--- title: S. Chandrasekhar: Google Doodle Celebrates Astrophysicist description: Chandrasekhar won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his theory on how stars evolve. canonical: https://time.com/4988829/s-chandrasekhar-google-doodle-subrahmanyan/ author: Kevin Lui article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-19T02:59:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:27.910Z og:title: S. Chandrasekhar's Life Celebrated With Google Doodle og:description: The astrophysicist's theory of star evolution won him a Nobel Prize in 1983. og:url: https://time.com/4988829/s-chandrasekhar-google-doodle-subrahmanyan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8d6a2e68d34ffb9/6988e29622fb85ebc5e2354d/s-chandrasekhars-107th-birthday-5671696282419200-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: s-chandrasekhars-107th-birthday-5671696282419200-2xa og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: S. Chandrasekhar's Life Celebrated With Google Doodle twitter:description: The astrophysicist's theory of star evolution won him a Nobel Prize in 1983. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8d6a2e68d34ffb9/6988e29622fb85ebc5e2354d/s-chandrasekhars-107th-birthday-5671696282419200-2xa.gif?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Astrophysicist S. Chandrasekhar's Life is Being Celebrated With a New Google Doodle ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_ by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Oct 19, 2017 2:59 AM UTC  Google by [Kevin Lui](https://time.com/author/kevin-lui/) ## Kevin Lui Oct 19, 2017 2:59 AM UTC Ever wondered how the stars you see in the sky might eventually die? Ever thought about how black holes are formed? The subject of Thursday’s Google Doodle is [celebrated](https://www.google.com/doodles/s-chandrasekhars-107th-birthday) specifically for his answers to these questions, and for his contribution to our understanding of how celestial bodies evolve. In 1983, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar became the first astrophysicist to win the Nobel Prize in Physics. Described by Google as a “child prodigy,” the Indian-American had already published his first paper and come up with his theory of star evolution before even turning 20, and was elected to the Royal Society of London at age 34. Google’s animated Doodle, published on what would have been Chandrasekhar’s 107th birthday, is a simple illustration of one of his most important contributions to how we understand the universe — the eponymous Chandrasekhar Limit. As the animation suggests, the key number is 1.4 times the mass of the Sun. Any star lighter than that will eventually collapse and become a denser body known as white dwarf. When a white dwarf’s mass exceeds 1.4 times that of the Sun, it will continue to collapse and condense, eventually becoming either a supernova explosion or a black hole. Chandrasekhar’s theories and calculations were met with skepticism when they were first conceived in the 1930s, according to Google — 50 years before the same discoveries were to earn him a Nobel Prize. A string of other honors were also bestowed on him, including the Royal Astronomical Society’s gold medal. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4988829/s-chandrasekhar-google-doodle-subrahmanyan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4988829/s-chandrasekhar-google-doodle-subrahmanyan/"},"headline":"Astrophysicist S. 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