恩斯特·厄皮克Ernst Öpik

恩斯特·厄皮克是海关官员卡尔Heinrich Öpik和Leontine Johanna Freiwald的儿子。要理解厄皮克一生中的事件，我们需要非常简要地概述爱沙尼亚的历史。我们引用[7]中的话：-

爱沙尼亚人是一个小族群，与芬兰人关系密切，一千多年前定居在芬兰湾以南地区。他们的语言属于芬兰-乌戈尔语族，与欧洲大部分其他地区所说的印欧语系语言无关。在历史时期的大部分时间里，爱沙尼亚人的土地先后被德国人和丹麦人占领和统治，然后被瑞典人统治，最后（自1721年起）被俄罗斯人统治，但他们的身份认同从未丧失。爱沙尼亚……于1920年获得独立……独立持续了仅二十多年……1940年6月俄罗斯军队入侵爱沙尼亚，该国于同年8月成为苏联的一个加盟共和国……1944年7月爱沙尼亚被德国军队征服，而德国军队又在1944年7月被俄罗斯人驱逐。

Johanna Karl于1861年11月3日出生在爱沙尼亚塔林，Leontine于1864年12月15日也出生在塔林。Karl和Leontine于1885年结婚，育有十个孩子，包括：Anna（1886-1955），她自学了13种语言，包括梵语，并将荷马的Odyssey翻译成爱沙尼亚语；Paul（1888-1967），1928-1940年任Pikalaen银行行长；Heinrich（1890-1890），不到一岁即夭折；厄皮克（1893-1985），本传记的主人公；Oskar（1895-1974），爱沙尼亚驻法国和德国大使以及驻国际联盟代表；Armin（1898-1983），塔尔图大学地质学和古生物学教授，后来成为澳大利亚科学院成员。

厄皮克的女儿在[7]中写道，Karl：-

……幼年成为孤儿，在孤儿院和俄罗斯帝国海军的一艘军校船上长大。由于他严格的家教，Karl Heinrich试图在家里实行同样的规矩，如果不是我祖母的影响更强大，他会让孩子们的生活痛苦不堪。她心地善良，教孩子们语言、音乐、艺术等。

厄皮克对天文学的兴趣很可能在他很小的时候就开始了，正如他的兄弟Oskar所暗示的[16]：-

厄皮克的姐姐安娜是在港口庭院的一个夜晚让他看到天空和星辰之美的人——那很可能是厄皮克兄弟观测到的天琴座中的一颗小彗星，他后来成为世界著名的天文学学者。

1900年，厄皮克离开昆达，前往塔林，在那里就读于尼古拉中学。这所学校由瑞典国王古斯塔夫二世·阿道夫于1631年创办，但被俄国人改名为尼古拉一世中学。直到1890年，它一直是一所德语学校，但俄国人采取了俄罗斯化政策，引入了用俄语授课的俄罗斯教师。然而，厄皮克通过积极参加一个秘密文学小组来反对俄罗斯化，该小组致力于介绍爱沙尼亚文学。厄皮克这样描述他的学生时代[5]：-

在学校的较高年级，我组织了一个物理学家-数学家小组，他们依赖我对物理如此自信，以至于我们获得了物理和化学实验室的自由使用权。我特别研究化学并作报告……我和我的一个兄弟以及卡尔·赖因贝格一起创立了一个天文学家小组，即尤里·维加业余爱好者圈子，我们买了一台望远镜，目前归塔尔图大学所有，由前维加成员捐赠。凭借其罕见的镜头，我于1911年秋天在塔林观测了火星，这也促成了我于1912年发表的第一篇科学论文。

厄皮克于1911年以金牌从中学毕业。弗雷德·辛格写道[15]：-

他[厄皮克]声称他在那所中学学到了所有重要的物理和数学……

他希望去莫斯科大学学习天文学，但正如他大约25年后解释的那样，他无法立即开始[5]：-

高中毕业后，我无法立即上大学，即出于经济原因；有十个孩子，我们的父母无法支持他们的学业——相反，我们这些孩子，在高中学习时就必须能够通过有偿授课来支持家庭。在毕业后的那一年，我学习了数学——几乎整个大学数学课程都在这一年里涵盖了，因此后来在大学里，我可以立即开始在我领域的研究。已经有了足够的数学准备，我当然继续进行了天文观测。

