Steven Chu (born February 28, 1948), is a
physicistWithin the field of physics, experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines concerned with the observation of physical phenomena in order to gather data about the universe...
and currently the 12th
United States Secretary of EnergyThe United States Secretary of Energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the President's Cabinet, and fifteenth in the Presidential line of succession. The post was created with the formation of the Department of Energy on October 1, 1977, by President Jimmy Carter's...
. As a scientist, Chu is known for his research in
cooling and trapping of atoms with laser lightLaser cooling refers to the number of techniques in which atomic and molecular samples are cooled through the interaction with one or more laser light fields...
, which won him the
Nobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Prize in literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
in 1997. At the time of his appointment as Energy Secretary, he was a professor of physics and molecular and cellular biology at the
University of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines...
and the director of the
Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryThe Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory conducting unclassified scientific research. It is located on the grounds of the University of California, Berkeley, in the Berkeley Hills above the central campus. It is managed and...
, where his research was concerned primarily with the study of biological systems at the single molecule level. He is a vocal advocate for more research into
alternative energyAlternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels...
and
nuclear powerNuclear power is power produced from controlled nuclear reactions. Commercial plants in use to date use nuclear fission reactions....
, arguing that a shift away from
fossil fuelFossil fuels or mineral fuels are fuels formed by natural resources such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...
s is essential to combat
global warmingGlobal warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C during the last century...
.
Personal life
Chu, a
Chinese AmericanChinese Americans are Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of Overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
, was born in
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
, with ancestry from
TaicangTaicang is a coastal city in Jiangsu Province of People's Republic of China. It is 40 miles to the northwest of Shanghai, and 40 miles to the east of Suzhou. It is a county level city under jurisdiction of Suzhou prefecture level city. In 2008, the registered population was at 466,300, and total...
, in
Jiangsu' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou...
province, and graduated from Garden City High School. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1970 from the
University of RochesterThe University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in Rochester, New York. The University grants undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and professional degrees through six schools and various interdisciplinary programs...
, and his doctorate degree from University of California, Berkeley in 1976, during which he was supported by a
National Science Foundation Graduate Research FellowshipThe National Science Foundation- Graduate Research Fellowship Program is a grant provided by the National Science Foundation to fund graduate research in certain areas of science, social science and engineering. The grant covers the cost of tuition and fees and provides the student with an annual...
.
Chu comes from a family of scholars. His father earned an advanced chemical engineering degree at the
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological research...
and taught at
Washington University in St. LouisWashington University in St. Louis is a nonsectarian, private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853 and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than one hundred and twenty five nations...
and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, while his mother studied economics. His maternal grandfather earned advanced civil engineering degrees at
Cornell UniversityCornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA, that is a member of the Ivy League.Cornell counts more than 255,000 living alumni, 28 Rhodes Scholars and 41 Nobel laureates affiliated with the university as faculty or students...
and his mother's uncle,
Li Shu-huaLi Shu-hua was a Chinese physical scientist from Peking University and educator came from Qinhuangdao, Hebei.He worked at Academia Sinica and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China....
, a notable physical scientist, studied physics at the
SorbonneThe name Sorbonne is commonly used to refer to the historic University of Paris in Paris, France or one of its successor institutions , but this is a recent usage, and "Sorbonne" has actually been used with different meanings over the centuries...
before they returned to
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. His older brother
Gilbert ChuGilbert Chu is a Chinese American Professor of Biochemistry and Medicine at Stanford University.He graduated from Garden City High School in New York in 1963. He received a B.A. in Physics from Princeton University in 1967, a Ph.D in Physics from M.I.T. in 1973. a M.D from Harvard Medical School...
is a professor and researcher of biochemistry and medicine at
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States...
. His younger brother,
Morgan ChuMorgan Chu , an intellectual property attorney, is one of the first Asian Americans to lead a major U.S. law firm. Chu's professional accolades recognize him as one of the nation’s most influential lawyers and most successful trial attorneys.A high school dropout, Chu went on to earn advanced...
