Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Biography

A Nobel laureate, who along with William A. Fowler, won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his mathematical theory of black holes,, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was an Indian-American astrophysicist best known for his work on the theoretical structure and evolution of stars. A highly intelligent man, his work ranged across the fields of stellar structure, radiative transfer, white dwarfs, quantum theory, hydrodynamic stability and mathematical theory of black holes. Born into a large family in Lahore, Punjab, young Chandrasekhar was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps and get himself established in government service. But fate had something else in store for him and the young boy found himself inexplicably pulled towards science and scientific pursuits. Even this was not totally unexpected—after all, the youngster’s paternal uncle, Sir C. V. Raman had already done the country proud by bagging a Nobel Prize for Physics. A brilliant student, he was awarded a Government of India scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge. Eventually he would become best known for what would become famous as the ‘Chandrasekhar Limit’. An unassuming man, he encouraged people to call him Chandra.