CHANDRA - His Quest for Truth and Beauty

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This is the first webinar organised by Scientific Review Board based on the life and science of one of the greatest astrophysicists named Prof. S. Chandrasekhar. This year 2010 is very special since it is also the centenary birth year of this great astrophysicist. The speaker for this webinar is Prof. Patrick Das Gupta, University of Delhi, India.

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Presentation Transcript

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CHANDRA : HIS QUEST FOR TRUTH AND BEAUTY IN ASTROPHYSICS Patrick Das Gupta Department of Physics & Astrophysics, University of Delhi SRB Webinar March 7, 2010 (12.30 pm IST)

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S. Chandrasekhar Born in Lahore October 19, 1910 Nephew of Nobel Laureate Sir C.V. Raman Sailed to England at the age of 19

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Sirius and its companion (the first White Dwarf to have been discovered) Average density of a typical white Dwarf: 1000000 times that of water Sun's radius at present: 696000 kilometres Sun's radius after it becomes a White Dwarf: 6000 kilometres

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Globular clusters are gravitationally bound systems consisting of about 1000000 stars M3 and M4 are well known globular clusters

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Gravity tries to make the star collapse to a point Pressure opposes the gravitational contraction

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Chandrasekhar Mass Limit = What happens if the core of a star has mass exceeding this limit ? It becomes a neutron star if its core mass is less than 3.4 times the Sun's mass and a blackhole other wise. All white dwarfs discovered so far have masses less than Chandrasekhar limit ! S. Chandrasekhar was awarded the Noble prize in 1983 = 1.4 times Sun's mass

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Chandrasekhar's Dynamical Friction (1943)

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Other major contributions by S. Chandrasekhar : Chandrasekar-Friedman-Schutz Instability (1970) Chandrasekhar number (1950s) Opacity due to negative hydrogen ion (1943-1960) Mathematical theory of blackholes (1983) “Blackholes are perfect macroscopic objects” Collision of gravitational waves (1984-1986) It is amazing that laws of physics discovered on Earth through experiments and theoretical analysis is applicable on Cosmic scales !! Chandra's works amply demonstrate this efficacy, Beauty and Truth of Physical Laws

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