Chandra: A Biography of S. ChandrasekharChandra is an intimate portrait of a highly private and brilliant man, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, a Nobel laureate in physics who has been a major contributor to the theories of white dwarfs and black holes. "Wali has given us a magnificent portrait of Chandra, full of life and color, with a deep understanding of the three cultures—Indian, British, and American—in which Chandra was successively immersed. . . . I wish I had the job of reviewing this book for the New York Times rather than for Physics Today. If the book is only read by physicists, then Wali's devoted labors were in vain."—Freeman Dyson, Physics Today "An enthralling human document."—William McCrea, Times Higher Education Supplement "A dramatic, exuberant biography of one of the century's great scientists."—Publishers Weekly |
Contents
Tracking the Legend of Chandrasekhar | 3 |
1 The Simple and True | 13 |
A Family Trait | 34 |
Lahore and Madras 1910 1930 | 47 |
Cambridge and Copenhagen 1930 1933 | 72 |
Cambridge 19331934 | 105 |
Eddington and the White Dwarfs Cambridge 19341935 | 128 |
Cambridge and Harvard 19351936 | 147 |
Williams Bay Wisconsin 1937 1952 | 185 |
The Astrophysical Journal Chicago 1952 1971 | 206 |
Chicago 1972 1989 | 229 |
Conversations with Chandra | 245 |
Notes | 309 |
Appendix | 327 |
Acknowledgments | 329 |
| 333 | |
Common terms and phrases
Ambartsumian asked astronomers astrophysics Balakrishnan became Bohr British C. S. Ayyar Cambridge Chandra Chandra and Lalitha Chandra recalls Chandra says Chandra wrote Chandra's father Chandrasekhar limit Chandrasekhar Papers College Conversations course Dirac discovery Eddington editor England equations extremely feel Fellowship felt Fermi Fowler friends Gandhi Hindu India Institute J. J. Thomson journal Krishnan later lectures Leon Rosenfeld letter Madras Martin Schwarzschild mathematics matter Medal meeting Milne months mother Neumann Nobel Prize Observatory physicists physics Presidency Presidency College problem professor published quantum Raman Raman effect Ramanujan referees relativistic response return to India Royal Society Saha says Chandra Schwarzschild scientific scientists Srinivasa Ramanujan star stay stellar structure story Strömgren Struve talk theory things thought tion told took Trinity University of Chicago wanted white dwarfs Williams Bay Yerkes young