Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar is responsible for some of the most important research that has helped us understand the evolution of stars, inching closer to better understanding the nature of the universe itself.
Mr Chandrasekhar, whose 107th birthday would have been Thursday, was the first astrophysicist to win a Nobel Prize for his theory on the evolution of stars, determining that not all stars will turn into white dwarfs.
Here are five things to know.
1. Mr Chandrasekhar’s work challenged our previous understanding of the late-stage evolution patterns of stars
That understanding, concluded by scientists in the early 1930s, determined that after stars would collapse into white dwarves after they converted their hydrogen and helium stores. White dwarves, which are about the size of Earth, are extremely dense from the compression of the star’s electrons and nuclei.
2. But Mr Chandrasekhar expanded on that understanding, determining that not all star is created equal
He found that some stars don’t simply stop contracting later in life. Stars that have a mass more than 1.44 times that of our Sun, he found, would continue to contract. That 1.44 figure, known as the Chandrasekhar limit, was a major step in understanding how neutron stars are created, and what sparks supernova explosions.
3. His findings hinted at the existence of black holes
Stars with much more mass than our sun will continue to contract beyond the white dwarf stats. That continued contraction is what creates supernovas. For those stars with much more mass, the continued contraction is thought to eventually yield a black hole
4. He published his first theories on star evolution before he turned 20
The Indian-American physicist was also elected to the Royal Society of London before the age of 34, and became a distinguished service professor of Physics not too long after that.
5. He was a pioneer for astrophysicists
He became the first astrophysicist to win a Nobel Peace prize for his work on the Chandrasekhar limit, which he received in 1983 alongside William A Fowler.
