Ernst Julius Opik

Ernst Julius Opik

Estonian astronomer
Date of Birth: 22.10.1893
Country: Estonia

Content:
  1. Biography of Ernst Julius Opik
  2. Early Life and Education
  3. Contributions and Career
  4. Later Years and Accomplishments

Biography of Ernst Julius Opik

Ernst Julius Opik (1893–1985) was an Estonian astronomer, known for his wide range of scientific interests and contributions to various fields of astronomy.

Ernst Julius Opik

Early Life and Education

Opik was born on October 22, 1893, in Kunda, Virumaa County, which was then part of the Russian province of Estland (present-day Estonia). Initially interested in chemistry, Opik's passion for astronomy was sparked when he witnessed the great opposition of Mars in 1909. He not only became fascinated with astronomical observations but also organized an astronomical circle called "Vega" in Tallinn, Estonia. In 1912, he published his first scientific paper, which attempted to explain the different colors of various parts of Mars based on the popular hypothesis of vegetation existing there.

Opik received specialized astronomical education at Moscow University between 1912 and 1916, where he was eventually appointed as an assistant at the university's observatory in Presnya. From 1920 to 1921, he served as an astronomy lecturer in Tashkent. After Estonia declared independence, Opik returned to his homeland in December 1921 and became an observing astronomer at the Tartu Observatory from 1921 to 1944.

Contributions and Career

In 1928, Opik attended a scientific conference in the United States, where he met Harvard astronomer Harlow Shapley. Following Shapley's invitation, Opik worked at the Harvard Observatory from 1930 to 1934, lecturing to students while conducting research. He was elected as a full member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in 1938.

In 1944, Opik emigrated to Germany, where he initially worked at the Hamburg Observatory before relocating to the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland in 1948. He served there until his death. In 1956, Opik became a professor of astrophysics at the University of Maryland in the United States.

Opik's scientific interests were incredibly diverse, including meteoric and cometary astronomy, planetary physics, stellar statistics, the theory of stellar structure, and stellar photometry. He developed and implemented an original methodology for observing meteor flight using a swinging mirror. Opik conducted numerous determinations of meteor heights, velocities, and radiants. He also developed a theory on the tidal destruction of cometary nuclei passing near the Sun.

In 1932, Opik proposed the idea of the existence of comet and meteor clouds held by the gravitational attraction of the Sun at distances up to 4 light-years and for billions of years. This idea was later developed by Jan Oort. Additionally, Opik accurately determined the distance to the Andromeda Nebula using considerations of dynamics, which confirmed its extragalactic nature.

Opik was one of the first astronomers to use three-color photometry of stars in non-focal exposures, creating the initial outline of the UBV photometry. In 1924, he published the results of a statistical study on binary stars, which provided insights into the general evolution of stars based on their initial mass. In the 1930s, Opik calculated various models of stellar interior structure. In 1937, he concluded that the energy source of stars must be thermonuclear reactions that synthesize helium from hydrogen at high temperatures in their cores.

Furthermore, Opik was a talented scientist with a wide range of interests. He constructed scientific instruments and made significant contributions to the field of reactive flight and astronautics. He also composed music and was a skilled pianist.

Later Years and Accomplishments

Opik was a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. He received various prestigious awards throughout his career, including the J. Lawrence Smith Medal from the National Academy of Sciences (1960), the F. Leonard Medal from the American Meteoritical Society (1968), the Gold Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society in London (1975), and the C. Bruce Medal from the Pacific Astronomical Society (1976). He passed away on September 10, 1985, in Bangor, Northern Ireland.

Opik's brother, Armin Alexander Opik (1898–1983), was a renowned geologist and paleontologist who worked at Tartu University until 1944 and later in Australia.

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