From The Royal Institution.
Learn about the history and science of two giants of modern astrophysics, Chandra and Eddington, with insights from Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal of the UK.
This video was originally recorded for the play The Square Root of a Sonnet by Nilanjan P. Choudhury, which explores the intriguing, complex, and often tumultuous relationship between Chandra and Eddington. To learn more about the play visit: https://nilanjan.net/the-square-root-of-a-sonnet
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Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar FRS was an Indian-American theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to the scientific knowledge about the structure of stars, stellar evolution and black holes. He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in physics along with William A. Fowler for "…theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars". His mathematical treatment of stellar evolution yielded many of the current theoretical models of the later evolutionary stages of massive stars and black holes.Many concepts, institutions and inventions, including the Chandrasekhar limit and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, are named after him.
Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington OM FRS was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object, is named in his honour.
In the 1930s, Chandra and Eddington were involved in a famous disagreement over the correct theory to describe the final stages of a star’s lifecycle.
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Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, OM, FRS, HonFREng, FMedSci, FRAS, HonFInstP is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He is the UK’s Astronomer Royal. He is based at Cambridge University where he is a Fellow (and Former Master) of Trinity College. He is a member of the House of Lords, and a former President of the Royal Society. His research interests include space exploration, black holes, galaxy formation, the multiverse and prospects for extraterrestrial life. He is co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at Cambridge University (CSER). In addition to academic publications, research papers he has written many general articles and ten books, most recently ‘On the Future: Prospects for Humanity’.
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Image Credits
00:20 – Eddington Portrait 1 – Bain News Service
00:33 – Greenwich Observatory – Wellcome Collection
00:37 – Greenwich Observatory – Mike Peel
00:58 – Eclipse Instruments – A. S. Eddington, Cambridge University Press. 1920.
01:04 – Solar Eclipse – F. W. Dyson, A. S. Eddington, and C. Davidson. 1919.
01:17 – Eddington, Einstein, Group Photo – H. van Batenburg. Sterrewacht Leiden. 1923.
01:28 – News Headline – New York Times. 1919.
01:51 – Eddington Portrait 2 – Smithsonian Institution
02:22 – Chandra Portrait 1 – Chandra X-Ray Observatory. NASA/SAO.
03:29 – Varena School Building – Villa Monestero
03:56 – Chandra Portrait 2 – Chandra X-Ray Observatory. NASA/SAO.
05:46 – Subrahmanyan and Lalitha Chandrasekhar – Elwood M. Payne. UChicago Photographic Archive.
06:45 – Eddington Portrait 3 – Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1932.
07:25 – Fundamental Theory Book – AbeBooks. 2014.
