Ernst Julius Öpik, an undervalued Estonian precursor of the Alvarez impact catastrophism

Abstract

Ernst Julius Öpik was a brilliant Estonian astronomer and astrophysicist, who, as a former volunteer in the White Russian army, moved in 1948 to Northern Ireland. His extensive interests encompassed, among others, stellar structure, the age and evolution of the Universe, the physical theory of meteors, statistical analysis of Earth-crossing minor bodies, mechanics of celestial collisions.