II. Ramakrishnan's work recognized by astrophysicist Chandrasekar
Ramakrishnan's papers published in the Astrophysical Journal

Alladi Ramakrishnan's method of product densites was widely applicable. In view of his interest in cosmic rays, Ramakrishnan began investigating more general questions in astrophysics to which his methods could be applied. This led Ramakrishnan to study the work of the great astrophysicist Subrahmanyam Chandrasekar, who was at the University of Chicago. Chandrasekar was also the Editor of the Astrophysical Journal. Ramakrishnan's first sent his his observations on a certain integral equation that Chandrasekar and Guido Munsh has considered in their researches in astrophysics. Chandrasekar appreciated Ramakrishnan's approach and communicated Ramakrishnan's paper to the Astrophysical Journal. In his letter of September 1951 (see attached), Chandrasekar refers to Ramakrishnan's work as a very nice contribution. Although Chandrasekar intended to publish Ramakrishnan's work in the November 1951 issue of the Astrophysical Journal, the paper appeared in the journal in 1952. This was the first (see paper 7 in Ramakrishnan's list of publications) of eight papers by Alladi Ramakrishnan in the Astrophysical Journal all communicated by Chandrasekar.

alladik@ufl.edu