Endel Aruja
Endel Aruja was an Estonian physicist specialising in X-ray crystallography, encyclopedian, librarian, supporter of libraries and a long-term Estonian expatriate activist.
Short biography
Aruja was born in Soontaga, Kreis Dorpat, in the Governorate of Livonia, and was initially schooled in his birthplace. For high school and later, university education, he moved to Tartu. After earning his M.Sc., he worked in 1938–1939 as a physics laboratory assistant in the Tallinn Technical University, then moved to England, where he received his PhD in 1943. In 1962, he moved to Canada.Education
In 1935, Aruja graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Tartu.In 1938, Aruja successfully defended his M.Sc. thesis.
In 1939, Aruja was granted a scholarship by the British Council and moved to Cambridge, England, where he received his PhD in physics from the Cambridge University in 1943.
Estonian expatriate activism
Aruja participated in founding and running of a number of Estonian organisations in England: the London Estonian Society, which he chaired for six years, the Estonian Association of England and the London Estonian House. He was the vice chairman of the organising committee of the 1984 ESTO, which was held in Toronto.Aruja was an active participant of the Baltic Estonian Council, the Baltic Humanitarian Association, the Estonian National Fund and the Estonian National Council, and he both edited and distributed periodical publications of these organisations. For this, he set up the publishing house Northern Publications. He's also written a number of Estonia-themed articles for the Encyclopædia Britannica, appearing among contributors of articles such as .
Most recently, Aruja was the first secretary of the Tartu Institute in Ontario, Canada from its founding in 1972 until 2004.