, is a partner and the former Co-Managing Partner at the law firm
Irell & ManellaIrell & Manella LLP was founded in 1941 by lawyers Lawrence E. Irell and Arthur Manella , and has grown to 220 lawyers. It currently has two locations in Southern California: Century City and Newport Beach. Irell is well known for both intellectual property litigation and general business...
LLP. According to Chu, his two brothers and four cousins earned three
M.D.The Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians...
s, four
Ph.D.Ph.D. or PHD may stand for:* Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group* Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip* PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian organization...
s, and a
J.D.Juris Doctor is a first professional degree.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century as a degree similar to the old European doctor of law degree...
among them. In 1997, he married Jean Fetter, a
British AmericanBritish Americans are Americans whose ancestry stems, either wholly or in part, from the United Kingdom, i.e. from England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland...
and an
OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
-trained physicist. He has two sons, Geoffrey and Michael, from a previous marriage to Lisa Chu-Thielbar.
Beside his scientific career, Chu has also developed interest in various sports, including
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
,
swimmingThe aquatic sport of swimming involves competition amongst participants to be the fastest over a given distance under self propulsion.The different events include 25, 50, 100, 200, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly, the 25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 500, 800, 1000, 1500, and 1650 free and the 100,...
and
cyclingCycling is an activity most commonly performed on a bicycle - when it is it is also referred to as bicycling or simply biking. It is the use of the bicycle, unicycle , tricycles , quadracycles , and other similar wheeled human-powered vehicles for the purpose of transport, as a form of...
. On May 15, 2009, he made a surprise appearance at
Bike-to-Work DayBike-to-Work Day is an annual event held on the third Friday of May across the United States and Canada that promotes the bicycle as an option for commuting to work...
in Washington, DC, where he stated his goal to decrease his cycling time from
Chevy Chase, MarylandChevy Chase is the name of both a town and an unincorporated Census-Designated Place in Montgomery County, Maryland. In addition, a number of villages in the same area of Montgomery County include "Chevy Chase" in their names...
, to the Georgetown boathouse from 18 to 15 minutes. He taught himself
tennisTennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court....
by reading a book in the eighth grade, and was a second-string substitute for the school team for three years. He also taught himself how to
pole vaultPole vaulting is an athletic field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
using bamboo poles obtained from the local carpet store. Chu said he never learned to speak
ChineseChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of languages mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
because his parents always talked to him and his brothers in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
, although he said (in 1997) that he was trying to learn
MandarinStandard Mandarin, or Standard Chinese, known by various names to native speakers, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan, and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, believing that if he could stay in China for "at least six months", he would become fluent.
Career and research
After obtaining his doctorate degree, Chu remained at Berkeley as a
postdoctoral researcherPostdoctoral research is academic or scholarly research conducted by a person who has completed his or her doctoral studies, normally within the following five years. It is intended to further deepen expertise in a specialist subject, including necessary skills and methods...
for two years before joining
Bell LabsBell Laboratories is the research and development organization of Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company .Bell Laboratories has had its headquarters at Murray Hill, New Jersey, and it has research and development facilities...
, where he and his several co-workers carried out his Nobel Prize-winning
laser coolingLaser cooling refers to the number of techniques in which atomic and molecular samples are cooled through the interaction with one or more laser light fields...
work. He left Bell Labs and became a professor of physics at
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States...
in 1987, serving as the chair of its Physics Department from 1990 to 1993 and from 1999 to 2001. While at Stanford, Chu, together with three other professors, initiated the Bio-X program, which focuses on interdisciplinary research in biology and medicine, and played an important role in securing the funding of the
Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and CosmologyThe Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology is an independent laboratory of Stanford University, founded in 2003 by a gift by Fred Kavli and The Kavli Foundation. It is housed on the grounds of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, as well as on the main Stanford campus...
. In August 2004, Chu was appointed as the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a
U.S. Department of Energy National LaboratoryThe United States Department of Energy National Laboratories and Technology Centers are a system of facilities and laboratories overseen by the United States Department of Energy for the purpose of advancing science and helping promote the economic and defensive national interests of the United...
