R. Chandrashekhar

R. Chandrashekhar was an Indian astrophysicist renowned for his work on the properties of compact astronomical objects like white dwarfs and neutron stars. He is best known for the Chandrasekhar limit, which is the maximum mass (about 1.4 times that of the Sun) a white dwarf star can have before collapsing into a neutron star or black hole. His contributions significantly advanced our understanding of stellar evolution and the life cycles of stars. Chandrashekhar’s work earned him numerous awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983.