Empire of the Stars: Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes [Kindle Edition]

This book concerns the discovery of S. Chandrasekar, that
white dwarfs have a maximum mass (1.4 times the mass of the
Sun) and how this was work was received by his fellow scientist,
in particular by Sir Arthur Eddington. The conclusions drawn
from Chandra's work was that more massive stars would continue
to collapse until nothing is left (i.e. black holes would
form; however, black holes were not yet discovered). It is
in particular this aspect which Eddington and other scientist
did not believe. Chandra's life in Cambridge and struggle(s)
(such as his fights against racism) is well described. In the
second part of the book, the author explains some aspects of
the physics involved.

Read this book and you will learn a lot about Chandra's life
(which is fascinating) and the consequences of his work.
The book is not meant to be about details of stellar evolution,
white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. Readers who want
to learn the physics in detail need to look elsewhere. However,
the book describes very nicely an important chapter in the
history of astrophysics. It will be of interest to everyone
who has interest in astronomy/astrophysics.

This marvellous book could be classified as a biography of Nobel Laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. But the author himself would rather present it as the biography of an idea. The idea being that if a star is big enough, it could turn into what we call today a Black Hole. In the 1930s the concept was alien to most scientists.

Chandrasekhar's discovery that a star could evolve into an infinitely small and infinitely dense object, in other words a Black Hole, was not very well received at the time. It is not that the argument was not well presented or was not convincing. It is just that scientists in general don't like to deal with infinities. Infinity itself is a concept that is difficult to grasp with our rational way of thinking about matter. In pure mathematics it's different because numbers are not real in the same sense that matter is. But yet, Chandrasekhar's mathematics and physics were so rigorous, thorough and well supported by theory that many scientists were open and supportive, at least in private. The problem was that one of the most prominent scientists of the time was radically against this idea. Not because it was false, as he arrogantly pretended, but because it would tear down his own theory. That man was Arthur Eddington. He was extremely successful, and at the time the most respected figure of astrophysics. But if he had accepted Chandrasekhar's results it would have destroyed a life's work. That is the drama played out in this book.

The story of this epic battle is extremely well recounted by Arthur I. Miller, in one of the best scientific biography I have ever read. The author does not take sides. He remains objective throughout and always treat the various protagonists with respect, and reports honestly about their attributes and accomplishments. This is first and foremost a human story. But it is a characterization that is played out on the science stage. I have very much appreciated throughout the balance between the human dimension and the scientific endeavour. Proper weight is given to essential human considerations as well as the required exposition of basic scientific principles. The level is meant to reach as large an audience as possible. It might actually be considered as dumb down a bit. Possibly unnecessarily so. For in my opinion the targeted audience should already be familiar with some basic principals. Otherwise how would they be interested in this debate in the first place? The problem is that in his effort to explain everything the author ended up confusing the reader at times. I found that a few very basic facts that did not really require an explanation were adding clutter to more important aspects that were not developed properly. I suspect a heavy hand from the editor here.

The book is divided in three parts. The longest one and the most captivating is the first part. That's where the table is set. The second and third parts are much shorter and less dramatic. They have also less clarity. It felt like if the book had been written after the first part and the last two added to make a more complete story. I did not see the unity between the three sections. It lacked a harmonious continuity. Nevertheless it remains a fascinating story. One that is not well known in the history of science. And after you will have read the book you may actually ask yourself why.

This ultimately somewhat sad story turns upon the biography of a great scientist whose lifetime achievements he himself appeared to disparage. An enigma remains as to whether this outlook was inherent in Chandrasekhar's personality or was rather the result of humiliating early rejection by the scientific establishment of his first groundbreaking theoretical discovery.

The tale brings out a further irony: that the long-delayed award of a Nobel Prize singled out, among his many discoveries, specifically this early work on white dwarf stars, whereas he himself had scarcely revisited the topic after his findings were ridiculed by Eddington.

The reader can follow a detailed history of the interactions among the many famous people whose intellectual contributions evolved into our current understanding of the nature of stars and of their ultimate fates. How that story might have developed differently, had the astrophysical giants of the 1930s been more receptive to the insight of a twenty-something genius from India, can only be imagined. There is ample detailed and well-researched material here to ponder upon.

The science is treated in a thoroughly accurate way without unnecessary mathematical detail. The problem of how to deal with incomprehensible magnitudes of distance and size is perhaps unsolvable. The use here of miles, instead of the more conventional light-years, does not really help: it just adds an extra multiplier of 6 trillion (whatever that might mean!) to try to get to grips with.