Donald R. Davis is an American astronomer specializing in the evolution of the Solar System.
[1] With William K. Hartmann, he was responsible for proposing a theory in 1975 of the creation of earth's moon by a catastrophic collision.
[2] He is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the co-discovery of the trans-Neptunian object (49673) 1999 RA215 in 1999.
A few months later, Davis arranged for the naming of an asteroid as 223877 Kutler, after Brendan Kutler—a student, whom he had worked with in that program—died in his sleep.
[5] The main-belt asteroid 3638 Davis is named in his honor.