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Collection Overview
Title: Jack B. Kuipers Collection, 1953-2006
ID: COLL/160
Primary Creator: Jack B. Kuipers (1921-)
Extent: 12.0 Boxes
Arrangement: Folder level description
Abstract
Professor of mathematics at Calvin College and pioneer in virtual reality technology. The collection details applied aerospace dynamics, conventional matrix methods, and quaternion algebra; “SPASYN” (a patented space synchronizer); and other patented products. The collection includes correspondence, reports, papers, articles, Quaternions and Rotation Sequences: A Primer with Applications book chapter drafts, patent materials, book reviews, presentation photo slides, and biographical information.
Biographical Note
A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Jack B. Kuipers (1921- ) was the oldest of eight children born to Berend and Grace (née Werkeman) Kuipers. He majored in mathematics and physics at Calvin College and earned a BS in electrical engineering and MS in automatic control engineering from the University of Michigan, and studied radar technology at MIT and Harvard University.
He served with the US Army Signal Corps during WW II and worked for various contractors in the aerospace industry during the 1950s and on the staff of the University of Michigan in the 1960s teaching courses in control and information theory. He joined the faculty of Calvin College Mathematics Department in 1967 and was appointed professor emeritus at Calvin in 1986.
The focus of his research has been on guidance systems, particularly SPASYN (an acronym for space synchronizer) which used radio signals to determine the relationship between two objects moving through three-dimensional space. This technology has been adapted to guidance and targeting systems, air traffic control, and virtual reality. He authored Quaternions and Rotation Sequences: A Primer with Applications to Orbits, Aerospace, and Virtual Reality that has gone through many printings and became the standard reference for aerospace engineering.
He also consulted for numerous companies. For his work, Kuipers earned eight patents in the United States and nine in other countries. In 2002, he was named a distinguished alumnus by Calvin College.
Kuipers married Lois Belle Holtrop (1925- ), the daughter of Corneal and Jennie (née Kruizenga) Holtrop. They have five children: Benjamin, Emily, Joel, Alison, and Lynne.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Personal],
[
Series 2: Papers by Jack B. Kuipers],
[
Series 3: SPASYN Research],
[
Series 4: Patents -- Jack B. Kuipers],
[
Series 5: Patents-Other],
[
Series 6: Consulting Projects],
[Series 7: Research Material],
[
Series 8: Patent Law Suits],
[
Series 9: Presentations],
[
Series 10: Miscellaneous],
[
Series 11: Papers],
[
All]
- Series 7: Research Material
- Box 6
- Folder 1: The Analysis and Design of Nonlinear Control Systems --- 1964
- Folder 2: Analytical Mechanics Stability of Motion Celestial Ballistics --- 1968
- Folder 3: "Animating Rotation and Quaternion Curves" --- 1986
- Folder 4: "Application of Statistical Filtering" and "Estimation of a Satellites Ephemeris" --- 1964
- Folder 5: "Charge Image Generator: Theory of Operation and Author Language Support" --- 1975
- Folder 6: "Control System Analysis and Design via 2nd Method of Lyapunov" --- 1959
- Folder 7: "The Detection of Radar Echoes in Noise I and II" --- 1960
- Folder 8: "Control Theory", E.G. Gilbert --- undated
- Folder 9: "Controllability and Observability in Multivariable Control Systems" --- 1963
- Folder 10: "A Design for High Performance Aircraft Stability Augmentation Systems" --- undated
- Folder 11: "Design Considerations for SPASYN Low Frequency Positioning Systems" --- 1977
- Folder 12: "Design of Linear Flight Control Systems" --- 1964
- Folder 13: "Design of Linear Flight Control Systems Using Optimal Control Theory" --- 1964
- Folder 14: "Detection Theory" --- undated
- Box 7
- Folder 1: "Development of Manufacturing Methods for Production of Dual Axis Rate Transducers" --- 1966
- Folder 2: "Digital Computer Program for a Generalized Inertial Guidance System" --- 1959
- Folder 3-4: Dynamics of Flight --- 1958
- Folder 5: "Electromagnetic Head Tracking- (SPA-SYN-COM) --- 1979
- Folder 6: "Elements of Space and Reentry Vehicles" --- undated
- Folder 7: "Engineering the Enterprise" --- 1999
- Folder 8: Extension of Linear Constant-Coefficient Analysis Methods to Time-Varying Systems --- 1964
- Folder 9: "Factored Complex Quaternions" --- 1981
- Folder 10: "Fundamentals of Numerical Control" --- undated
- Folder 11: "General Equations of Motion of a Satellite in Gravitational Gradient Field" --- 1959
- Folder 12: "Generalization of Farfield SPASYN" --- 1983
- Box 8
- Folder 1: "Generation and Display of Geometric Fractals in 3-D --- 1982
- Folder 2-3: "Guidance Design Analysis for Military Space Operations" --- 1964
- Folder 4: "Installation and Operations Guide" for "The Bird" (Ascension Technology Corporation) --- 1990
- Folder 5: "An Introduction to Celestial Mechanics" --- 1961
- Folder 6: "An Introduction to the Principles of Infrared Physics" --- 1956
- Folder 7-8: Lie Methods for Non-Linear Dynamics with Applications to Accelerator Physics --- 1999
- Folder 9: "Magnetic Position and Orientation Tracking System" --- 1979
- Folder 10: "The Mathematics of Computer Graphics" --- 1978
- Folder 11: "Matrices and Linear Transformations" --- 1957
- Folder 12: "Minimum Effort Control Systems" --- 1962
- Folder 13
- Box 9
- Folder 1: "New Approach to General Minimum Energy Problem" --- undated
- Folder 2: "Notes on Sampled-Data Systems" --- 1965
- Folder 3: "The Optimal Control of Some Attitude Control Systems" --- 1962
- Folder 4: "Optimal Programming Problems with Inequality Constraints" --- undated
- Folder 5: "Optimum Linear Prediction and Filtering" --- undated
- Folder 6: "Passive Aerodynamic Attitude Stability of Near Earth Satellites" --- 1961
- Folder 7: "Problems in Nonlinear Control Systems" --- 1960
- Folder 8: "A Satellite Method for Pressure and Temperature below 24 Kilometers" --- 1965
- Folder 9: "Spacecraft Attitude, Rotations, and Quaternions" --- 1984
- Folder 10: "A Space Synchro Helmet-Mounted Sight Flightworthy System" --- 1975
- Folder 11: "Space Vehicle Trajectories" --- 1961
- Folder 12-13: "Stability/ Attitude Signal Computation from Body Mounted Sensors" --- 1970
- Folder 14: "Statistics of Orbit Determination" --- 1961
- Box 10
- Folder 1: "Symposium on Visually Coupled Systems" --- 1972
- Folder 2: "Trajectory Synthesis Study and Related Material" --- 1962
- Folder 3: "The Transit Navigational Satellite System" --- 1961
- Folder 4: "Trigonometrics" --- 2001
- Folder 5: "Two Gyros Stabilizing a Single Axis" --- 1957
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Personal],
[
Series 2: Papers by Jack B. Kuipers],
[
Series 3: SPASYN Research],
[
Series 4: Patents -- Jack B. Kuipers],
[
Series 5: Patents-Other],
[
Series 6: Consulting Projects],
[Series 7: Research Material],
[
Series 8: Patent Law Suits],
[
Series 9: Presentations],
[
Series 10: Miscellaneous],
[
Series 11: Papers],
[
All]