At 19, on a ship crossing the Arabian Sea, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar calculated something that would change astrophysics forever — and it took the world 53 years to believe him

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At 19, on a ship crossing the Arabian Sea, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar calculated something that would change astrophysics forever — and it took the world 53 years to believe him.

Using only pencil and paper, he discovered the Chandrasekhar Limit — the maximum mass a white dwarf star can have before collapsing into a neutron star or black hole.

When he presented it, the establishment mocked him. But decades later, the universe proved him right. In 1983, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics.

His story reminds us that truth needs no pedigree, and brilliance often begins in solitude — not in fame, but in quiet conviction.

Venkataramanan Ramasethu 
October 22, 2025

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