ASTROPHYSICIST Subramanyam Chandrasekhar, 83, died of a heart attack on
August 21 in Chicago. Humiliated and
laughed at when he presented his theory
on dying stars for the first time at the
Royai Astronomical Society, London, in
1935, recognition for hisepochal contribution came in the form of a Nobel
Prize in 1983. His book titled An introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure is now the standard text and reference
book on the subject worldwide.
According to Chandrasekhar, stars
with a mass greater than 1.4 times that
of the sun eventually collapsed into a
black hole from which not even light
could escape. The acceptable theory earlier was that stars after burning up their fuel became faint planet-sized remains
known as white dwarfs. However,
Chandrasekhar proved that there was a
limit to the mass of a white dwarf star,
now known as the 'Chandrasekhar
limit', beyond which a white dwarf star
collapses into a black hole.
Hailing from the same family as that
of Nobel laureate C V Raman, Chan-
drasekhar was born on October 19, 1910
in Lahore. A product of the Presidency
College in Madras, Chandrasekhar later
studied at Trinity College, London. He
joined the University of Chicago in 1938
and was affiliated with.the University till
his death.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.