Ernst Julius Öpik

Armagh Planetarium and Observatory

(22 October 1893 – 10 September 1985)

Born in Kunda, Estonia, Ernst Julius Öpik was one of the most outstanding astrophysicists of his generation. He was educated at Tallinn High School and Moscow Imperial University. After four years at Moscow Observatory he became Director of the Astronomy Department, Tashkent (modern-day Uzbekistan). From 1921-1944 he was an Associate Professor at Tartu University (Estonia), and from 1930-34 a visiting scientist at Harvard University. As a former volunteer to the White Russian army, he vehemently opposed the Bolshevik Revolution and, when Soviet occupation of Estonia was imminent, he moved, first to Hamburg – where he was Rector of the Baltic University in Exile, set up by refugees from the region – and lastly to Armagh Observatory.

He arrived to Northern Ireland in 1948, invited by his former Harvard contemporary, Eric Lindsay, by then the Director of Armagh Observatory. Öpik had wide-ranging interests in the physical sciences. Among his numerous pursuits, he made many contributions to our knowledge of the minor bodies of the Solar System and founded the meteor research group at Harvard. His statistical studies of Earth-crossing comets and asteroids are fundamental to our understanding of the motions of these objects and how they impact on Earth. His predictions of cratering on Mars by Mars-crossing asteroids were dramatically confirmed 15 years later by planetary probes. In recognition of his work, minor planet 2099 Öpik (a Mars-crossing asteroid) was named after him.

Öpik was prolific in his output and often controversial in his opinions. In the tranquil surroundings of Armagh Observatory, he wrote prolifically on a wide range of astronomical subjects until he retired in 1981. His published papers on Astronomy extend over a period of over seventy years from 1912 to his death in 1985. He was the Editor of the Irish Astronomical Journal between 1950 and 1981, where many of his later publications appear, and became the Acting Director of the Observatory between 1974 and 1976 upon the untimely death of Eric Lindsay.

This short biography has been adapted from one written by John Butler. More information about his work can be found in the History pages: Professor Ernst Julius Öpik (also compiled by J. Butler).

E. J. Öpik with the bust of Rev. Richard Robinson in the Armagh Observatory Library.

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