Portrait of Gerard Kuiper Photograph courtesy of University of Arizona, Deparment of Planetary Sciences

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 new techniques of looking at the sky, and discovered a moon of Neptune and Uranus. He also 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.