29 Facts About Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was an Indian-American theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to the scientific knowledge about the structure of stars, stellar evolution and black holes.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics along with William A Fowler for theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar extended this analysis to the interstellar medium, showing that clouds of galactic gas and dust are distributed very unevenly.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar studied at Presidency College, Madras and the University of Cambridge.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was on the faculty at Chicago from 1937 until his death in 1995 at the age of 84, and was the Morton D Hull Distinguished Service Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar had two elder sisters, Rajalakshmi and Balaparvathi, three younger brothers, Vishwanathan, Balakrishnan, and Ramanathan, and four younger sisters, Sarada, Vidya, Savitri, and Sundari.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar's mother was devoted to intellectual pursuits, had translated Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House into Tamil and is credited with arousing Chandra's intellectual curiosity at an early age.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was tutored at home until the age of 12.

In July 1930, Chandrasekhar was awarded a Government of India scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the University of Cambridge, where he was admitted to Trinity College, secured by R H Fowler with whom he communicated his first paper.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar had been so certain of failing to obtain the fellowship that he had already made arrangements to study under Milne that autumn at Oxford, even going to the extent of renting a flat there.

In 1935, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was invited by the director of the Harvard Observatory, Harlow Shapley, to be a visiting lecturer in theoretical astrophysics for a three-month period.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar remained at the University of Chicago for his entire career.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was promoted to associate professor in 1941 and to full professor two years later at the age of 33.

In 1953, he and his wife, Lalitha Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, took American citizenship.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar ultimately completed his theory of white dwarfs in 1939, receiving praise from others in the field.

Eddington died in 1944, and despite their disagreements, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar continued to state that he admired Eddington and considered him a friend.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar wrote that his scientific research was motivated by his desire to participate in the progress of different subjects in science to the best of his ability, and that the prime motive underlying his work was systematization.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar developed a unique style of mastering several fields of physics and astrophysics; consequently, his working life can be divided into distinct periods.

When Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was working at the Yerkes Observatory in 1940s, he would drive 150 miles to and from every weekend to teach a course at the University of Chicago.

From 1952 to 1971 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was editor of The Astrophysical Journal.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar worked on collision of gravitational waves, and algebraically special perturbations.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar met her as a fellow student at Presidency College.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar became a naturalised citizen of the US in 1953.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar died of a heart attack at the University of Chicago Hospital in 1995, having survived a prior heart attack in 1975.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was survived by his wife, who died on 2 September 2013 at the age of 102.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was a serious student of literature and western classical music.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his studies on the physical processes important to the structure and evolution of stars.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar accepted this honour, but was upset the citation mentioned only his earliest work, seeing it as a denigration of a lifetime's achievement.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar wrote his first paper in 1928 when he was still an undergraduate student about Compton effect and last paper which was accepted for publication just two months before his death was in 1995 which was about non-radial oscillation of stars.