Indian-born US astrophysicist who made pioneering studies of the structure
and evolution of stars. The Chandrasekhar limit is the maximum mass
of a white dwarf before it turns into a neutron star. Nobel Prize for
Chandrasekhar has also investigated the transfer of energy in stellar
atmospheres by radiation and convection, and the polarization of light
emitted from particular stars.
Chandrasekhar was born in Lahore (now in Pakistan) and studied in Madras,
India, and at Cambridge, UK, before joining the staff of the University
of Chicago, Illinois, 1936. He became a professor there 1952.
The evolution of white dwarfs is explained in his Introduction to the
Study of Stellar Structure 1939. He calculated that stellar masses below
1.44 times that of the Sun would form stable white dwarfs, but those
above this limit would not evolve into white dwarfs; the limit is now
believed to be about 1.2 solar masses. Stars with masses above the Chandrasekhar
limit are likely to explode into supernovae; the mass remaining after
the explosion may form a white dwarf if the conditions are suitable,
but is more likely to form a neutron star.