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He was born in the town of Nizhniaya Chigla, Voronezh Oblast, Russia. His parents, Aleksei and Mariya Cherenkov, were peasants.
He graduated from the Department of Physics and Mathematics of Voronezh State University in 1928, in 1930 he took a post as a senior researcher in the Lebedev Institute of Physics. Later Cherenkov was promoted to the section leader, and in 1940 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Physico-Mathematical Sciences. In 1953 he was confirmed as Professor of Experimental Physics. Since 1959 he headed the photo-meson processes laboratory. He remained a professor for fourteen years.
In 1934, while working under S.I. VavilovSergei Ivanovich Vavilov ( March 24, 1891 January 25, 1951) was a Soviet physicist and President of the USSR Academy of Sciences from July 17, 1945 until his death. Vavilov's specialty was physical optics, particularly investigating the nature of photo lu, Cherenkov observed the emission of blue light from a bottle of water subjected to radioactive bombardment. This Cerenkov effect, associated with charged atomic particleParticle physics is a branch of physics that studies the elementary constituents of matter and radiation, and the interactions between them. It is also called high energy physics because many elementary particles do not occur under normal circumstances ins moving at velocities higher than the speed of lightCherenkov effect in a "swimming pool" nuclear reactor. The effect is due to electrons moving faster than the speed at which light moves in water. The speed of light (denoted as c reputedly from the Latin celeritas "speed", and also known as Einstein's con in the local medium, proved to be of great importance in subsequent experimental work in nuclear physicsNuclear physics is that branch of physics concerned with the nucleus of the atom. Topics include: Strong interaction Radioactivity Models of the nucleus liquid drop model shell model interacting boson model Fission Fusion Nuclear reactions Applications Nu, and for the study of cosmic rayCosmic rays can loosely be defined as energetic particles originating outside of the Earth. The composition includes electrons, protons, neutrons, and atomic nuclei from a large region of the periodic table. The kinetic energies of these particles span ovs. The Cerenkov detector has become a standard piece of equipment in atomic research for observing the existence and velocity of high-speed particles. The device was installed in Sputnik III.
Pavel Cherenkov has also shared in the development and construction of electron acceleratorsA particle accelerator uses electric fields to propel charged particles to great energies. Everyday applications are found in TV sets and X-ray generators. The particles are contained in an evacuated tube so that they do not get dispersed by hitting air m and in the investigations of photo-nuclear and photo-meson reactions.
Cherenkov was awarded USSR State Prizes in 1946 (with Vavilov, Frank, and Tamm), in 1951, and 1977. In 1958, he got the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the Cherenkov effect.
In 1930 he married Marya Putintseva, daughter of A.M. Putintsev, Professor of Russian Literature. They had a son, Aleksei, and a daughter, Elena. Pavel Cherenkov died in Moscow and put to rest at Novodevichy Cemetery.