biography
| name: |
Kuiper, Gerard (Peter)
|
pronunciation:
[kiyper]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1905–73)
|
| biography:
| Astronomer, born in Harenkarspel, The Netherlands. He studied at Leyden, moved to the USA in 1933, and became a US citizen in 1937. He took an appointment at the Lick Observatory, CA, then taught at Harvard (1935–6), and joined the Yerkes Observatory before moving to the McDonald Observatory, TX, in 1939. He discovered two new satellites: Miranda, the fifth satellite of Uranus; and Nereid, the second satellite of Neptune (1948–9). His study of the planetary atmospheres detected carbon dioxide on Mars and methane on Titan, the largest Saturnian satellite. He was involved with the early US space flights, including the Ranger and Mariner missions. |
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