Portrait of Gerard Kuiper
University of Arizona, Deparment of Planetary Sciences
Gerard Kuiper
Gerard Kuiper was an American astronomer who lived between 1905-1973. He is considered the father of modern planetary science for his brilliant study of our solar system.
Kuiper developed a new technique for looking at the sky from high altitude, and discovered Nereid, a moon of Neptune, and Miranda, a moon of Uranus. He also studied the surface of the Earth's moon in preparation for the Apollo missions and found that Titan had an atmosphere similar to our own.
Kuiper suggested that there was a belt of comet-like debris at the edge of our solar system, a theory that was proven true 20 years after his death.
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