Editing Gerard Kuiper (section)

===Discoveries===
Kuiper discovered two [[natural satellite]]s of [[planet]]s in the [[Solar System]], namely [[Uranus]]'s satellite [[Miranda (moon)|Miranda]] and [[Neptune]]'s satellite [[Nereid (moon)|Nereid]]. In addition, he discovered [[carbon dioxide]] in the atmosphere of [[Mars]], and the existence of a [[methane]]-laced [[Celestial body atmosphere|atmosphere]] above [[Saturn]]'s satellite [[Titan (moon)|Titan]] in 1944. Kuiper also pioneered airborne infrared observing using a [[Convair 990]] aircraft in the 1960s.

In the 1950s Kuiper's interdisciplinary collaboration with the geochemist and Nobel Laureate [[Harold 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Doel |first=Ronald E. |year=1996 |title=Solar System Astronomy in America: Communities, patronage, and interdisciplinary science, 1920–1960 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521115681 |location=New York}}</ref>

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 the [[angular momentum problem]], simply attributing the loss of momentum to magnetic and electric fields instead of gravity.<ref name=":0" />

In 1951, in a paper in ''Astrophysics: 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."<ref name="Kuiper2">{{cite book |author1=Kuiper, G.P. |title=Astrophysics: A Topical Symposium |date=1951 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |editor1-last=Hynek |editor1-first=J.A. |location=New York City, New York, US |pages=357–424 |chapter=On the origin of the solar system}}</ref> In another paper, based upon a lecture Kuiper gave in 1950, also called ''On 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 H<sub>2</sub>0, NH<sub>3</sub>, CH<sub>4</sub>, 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 50 [[Astronomical unit|astr. units]], is held responsible for having started the scattering of the comets throughout the solar system."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kuiper |first1=Gerard |date=1951 |title=On the Origin of the Solar System |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.1073/pnas.37.4.233 |pmc=1063291 |pmid=16588984 |doi-access=free}}</ref> It is said that Kuiper was operating on the assumption, common in his time, that [[Pluto]] was the size of Earth and had therefore scattered these bodies out toward the [[Oort cloud]] or out of the Solar System; there would not be a Kuiper belt today if this were correct.<ref name="Jewitt2">{{cite web |author=David Jewitt |title=WHY "KUIPER" BELT? |url=http://www2.ess.ucla.edu/~jewitt/kb/gerard.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212100219/http://www2.ess.ucla.edu/~jewitt/kb/gerard.html |archive-date=12 February 2019 |access-date=14 June 2007 |work=University of Hawaii}}</ref> The name "Kuiper belt" was given to the region in the 1980s;<ref>{{cite journal |author=J.A. Fernández |date=1980 |title=On the existence of a comet belt beyond Neptune |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=192 |issue=3 |pages=481–491 |bibcode=1980MNRAS.192..481F |doi=10.1093/mnras/192.3.481 |doi-access=free}}</ref> it was first used in print by [[Scott Tremaine]] in 1988.<ref name="Davies_2001">{{cite book |last=Davies |first=John K. |title=Beyond Pluto: Exploring the outer limits of the solar system |date=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>{{rp|page=191}}

In the 1960s, Kuiper helped identify [[moon landing|landing]] sites on the [[Moon]] for the [[Apollo program]].{{efn|Cameras in [[Ranger 8|Ranger VIII]] were turned on 23&nbsp;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 and [[Ewen Whitaker|Ewen A. Whitaker]] of the University of Arizona and [[Harold Urey|Harold C. Urey]] of the University of California. &nbsp; &nbsp; — Brooks & Ertel (1976, p.&nbsp;75)<ref name="brooks1976">{{cite book |first1=Courtney G. |last1=Brooks |last2=Ertel |first2=Ivan D. |title=The Apollo Spacecraft: A chronology |date=1976 |department=Scientific and Technical Information Division, Office of Technology Use |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=mBpdI_bqMFEC&pg=PA75 75] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBpdI_bqMFEC&pg=PA75 |language=en}}</ref>}}

Kuiper discovered several binary stars which received "Kuiper numbers" to identify them, such as KUI&nbsp;79.