1912年秋天，厄皮克开始在莫斯科大学学习。他选择莫斯科大学而不是塔尔图大学，因为在莫斯科他可以靠授课赚些钱，但这仍然是一场巨大的挣扎，他不得不欠债，住在莫斯科爱沙尼亚协会宿舍，当他有机会多授课时，他就还清了债务。尽管有这些困难，在1912年至1916年间，他发表了18篇文章，显示出从最初业余水平到四年结束时成为世界顶级研究者的快速发展。虽然是一名学生，但他似乎在很大程度上是自学的，因为他声称他从莫斯科大学的天文学教授Vitold Czerask（1849-1925）和Pavel Sternberg（1865-1920）那里没有什么可学的。他于1916年以天文学学位毕业，并继续工作以取得大学教授资格。

1917年的俄国革命使国家进入政治混乱，有政变企图和经济崩溃以及食物短缺。厄皮克并不是当时他在莫斯科的唯一家庭成员，因为他的兄弟Oskar和姐妹Anna也在那里。Oskar写道（见[9]）：-

我记得有一天，厄皮克和我除了茶炊里的沸水外没有任何东西可以维持我们。就在那时，Anna像天使一样带着食物来了。

1917年大部分时间莫斯科相对平静，但在十月布尔什维克在圣彼得堡夺取政权后，战斗在莫斯科开始了。到11月3日，布尔什维克控制了这座城市。厄皮克完全反对布尔什维克，所以他加入了白军，前往雅罗斯拉夫尔，那里驻扎着红军。厄皮克在雅罗斯拉夫尔有一个神秘的女朋友，这在他被布尔什维克俘虏并被判处死刑时证明是有用的。他声称他一直在使用假身份证件，以便能去雅罗斯拉夫尔看望他的已婚情人。他一定很有说服力，因为他被释放了，并能回到莫斯科从事天文学。我们引用厄皮克自己对1919年事件的描述[13]：-

1919年初，当布尔什维克统治在俄罗斯大部分地区牢固建立时，边缘地区仍有一些战斗继续，新统治者决定在塔什干建立一所大学……。超过100名教授和其他教学人员及其家属自愿离开饥饿的莫斯科，在食物丰富但其他方面有风险的亚洲环境中开始新生活。作为小组中唯一的天文学家，我将担任天文学主席，并为塔什干天文台注入新活力。一个前军事大地测量天文台，它已被V V Stratonoff重组，但在三十年的可敬研究活动后，它在革命期间不知何故陷入混乱，现在它将成为新突厥斯坦大学的一个组成部分。当时俄罗斯的铁路通信处于混乱状态，所以难怪我们从莫斯科到塔什干的传奇3000公里跋涉花了70天，从1919年1月底到4月初。……1919年4月抵达后，我在新组织的突厥斯坦大学任教两年，我的主要关注是振兴塔什干天文台。

1921年，在仅仅相识很短时间后，厄皮克于1921年与Vera Oreshkina结婚。Vera于1901年7月17日出生在俄罗斯顿河州。

在塔什干，出版对厄皮克来说很困难，事实上几乎不可能，他决定努力返回爱沙尼亚，他心爱的故乡，当时已成为一个独立国家。1921年12月1日，厄皮克被任命到塔尔图大学，在那里他在天文台工作。他发表了对仙女座星云M31距离的两次估计，一次在1921年，另一次在次年，两者都基于从其观测到的旋转速度与向心加速度比较而得出的质量估计。两者都是合理的，第一次是高估，第二次是低估。这两个值来自使用不同的质光比。在1922年的论文中，他指出，假设他的距离估计是合理的[6]：-

……该星云是一个与我们的银河系相当的恒星宇宙。

这一点在1923年由爱德文·哈勃使用亨丽爱塔·勒维特的造父变星周期/光度关系得到证实。

1922年，欧内斯特和Vera Öpik的第一个女儿迈娅出生。他向塔尔图大学提交了一篇关于流星观测的学位论文，并于1923年获得博士学位。厄皮克此时发表了数量惊人的论文：1922年，他发表了八篇论文，总计143页；1923年，他发表了八篇论文，总计152页；1924年，出版了九部著作，总计479页。在塔尔图天文台，厄皮克有一名研究助理阿丽德·皮里，她于1899年6月30日出生在塔尔图马的特里拉。1926年，厄皮克有两个孩子，一个女儿叫茵娜，是他的妻子所生，一个儿子叫乌诺，是阿丽德所生。起初，他的妻子维拉不知道阿丽德和乌诺的事。当她得知后，理所当然地非常生气，但她逐渐接受了这种情况。厄皮克与阿丽德建立了第二个家，与妻子维拉又有了第二个女儿埃琳娜，随后与阿丽德又有了两个女儿赫尔吉和蒂乌。

