- Name: Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar.
- Birth: 19 October 1910 Lahore
- Father: CS Iyer
- Mother: Sita Balakrishnan.
- Education: In 1930 B.Sc. Top in Physics Honors.
- Wife: Lalitha.
Who is Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (born 19 October 1910 – died 21 August 1995) was an astrophysicist and also the winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics. He was educated at Presidency College, Chennai. He was the nephew of Nobel Laureate Sir CV Raman. Later Dr. Chandrasekhar went to America. Where he wrote many books on subjects related to astronomy and the solar system.
Subrahmanyan Early life:
Dr. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was born on 19 October 1910 in Lahore (now in Pakistan). His early education took place in Madras. At the age of 18, Chandrasekhar’s first research paper was published in the Indian Journal of Physics. By the time he graduated from the Presidency College in Madras, many of his research papers had been published. One of them was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, which is a matter of pride for such a young person.
In 1934, at the young age of 24, he solved his scientific curiosity about the collapse and disappearance of stars. Shortly thereafter, on 11 January 1935, at a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, he also presented his original research paper that white dwarf stars i.e. white dwarf stars, after attaining a certain mass i.e. defenite mass, in their weight and Can not increase.
Eventually they become black holes. He explained that the stars whose mass will be 1.4 times that of the Sun today, will eventually shrink and become very heavy. His mentor Sir Arthur Eddington at Oxford did not accept this research at first sight and ridiculed him. But they were not going to give up.
Chandrasekhar Work :
His research work is unique. Every monograph or book published by Chandrashekhar has become a book of pride. No serious student of related fields can ignore Chandrashekhar’s work. Chandrasekhar was inspired not by a single problem but by the desire that he was never concerned about the relative importance or insignificance of the entire region. He was not at all concerned that his work would bring him fame and recognition.
He said – ‘After years of first preparation, my scientific work has gone on a certain pattern, driven mainly by the search for perspectives (perspectives). In practice this discovery involves my selection of a certain field (after a few investigations and tribulations) that appeared testable for enrichment and suited my interests, mood and abilities, and when, after a few years of study, I realized I have accumulated a sufficient amount of knowledge and I have attained my point of view, I wish that I present my order in a freshly consistent way, order, form and structure.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar mainly worked abroad and there. In 1953, he became an American citizen. However, he was deeply concerned about the betterment of India. He had deep connections with many science institutes and young scientists in India.
You Also Read More Biography — : Nambi Narayanan History
His interest in Ramanujam continued throughout his life. He played an instrumental role in establishing the ‘Ramanujam Institute of Mathematics’ in Madras in the late 1940s and when the Institute faced an economic crisis, he took up the matter with Nehru. Arranged to increase the pension amount for Ramanujam’s widow who was living in a state of poverty. He was also responsible for casting half of Ramanujam’s statues by ‘Richard Aske’.
His biggest breakthrough in the field of astronomy came from his theory called “Chandrashekhar Limit”. By this, he paved the way for the determination of the maximum age limit of a group of ‘white dwarf’ stars. Subramanian Chandrasekhar did many important works in the field of astronomy.
In addition to astrophysics, this world-renowned astrophysicist did high level research and work in the field of astronomy mathematics.
Apart from the discovery of the Chandrasekhar limit, major works by Subramanian Chandrasekhar include: Theory of Brownian Motion (1938–1943); Theory of the Illuminations and the Polarisons of the Sunlit Sky (1943–1950); General Theory of Relativity and Relative Astrophysics (1962–1971) and Mathematical Theory of Black Holes (1974–1983). Professor S Chandrasekhar was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in the year 1983 for his research and works related to the structure and development of stars.
Chandrasekhar also did important research on plasma physics. His research has been published by Clarendon Press of America. The name of that book is ‘Hydro Dynamic and Hydro Magnetic Stability’. The name of that book is ‘Ellipsoidal Figures of Equilibrium’.
It details the research done by Chandrasekhar on Newton’s theory of gravity and machine theory. In 1987, Chandrasekhar’s another book, Truth and Beauty, was published by the University Press of Oxford. In it, Chandrasekhar’s speeches and many important essays on Newton, Shakespeare and Vithoven have been composed.
He was awarded the ‘Adams Prize’ by the University of Cambridge for his significant discoveries in mathematics. He was also awarded the ‘Padam Vibhushan’ award of the Government of India. Not only this, the Indian Academy of Sciences awarded him the Ramanujan Medal in 1961. He received this medal when he came to India in 1968. Chandrasekhar became popular all over the world through his theory ‘Chandrashekhar Limit’. He received the award on 10 December 1982. He is the fifth Nobel laureate of India.
You Also Read More Biography — : Meri Jeevan Kahani
Chandrasekhar mainly worked abroad and there. In 1953 he became an American citizen. However, he was deeply concerned about the betterment of India. He had deep connections with many science institutes and young scientists in India. His interest in Ramanujam continued throughout his life.
He played an instrumental role in establishing the Ramanujam Institute of Mathematics in Madras in the late 1940s and when the Institute faced an economic crisis, he took up the matter with Nehru. Arranged to increase the pension amount for Ramanujam’s widow who was living in a state of poverty. He was also responsible for casting half of Ramanujam’s statues by Richard Aske.
What was the inspiration for Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in pursuing science? One of his students, Yuvuz Nootaku, said: “While learning all the time, Chandra did not even bother about the installation. He did what he did because he was curious in a fertile way. He did this for one reason only – it gave him peace and inner peace ”.
For those who are searching for science or are planning to do so, we would like to end it by quoting Chandrasekhar. But who among us can hope, or even imagine, to climb the everlasting Everest and reach its top when the sky is blue and the wind is stagnant, and the starkness of the wind in the snow-shining luminosity of the entire Himalayan valley Take a survey. None of us can hope for a comparative vision of the world and nature around us. But there is nothing evil or inferiority in standing in the valley below and waiting for the sunrise over the Kanchenjunga ”. Chandrashekhar died on August 21, 1995.
Award :
- 1944 Became a Fellow of the Royal Society.
- 1949 Henry Norris Roussel Lectureship.
- 1952 Bruce Medal.
- 1953 Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal.
- 1957 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Awarded Rumford Award.
- 1966 National Science Medal, United States.
- 1968 Awarded Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India.
- 1971 Henry Draper Medal by the National Academy of Sciences.
- 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics.