Which physicist calculated the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf, now called the Chandrasekhar limit?

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar calculated the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf, now called the Chandrasekhar limit. Its commonly quoted value is about 1.4 times the mass of the Sun, although the precise value depends on composition and physical assumptions.

White dwarfs are supported against gravity by electron degeneracy pressure. As matter is added, electrons become increasingly relativistic; beyond the limit, that pressure cannot support the star. The result can be collapse or a thermonuclear Type Ia supernova, depending on the system’s circumstances.

Chandrasekhar developed the result while traveling to England in 1930. Arthur Eddington famously challenged the idea in the 1930s, but later stellar theory confirmed its importance. The limit does not directly state that every heavier object becomes a black hole: neutron-star physics and the details of stellar evolution intervene first.