1930年，厄皮克前往美国哈佛大学，在接下来的四年里，他作为访问科学家和讲师度过了大量时间。他是由天文台台长哈罗·沙普利邀请的[6]：-

在美国期间，厄皮克在哈佛天文学家中引起了对流星的很大兴趣，从而促成了后来的哈佛流星计划。早在1932年，厄皮克就讨论了恒星摄动对近抛物线椭圆的影响，18年后这成为Oort关于围绕太阳的彗星云概念中的重要机制。正是由于这个原因，1931年在哈佛大学天文台开始职业生涯并因厄皮克的影响而进入流星研究领域的Whipple，总是说“厄皮克-Oort彗星云”。

厄皮克于1934年回到塔尔图天文台，随后在第二次世界大战前度过了一些幸福的岁月[9]：-

爱沙尼亚于1940年被红军占领，一年后又被纳粹占领。厄皮克拒绝让战争的小事妨碍他的研究。但在1944年，随着红军再次入侵，他决定逃离。“我宁愿去海边淹死自己，也不愿生活在俄国人统治下，”他说。随着红军逼近，他命令Alide和他们的三个孩子乘货车去塔林，而他把家产装上一辆马车。塔林笼罩在浓烟中，因为当地人在苏联人到来前烧毁文件，销毁与德国人勾结的证据。这家人乘船前往德国，作为难民在营地生活了几年。厄皮克还帮助了Vera的两个女儿Maija和Inna逃脱。她们设法去了美国，但最小的Elina，年仅15岁，留在了母亲身边。她直到近十年后斯大林去世后才与父亲联系，并且34年没有见过他。

抵达德国后，厄皮克与Alide及家人前往汉堡天文台，并在那里受到款待直到战争结束。此后，1946年3月在汉堡成立了一所波罗的海大学，为流离失所的学生提供教育，厄皮克成为天文学教授和爱沙尼亚学生的校长。这所大学始终只是一个短期项目，因此厄皮克不得不寻找永久工作。事实上，该大学于1949年关闭，但厄皮克已于1948年离开。哈佛大学的天文学家得知厄皮克的困境后，Eric Mervyn 詹姆斯·鲍曼·林赛（1907-1974）前来帮助他。林赛出生于北爱尔兰，在贝尔法斯特女王大学学习。他前往哈佛大学攻读博士学位，并于1934年获得学位。因此，林赛在厄皮克于哈佛工作时曾是那里的研究生，事实上，厄皮克曾是林赛博士论文的考官之一。林赛于1937年回到北爱尔兰，被任命为阿马天文台台长。1947年12月，林赛向厄皮克提供了阿马天文台研究助理的职位，他于1948年6月抵达北爱尔兰就职。Alide及家人随行。

厄皮克在余下的职业生涯中继续在阿马天文台工作，他还从1956年开始多次访问美国马里兰大学。Fred Singer在[15]中写道：-

当我在1956年邀请厄皮克到马里兰大学时，我从未见过他。是他的工作吸引了我的注意。而正是他的工作习惯对我的科学生涯产生了深远影响。他引导我走向行星和卫星研究，并教会我使用简单的物理原理代替更晦涩的数学方法。

D J Mullan在[12]中写道：-

在他旅居马里兰的那个学期，他通常讲授一门关于他当时感兴趣的研究课题的讨论班。当我参加这个讨论班时（恰好是关于彗星分裂的），我发现厄皮克博士几乎没有时间讲授他认为在知识领域中已经确立的内容。他给人的印象是总是想站在知识的前沿，即使在课堂上也是如此：我想，任何参加他讨论班的人都被期望在别处吸收那些已经确立的内容。

1962年11月的一篇报纸报道可能最能说明厄皮克对俄罗斯人的强烈厌恶：-

马里兰大学帕克分校。一位世界著名的天文学家说，如果目前正飞向火星的俄罗斯航天器能提供任何关于空间科学的重要信息，他会感到惊喜。马里兰大学访问研究教授Ernest J 厄皮克博士在周四的一次采访中说，“俄罗斯人只贡献了”关于空间的新信息的“千分之五”。“他们（俄罗斯人）声称已将比美国所能发送的任何有效载荷大10到100倍的巨大有效载荷送入太空，”厄皮克博士说。“然而，与此同时，所有关于空间的新信息中有99.5%来自美国的探测器。

