Dr gerard p kuiper biography

Gerard Kuiper

Netherlands-born American astronomer (–)

Not to be confused with the mathematician Nicolaas Kuiper.

Gerard Peter Kuiper (KY-pər; born Gerrit Pieter Kuiper, Dutch:[ˈɣɛrɪtˈpitərˈkœypər]; 7&#;December – 23&#;December ) was a Dutch-American astronomer, planetary scientist, selenographer, author and professor.

The Kuiper belt is named after him.

Kuiper is considered by many to be the father of modern planetary science.[1]

Early animation and education

Kuiper, the son of a tailor in the village of Tuitjenhorn in North Holland, had an early interest in astronomy.

He had extraordinarily clear eyesight, allowing him to spot with the naked eye magnitude &#;stars, about four times fainter than those visible to normal eyes.[citation needed]

He studied at Leiden University in , where at the time a very huge number of astronomers had congregated.

He befriended fellow students Bart Bok and Pieter Oosterhoff, and was taught by Ejnar Hertzsprung, Antonie Pannekoek, Willem de Sitter, Jan Woltjer, Jan Oort, and the physicist Paul Ehrenfest.

Gerard Peter Kuiper was a Dutch-American astronomer known especially for his discoveries and theories concerning the solar system. Kuiper graduated from the University of Leiden in and received his Ph.D. from that school in

He received his candidate degree in Astronomy in and continued vertical on with his graduate studies.

Kuiper received his PhD degree from Leiden University in the Netherlands on his thesis on binary stars with Hertzsprung in

Career

He traveled to California to become a fellow under Robert Grant Aitken at the Lick Observatory.

In he left to work at the Harvard College Observatory, where he met Sarah Parker Fuller (), whom he married on 20&#;June Although he had planned to move to Java to work at the Bosscha Observatory, he took a position at Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago and received American citizenship in

From to , Kuiper served as the director of the McDonald Observatory in west Texas.[2] In , Kuiper initiated the Yerkes–McDonald asteroid survey (–).

From he was professor at the University of Chicago, directing the Yerkes Observatory. He was doctoral advisor to Carl Sagan. In , the two worked on the classified military Project A, a secret Air Force plan to detonate a nuclear warhead on the moon.[3] In , he sent Jürgen Stock to Chile, to search for suitable sites of an observatory for the Southern skies, who eventually would identify the spot for the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.[4]

In Kuiper moved to Tucson, Arizona, to found the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, serving as the laboratory's director for the rest of his life, until his death in

Discoveries

Kuiper discovered two organic satellites of planets in the Solar System, namely Uranus's satellite Miranda and Neptune's satellite Nereid.

In addition, he discovered carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars, and the existence of a methane-laced atmosphere above Saturn's satellite Titan in Kuiper also pioneered airborne infrared observing using a Convair aircraft in the s.

Gerard Kuiper — is regarded by many as the father of modern planetary science. He is well known for his many discoveries, including:. Gerard played an influential role in the development of infrared airborne astronomy in the s and s. In the NASA four engine jet Convair aircraft with an onboard telescope became accessible for infrared studies at an altitude of 40, feet.

In the s Kuiper's interdisciplinary collaboration with the geochemist and Nobel Laureate Harold C. Urey to understand the Moon's thermal evolution descended into acrimony, as the two engaged in what became known as the "Hot Satellite, Cold Moon" controversy.

Their falling out, in part a scientific dispute, also reflected the oppose of maintaining professional relationships across overlapping but distinct scientific disciplines.[5]

In , in a paper in Astrophysics: A Topical Symposium, Kuiper speculated that a large disc of small astronomical bodies formed early in the Solar System's evolution.

He suggested that the disc consisted of "remnants of original clusterings which have confused many members that became stray asteroids, much as has occurred with open galactic clusters dissolving into stars."[6] In another manuscript, based upon a lecture Kuiper gave in , also called On the Origin of the Solar System, Kuiper wrote about the "outermost region of the solar nebula, from 38 to 50 astr.

units (i.e., just outside proto-Neptune)" where "condensation products (ices of H20, NH3, CH4, etc.) must have formed, and the flakes must have tediously collected and formed larger aggregates, estimated to range up to 1 km or more in size." He continued to compose that "these condensations appear to account for the comets, in size, number and composition." According to Kuiper "the planet Pluto, which sweeps through the whole zone from 30 to 50 astr.

units, is held responsible for having started the scattering of the comets throughout the solar system."[7] It is said that Kuiper was operating on the assumption, common in his time, that Pluto was the size of Earth and had therefore scattered these bodies out toward the Oort cloud or out of the Solar System; there would not be a Kuiper belt today if this were correct.[8] The name "Kuiper belt" was given to the region in the s;[9] it was first used in produce by Scott Tremaine in [10]:&#;&#;

In the s, Kuiper helped determine landing sites on the Celestial for the Apollo program.[a]

Kuiper discovered several binary stars which received "Kuiper numbers" to identify them, such as KUI&#;

Personal being and death

He married Sarah Parker Fuller () on 20&#;June Kuiper died age 68 of a heart attack on 23&#;December in Mexico City, while on vacation with his wife.[12]

Honors

Besides the low planet Kuiper, three craters (Mercurian, lunar, and Martian), Kuiper Scarp in Antarctica, and the now-decommissioned Kuiper Airborne Observatory were also named after him.

Astronomers relate to a region of low planets beyond Neptune as the "Kuiper belt", since Kuiper had suggested that such small planets or comets may have formed there. However Kuiper himself believed that such objects would include been swept clear by planetary gravitational perturbations, so that none or few would exist there today.[citation needed]

The Kuiper Prize, named in his honor, is the most distinguished award given by the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences, an international society of professional planetary scientists.[b]

One of the three buildings at Arizona that makes up the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory is named in his honor.[13]

In famous culture

Episode 6 ("The Man of a Trillion Worlds") of the TV series Cosmos: Possible Worlds featured the Kuiper–Urey conflict.[citation needed]

Notes

  1. ^Cameras in Ranger VIII were turned on 23&#;minutes before impact, and the spacecraft transmitted pictures advocate to earth until it struck the surface and was destroyed.

    Harenkarspel, Netherlands, 7 December ; d. One of the most influential astronomers of the mid-twentieth century, Kuiper made significant contributions to the study of binary stars before he turned to solar system research in the mids. Youth, Education, and Preliminary Career. An ambitious, intellectually determined youth from a less-than-prosperous family, Kuiper born Gerrit Pieter Kuiper developed an early interest in astronomy.

    The flight's product would be intensively studied by a panel of noted lunar scientists, among them Gerard P. Kuiper and Ewen A. Whitaker of the University of Arizona and Harold C. Urey of the University of California.

    &#; &#; — Brooks & Ertel (, p.&#;75)[11]

  2. ^The Kuiper Prize recognizes remarkable contributors to planetary science, and is awarded annually to scientists whose lifetime achievements have most advanced our understanding of planetary systems.

    Winners of this award include Carl Sagan, James Van Allen, and Eugene Shoemaker.

References

  1. ^"NASA Solar System Exploration". . National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

    The Kuiper belt is named after him. Kuiper is considered by many to be the father of modern planetary science. Kuiper, the son of a tailor in the village of Tuitjenhorn in North Hollandhad an preceding interest in astronomy. He had extraordinarily sharp eyesight, allowing him to see with the naked eye magnitude 7.

    Archived from the original on 11 April Retrieved 12 April

  2. ^"Milestones". McDonald Observatory. Retrieved 25 November
  3. ^Ulivi, Paolo (). Lunar Exploration: Human pioneers and robotic surveyors.

    Springer Science & Business Media. p.&#; ISBN&#;.

  4. ^Silva, Bárbara (21 June ). "Un astrónomo, tres continentes, siete instituciones y millares de estrellas.

    Gerard Kuiper ( - ) is regarded by many as the father of modern planetary science. He is well established for his many discoveries, including: He correctly predicted carbon dioxide is a major component of the atmosphere of Mars.

    La experiencia global de Jürgen Stock en los inicios de la astronomía en Chile". Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos. doi/nuevomundo ISSN&#;

  5. ^Doel, Ronald E. (). Solar System Astronomy in America: Communities, patronage, and interdisciplinary science, –.

    New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN&#;.

  6. ^Kuiper, G.P. (). "On the origin of the solar system". In Hynek, J.A. (ed.).

    He discovered two natural satellites of planets in the solar systemnamely Uranus 's moon Miranda and Neptune 's moon Nereid. Kuiper went to college at the University of Leiden. He graduated in and went on to earn his doctorate in That same year, he moved to the Together States and began working at the Lick Observatory in California.

    Astrophysics: A Topical Symposium. Fresh York City, New York, US: McGraw-Hill. pp.&#;–

  7. ^Kuiper, Gerard (). "On the Origin of the Solar System". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 37 (1): 1– doi/pnas PMC&#; PMID&#;
  8. ^David Jewitt.

    "WHY "KUIPER" BELT?". University of Hawaii. Archived from the authentic on 12 February Retrieved 14 June

  9. ^J.A. Fernández (). "On the existence of a comet belt beyond Neptune".

    Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. (3): – BibcodeMNRASF. doi/mnras/

  10. ^Davies, John K. ().

    Dr Gerard Peter Kuiper (1905-1973) - Detect a Grave Memorial: Gerard Peter Kuiper (/ ˈ k aɪ p ər / KY-pər; born Gerrit Pieter Kuiper, Dutch: [ˈɣɛrɪt ˈpitər ˈkœypər]; 7 December – 23 December ) was a Dutch-American astronomer, planetary scientist, selenographer, author and professor.

    Beyond Pluto: Exploring the outer limits of the solar system. Cambridge University Press.

  11. ^Brooks, Courtney G.; Ertel, Ivan D. (). The Apollo Spacecraft: A chronology. Scientific and Technical Information Division, Office of Technology Use.

    National Aeronautics and Territory Administration (NASA). p.&#;

  12. ^Williams, Matt (11 November ). "Who was Gerard Kuiper?". Universe Today. Retrieved 24 March
  13. ^"A Brief History of LPL".

    University of Arizona. Retrieved 1 June

External links