Ernst Öpik

Ernst Julius Öpik (born 10 Oktoberjul / October 22 1893greg in Kunda, Estonia Governorate, .. † September 10, 1985 in Bangor, Northern Ireland) was a native of Estonia astronomer.

Life and work

Öpik attended high school in the then Russian Reval (now Tallinn ), and then studied at the Imperial University of Moscow. In 1916 he became director of the astronomical department in Tashkent (Uzbekistan ). From 1921 to 1944 he worked at the Observatory in Tartu (Estonia), from 1930 to 1934 interrupted by a stay at the Harvard College Observatory. As a former volunteer of the Russian White Army, he fled in a horse-drawn carriage from the advancing Communists.

Öpik was co-founder in 1946 of the Baltic University in Pinneberg and was its first rector. In 1948 he went to Armagh (Northern Ireland ), where he was managing director until 1981 worked at the Armagh Observatory and some time. From 1950 to 1981 he also served as editor of the Irish Astronomical Journal. Since 1956, he divided his time in Armagh with a visiting professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1975 he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and in 1976 the Bruce Medal. The asteroid ( 2099 ) Öpik is named after him.

Öpiks main research area were small bodies of the solar system such as asteroids, comets and meteors. But even on planetary atmospheres, the internal structure and evolution of stars and other astronomical topics he gained an early important theoretical insights that have often been widely recognized until decades later.

Some important works:

Ernst Öpiks grandson Lembit Öpik is a British politician. His brother was the paleontologist Armin Alexander Öpik ( 1898-1983 ).