Pavel A. Cherenkov was a physicist whose work helped build the foundation for modern nuclear physics. He is best known for his discovery in 1934 of Cherenkov radiation, which he first noticed as a faint blue light in water that was absorbing radiation. In 1937 Ilya Frank and Igor Tamm established that this light was caused by radioactive particles that move faster through water than the speed of light does, and for their work the three men shared the 1958 Nobel Prize in physics. Cherenkov radiation has been used to design and build a sensitive tool for measuring high-energy particles, known as the Cherenkov counter, which has important uses in experimental physics.

Cherenkov was born to peasant parents in the Voronezh region of Russia on July 28, 1904. He went to Voronezh University, where he graduated in 1928 with a degree in physics and mathematics. From there he taught in a high school, then...