Born on October 19
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar's Birthday
He worked out how stars die.
Next: October 19, 2027
Where it comes from
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was born in Lahore, then part of British India, on 19 October 1910, and this Story marks his birthday. In 1930, aged 19, on the ship taking him to Cambridge, he worked out that the core a dying star leaves behind can only settle down as a white dwarf if it is less than about 1.4 times the…
How it's celebrated
There is no organised observance, but his birthday is a good night to look up. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, named in his honour, is a reminder that his ideas still guide astronomers.
Did you know
His uncle was C. V. Raman, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for discovering the Raman effect.
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Star sign
Libra · September 23 – October 22 · Air sign
Fair-minded and charming, forever weighing both sides.