Kuiper, the son of a tailor in the village ofTuitjenhorn inNorth Holland, had an early interest in astronomy. He had extraordinarily sharp eyesight, allowing him to see with the naked eyemagnitude 7.5 stars, about four times fainter than those visible to normal eyes.[2]
From 1947 to 1949, Kuiper served as the director of theYerkes Observatory, as well as theMcDonald Observatory in west Texas.[2] In 1949, Kuiper initiated the Yerkes–McDonald asteroid survey (1950–1952).
In the 1950s Kuiper's interdisciplinary collaboration with the geochemist and Nobel LaureateHarold C. Urey to understand the Moon's thermal evolution descended into acrimony, as the two engaged in what became known as the "Hot Moon, Cold Moon" controversy. Their falling out, in part a scientific dispute, also reflected the challenge of maintaining professional relationships across overlapping but distinct scientific disciplines.[5]
By 1950, Kuiper had contributed a theory for the ongoing problem of solar system origins. Kuiper claimed that gravitational instabilities would form in the solar nebula, which would then condense into protoplanets. However, Kuiper's theory failed to address theangular momentum problem, simply attributing the loss of momentum to magnetic and electric fields instead of gravity.[2]
In 1951, in a paper inAstrophysics: 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 lost many members that became stray asteroids, much as has occurred with open galactic clusters dissolving into stars."[6] In another paper, based upon a lecture Kuiper gave in 1950, also calledOn 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 slowly collected and formed larger aggregates, estimated to range up to 1 km or more in size." He continued to write 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 50astr. 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, thatPluto was the size of Earth and had therefore scattered these bodies out toward theOort 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 1980s;[9] it was first used in print byScott Tremaine in 1988.[10]: 191
He married Sarah Parker Fuller (1913-2000) on 20 June 1936. Kuiper died age 68 of a heart attack on 23 December 1973 inMexico City,[12][13] while on vacation with his wife.[14]
Astronomers refer to a region ofminor 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 have been swept clear by planetary gravitational perturbations, so that none or few would exist there today.[citation needed]
^Cameras inRanger VIII were turned on 23 minutes before impact, and the spacecraft transmitted pictures back to earth until it struck the surface and was destroyed. The flight's product would be intensively studied by a panel of noted lunar scientists, among them Gerard P. Kuiper andEwen A. Whitaker of the University of Arizona andHarold C. Urey of the University of California. — Brooks & Ertel (1976, p. 75)[11]
^"NASA Solar System Exploration".solarsystem.nasa.gov. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Archived fromthe original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved12 April 2015.
^Doel, Ronald E. (1996).Solar System Astronomy in America: Communities, patronage, and interdisciplinary science, 1920–1960. New York: Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521115681.
^Kuiper, G.P. (1951). "On the origin of the solar system". In Hynek, J.A. (ed.).Astrophysics: A Topical Symposium. New York City, New York, US: McGraw-Hill. pp. 357–424.
^Davies, John K. (2001).Beyond Pluto: Exploring the outer limits of the solar system. Cambridge University Press.
^Brooks, Courtney G.; Ertel, Ivan D. (1976).The Apollo Spacecraft: A chronology. Scientific and Technical Information Division, Office of Technology Use. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). p. 75.
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