Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, The Evolutionary Astrophysicist

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Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, The Evolutionary Astrophysicist

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was an Indian-American Astro Physicist. He is well known for Chandrasekhar Limit, Chandrasekhar Number, Chandrasekhar Tensor, Chandrasekhar Polarization and many more. He was awarded The Nobel Prize in the year 1983 for Physics.

Family and Education

Chandrasekhar was born on 19 October 1910 in Lahore, Punjab, British India (now Pakistan). His father was Chandrasekhara Subrahmanya Ayyar and mother was Sita Balakrishnan. He was born in a Tamil family. His father was Deputy auditor general of the Northwestern Railways. His mother was a well-known litterateur. She had translated Henrik Ibsen's A doll's house in the Tamil language.
Chandrasekhar's paternal uncle C.V. Raman was a famous scientist and a noble laureate. His family moved to Allahabad from Lahore in 1916. But later after they settled in Madras in 1918.
Chandrasekhar got his basic education at home from his parents. His father taught him Mathematics and Physics and his mother taught him the Tamil language and literature. At the age of twelve, he attended the Hindu High School, Triplicane, Madras (now Chennai). Later he attended Presidency College, Madras. He obtained his B.Sc degree in Physics in 1930. For his incredible result, the Government of India awarded him a scholarship to pursue graduation at the University of Cambridge. 
In Cambridge, he was admitted to Trinity College. He performed many scientific pieces of research and developed many mathematical equations regarding Astrophysics, General Relativity, Fluid dynamics and radiation there. He also obtained his PhD degree from Cambridge.
Chandrasekhar married Lalitha Doraiswamy in 1936. She was a serious student of literature and western classical music. He became a citizen of America in 1953. 

Research Works

In Cambridge, Chandrasekhar was a student of R.H. Fowler. He started researching to calculate mean opacities and applying his results to the construction of an improved model for the limiting mass of the degenerate star. He also worked on atomic absorption coefficients and model stellar photospheres.
Chandrasekhar did research on a lot of things like: 
  • Chandrasekhar limit
  • Chandrasekhar number
  • Chandrasekhar friction
  • Chandrasekhar-Kendall function
  • Chandrasekhar H-function
  • Emden-Chandrasekhar equation
  • Chandrasekhar page equations
  • Chandrasekhar tensor
  • Chandrasekhar Virial equations
  • Batchelor-Chandrasekhar equation
  • Schonberg Chandrasekhar limit
  • Chandrasekhar's white dwarf equation
  • Chandrasekhar polarization
  • Chandrasekhar's X and Y function
  • Discrete ordinated method
When Chandrasekhar worked at the Ballistic Research Laboratory he worked on problems of Ballistics. He reported on various topics like plane shock waves, optimum height for the bursting of a 105mm shell, conditions for the existence of three shock waves, determination of the velocity of a projectile from the beat waves produced by interference with the waves of modified frequency reflected from the projectile and the normal reflection of a blast wave.
Chandrasekhar was a part of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. 
He studied Stellar Structure, Theory of White Dwarfs, during the years 1929 to 1939. He also focused on Stellar Dynamics, Theory of Brownian Motion. During 1943-1950, he concentrated on the theory of Radiative Transfer and the quantum theory of the negative ion of Hydrogen.
In the later part of his life, in the 1960s, he studied the equilibrium and the stability of ellipsoidal figures of equilibrium and also general relativity. During 1971-1983 he studied the mathematical theory of black holes, for which he was known the most.
Chandrasekhar was not only a worthy scientist, he published almost 30 writings for future researchers. 
  • Principles of Stellar Dynamics
  • Plasma Physics
  • Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Stability
  • Ellipsoidal Figures of Equilibrium
  • Radiative Transfer
  • The Mathematical Theory of Black Holes
  • The Most Distinguished Astrophysics of His Time
  • An Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure
  • Truth and Beauty. Aesthetics and Motivations in Science
  • The Theory of Turbulence: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar's 1954 Lectures. 
  • Newton's Principia for the Common Reader
He also published a lot of Notes and journals as well. All of them are very valuable assets for further research and are still equally applicable. 
More Read: Homi J Bhabha

Career

Chandrasekhar had a versatile career path. But all these are for the betterment of modern science and technology. He was involved in research works till his death. Apart from research, Chandrasekhar was also:
  • Visiting Lecturer in Theoretical Astrophysics in the Havard Observatory
  • Assistant Professor of Theoretical Physics in Yerkes Observatory, University of Chicago
  • Associate Professor of Theoretical Physics in Yerkes Observatory, University of Chicago
  • Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics and Enrico Fermi Institute
  • Editor of The Astrophysical Journal
  • Honorary member of the International Academy of Science. 
  • A fellow of the Royal Society
  • Honorary fellow of the  International Academy of Science, Munich
Chandrasekhar worked at the Ballistic Research Laboratory at the Aberdeen Proving Ground during the second world war. 
More Read: M Visvesvaraya

Awards and Recognitions

Chandrasekhar was a Nobel Laureate. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 along with William A Fowler. His research topic was the structure and evolution of stars. The fun fact is that Chandrasekhar received this award years after his students Tsung Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang!
Chandrasekhar also received many other awards like 
  • Bruce Medal
  • Gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
  • Copley Medal of the Royal Society
  • Marian Smoluchow Ski Medal
  • National medal of Science
  • Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Henry Norris Russel Lectureship
  • Rumford Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Padma Vibushan from the Government of India
  • Gordon J Laing Award
  • Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
  • Jansky Lectureship before the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
  • Humboldt  Prize 
A fellowship at the University of Chicago is named after him, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Memorial Fellowship.
Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics is an award given by the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies to outstanding Plasma Physicists. 
Students interested in Astrophysics get support and guidance from Chandra Astrophysics Institute. 

Death

Chandrasekhar died of a sudden heart attack at the University of Chicago Hospital in 1995. He also survived a heart attack in 1975. After his death, his wife Lalitha made a gift of his Nobel Prize money to the University of Chicago. 

Many considered him as warm, positive, generous, unassuming, meticulous and open to debate, while some others as private, intimidating, impatient and stubborn regarding non-scientific matters. Chandrasekhar guided 45 students to their PhDs. All of them contributed a lot in various fields of Mathematics and Physics. 


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