From White Dwarfs to Black Holes

by Chandrasekhar, S.; Srinivasan, G.

• ISBN13: 9780226769967
• ISBN10: 0226769968
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr
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Summary

From White Dwarfs to Black Holeschronicles the extraordinarily productive scientific career of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, one of the twentieth century's most distinguished astrophysicists. Among Chandrasekhar's many discoveries were the critical mass that makes a star too massive to become a white dwarf and the mathematical theory of black holes. In 1983 he shared the Nobel Prize for Physics for these and other achievements.Over the course of more than six decades of active research Chandrasekhar investigated a dizzying array of subjects. G. Srinivasan notes in the preface to this book that "the range of Chandra's contributions is so vast that no one person in the physics or astronomy community can undertake the task of commenting on his achievements." Thus, in this collection, ten eminent scientists evaluate Chandrasekhar's contributions to their own fields of specialization. Donald E. Osterbrock closes the volume with a historical discussion of Chandrasekhar's interactions with graduate students during his more than quarter century at Yerkes Observatory.Contributors are James Binney, John L. Friedman, Norman R. Lebovitz, Donald E. Osterbrock, E. N. Parker, Roger Penrose, A. R. P. Rau, George B. Rybicki, E. E. Salpeter, Bernard F. Schutz, and G. Srinivasan.

Author Biography

G. Srinivasan is a member of the Raman Research Institute. He is also the editor of the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy, published by the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Stars: Their Structure and Evolution	1	(26)
G. Srinivasan
Neutron Stars Before 1967 and My Debt to Chandra	27	(4)
E. E. Salpeter
The Stellar-Dynamical Oeuvre	31	(14)
James Binney
Radiative Transfer	45	(20)
George B. Rybicki
The Negative Ion of Hydrogen	65	(38)
A. R. P. Rau
S. Chandrasekhar and Magnetohydrodynamics	103	(22)
E. N. Parker
The Viral Method and the Classical Ellipsoids	125	(18)
Norman R. Lebovitz
Making the Transition from Newton to Einstein: Chandrasekhar's Work on the Post-Newtonian Approximation and Radiation Reaction	143	(18)
Bernard F. Schutz
Stability Theory of Relativistic Stars	161	(16)
John L. Friedman
Chandrasekhar, Black Holes, and Singularities	177	(22)
Roger Penrose
Chandra and His Students at Yerkes Observatory	199	(40)
Donald E. Osterbrock
Contributors	239