William M. Kaula (May 19, 1926 – April 1, 2000) was an

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n-born

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and professor at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Kaula was most notable for his contributions to

geodesy Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...

, including using early

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to produce maps of

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. He was a participant in several NASA missions, as a team leader on

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, 16, and 17. The

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called Kaula "the father of space-based geodesy". The

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called him "one of the leading planetary physicists of the last four decades". He was a recipient of the Whitten Medal of the

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and the

Brouwer Award The Brouwer Award is awarded annually by the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society for outstanding lifetime achievement in the field of dynamical astronomy. The prize is named for Dirk Brouwer. Recipients Source ...

of the

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. He was elected to the

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for his scientific contributions notwithstanding his not having a doctorate, a rare such instance. He graduated from

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, the top military school in the

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and received an M.S. degree from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. Asteroid 5485 Kaula is named after him.

References

External links

Donald L. Turcotte, "William M. Kaula", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2002)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaula, William M. 1926 births 2000 deaths American geophysicists NASA people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American people of Australian descent University of California, Los Angeles faculty American geodesists