K

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
  • Born in Germany.
  • He discovered that the planets move around the Sun in ellipses, not circles.
  • He drew up the three laws of planetary motion.
  • He also prepared a new set of planetary tables.

Gerard Kuiper (1905-1973)

  • Born in Holland.
  • He believed that the planets were built up gradually from a cloud of dust and gas asssociated with the Sun.
  • He discovered that Titan, a satellite of Saturn, has an atmosphere.
  • He also discovered Miranda, a satellite of Uranus, and Nereid, a satellite of Neptune.
  • He prepared a detailed lunar photographic atlas for space researchers.
  • He determined correctly that the Martian atmosphere is mainly carbon dioxide.

Leonid Kulik (1883-1942)

  • Born in Estonia.
  • He studied the site of the 1908 devastation in Siberia, feeling certain that it was caused by a meteorite, but finding no evidence that it was.