1983 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar
A video clip of the 1983 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, receiving his Nobel Prize medal and diploma during the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony at the Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden, on 10 December 1983.
Chandrasekhar was awarded the Physics Prize for his work on "the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars." Stars in the universe form from clouds of gas and dust. When these clouds are pulled together by gravitational force, energy is released in the form of heat. And when a high enough temperature is reached, reactions among the atomic nuclei in the star's interior begin. Beginning in the 1930s, Chandrasekhar formulated theories for the development that stars subsequently undergo. He showed that when the hydrogen fuel of stars of a certain size begins to run out, it collapses into a compact, brilliant star known as a white dwarf.