Subrahmaniam Chandrasekhar was an Indian astrophysicist and Nobel laureate in physics in 1995 "for the discovery of the chandrasekhar limit" relating to the evolutionary collapse of stars.
Chandrasekhar is widely regarded as the greatest astrophysicist of his generation and he ranks among the greatest in all history. He was a pioneer in the development of supernovae theory and white dwarf theory. His work on stellar evolution culminated with the Chandrasekhar limit, named after him, which relates the maximum mass a star can have before it undergoes gravitational collapse. He also applied his theoretical work to problems such as the stability of spacecraft and led private scientific expeditions into space to develop techniques for studying outer space.
He served as a professor at University of Chicago and Princeton University
Read more
He has been called "the father of modern astrophysics" and "the greatest astrophysicist since Isaac Newton."
The asteroid (10474) Chandrasekhar is named after him, as is one of the largest black holes, (the black hole at centre) at center) Cyg X-1, which is located near its X-ray source (Chandra X-ray Observatory). The Chandra X-ray Observatory, formerly known as Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), was renamed in his honor on September 15, 2004. A crater on Mercury has also been named after him.
He received numerous awards for his scientific work including Padma Bhushan (1962), Copley Medal (1970), Bhatnagar Prize (1971), Hughes Medal (1983), King Faisal International Prize for Science and Technology (1993), Honorary Doctorate from Harvard University (1994)