FLASHCARDS: How a Teenager Discovered the Physics of Black Holes-Chandrasekhar’s Limit Explained
Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
Release Date: 07/04/2025
FLASHCARDS: How a Teenager Discovered the Physics of Black Holes-Chandrasekhar’s Limit Explained
Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
Episode Overview: What do black holes, a teenage genius, and a long ocean voyage have in common? In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math, Science, History, Gabrielle tells the incredible story of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who, at just 19 years old, sailed from India to England and made a discovery that would transform astrophysics forever. Armed only with a notebook and fresh ideas from quantum mechanics, Chandrasekhar calculated the limit of stellar collapse, now called the Chandrasekhar Limit, which revealed when a star collapses into a black hole. This isn't just a story about...
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Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
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Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
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Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
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Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
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Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
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Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
Episode Overview: Did people in antiquity ever go on vacation? The short answer is yes—and the long answer is a fascinating journey through Roman villas, Greek festivals, Byzantine retreats, Tang dynasty poetry, and sacred pilgrimages. In this Flashcard Friday episode, Gabrielle Birchak uncovers how the privileged, the pious, and the poetic found ways to take breaks, explore new places, and seek leisure across 1,400 years of ancient history. From Pliny the Younger’s coastal villa to early travel writing in Baghdad, we’ll explore how the idea of “getting away” is as old as...
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Queer Nature: A Scientific Perspective
Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
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Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
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How the Ancient Maya Invented Zero and Decoded the Cosmos
Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
Episode Overview: Long before Europe adopted the concept of zero, the ancient Maya had already created one of the most sophisticated mathematical systems in the world. In this episode of Math Science History, host Gabrielle Birkjak uncovers the secrets of Mayan mathematics, from the elegance of their base-20 number system, to their revolutionary use of zero, to the celestial precision encoded in the Dresden Codex. We explore how the Maya embedded math into everything from pyramids to calendars, and how European scholars like Ernst Förstemann helped rediscover their brilliance...
info_outlineEpisode Overview:
What do black holes, a teenage genius, and a long ocean voyage have in common? In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math, Science, History, Gabrielle tells the incredible story of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who, at just 19 years old, sailed from India to England and made a discovery that would transform astrophysics forever.
Armed only with a notebook and fresh ideas from quantum mechanics, Chandrasekhar calculated the limit of stellar collapse, now called the Chandrasekhar Limit, which revealed when a star collapses into a black hole. This isn't just a story about equations; it's a story about persistence, quiet genius, and the power of taking a break.
3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode:
1. What the Chandrasekhar Limit is and why it's essential for understanding black holes
2. How quantum mechanics, relativity, and statistical math came together to predict the death of stars
3. Why slowing down and giving your mind time to wander can lead to world-changing discoveries
Resources:
Biography of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar – NobelPrize.org
A. S. Eddington and Chandrasekhar Controversy – arXiv
Chandrasekhar’s Original 1931 Paper (PDF)
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