The Highly Collapsed Configurations of a Stellar Mass (second paper); Stellar Configurations with Degenerate Cores. Two papers in a single offprint from: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 95, no. 3. [With:] Stellar Configurations with Degenerate Cores (second paper). Offprint from: ibid. 95, no. 8. EDDINGTON, Sir Arthur S. On ?relativistic degeneracy.? Offprint from: ibid. 95, no. 3. M?LLER, Christian & CHANDRASEKHAR, Subrahmanyan. Relativistic degeneracy. Offprint from: ibid. 95, no. 8

CHANDRASEKHAR, Subrahmanyan

Published by Neill & Co, Edinburgh, 1935

About this Item

THE ?CHANDRASEKHAR LIMIT? ? NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS 1983. Five papers contained in four offprints, the most important inscribed by Chandrasekhar, documenting Chandrasekhar?s discovery of an upper limit to the mass of white dwarf stars, which was to have broad implications for the problem of stellar evolution, and the resulting infamous controversy with Eddington. Chandrasekhar was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1983 ?for his theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars.? In July 1930 Chandrasekhar (known as ?Chandra? to those who knew him) was offered a Government of India scholarship to study for his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge. On his long voyage from India to England he made the celebrated discovery of the Chandrasekhar limit on the mass of a star that could become a white dwarf. After reaching England he published a brief announcement in the Astrophysical Journal but withheld a more detailed account because of the astronomer E.A. Milne?s dissent and his influence on what was published and what was not. ?Papers 4, 5 and 7 [i.e., the first three papers offered here] are the seminal papers on the theory of white dwarfs. During the fall of 1934, Chandra worked out the complete theory using the exact relativistic equation of state describing degenerate matter. With extensive numerical work, he established beyond any doubt the validity of the limiting mass condition, reiterating the question he had posed in his earlier paper. A star with mass greater than the limiting mass would not reach an equilibrium state of a white dwarf in the course of its evolution. It will continue to collapse. Chandra presented his results at the January 1935 meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society. His findings raised challenging, fundamental questions. What happens to the more massive stars as they continue to collapse? Are there terminal stages of stars other than that of white dwarfs? Instead of getting appreciation and recognition for a fundamental discovery, Chandra unexpectedly faced what amounted to a public humiliation. Because no sooner had he presented his paper than Sir Arthur Eddington tore apart Chandra?s dramatically stated conclusions by attacking the very concept of relativistic degeneracy on which Chandra's work depended [published as ?On ?relativistic degeneracy??]. Characterizing it as leading to stellar buffoonery and reductio ad absurdum behavior of a star, he made it look as though Chandra had made a simple conceptual error and gotten it all wrong. While he himself missed the great opportunity of being the first one to recognize the possibility of the existence of black holes and other terminal stages of a star, Eddington's attack had a profound influence on Chandra?s personal life as well as the progress of astronomy? (SelectedPapers, p. 2). ?Chandrasekhar managed to respond to Eddington?s arguments in 1935. In 'Relativistic Degeneracy,' a paper jointly written with Danish physicist Christian M?ller, he criticises Eddington?s paper saying: 'we [he and M?ller] are quite unable to follow [Eddington?s] arguments.' Then, they proceed to refute the arguments of his follow-up paper, showing that Eddington's own methods can be used to derive the very same equation that he claimed was the product of a misunderstanding? (MacTutor). It is now known that stars with mass above the Chandrasekhar limit but below about 2 solar masses collapse to a neutron star; more massive stars collapse to a black hole. Provenance: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (presentation inscription on front wrapper of first offprint in his hand). The front wrapper of the offprint of Eddington?s paper carries the initials ?S.C.?, probably in Eddington?s hand (Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar?). Chandrasekhar (1910-95) was born in Lahore and educated at Presidency College, Madras. After studying for his Ph.D. at Cambridge he was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1933. He moved to the University of Chicag.

Seller Inventory # 6540

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Highly Collapsed Configurations of a Stellar Mass (second paper); Stellar Configurations with Degenerate Cores. Two papers in a single offprint from: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 95, no. 3. [With:] Stellar Configurations with Degenerate Cores (second paper). Offprint from: ibid. 95, no. 8. EDDINGTON, Sir Arthur S. On ?relativistic degeneracy.? Offprint from: ibid. 95, no. 3. M?LLER, Christian & CHANDRASEKHAR, Subrahmanyan. Relativistic degeneracy. Offprint from: ibid. ...
• Publisher: Neill & Co, Edinburgh
• Publication Date: 1935
• Edition: First edition.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Astronomy, Relativity Theory