On 28 July, a Nobel Prize laureate and a VSU graduate Pavel Cherenkov would celebrate his 119 birthday. Pavel Cherenkov discovered a new physical phenomenon, which is known in the international scientific world as Cherenkov radiation. It is a blue cone-shaped glow observed for all fast elementary particles. In 1958, Pavel Cherenkov was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery.
The scientist graduated from VSU in 1928, and then, in 1930, became a PhD student at the Institute of Physics and Mathematics in Leningrad where he studied the luminescence of uranium salt solutions exposed to gamma rays. Pavel Cherenkov worked under the guidance of Sergei Vavilov, a Soviet physicist and a member of the academy.
The discovery which was made by a young PhD student and our fellow countryman Pavel Cherenkov gave a new impetus to scientific research in nuclear physics, the study of space, the depths of the seas and oceans, and the treatment of cancer. It is crucial for the work of modern nuclear power plants, accelerators, and observatories.
“My father was a peasant in Novaya Chigla, a small village in the Voronezh Region.
I finished primary school before the revolution, but, of course, there was no way for me to continue my education. But we had a wonderful teacher, Pavel Ivlev, a man of great personality. He taught those of us who were keen on mathematics. Then came the revolution. Then, I went to secondary school. In 1924, I was admitted to the Department of Physics and Technology of the Faculty of Pedagogics of Voronezh State University.
Financially, it was a very hard time. We grabbed any opportunity to earn some money: from private tutoring to unloading rail cars. And I had to work in my home village every summer. Yet we remained optimistic. We knew that the country needed a new type of intellectuals. The ones who were born in the families of peasants and workers and who were loyal to the country.
Our university has produced a number of scientists who became prominent in various research areas. This is thanks to the fact that the university developed at the time of first five-year plans, which required highly qualified researchers. I hope that Voronezh State University will produce even more scientists and its work will always help to solve the most urgent and important problems of the country.”
Pavel Cherenkov, a graduate of VSU of 1928, Full Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Nobel Prize laureate.
“Molodoi kommunar”, 1968
Pavel Cherenkov was engaged in science all his life. His research was focused on physical optics, nuclear physics, and high energy physics. The Cherenkov radiation was used to create a whole series of unique devices for detecting elementary particles: Cherenkov detectors, counters, spectrometers, and cameras.
One of the streets in Voronezh and the laboratory at the Faculty of Physics of VSU are named after Pavel Cherenkov. The main university building has a memorial plaque in his honour. Among the exhibits of the VSU History Museum are personal belongings of Pavel Cherenkov donated to the museum by his daughter Elena Cherenkova.
The Department of Rare Books of VSU treasures the book of his memories, “Pavel Cherenkov: people and discoveries” which was carefully collected by Elena Cherenkova.
“I recorded his memories in the late 1990s. I tried to remember as much as possible. So I think the most complete information was published in this collection, which is stored in VSU”, said Elena Cherenkova.
