 2008) and 2020. However, the International Astronomical Union has revoked that decision in June 2020, after Philipp Lenard's connection to Adolf Hitler's Nazi party had been uncovered. This is now an unnamed crater lacking any significance. Further details: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/science-and-technology/astronomists-unknowingly-dedicated-moon-craters-to-nazis-will-the-next-historical-reckoning-be-at-cosmic-level Renerpho (talk) 01:56, 27 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Astronomy-related deletion discussions. Renerpho (talk) 01:56, 27 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Keep - The fact that it had a name for some years, and then suddenly became nameless is in itself notable (and interesting!). I am sure there is (news) coverage on the revocation of the name. It might be a good idea to add that to the article, instead of deleting it. Ealuscerwen (talk) 01:59, 27 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
- Comment I'd rather add that to the article about Philipp Lenard, not to the crater page. It is an interesting fact, but it is not about the crater, which I believe should be stripped of any implied connection with the person.Renerpho (talk) 02:04, 27 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Delete +1 to Renerpho's rationale and suggestion to migrate anything interesting to existing article on Philipp Lenard. As a side note, see also this book excerpt by the same author as the article linked above: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-2-pro-nazi-nobelists-attacked-einstein-s-jewish-science-excerpt1/ Looks to me like Lenard's page needs significantly deeper and more explicit discussion of his connection to the Nazis. Generalrelative (talk) 04:09, 27 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
~~Comment~~ I see mention of a recommendation to remove and replace the name, but not actual approval of removal (as yet); unless I'm missing something, I fully support deletion -- in the event the removal is approved without renaming -- as a feature without independent geologic significance other than being a named landmark, with mention on the primary article on Lenard. But the article can and should be renamed upon a formal approval to rename the crater. Incidentally, noted on the 2005 naming, though I think probably that was the date of the task force's decision, formally approved by the IAU in 2008 per the USGS. Happy to discuss if I've missed something here. Tyrol5 [Talk] 13:30, 27 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
- Revising to Keep and Rename Later per my remarks above and Mario23 below. Tyrol5 [Talk] 12:01, 28 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. We shouldn't be trying to purge the encyclopaedia of anything with a Nazi connection. It's not our problem that the IAU is suffering some embarassment about this. I'm not buying this argument that its notabililty disappears if the name disappears. Notability is not temporary, and the debate about its naming only makes it more notable. Mendeleev (crater) is just as nondescript (actually smaller and on the far side where it can't be seen from Earth) and Mendeleev had precisely nothing to do with its discovery. It too has notability largely resting on it being officially named after a famous person. I know OTHERSTUFF, but we have over 1500 moon crater articles, none of them populated places (except a handful very briefly), and the vast majority equally uninteresting except for the name. Clearly, consensus has been that it is ok to have them. SpinningSpark 00:57, 28 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Keep and rename later --- I'm the person who gave the tip to IAU, as mentioned by Philip Ball's article. The IAU is undergoing a renaming procedure right now, which takes a couple of weeks. The crater is still named after Lenard, and surely the IAU will make an official annoucement in a few weeks after the review process is done. This additional twist about the name makes the crater (together with Stark's crater) even more interesting i think. Mario23 (talk) 06:59, 28 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
There's no Sheldon (crater) yet. Hint, hint. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:24, 28 June 2020 (UTC) [reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.