Cherenkov radiation as a serendipitous phenomenon

A brief account is given of P A Cherenkov's Voronezh years, a period during which the future Nobel laureate in physics attended school (in the village of Novaya Chigla near Voronezh) and studied at Voronezh State University. The history of the serendipitous discovery of the radiation which was to be named after him is described and its importance for modern science is discussed. Possible modern approaches are considered to explain — without using the concept of ‘cold nuclear synthesis’ — some other unexpected experimental results on the nonthermonuclear fusion of light nuclei stimulated by electron beams and by laser and gamma radiations.