, and joined UC Berkeley's Department of Physics and Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Under Chu's leadership, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been a center of research into
biofuelBiofuel is defined as solid, liquid or gaseous fuel obtained from lifeless or living biological material and is similar to fossil fuels, which are derived from long dead biological material. Also, various plants and plant-derived materials are used for biofuel manufacturing...
s and solar energy technologies. He spearheaded the laboratory's Helios project, an initiative to develop methods of harnessing solar power as a source of
renewable energyRenewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat—which are renewable . In 2006, about 18% of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13% coming from traditional biomass, such as wood-burning...
for transportation.
Chu's early research focused on
atomic physicsAtomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. It is primarily concerned with the arrangement of electrons around the nucleus and...
by developing
laser coolingLaser cooling refers to the number of techniques in which atomic and molecular samples are cooled through the interaction with one or more laser light fields...
techniques and the
magneto-optical trapA magneto-optical trap is a device that uses both laser cooling with magneto-optical trapping in order to produce samples of cold, trapped, neutral atoms at temperatures as low as several micro-Kelvin , two or three times the recoil limit.By combining the small momentum of a single photon with a...
ping of atoms using lasers. He and his co-workers at Bell Labs developed a method of cooling atoms by employing six laser beams opposed in pairs and arranged in three directions at right angles to each other. Trapping atoms with this method allows scientists to study, with great accuracy, individual atoms which exist in the air, and determine their inner structure. Additionally, it is believed that a technique can be developed with this method to construct an
atomic clockAn atomic clock is a type of clock that uses an atomic resonance frequency standard as its timekeeping element. They are the most accurate time and frequency standards known, and are used as primary standards for international time distribution services, and to control the frequency of television...
with great precision.
While at Stanford, Chu's research interests expanded into
biological physicsBiophysics is an interdisciplinary science that employs and develops theories and methods of the physical sciences for the investigation of biological systems . Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms...
and
polymer physicsPolymer physics is the field of physics associated to the study of polymers, their fluctuations, mechanical properties, as well as the kinetics of reactions involving degradation and polymerisation of polymers and monomers respectively....
at the single molecular level. In the field of biological physics, he studied
enzymeEnzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, and the enzyme converts them into different molecules, called the products. Almost all processes in a biological cell need enzymes to occur at...
activity and
protein and RNA foldingProtein folding is the physical process by which a polypeptide folds into its characteristic and functional three-dimensional structure from random coil....
using techniques such as
fluorescence resonance energy transferFörster resonance energy transfer , also known as fluorescence resonance energy transfer, resonance energy transfer or electronic energy transfer , is a mechanism describing energy transfer between two chromophores.A donor chromophore, initially in its electronic excited state, may transfer energy...
, atomic force microscopy, and
optical tweezersAn optical tweezer is a scientific instrument that uses a focused laser beam to provide an attractive or repulsive force , depending on the refractive index mismatch to physically hold and move microscopic dielectric objects...
. Chu's research in polymer physics made use of individual molecules of
DNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information...
to study polymer dynamics and phase transitions associated with these dynamics. He further continued his research in atomic physics as well, developing new methods of laser cooling and trapping.
Energy and global warming
Chu has been a vocal advocate for more research into alternative energy and nuclear power, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combat global warming. He also spoke at the 2009 National Science Bowl about the importance of America's science students, emphasizing their future role in environmental planning and global initiative. Chu said that a typical coal power plant emits 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant.
Chu warns that global warming could wipe out California farms within the century.
He has joined the
Copenhagen Climate CouncilThe Copenhagen Climate Council is a global collaboration between international business and science founded by the leading independent think tank in Scandinavia, , based in Copenhagen...
, an international collaboration between business and science, established to create momentum for the
2009 United Nations Climate Change ConferenceThe United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between December 7 and December 18, 2009. The conference includes the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 5th Meeting of the...
in Copenhagen.
Chu was instrumental in submitting a winning bid for the
Energy Biosciences InstituteThe Energy Biosciences Institute , formally announced on February 1 2007, is an organization that will pursue research "to develop new sources of energy and reduce the impact of energy consumption on the environment." Funded primarily by BP, which has signed a contract to contribute 500 million...
