Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was an <a href="/facts/Indian_Americans/7GkRE0Ps">Indian-American</a> <a href="/facts/Theoretical_physicist/Cs2Y12rQ">theoretical physicist</a> who made significant contributions to the scientific knowledge about the structure of stars, <a href="/facts/Stellar_evolution/Qa4vAGmn">stellar evolution</a> and <a href="/facts/Black_hole/1r2lmkcF">black holes</a>. He was awarded the 1983 <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize_in_Physics/o6w1nCbr">Nobel Prize in Physics</a> along with <a href="/facts/William_Alfred_Fowler/WowQ2AlE">William A. Fowler</a> for theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars. His mathematical treatment of stellar evolution yielded many of the current theoretical models of the later evolutionary stages of massive stars and black holes. Many concepts, institutions and inventions, including the <a href="/facts/Chandrasekhar_limit/KojyANXK">Chandrasekhar limit</a> and the <a href="/facts/Chandra_X-ray_Observatory/zU89xG3a">Chandra X-Ray Observatory</a>, are named after him.
Chandrasekhar worked on a wide variety of problems in physics during his lifetime, contributing to the contemporary understanding of <a href="/facts/Stellar_structure/6bPfevnc">stellar structure</a>, <a href="/facts/White_dwarf/gIYlTtrC">white dwarfs</a>, <a href="/facts/Stellar_dynamics/TTqAf5M1">stellar dynamics</a>, <a href="/facts/Stochastic_process/Ng1n1dnB">stochastic process</a>, <a href="/facts/Radiative_transfer/nYE4KojG">radiative transfer</a>, the <a href="/facts/Quantum_Theory_of_Atoms_in_Molecules/SGoUlPCT">quantum theory</a> of the <a href="/facts/Hydrogen_anion/xIVhqHj5">hydrogen anion</a>, <a href="/facts/Hydrodynamic_stability/5hnxSFjo">hydrodynamic</a> and <a href="/facts/Hydromagnetics/7mQbJPPD">hydromagnetic</a> stability, <a href="/facts/Turbulence/NpgFUhG5">turbulence</a>, equilibrium and the stability of <a href="/facts/Jacobi_ellipsoid/JSaIqJLU">ellipsoidal figures of equilibrium</a>, <a href="/facts/General_relativity/jVsoIg8X">general relativity</a>, mathematical theory of black holes and theory of colliding <a href="/facts/Gravitational_wave/4XWN3NtG">gravitational waves</a>. At the <a href="/facts/University_of_Cambridge/0la7aX9o">University of Cambridge</a>, he developed a theoretical model explaining the structure of white dwarf stars that took into account the relativistic variation of mass with the velocities of electrons that comprise their <a href="/facts/Degenerate_matter/S5bc5MwK">degenerate matter</a>. He showed that the mass of a white dwarf could not exceed 1.44 times that of the Sun – the <a href="/facts/Chandrasekhar_limit/KojyANXK">Chandrasekhar limit</a>. Chandrasekhar revised the models of stellar dynamics first outlined by <a href="/facts/Jan_Oort/VLCCpHRS">Jan Oort</a> and others by considering the effects of fluctuating gravitational fields within the <a href="/facts/Milky_Way/ulF6lccN">Milky Way</a> on stars rotating about the galactic centre. His solution to this complex dynamical problem involved a set of twenty <a href="/facts/Partial_differential_equation/DyPsBlv7">partial differential equations</a>, describing a new quantity he termed "<a href="/facts/Dynamical_friction/0uNbWIFK">dynamical friction</a>", which has the dual effects of decelerating the star and helping to stabilize clusters of stars. Chandrasekhar extended this analysis to the interstellar medium, showing that clouds of galactic gas and dust are distributed very unevenly.
Chandrasekhar studied at <a href="/facts/Presidency_College%2c_Chennai/TNrS7uSY">Presidency College, Madras</a> (now <a href="/facts/Chennai/8ngv75bW">Chennai</a>) and the <a href="/facts/University_of_Cambridge/0la7aX9o">University of Cambridge</a>. A long-time professor at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Chicago/z6zRMUmV">University of Chicago</a>, he did some of his studies at the <a href="/facts/Yerkes_Observatory/kEpCtkwL">Yerkes Observatory</a>, and served as editor of <a href="/facts/The_Astrophysical_Journal/jSYn0eez">The Astrophysical Journal</a> from 1952 to 1971. He was on the faculty at Chicago from 1937 until his death in 1995 at the age of 84, and was the <a href="/facts/Morton_D._Hull/TnSrtNjR">Morton D. Hull</a> Distinguished Service Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar open-in-new

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar