SUBRAMANIAN CHANDRASEKHAR LIFE STORY : –
Birth : – 19 October 1910
Death : – 21 August 1995
Achievements : – Discovery of ‘Chandrasekhar Limit’, awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics
Subramanian Chandrasekhar was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. He did commendable work in astronomy, physics and applied mathematics. Chandrasekhar was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in the year 1983. Chandrasekhar was the nephew of CV Raman, the great Indian scientist and Nobel laureate of physics. Chandrasekhar believed in the common tradition of humans. According to himself thing, “It may be a fact’s that the human’s minds work’s within the same way’s. Another thing is revealed by this, that the things with which we get pleasure, make people happy in every part of the world. Thus we all have a common interest ”. Chandrasekhar was a great scientist, a skilled teacher and a high-scholar.
Early Life : –
Subramanian Chandrasekhar was born on 10 October 1910 in Lahore. His father Chandrasekhar Subramanya Aiyar was an officer in the Audit Department of the Government of India. His mother was a highly educated male student. Chandrasekhar was the nephew of CV Raman, the great Indian scientist and Nobel laureate of physics. By the age of twelve, Chandrasekhar was educated under the supervision of parents and personal tutor. At the age of 12, he joined Hindu High School. In the year 1925, he joined the Presidency College, Madras. Subramanian Chandrasekhar passed his graduation exam in the subject of Physics in the year 1930. In July 1930, he received a scholarship from the Government of India to study at Cambridge University, England.
He received his Ph.D. Completed in the year 1933. He was then elected to a Trinity College fellowship. The duration of this fellowship was 1933–37. In 1936, he briefly visited Harvard University when he was offered the position of a Research Associate at the University of Chicago, which he accepted. In September 1936, Subramanian Chandrasekhar married Lomita Doraiswamy, who was his junior in the Presidency College, Madras.
Carrier : –
He spent much of his career at the University of Chicago. Here he spent some time as editor of the Yerkes Observatory, and the Astrophysical Journal. He served on the faculty of the University of Chicago from the year 1937 until his death in 1995. In 1953, he became a citizen of the United States.
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 for 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. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his research work on “the process of condensation with the cooling and shrinking of stars”. Neutron stars and ‘black holes’ were detected as a result of Chandrasekhar boundary rendering.
Apart from the discovered of the Chandrasekhar limits, major work’s by Subramanian Chandrasekhar includes: Theory of Brownies Motions (1938–1943); Theory of the Illumination’s and the Polarison’s of the Sunlight Sky (1943–1950); General Theory of Relativity and Relative Astrophysics (1962–1971) and Mathematical Theory of Black Holes (1974–1983).
The journey of Chandrasekhar’s life and career was not easy. He had to face all kinds of difficulties but all these things were small for him. He was a man shaped by the complexities of three different cultures in India (where he was born), England and the USA.
About 50 students did PhD under his guidance and supervision. His relationships with his students remind us of the Guru-disciple tradition. His students respected him very much, but he also kept them constantly excited so that they would keep their perspective fearless.
Nobel Prize : –
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. Although he accepted the award, the citation for the Nobel Prize only described his early work, which left him deeply disappointed.
Awards And Honors : –
1944: Became a Fellow of the Royal Society
1949: Henry Norris Roussel Lectureship
1952: Bruce Medal
1953: Awarded the Golden Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
1957: Awarded the Rumford Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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
1984: Copley medal of Royal Society
1988: Honorary Fellow of the International Academy of Science
1989: Gordon J. Lang Award
Humboldt Award