在北爱尔兰，Eric Lindsay于1950年发起创办了Irish Astronomical Journal，由厄皮克编辑。他一直担任编辑，直到1981年87岁时退休。即使在那之后，他仍继续担任副编辑，直到1985年去世。

除了天文学，厄皮克生活中的另一大爱好是音乐。他的钢琴演奏水平很高，并且创作了已出版的钢琴曲。威廉·麦克雷写道[10]：-

1975年，在皇家天文学会的会议上他获得金质奖章后的那个晚上，我在晚宴上负责提议为他的健康干杯。……然后我向他表示，如果他愿意说几句话作为答谢，大家会很高兴。……他站了起来——却什么也没说！他唱了起来！我太吃惊了，没能完全听清歌词——它们似乎是对这一荣誉以及我们对他的祝贺的优雅致谢。

厄皮克因其对天文学的杰出贡献而获得许多荣誉。他先后当选为Estonian Academy of Sciences（1938年）、Royal Astronomical Society（1949年）、Royal Irish Academy（1954年）、National Academy of Sciences (United States)（1975年）和美国艺术与科学院（1977年）的成员。他获得了贝尔法斯特女王大学（1968年）和谢菲尔德大学（1977年）的荣誉学位。在他获得的众多奖项中，我们提及国家科学院 (United States)颁发的J Lawrence Smith奖章（1960年）、国际陨石学会的F C Leonard奖章（1968年）、美国科学促进会的金质奖章（1974年）、Royal Astronomical Society的金质奖章（1975年）、太平洋天文学会的Catherine Wolfe Bruce金质奖章（1976年），以及巴黎Pensée大学的Louis Jacot大奖（1978年）。

作为最后的评论，我们注意到厄皮克唯一的儿子是Uno 厄皮克（1926-2005），他曾就读于塔尔图高中，然后于1944年随父母前往德国。他于1946-48年在波罗的海大学学习，之后随父母搬到北爱尔兰。他于1954年获得贝尔法斯特女王大学的博士学位。随后，他在几所大学教授物理学和应用数学，其职业生涯主要是在1962年至1986年间于贝尔法斯特女王大学度过。Uno 厄皮克与Liivi Vedo结婚，他们的长子是Lembit 厄皮克（生于1965年），他于1997年至2010年成为英国议会的自由民主党成员。他也是一位知名的电视人物，目前主持广播和电视节目。

Ernst Öpik was the son of Karl Heinrich Öpik, a customs officer, and Leontine Johanna Freiwald. To understand the events of Ernst Öpik's life we need to give a very brief overview of the history of Estonia. We quote from [7]:-

The Estonians are a small ethnic group, closely related to the Finns, that settled in the area south of the Gulf of Finland more than a thousand years ago. Their language belongs to the Finno-Ugric group, unrelated to the Indo-European languages spoken in most of the rest of Europe. Throughout most of historical time the land of the Estonians was occupied and governed first by Germans and Danes, then by Swedes, and finally (since 1721) by Russians, but their identity was never lost. Estonia ... gained her independence in 1920 ... Independence lasted little more than two decades ... Russian troops invaded Estonia in June 1940 and the country became a member republic of the Soviet Union in August of that year ... In July 1944 Estonia was conquered by the German army, which in turn was expelled by the Russians in July 1944.

Johanna Karl was born on 3 November 1861, in Tallinn, Estonia, and Leontine was born on 15 December 1864, also in Tallinn. Karl and Leontine married in 1885 and had ten children including: Anna (1886-1955), who taught herself 13 languages, including Sanskrit, and translated Homer's Odyssey into Estonian; Paul (1888-1967), President of the Pikalaen Bank, 1928-1940; Heinrich (1890-1890), died less than one year old; Ernst (1893-1985), the subject of this biography; Oskar (1895-1974), Estonian ambassador to France and Germany as well as at the League of Nations; Armin (1898-1983), Professor of Geology and Palaeontology at the University of Tartu, later Member of the Australian Academy of Sciences.

Norma Romot, Armin Öpik's daughter, writes in [7] that Karl:-

... was orphaned at an early age and was brought up at an orphanage and on a cadet ship of the Russian Imperial navy. Because of his strict upbringing, Karl Heinrich tried to apply the same regimen at home and would have made his children's lives utter misery if my grandmother's influence had not been stronger. She was soft hearted, and taught her children languages, music, art, etc.

Ernst's interest in astronomy might well have begun when he was very young as his brother Oskar suggested [16]:-

Ernst's sister Anna was the one who opened his eyes to the beauty of heaven and stars in the courtyard of the port on one night - it was probably a small comet in Lyra that brother Ernst observed and he has since become a world-renowned astronomy scholar.

In 1900 Ernst left Kunda and went to Tallinn where he attended the Nikolai High School. This school was founded in 1631 by the King of Sweden Gustav II Adolf but was renamed Nikolai I Gymnasium by the Russians. Up to 1890 it had been a German speaking school but the Russian adopted a policy of Russification and brought in Russian teachers who taught in Russian. Ernst, however, reacted against the Russification by being active in a secret literary circle who made an introduction to Estonian literature. Ernst wrote of his school years [5]:-

In the upper classes of the school, I organized a circle of physicists-mathematicians who relied on me to be so confident about physics that we were given free access to the physics and chemistry laboratories. I especially studied and gave presentations in chemistry ... With one of my brothers and Karl Reinberg, I founded a group of astronomers, the Vega circle of amateurs, and we bought a telescope, which is currently owned by the University of Tartu, donated by the former Vega members. With its rare lens, I observed the planet Mars in Tallinn in autumn 1911, which also resulted in my first scientific paper published in 1912.

Öpik graduated from the high school in 1911 with the gold medal. Fred Singer writes [15]:-

He [Öpik] claimed that he learnt all of the important physics and mathematics at that high school ...

He wished to study astronomy at the University of Moscow but, as he explained some 25 years later, he could not begin immediately [5]:-

After graduating from upper secondary school, I could not go to university right away, namely for economic reasons; with ten children there was no way for our parents to support their studies - on the contrary, we, the children, when studying at high school had to be able to support the family by giving paid lessons. In the year following graduation I studied mathematics - almost the entire university mathematics course was covered in this year, so that later, at university, I could immediately start research in my field. Already having a sufficient mathematical preparation I continued, of course, with astronomical observations.

In the autumn of 1912 Öpik began his studies at the University of Moscow. He chose the University of Moscow rather than the University of Tartu because in Moscow he could earn some money giving lessons but it was still a great struggle and he had to run up debts living in the Moscow Society of Estonia dormitory which he settled when he had the chance to give more lessons. Despite these difficulties, between 1912 and 1916 he produced 18 articles, showing a rapid development from an amateur level at the beginning to a top world-class researcher by the end of the four years. Although a student, he seems largely self-taught for he claimed he had nothing to learn from the astronomy professors at the University of Moscow, Vitold Czerask (1849-1925) and Pavel Sternberg (1865-1920). He graduated with an astronomy degree in 1916 and continued to work to qualify as a university professor.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 saw the country enter political chaos, with coup attempts and a collapsing economy with food shortages. Öpik was not the only member of his family in Moscow at that time for his brother Oskar and sister Anna were also there. Oskar wrote (see [9]):-

I remember one day when Ernst and I had nothing to sustain us except the boiling water in the samovar. It was then that Anna arrived, like an angel, with food.

Moscow remained relatively quiet for much of 1917 but, after the Bolsheviks seized power in St Petersburg in October, fighting began in Moscow. By 3 November the Bolsheviks were in control of the city. Öpik was totally opposed to the Bolsheviks so he joined the White Army, travelling to Yaroslavl where the Red Army was stationed. Öpik had a mysterious girlfriend in Yaroslavl which proved useful when he was captured by the Bolsheviks and sentenced to death. He claimed he had been using false identity papers so he could visit his married lover in Yaroslavl. He must have been convincing for he was released and able to return to astronomy in Moscow. We quote from Öpik's own description of the events of 1919 [13]:-

In the beginning of 1919, when Bolshevik rule was firmly established in most of Russia, with some fighting still continuing on the fringes, the new rulers decided to found a university in Tashkent ... . Over 100 professors and other teaching staff with their families volunteered to leave starving Moscow and to start a new life in the food-rich but otherwise risky Asiatic surroundings. As the only astronomer in the group, I was to be Chairman of Astronomy and put new life into Tashkent Observatory. A former military geodetic observatory, it had been reorganized by V V Stratonoff, but after three decades of respectable research activity it had somehow fallen into disarray during the Revolution, and it was now to be made an integral part of the new Turkestan University. Rail communications in Russia were at that time in a state of disorganization, and so it was no wonder that our legendary trek of 3000 km from Moscow to Tashkent took 70 days, from end of January to beginning of April, 1919. ... After arrival in April, 1919, I served for two years on the faculty of the newly organized Turkestan University, with my main concern being the revitalization of the Tashkent Observatory.

