Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
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| Born | 19 October 1910 |
| Died | 21 August 1995 (aged 84) |
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Lalitha Doraiswamy
(m. 1936; (his death) 1995) |
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| Fields | Astrophysics General relativity Fluid dynamics Radiation Quantum theory |
| Institutions | University of Chicago Yerkes Observatory Ballistic Research Laboratory University of Cambridge |
| Thesis | Polytropic distributions (1933) |
| Doctoral advisor | Ralph H. Fowler Arthur Eddington |
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Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (born October 19, 1910 – died August 21, 1995) was a famous Indian-American theoretical physicist. He spent most of his career in the United States. In 1983, he won the Nobel Prize for Physics. He shared it with William A. Fowler.
They won for their "theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars". Chandrasekhar's math helped us understand how huge stars change and how black holes form. Many things are named after him, like the Chandrasekhar limit and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Chandrasekhar studied many areas of physics. He helped us understand stars, white dwarfs, and how stars move. He also worked on fluid motion, radiation, and general relativity. At University of Cambridge, he created a model for white dwarf stars. This model showed that a white dwarf cannot be more than 1.44 times the mass of our Sun. This is called the Chandrasekhar limit.
He also improved ideas about how stars move in the Milky Way galaxy. His work showed that gas and dust clouds in galaxies are not spread out evenly. Chandrasekhar studied at Presidency College, Madras and the University of Cambridge. He was a professor at the University of Chicago for a long time. He also edited The Astrophysical Journal from 1952 to 1971.
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Early Life and Education
Chandrasekhar was born in Lahore, British Raj (now Pakistan) on October 19, 1910. His family was Tamil. His father, Chandrasekhara Subrahmanya Ayyar, worked for the railways. His mother, Sita Balakrishnan, loved learning. She helped Chandra become curious about science. His uncle was C. V. Raman, who also won a Nobel Prize in physics.
Chandra was taught at home until he was 12. His father taught him mathematics and physics. His mother taught him Tamil. He then went to The Hindu Higher Secondary School in Madras. From 1925 to 1930, he studied at Presidency College. He wrote his first paper in 1929. He got his bachelor's degree in physics in 1930.
In July 1930, Chandrasekhar received a scholarship from India. He went to the University of Cambridge in England for graduate studies. On his trip to England, he worked on ideas about white dwarf stars. He added relativistic corrections to earlier work.
Time at Cambridge University
At Cambridge, Chandrasekhar studied how light passes through stars. He used his findings to improve the model for the maximum mass of a degenerate star. He met other important scientists like E. A. Milne and Max Born. He also spent time at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, where he met Niels Bohr.
In 1933, Chandrasekhar earned his PhD from Cambridge. He received a bronze medal for his work on degenerate stars. He was then chosen for a special fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was only the second Indian to receive this honor.
During this time, he met British physicist Sir Arthur Eddington. In 1935, Eddington publicly disagreed with Chandrasekhar's idea of the Chandrasekhar limit. Even though Eddington was later proven wrong, this made Chandrasekhar think about working outside the UK.
Career and Research in the US
In 1935, Chandrasekhar visited Harvard Observatory in the United States. He impressed the director, Harlow Shapley. He then received an offer to work at the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin. This observatory was run by the University of Chicago. He accepted the offer and became an assistant professor in December 1936.
Chandrasekhar stayed at the University of Chicago for his whole career. He became a full professor at age 33. In 1953, he and his wife, Lalitha, became American citizens.
World War II Work
During World War II, Chandrasekhar worked at the Ballistic Research Laboratory in Maryland. He studied problems related to ballistics, which is the science of how projectiles move. He wrote reports on topics like how shock waves decay. J. Robert Oppenheimer invited him to join the Manhattan Project. However, delays in his security clearance stopped him from joining.
His Approach to Science
Chandrasekhar believed in organizing scientific knowledge. He wanted to make sure that every detail fit into a clear and logical plan. He had a special way of studying physics. He would focus on one area, publish papers, and then write a book about it. Then, he would move to a new area for the next ten years.
- From 1929 to 1939, he studied stellar structure and white dwarfs.
- From 1939 to 1943, he focused on how stars move and Brownian motion.
- From 1943 to 1950, he worked on how radiation moves and quantum theory.
- From 1950 to 1961, he studied turbulence and the stability of fluids.
- In the 1960s, he explored general relativity and the shapes of rotating objects.
- From 1971 to 1983, he studied the math of black holes.
- In the late 1980s, he worked on gravitational waves.
Working with Students
Chandra worked closely with his students. He was proud that his co-authors were always around 30 years old. He asked students to call him "Prof. Chandrasekhar" until they earned their PhD. After that, they could call him "Chandra."
He would drive 150 miles every weekend to teach a course at the University of Chicago. Two of his students, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang, later won the Nobel Prize.
Other Important Activities
From 1952 to 1971, Chandrasekhar was the editor of The Astrophysical Journal. When Eugene Parker submitted a paper about solar wind in 1957, two reviewers rejected it. But Chandra found no math errors, so he published it in 1958.
From 1990 to 1995, Chandrasekhar worked on a book about Isaac Newton's Principia. He explained Newton's ideas using modern math. This book, Newton's Principia for the Common Reader, was published in 1995.
Personal Life
Chandrasekhar married Lalitha Doraiswamy in September 1936. They met at Presidency College. He became a US citizen in 1953. People described him as warm and generous. He was also very careful and open to new ideas.
Chandrasekhar died from a heart attack in 1995 at age 84. His wife, Lalitha, passed away in 2013 at 102. She loved literature and classical music. Chandrasekhar considered himself an atheist. He was also a vegetarian.
Awards, Honors, and Legacy
Nobel Prize in Physics
Chandrasekhar received half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983. This was for his work on how stars are built and how they change over time. He shared the prize with William A. Fowler.
Other Awards and Honors
- Fellow of the Royal Society (1944)
- Henry Norris Russell Lectureship (1949)
- Bruce Medal (1952)
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1953)
- Rumford Prize (1957)
- National Medal of Science, USA (1966)
- Padma Vibhushan (1968)
- Henry Draper Medal (1971)
- Marian Smoluchowski Medal (1973)
- Copley Medal (1984)
- Gordon J. Laing Award (1989)
- Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1990)
- Jansky Lectureship
- Humboldt Prize
His Lasting Impact
Chandrasekhar's most famous work is the Chandrasekhar limit. This limit tells us the maximum mass a white dwarf star can have, which is about 1.44 times the mass of our Sun. If a star is heavier than this, it will collapse into a neutron star or black hole after a supernova. He calculated this limit in 1930.
In 1979, NASA named one of its "Great Observatories" after him. The Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched in 1999. The Chandrasekhar number, important in magnetohydrodynamics, is also named after him. The asteroid 1958 Chandra and the Himalayan Chandra Telescope also carry his name.
Chandrasekhar guided 45 PhD students. After he passed away, his wife used his Nobel Prize money to create the Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Memorial Fellowship at the University of Chicago. This fellowship helps new graduate students in physics and astronomy. The S. Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics is also awarded to plasma physicists.
The Chandra Astrophysics Institute (CAI) is a program for high school students. It helps them learn about astrophysics with scientists from MIT. Carl Sagan praised him, saying he learned "true mathematical elegance" from Chandrasekhar. On October 19, 2017, Google honored his 107th birthday with a Google Doodle.
In 2010, the University of Chicago held a symposium for his 100th birthday. Many famous astrophysicists attended.
Images for kids
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Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar's signature
See also
In Spanish: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar para niños
