Subramanyan Chandrasekhar’s Deeper Insight Of Our Universe
The Universe is so huge and large that it’s beyond our imagination. There are various stars, planets, asteroids, meteors, galaxies, etc. Astrophysics is a branch of science which deals with the study of the universe and the astronomical phenomenon. The celestial bodies has always been a matter of keen interest for the astrophysicist and other scientists.
Stars, the uncountable shining spots in the black sky up above us have never failed in attracting the attention of people. Back from the olden times, research is going on over how these stars were made, how stars die, what is their composition, etc. Every time new scientists come up with different theories and discoveries. Indian scientists are no less. A lot of contributions are made by them in the field of astrology and science.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was one among those Indian scientists who has made the nation proud by his amazing discoveries. Born on 19th October, 1910 in a very big family of four sons and six daughters, Chandrasekhar was the first among them. He was born in Lahore under British India (presently under Pakistan).
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was interested in learning since he was a child of age three years. Lack of sufficient sources and others being private schools, Chandrasekhar’s primary education were done at home where his parents taught him about languages and mathematics. In 1922, Chandrasekhar joined the Hindu High School in Triplicane, Madras.
The proof of Chandrasekhar’s intelligence was given when he joined the Presidency College, Madras to get an honors degree in physics at the age of just fourteen years. He completed his B.Sc. in 1930 with flying colours. The brilliance of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was awarded the scholarship to study abroad.
From 1933 to 1936, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar finished his Ph.D. from Cambridge University in England. On his way to England, he went through the works of astronomers like Ralph Fowler. At the early age of nineteen, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar knew about the white dwarf stars. Generally, at teenage, students ask what is black hole. But Chandrasekhar was one brainiac who did not ask but found and researched about the black hole and white dwarf stars.
The name and fame came to Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar with his most amazing and extraordinary discovery: the Chandrasekhar Limit. He was not as popular and well known as Einstein but the discovery he made was no less than the discoveries of other scientists.
Chandrasekhar explained about the white dwarf stars, the nuclear planet and the black hole. According to this theory, each star has a definite mass. The mass of a star determines whether the star will convert to a black hole or a neutron star or a white dwarf star. The theory explains a limit of mass i.e. the Chandrasekhar limit on which the conversion is dependent on.
If the mass of the star is up to 1.39 the mass of the sun, then the force of electrons in the star is dominated by the gravitation force acting on the star. Hence, the star shrinks and forms a white dwarf star. If the mass is more than 1.40 the mass of sun, then the star would undergo nuclear reactions leading to the formation of Nova, neutron star or even a black hole. Since this theory was discovered by Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar at the age of 19, it is named as Chandrasekhar limit.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was an Indian but later he got US citizenship in 1953. He joined the University of Chicago as an assistant professor of astrophysics. He has done various other contributions in the field of science which includes energy transfer by radiations in atmosphere, mathematical theory behind black hole, Brownian motion, polarization of sunlit sky, etc.
Chandrashekar was the editor for The Astrophysical Journal from 1952 to 1971. He also served in the International Academy of Science as the honorary member. In the period of 1990 to 1995, Chandrashekar worked on Newton’s “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica” which resulted in publishing a book named “Netwon’s Principia for the Common Reader” in the year 1995.
In 1983, Chandrasekhar was honoured with Nobel Prize in Physics for his outstanding work on Structure and Evolution of stars. In Royal Astronomical Society, he was awarded with a gold medal for his works. Chandrasekhar was a great scientist and his works have made a significant mark in the history of science and will always be remembered.
Atomic Energy Commission
C V Raman
Cambridge University
CEPT
cosmic rays
cosmicresearch
Gyanpro
GyanPro Blogs
Indian Institute of Management
Indian Institute of Science
Indianscientist
ISRO
Nehru Foundation for Development Nehru Foundation for Development
operation research group
Padma Bhushan
Padma Vibhushan
Physical Research laboratory
ScienceArticle
space research
Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai Community Service Centre
Vikramsarabhai
