University of Chicago Library Guide to the Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Papers 1913-2011 © 2006 University of Chicago Library Table of Contents Descriptive Summary 3 Information on Use 3 Access 3 Citation 3 Biographical Note 4 Scope Note 5 Related Resources 9 Subject Headings 9 INVENTORY 10 Series I: Personal Correspondence and Papers 10 Subseries 1: Biographical materials and personal papers 10 Subseries 2: Personal correspondence 12 Series II: Scientific Correspondence 20 Series III: Scientific Writings 45 Series IV: Lecture Notes 122 Subseries 1: Cambridge University notes 122 Subseries 2: University of Chicago Notes 124 Subseries 3: Special lectures 130 Series V: Astrophysical Journal Records 134 Series VI: Articles by Colleagues 136 Subseries 1: Offprints 136 Subseries 2: Typescripts 136 Series VII: Addenda 137 Subseries 1: Personal and Biographical 140 Sub-subseries 1: General personal and biographical papers 140 Sub-subseries 2: Personal correspondence 154 Sub-subseries 3: Publications 158 Sub-subseries 4: Chandra X-Ray Observatory 163 Subseries 2: Correspondence 164 Subseries 3: Writing 193 Subseries 4: Writings about Chandrasekhar 223 Subseries 5: Writings by others 229 Subseries 6: Audiovisual 239 Sub-subseries 1: Photographic material 239 Sub-subseries 2: Audio 267 Sub-subseries 3: Video 275 Subseries 7: Oversize 276 Subseries 8: Artifacts and framed items 292 Subseries 9: Medals 295 Subseries 10: Restricted 297 Sub-subseries 1: Administrative records and referee’s reports 297 Sub-subseries 2: Financial records 297 Sub-subseries 3: Letters of recommendation for colleagues and faculty appointment301 material Sub-subseries 4: Student grades and letters of recommendation 305 Descriptive Summary Identifier ICU.SPCL.CHANDRASEKHAR Title Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan. Papers Date 1913-2011 Size 342 boxes Repository Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A. Abstract Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995), Astrophysicist, Nobel Prize winner. The Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Papers contains personal and professional correspondence, notes, manuscripts, offprints, lecture notes, scientific writings, records of the Astrophysical Journal, awards, honorary degrees, biographical material, photographs, and sound and video recordings. The Papers span Chandrasekhar's career and document his student years at Cambridge University, his teaching career at the University of Chicago, scientific research and writing in astrophysics, editing of the Astrophysical Journal, and connections with family members and friends in India. The Papers document the development of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Yerkes Observatory, and provide much information on colleagues and students from the late 1930s to the early 1990s. Information on Use Access The collection is open for research, with the exception of Series VII, Subseries X, which contains material to which access is restricted. Sub-subseries 1, Administrative records and referee's reports, contains records that are closed for 30 years from their date of creation. Sub-subseries 2, Financial records, are closed for 50 years from the date of the record's creation. Sub-subseries 3, Letters of Recommendation for Colleagues and faculty appointment material, are closed for 50 years from the date of creation. Sub-subseries 4, Student Grades and Letters of Recommendation, are closed for 80 years from the date of creation. The audio and video material in Series VII, Subseries 6 do not contain access copies. Researchers will need to consult with staff before requesting these items. Citation 3 When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Chandrasekhar, Subrahmanyan. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library Biographical Note Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, astrophysicist, was born October 19, 1910, in Lahore, India (now Pakistan). Originally from southern India, his family returned to Madras in 1918, where Chandrasekhar received most of his schooling. He received a B.A. honors degree from Presidency College, Madras University, in 1930, and Ph.D. and Sc.D. degrees from Cambridge University in 1933 and 1942. While at Cambridge he studied with R. H. Fowler, P. A. M. Dirac, and E. A. Milne, and also spent periods of time with Niels Bohr in Copenhagen and Max Born at Göttingen. He was appointed a Fellow of Trinity College in 1933. In 1936 Chandrasekhar traveled to the U.S. to give lectures at Harvard College Observatory and at Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago. Offered positions at both places, he decided to accept the offer from Chicago. He returned to India briefly that year, and in September married Lalitha Doraiswamy, a former classmate at Presidency College. Chandrasekhar came to Yerkes Observatory in January 1937 as a Research Associate. He was made an Assistant Professor in 1938, Associate Professor in 1942, Professor in 1944, and Distinguished Service Professor in 1946. In 1952 he was named Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics. His appointment was expanded to include not only the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics but also the Department of Physics and the Enrico Fermi Institute of Nuclear Studies. Chandrasekhar also accepted the position of managing editor of the Astrophysical Journal in 1952, and served in that capacity until 1971. His duties often required him to commute from Yerkes to the University campus for several days each week, which he did until 1964 when he moved his permanent residence to Chicago. Although offered positions at other universities many times, he remained at the University of Chicago throughout his career, and continued to teach and do research well past normal retirement age. He and Lalitha became United States citizens in 1953. Early in the 1930s Chandrasekhar developed a theory concerning white dwarf stars, combining Fowler's use of the new quantum statistics with special relativity. He derived the so-called "Chandrasekhar limit," which set a maximum mass beyond which a star could not remain at the white dwarf stage, but would continue collapsing indefinitely. The theory drew immediate and intense opposition from Arthur S. Eddington and other astronomers, and was not fully accepted until over 20 years later, when it became one of the key elements in the formation of ideas concerning neutron stars and black holes. Frustrated by the negative response to his work, but certain of its correctness, Chandrasekhar wrote up his research and published it as An Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structures (1939) then moved on to other topics. A pattern emerged in Chandrasekhar's work, of researching a subject, writing a series of articles, compiling a book, then changing fields, roughly every 10 years. This, combined with his position 4 on the editorial staff of the Astrophysical Journal, gave him a breadth of knowledge and interest. The contributions Chandrasekhar made to various fields can be seen from the titles of his books: Principles of Stellar Dynamics (1942); Radioactive Transfer (1950); Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Stability (1961); Ellipsoidal Figures of Equilibrium (1969); The Mathematical Theory of Black Holes (1983); and Eddington: The Most Distinguished Astrophysicist of His Time (1983). Among the many citations Chandrasekhar received are the Bruce Gold Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, the Rumford Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of London, the National Medal of Science of the United States, and the Padma Vibhushan award of India. In 1983 Chandrasekhar was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. He died in Chicago on August 21, 1995. Scope Note The papers of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar include personal and professional correspondence, notes, manuscripts, and offprints of published and unpublished scientific writings, lecture notes, records of the Astrophysical Journal, recordings of interviews and other biographical materials. The papers span Chandrasekhar's career and document his student years at Cambridge University, his teaching career at the University of Chicago, scientific research and writing in astrophysics, editing of the Astrophysical Journal, and connections with family members and friends in India. Because of his long tenure at the University of Chicago, Chandrasekhar's papers constitute an important source for documenting the development of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Yerkes Observatory, and provide much information on colleagues and students from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Chandrasekhar carefully maintained files of correspondence, manuscripts, and notes throughout his life, as can be seen in the extensive and continuous runs of materials preserved in the collection. The papers have been arranged in seven series. Series VII is an Addenda to the main body of papers and should be consulted for material that complements items in the earlier series. Series I: Personal Correspondence and Papers begins with general biographical materials and miscellaneous personal papers. The first item is "A Scientific Autobiography, 1943-1983," in which Chandrasekhar gives a detailed account of his research and how various projects developed. Following this are lists of degrees, memberships, and awards publications travels and research and lectures completed by year. Among the other papers in this