Gerard Peter Kuiper (Gerrit Pieter Kuiper), was a Dutch-American astronomer. Born in Tuitjenhorn (Harenkarspel), the Netherlands, Dec. 7. 1905.
Kuiper, as director of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, headed the successful Ranger Moon program. In 1948 he detected carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars and methane and ammonia on Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn in 1944. In the same year he discovered and named Miranda, the fifth sateilite of Uranus, and in 1949 he discovered and named Nereid, the second satellite of Neptune. He also developed the protoplanet theory of the origin of the solar system.
In the 1960s, Kuiper helped identify landing sites on the Moon for the Apollo program.
Died in 1973 while on vacation with his wife in Mexico
