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Chandrasekhar "A Self-Taught Quantum Physicist" |
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Subramanyan Chandrasekhar was one of the most influential men in the area of astrophysics. He developed many theories about the stars and other astronomical bodies. One of his most important discoveries was about white dwarf stars. After many years of controversy, his theory became accepted and the Chandrasekhar Limit was known around the world. This is his story...
Subramanyan Chandrasekhar was born on October 19, 1910 in Lahore, which is now known as Pakistan. He grew up in the Indian city, Madras. He was the first son and third child of a family of four boys and six girls. His early education, before he was 12, was at home with his parents and by private tuition. In 1918, his father was transferred to Madras where the family was permanently established at that time. He attended a Hindu high school, Triplicane.
He then attended Presidency College in Madras where he excelled in math and physics. He also won a contest for the best essay on the Quantum Theory. The prize was his to choose. He chose a book called The Internal Constitution of the Stars by Arthur Stanley Eddington, one of the first few men to understand Einstein's theory of relativity.
He graduated in 1930 and won a scholarship to
do graduate work at Cambridge University in England. While he was on the
trip to England, he decided to pass the time on the boat by using the equations
from Eddington's book to find the internal structure for white dwarf stars.
HE DID IT! However, this resulted in a new problem...the densities that
prevailed at the center of such a star, the electrons would move so fast
that their velocities would approach the speed of light! That meant that
the laws of relativity would apply. When he arrived at Cambridge, he showed
the papers he had written while on the boat to Ralph H. Fowler, a colleague
of Eddington. Fowler was skeptical. Nevertheless, Chandrasekhar continued
to work on his theory of white dwarfs.
| He recieved his Ph.D. in 1933 and continued to work on his theory. Eddington himself visited Chandrasekhar and followed his work everyday--- even though later on Eddington would denounce Chandrasekhar's theory. Chandrasekhar's ideas about white dwarfs began to gain exposure and began paying attention to what he was proposing. In efforts to figure out the mathematics of white dwarfs exactly, he made no guesses. His work finally paid off in 1934 and he presented his findings in 1935. This confirmed his earlier conclusions: "If a star's mass is greater than a certain limit, it cannot end as a white dwarf but must collapse." However, Eddington, who spoke after Chandrasekhar, humilitaed him in front of the Royal Astronomical Society accusing him of making a fundamental and conceptual error, "...there is no such thing as relaticistic degeneracy!...there should be a law of nature to prevent a star from behaving in such an absurd way!" This put Chandrasekhar on the back burner. He wrote to one of his friends and the end conclusion was that Eddington's statements were "the wildest nonsence." However, after four long years of arguing with Eddington, Chandrasekhar changed his interests and wrote a book called An Introduction to the Study of Stellular Structure (1939). | 
This is the white dwarf, Sirius. |
In 1938 Chandrasekhar moved to the United States and continued his work at the University of Chicago.
Now, already 50 years later, there is little doubt that this "self-taught quantum physicist" was correct on his findings. Astronomers have determined the properties of hundreds of white dwarfs. They all collapse under the CHANDRASEKHAR LIMIT (the largest mass a white dwarf can get). This theory is now a foundation of astrophysics.
Among the Chandrasekhar Limit, other works that this man contributed to the physics world consist of arerotational figures of equilibrium, stellar interiors, theory of black holes, radiative transfer, hydromagnetic stability, and stellar dynamics.
For his revolutionary work, Chandrasekhar won
the 1983 Nobel prize in physics.
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****Subramanyan Chansrasekhar died in 1995 at the age of 85.. |
| Sources: |
| Voyage Through the Universe: STARS; Editors of Time-Life Books; Alexandria, VA |