In 1921 after only knowing each other for a short time, Öpik married Vera Oreshkina in 1921. Vera had been born on 17 July 1901, in Don Oblast, Russia.

Publishing was difficult, in fact almost impossible, for Öpik in Tashkent and he decided to make efforts to return to Estonia, his beloved native land, which at that time had become an independent country. On 1 December 1921 Öpik was appointed to the University of Tartu where he worked at the Astronomical Observatory. He published two estimates of the distance to the Andromeda nebula M31, one in 1921 and the other in the following year, both based on an estimate of its mass derived from its observed velocity of rotation compared with its centripetal acceleration. Both are reasonable, the first being an overestimate, the second an underestimate. The two values come from using different mass-luminosity ratios. In the 1922 paper, he states that, assuming his distance estimate is reasonable [6]:-

... the nebula is a stellar universe comparable with our Galaxy.

This was confirmed by Edwin Hubble in 1923 using Henrietta Swan Leavitt's Cepheid variable period/luminosity relationship.

In 1922 Ernest and Vera Öpik's first daughter, Maija, was born. He submitted a thesis on meteor observations to the University of Tartu and was awarded a doctorate in 1923. Öpik was by this time publishing a remarkable number of papers: in 1922 eight of his papers appeared totalling 143 pages; in 1923, eight of his papers appeared totalling 152 pages; in 1924 nine works were published having a total of 479 pages. At the Astronomical Observatory in Tartu, Öpik had a research assistant Alide Piiri, who had been born on 30 June 1899, in Torila, Tartumaa. In 1926 Öpik had two children, a daughter called Inna with his wife, and a son, Uno, by Alide. At first his wife Vera did not know about Alide and Uno. Reasonably enough, she was very angry when she learnt about them but she came to accept the situation. Öpik set up a second home with Alide, had a second daughter Elina with his wife Vera, followed by two daughters Helgi and Tiiu with Alide.

In 1930 Öpik went to Harvard University in the United States where he spent much time over the following four years as a Visiting Scientist and Lecturer. He had been invited by Harlow Shapley, the director of the Observatory [6]:-

During his stay in the USA, Öpik created a lot of interest for meteors among the Harvard astronomers and thereby generated the later Harvard meteor programme. Already in 1932, Öpik discussed the influence of stellar perturbations on nearly parabolic ellipses, which 18 years later was to be an important mechanism in Oort's concept of the Comet Cloud surrounding the Sun. It is for this reason that Whipple, who started his professional career in 1931 at the Harvard College Observatory and who entered the field of meteor research because of Öpik's influence, always speaks of the "Öpik-Oort Comet Cloud".

Öpik returned to the Astronomical Observatory in Tartu in 1934 and there followed a number of happy years before World War II [9]:-

Estonia was overrun by the Red Army in 1940, and a year later by the Nazis. Ernst refused to let the small matters of war get in the way of his research. But in 1944, with the Red Army re-invading, he decided to flee. "I would go to the sea and drown myself rather than live under the Russians," he said. With the Red Army closing in, he ordered Alide and their three children to go by van to Tallinn while he put family possessions on a horse-drawn cart. Tallinn was under a thick pall of smoke from locals burning their papers before the Soviets arrived, destroying evidence of collusion with the Germans. The family sailed to Germany and lived for several years in camps as refugees. Ernst had also helped two of his daughters by Vera, Maija and Inna, to escape. They found their way to America, but the youngest, Elina, just 15, stayed with her mother. She would have no contact with her father until after Stalin's death almost a decade later, and did not see him for 34 years.

