https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00005-3
Review
Hundred years of the Saha equation and astrophysics
Department of Physics, University of Calcutta, 92 Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, 700009, Calcutta, India
Received:
30
July
2020
Accepted:
23
December
2020
Published online:
29
March
2021
Saha ionization equation, discovered 100 years ago, is widely acknowledged to transform astrophysics from a qualitative to a quantitative science. It helped in clarifying the confusion prevailing in the first 2 decades of the twentieth century with regard to the physical conditions present in the stellar atmospheres and the abundance of elements in stars. Saha equation continues to be useful in areas far removed from the physical conditions in stellar atmospheres for which it was developed.
A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00140-x.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
