Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, 19 October 1910 - 21 August 1995

In August 1930 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar arrived in London at the age of 19 years and 10 months with the aim of studying for a doctorate at Cambridge. He had already published several papers, including one which had been communicated to the Royal Society by R.H. (later Sir Ralph) Fowler, F.R.S. During his sea journey he had made considerable progress towards the solution of the problem of the maximum mass of a white dwarf star, which was a key topic in the award of the Nobel Prize for Physics to him in 1983. How could he have done so much at such a young age? Although Chandrasekhar (known to all of his friends and colleagues as Chandra) was born in Lahore, in what is now Pakistan, his paternal ancestors were brahmins and small landowners in the Madras Presidency in south India. His grandfather, Ramanathan Chandrasekhar, was educated in an English school and subsequently obtained college degrees while working as a teacher; he eventually became a college vice-principal. The two oldest of his eight children were Chandra’s father, C. Subrahmanyan Ayyar and C. Ventakaraman (later Sir C.V. Raman, F.R.S. and Nobel Laureate). They were brilliant students who entered government service as accountants and auditors. Raman’s interest in science later led him to give up his secure employment to take up full-time research. Chandra’s father was assistant auditor to the Northwest Railways when Chandra was born on 19 October 1910. He was the third child and first son of C.S. Ayyar and his wife Sitalaksmi and he was to have three younger brothers and four younger sisters. In 1912 Chandra’s family moved to Lucknow and then his father became deputy accountant general in Madras, which meant that Chandra grew up where his family had its roots.