Which astronomer won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics for theoretical studies of stellar structure and evolution?

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics for theoretical studies of the physical processes important to the structure and evolution of stars.

Chandrasekhar made major contributions to stellar astrophysics, including models of white dwarfs, stellar interiors and black holes. In 1930, while traveling to Cambridge, he calculated that a white dwarf cannot remain stable above a particular mass, now called the Chandrasekhar limit. Above that threshold, further stellar evolution can lead to a neutron star or black hole, depending on conditions.

The Nobel prize was shared with William A. Fowler, whose work concerned nuclear reactions and the formation of chemical elements in stars. Chandrasekhar’s early conclusions were initially resisted by Arthur Eddington, but later observations and theory confirmed the importance of the mass limit and his wider stellar models.