Gerard Peter Kuiper

In fact, it was not until 1947 that any gas was identified in the Martian atmosphere by spectroscopic means. In that year, the Dutch astronomer Gerard Peter Kuiper (1905-73) found that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the planet s atmosphere was about twice as great as that in the Earth s atmosphere. Even then, however, astronomers did not realize the importance of carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere, assuming that other gases might be present in greater abundance. 

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