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Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

Biography

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was a Nobel Prize winning

astrophysicist most famous for his theory on black holes. This

biography of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar provides detailed

information about his childhood, life, achievements, works &timeline.

Quick Facts

Nationality Indian

Born on 19 October 1910 AD

Zodiac Sign Libra

Born in Lahore, British India

Died on 21 August 1995 AD

Place of death Chicago, Il l inois, United States

Father and Chandrasekhara Subrahmanya

Spouse: Lalitha Chandrasekhar

Awards

Nobel Prize in Physics (1983)

Adams Prize (1948)

Padma Vibhushan (1968)


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A Nobel laureate, who along with William A. Fowler, won the

Nobel Prize for Physics for his mathematical theory of black

holes,, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was an Indian-American

astrophysicist best known for his work on the theoreticalstructure and evolution of stars. A highly intelligent man, his

work ranged across the fields of stellar structure, radiative

transfer, white dwarfs, quantum theory, hydrodynamic stability

and mathematical theory of black holes. Born into a large family

in Lahore, Punjab, young Chandrasekhar was expected to follow

in his fathers footsteps and get himself established in

government service. But fate had something else in store forhim and the young boy found himself inexplicably pulled

towards science and scientific pursuits. Even this was not totally

unexpectedafter all, the youngsters paternal uncle, Sir C. V.

Raman had already done the country proud by bagging a Nobel

Prize for Physics. A brilliant student, he was awarded a

Government of India scholarship to study at the University of

Cambridge. Eventually he would become best known for whatwould become famous as the Chandrasekhar Limit. An

unassuming man, he encouraged people to call him Chandra.

Childhood & Early Life

Chandrasekhar was born as one of the ten children of

Chandrasekhara Subrahmanya and his wife Sitalakshmi,

into a Tamil family in Punjab, India. His father was workingas a Deputy Auditor General of the Northwestern Railways

at that time.

As the eldest of four sons, he was expected to fol low in


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his fathers footsteps and get a government job. But

young Chandra was more inclined towards science,

inspired by his paternal uncle, Sir C. V. Raman.

He attended the Hindu High School, Madras, from 1922-

25 after receiving his primary education from tutors at

home. In 1925 he enrolled at Presidency College, Madras,

where he remained till 1930, writing his first paper, The

Compton Scattering and the New Statistics in 1929.

In June 1930 he received his B.SC. (Hon.) in Physics

following which he was awarded a Government of India

scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the University of

Cambridge.

It was during his time in England that he becameenamored with the concept of white dwarf stars. He began

his work in the statistical mechanics of the degenerate

electron gas in white dwarfs.

He attended the meetings of the Royal Astronomical

Society where an acquaintance with Professor E.A. Milne

provided much food for thought to the bright young soul.

He was invited by Max Born to spend the year of 1931 at

the Borns Institute at Gottingen.

After working on opaci ties, and model stellar

photospheres at Borns Institute, he moved on to the

Institute for Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen for his

final year of studies.

He earned his PhD degree at Cambridge in 1933 and waselected to a Prize Fellowship at Trinity College for the

period 193337.

Career

He was appointed as Assistant Professor in the University

of Chicago in January 1937 on the recommendation of Dr.

Otto Struve and President Robert Maynard Hutchins.

Chandrasekhar remained at the University of Chicago for

his entire career, spanning almost six decades. He was

made an associate professor in 1942 and a full professor


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in 1944.

In 1947 he was appointed the Distinguished Service

Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics and became the

professor emeritus in 1985.

He served as the editor of The Astrophysical Journal

from 1952 to 1971 and under his editorship converted theprivate journal into a National Journal of the American

Astronomical Society.

Throughout his career he worked not just at the University

of Chicago, but also later at NASAs Laboratory for

Astrophysics and Space Research which was bui lt in

1966.

Even during his last years he kept himself extremely busy

in the pursuit of newer scientific objectives. In 1990 he

had begun the work on a project on the detailed geometric

arguments in Sir Isaac Newtons Philosophiae Naturalis

Principia Mathematica.

Major Works

He is best known for discovering the ChandrasekharLimit with which he proved that there is a maximum mass

which can be supported against gravity by pressure made

up of electrons and nuclei. The most amazing thing about

this discovery is that he came up with it while he was still

a student.

Awards & Achiev em ents

In 1968 he was honored with the Padma Vibushan, the

second highest civilian award of India for his exceptional

and distinguished services to the field of science.

He was jointly awarded the Nobel Pr ize in Physics in 1983

along with William A. Fowler for his work on the structure

and evolution of stars. He was however upset that the

citation mentioned only his earliest work and not his laterones.

Personal Life & Legacy

He met Lalitha Doraiswamy while he was at the


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Presidency College in Madras and the two struck up a

deep friendship which soon blossomed into love. The

couple married in September 1936 and shared many years

of marital bliss. They did not have any children.

He died in 1995 of a heart attack and was survived by his

wife of many years.

subrahmanyan chandrasekhar 5305

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