Who of the following scientists proved that the stars with mass less than 1.44 times the mass of the Sun end up as White Dwarfs when they die ?
A
Edwin Hubble
B
S. Chandrashekhar
C
Stephen Hawking
D
Steven Weinberg
Correct Answer: Option B
Explanation
1. The question asks which scientist proved the fate of stars with mass less than a certain limit.
2. This limit, approximately 1.44 times the mass of the Sun, is known as the Chandrasekhar Limit.
3. S. Chandrashekhar (Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar) was an Indian-American astrophysicist who calculated this limit in the early 1930s.
4. His work showed that stars with mass less than this limit will eventually collapse into White Dwarfs when they die, while stars exceeding this mass would undergo further collapse (potentially into neutron stars or black holes).
5. Edwin Hubble is known for work on galaxies and the expansion of the universe. Stephen Hawking made major contributions to cosmology and black holes. Steven Weinberg is known for work on particle physics and electroweak unification.