Black holes: How Chandrasekhar saw the end of light
In 1930, a 19-year-old Indian student named Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar boarded a ship to England. He was on his way to study at Cambridge. During that long sea journey, he worked through an idea that would shake astrophysics.
He studied the fate of stars after they exhaust their fuel. Most scientists believed that stars like our Sun would shrink into white dwarfs. These remnants would stay stable because of a quantum effect called electron degeneracy pressure.
But Chandrasekhar discovered a limit to this stability.
Chandrasekhar’s Limit: A Cosmic Threshold
Using Einstein’s theory of relativity, Chandrasekhar calculated that if a white dwarf had more than 1.4 times the mass of the Sun, gravity would overpower all opposing forces. The star wouldn’t stop collapsing.
This critical mass became known as the Chandrasekhar Limit. It drew a line between stars that survive and stars that collapse further. If a dying star crossed this line, no known force could halt its collapse.
Eventually, the star would shrink into a single point with infinite density—a singularity. Chandrasekhar had described what we now call a black hole.
Rejected by the Greats
Chandrasekhar presented his findings in 1935 in London. There, one of the most respected astronomers, Sir Arthur Eddington, publicly rejected his theory. Eddington dismissed the idea of black holes as absurd. He claimed nature would “find a way to avoid such a disaster.”
Many scientists followed Eddington’s lead. As a result, Chandrasekhar faced ridicule and resistance. His career path changed. He moved to the U.S. and focused on other fields like stellar atmospheres and fluid dynamics.
But he never abandoned the truth of his early work.
Decades Later: A Vindication
In the 1960s and 1970s, science caught up with Chandrasekhar. Physicists like John Wheeler, Roger Penrose, and Stephen Hawking confirmed the possibility of stellar collapse into black holes.
Theoretical predictions aligned with new observations. Chandrasekhar’s early calculations finally received the recognition they deserved. In 1983, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the structure and evolution of stars.
This recognition came decades after his initial discovery, but it marked a moment of justice.
A Legacy in the Shadows
Chandrasekhar’s contribution went beyond black holes. His work laid the foundation for how we study stars today. He also proved that elegant mathematics could reveal deep cosmic truths.
Modern science has confirmed black holes through gravitational wave detections, high-resolution telescope images, and stellar orbits near our galaxy’s center. Each discovery stands on the groundwork he laid.
The Brilliance of Bold Ideas
Chandrasekhar once said, “The pursuit of science is its own reward.” His journey shows the power of independent thinking, even when others reject your ideas.
He predicted what many feared to imagine. In doing so, he helped us understand that even in darkness, knowledge can shine. His story is a reminder that sometimes, looking into the void reveals the deepest truths of the universe.
