Chandrasekhar, Subramanyan (1910-1995) -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography

Indian astrophysicist who studied at Cambridge, then moved to America and the University of Chicago. He has contributed significantly to many disparate branches of physics, including rotational figures of equilibrium, stellar interiors, black holes,

radiative transfer,

hydromagnetic stability, stellar dynamics, and many others. Chandrasekhar's name is immortalized in connection with the Chandrasekhar limit,

which is the largest mass a white dwarf

can attain. The theory underlying this result was viciously attacked by Eddington, who used nonsensical and contradictory arguments to try to show it invalid. Chandrasekhar wrote in a letter home "The differences are of a 'political' nature. Prejudices! Prejudices! Eddington is simply stuck up! Take this piece of insolence. "If worse comes to the worst we can believe your theory. You see I am looking at it from the point of view not of the stars but of Nature.' As if the two are different. 'Nature' simply means Eddington personified as an Angel! what arguments could anyone muster against such brazen presumptuousness?" (Wali 1991, p. 133). Despite their scientific animosity, the two somehow remained friendly on a social level.

Chandrasekhar, S. (Ed.). Classical General Relativity. Oxford, 1993.

Chandrasekhar, S. Ellipsoidal Figures of Equilibrium. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1969.

Chandrasekhar, S. Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Stability. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1961.

Chandrasekhar, S. An Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure. New York: Dover, 1957.

Chandrasekhar, S. The Mathematical Theory of Black Holes. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1992.

Chandrasekhar, S. Newton's Principia for the Common Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Chandrasekhar, S. Plasma Physics: A Course Given by S. Chandrasekhar at the University of Chicago. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1962.

Chandrasekhar, S. Principles of Stellar Dynamics, enl. ed. New York: Dover, 1960.

Chandrasekhar, S. Radiative Transfer. New York: Dover, 1960.

Chandrasekhar, S. Selected Papers, 7 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989-90.

Chandrasekhar, S. "Stochastic Problems in Physics and Astronomy." Rev. Mod. Phys. 15, 1-89, 1943. Reprinted in Selected Papers on Noise and Stochastic Processes (Ed. N. Wax). New York: Dover, 1954.

Wali, K. C. Chandra: A Biography of S. Chandrasekhar. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1991.