Gerard Kuiper - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gerard P. Kuiper
Gerard Kuiper in 1964
Born	(1905-12-07)December 7, 1905 Tuitjenhorn, Netherlands
Died	December 23, 1973(1973-12-23) (aged 68) Mexico City, Mexico
Nationality	Dutch-American
Alma mater	University of Leiden
Known for	Kuiper belt
Scientific career
Fields	Astronomy
Institutions	University of Chicago, University of Arizona

Gerard Peter Kuiper (English: /ˈkaɪpər/; Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkœypər]; born Gerrit Pieter Kuiper; December 7, 1905 – December 23, 1973) was a Dutch-born American astronomer.^[1]The Kuiper belt is named after him. He discovered two natural satellites of planets in the solar system, namely Uranus's moon Miranda and Neptune's moon Nereid.

Kuiper went to college at the University of Leiden. He graduated in 1927 and went on to earn his doctorate in 1933. That same year, he moved to the United States and began working at the Lick Observatory in California. In 1935, he was a lecturer at Harvard University. In 1936, he moved to the University of Chicago, and in 1943 he became a professor there. He was the director of their observatories from 1947 until 1960. In 1960, Kuiper began work at the University of Arizona, and he started their lunar and planetary laboratory. He was the director of the laboratory until July 1973.^[1]

Kuiper found groups of dwarf stars. He was the first person to figure out the diameter of Pluto, and where the poles and equator of Venus are. In the 1960s, he was one of the people who knew the most about the earth's moon, and he worked with NASA.^[1]

References[change | change source]

Other websites[change | change source]

Media related to Gerard Kuiper at Wikimedia Commons

• Gerard Peter Kuiper: NASA KAO's Namesake Archived 2014-07-13 at the Wayback Machine
• National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir

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