Arriving in Germany, Öpik, with Alide and family, went to Hamburg Observatory and was given hospitality until the war ended. After this a Baltic University was set up in Hamburg in March 1946 to provide education for displaced students and Öpik became Professor of Astronomy and the Rector for Estonian students. This University was always going to be a short-term venture so Öpik had to find permanent employment. In fact the University closed in 1949 but Öpik had left in 1948. The astronomers at Harvard learnt of Öpik's predicament and Eric Mervyn Lindsay (1907-1974) came to his help. Lindsay had been born in Northern Ireland and studied at Queen's University, Belfast. He went to Harvard University to undertake research for his doctorate which he was awarded in 1934. Lindsay had, therefore, been a research student at Harvard at the time Öpik worked there and, in fact, Öpik had been one of the examiners of Lindsay's Ph.D. thesis. Lindsay had returned to Northern Ireland in 1937 where he was appointed director of Armagh Observatory. In December 1947 Lindsay offered Öpik the position of Research Associate at Armagh Observatory and he arrived in Northern Ireland to take up the position in June 1948. He was accompanied by Alide and family.

Although Öpik continued to work at the Armagh Observatory for the rest of his career, he also made many visits to the University of Maryland in the United States beginning in 1956. Fred Singer writes in [15]:-

When I invited Öpik to the University of Maryland in 1956, I had never met him before. It was his work that attracted my attention. And it was his work habits that had a profound influence on my own scientific career. He steered me towards planets and satellites, and taught me to use simple physical principles in place of more obscure mathematical approaches.

D J Mullan writes in [12]:-

During the semester when he was in residence in Maryland, he usually taught a seminar on a research topic which was currently of interest to him. When I took the seminar (it happened to be about cometary break-up), I found that Dr Öpik had little or no time for teaching material which he considered as already well-established in the field of knowledge. He gave the impression of always wanting to be on the frontiers of knowledge, even in the classroom: anyone who took his seminar was expected, I suppose, to absorb the well-established material elsewhere.

A newspaper report in November 1962 may show more about Öpik's passionate dislike of Russians than anything else:-

College Park, Maryland. A world-famous astronomer says he will be pleasantly surprised if the Russian space vehicle now heading towards Mars adds any significant information on space science. Dr Ernest J Öpik, visiting research professor at the University of Maryland, said in an interview Thursday that the "Russians have contributed only five-tenths of one per cent" of the new information on space. "They (the Russians) profess to have sent huge payloads into space 10 to 100 times larger than any the United States are capable of sending," Dr Öpik said. "At the same time, however, 99.5 per cent of all new information on space has come from the United States probes.

In Northern Ireland, Eric Lindsay initiated the founding of the Irish Astronomical Journal in 1950 edited by Öpik. He remained as editor until he retired in 1981 at the age of 87. Even after this he continued as an associate editor up until his death in 1985.

Other than astronomy, the other passion in Öpik's life was music. He played the piano to a very high standard and he composed piano pieces which have been published. William McCrea writes [10]:-

On the evening in 1975 after the meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society at which he had received his Gold Medal, it fell to my lot to propose his health at dinner. ... I then indicated to him that the company would be pleased if he cared to say just a few words in reply. ... He got to his feet - and said nothing! He sang! I was too startled properly to take in the words - they seemed a graceful acknowledgement of the honour and of our congratulations upon it.

Öpik received many honours for his outstanding contributions to astronomy. He was elected to the Estonian Academy of Sciences (1938), the Royal Astronomical Society (1949), The Royal Irish Academy (1954), the National Academy of Sciences (United States) (1975), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1977). He received honorary degrees by Queen's University, Belfast (1968) and the University of Sheffield (1977). Among many prizes and awards he received we mention the J Lawrence Smith Medal from the National Academy of Sciences (United States) (1960), the F C Leonard Medal of the International Meteoritical Society (1968), a Gold Medal from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1974), the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1975), the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1976), and the Louis Jacot Grand Prix, Pensée University, Paris (1978).

As a final comment, we note that Öpik's only son was Uno Öpik (1926-2005) who studied at Tartu High School, then left with his parents for Germany in 1944. He studied at the Baltic University 1946-48 after which he moved to Northern Ireland with his parents. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Queen's University, Belfast in 1954. He then taught physics and applied mathematics at several universities with his career mainly being at Queen's University, Belfast from 1962 to 1986. Uno Öpik married Liivi Vedo and their eldest son was Lembit Öpik (born 1965) who became a Liberal Democrat member of the British Parliament from 1997 to 2010. He was also a well-known television personality and currently presents radio and television shows.