Donald R. Davis is an Americanastronomer specializing in the evolution of theSolar System.^[1] WithWilliam K. Hartmann, he was responsible for proposing a theory in 1975 of the creation of earth's moon by acatastrophic collision.^[2] He is credited by theMinor Planet Center with the co-discovery of thetrans-Neptunian object(49673) 1999 RA215 in 1999.^[3][4]

In 2009, he was Academic Director at theSummer Science Program. A few months later, Davis arranged for the naming of an asteroid as223877 Kutler, after Brendan Kutler—a student, whom he had worked with in that program—died in his sleep.^[5]

Themain-belt asteroid3638 Davis is named in his honor.^[1][6]

• Hartmann, W. K., & Davis, D. R. (1975). Satellite-sized planetesimals and lunar origin. Icarus, 24(4), 504–515.
• Minor Planet Center: Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (45001)-(50000)
• Jewitt, D., & Luu, J. (2000). Physical nature of the Kuiper Belt. In Protostars and Planets IV (Vol. 1, pp. 1201–1229). University of Arizona Press.
• Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Science & Business Media.
• Summer Science Program: Alumni Tribute to Brendan Kutler

This United States astronomer article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• 20th-century American astronomers
• Discoverers of minor planets
• Living people
• Summer Science Program
• 21st-century American astronomers
• American astronomer stubs

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from August 2025
• Year of birth missing (living people)
• All stub articles