Matthew Hopkins
Matthew Hopkins is an Oxford University astronomer (PhD) who co-developed the Ōtautahi-Oxford Model with chris-lintott and University of Canterbury colleagues for inferring the origins of interstellar objects from their orbital trajectories. Hopkins defended his PhD one week before the discovery of 3i-atlas in July 2025, enabling him to apply the model to 3I/ATLAS in near real time.
Key work
- Co-developed the Ōtautahi-Oxford Model (named for Christchurch, NZ — “Ōtautahi” in Māori — and Oxford)
- Applied the model to 3i-atlas, concluding: ~two-thirds probability of being older than the Solar System; best estimate ~7 billion years; origin in the galactic thick disk
- 3I/ATLAS is the first interstellar object confirmed to have originated from the galactic-thick-disk