, a
BPBP plc is the third largest global energy company, the 5th largest company in the world, the UK's largest company, a multinational oil company with headquarters in St James's, City of Westminster, London...
-funded $500 million multi-disciplinary collaborative project between UC Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and the University of Illinois. This sparked controversy on the Berkeley campus, where some fear the alliance could harm the school’s reputation for academic integrity.
Honors and awards
Steven Chu is a co-winner of
Nobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Prize in literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
in 1997 for the "development of methods to
coolLaser cooling refers to the number of techniques in which atomic and molecular samples are cooled through the interaction with one or more laser light fields...
and trap atoms with laser light", shared with
Claude Cohen-TannoudjiClaude Cohen-Tannoudji is a French physicist and Nobel Laureate. He shared the 1997 Nobel prize in physics for research in methods of cooling and trapping atoms using laser light...
and
William Daniel PhillipsWilliam Daniel Phillips is an American physicist. He is of Italian and Welsh extraction and a Methodist.-Biography:Phillips was born to William Cornelius Phillips and Mary Catherine Savino...
. He is a member of the
United States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine."The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code....
, the
American Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, the
American Philosophical SocietyThe American Philosophical Society is a discussion group founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin as an offshoot of his earlier club, the Junto...
and the
Academia SinicaThe Academia Sinica , headquartered in the Nangang District of Taipei, is the national academy of the Republic of China...
, and is a foreign member of the
Chinese Academy of SciencesThe Chinese Academy of Sciences , formerly known as Academia Sinica , is the national academy for the natural sciences of the People's Republic of China. It is an institution of the State Council of China...
and of the
Korean Academy of Science and EngineeringThe Korean Academy of Science and Engineering is the Republic of Korea’s highest academy of science and serves as an integrated think-tank for science and technology of South Korea...
. Dr. Chu received an honorary doctorate from
Boston UniversityBoston University is a private nonsectarian university located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Although chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869, Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont in 1839...
when he was the keynote speaker at the 2007 commencement exercises.
Diablo magazine, based east of Berkeley in Walnut Creek, California, honored Dr. Chu with one of its annual Eco Awards in its April 2009 issue , shortly after he was nominated as energy secretary.
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
awarded him an honorary doctorate during its 2009 commencement exercises.
Energy Secretary
His nomination to be Energy Secretary was unanimously confirmed by the
U.S. SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
on January 20, 2009. On January 21, 2009, Chu was sworn in as Secretary of Energy in the Barack Obama administration. Chu is the first person appointed to the Cabinet after having won a Nobel Prize. He is also the second Chinese American to be a member of the
CabinetThe United States Cabinet is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States...
after
Elaine ChaoElaine Lan Chao served as the 24th United States Secretary of Labor in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009. She was the first Taiwanese American and the first Asian American woman to be appointed to a President's cabinet in American history. Chao was the only cabinet member...
.
See also
- United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
- Timeline of low-temperature technology
The following is a timeline of low-temperature technology and cryogenic technology .- 1000s :* 1000s - Avicenna invented the refrigerated coil, which condenses aromatic vapors...
- List of Ethnic Chinese Nobel laureates
External links
- Bio from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory conducting unclassified scientific research. It is located on the grounds of the University of California, Berkeley, in the Berkeley Hills above the central campus. It is managed and...
- Boulder’s physicists give Chu thumbs-up Article on other Nobel laureates' reactions to Chu as secretary of energy
- Biography and Bibliographic Resources, from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information
The Office of Scientific and Technical Information is a component of the Office of Science within the U.S. Department of Energy .-Mission:...
, United States Department of EnergyThe United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
- UCTV Programs with Steven Chu
- Bio and personal page from Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States...
Department of Physics
- Chu's biophysics research group at University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines...
- The Nobel Prize in Physics 1997 from Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize is a Sweden-based international monetary prize. The award was established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901...
with biography, lecture, diploma, photos, symposia and links
- "Climate Disasters a 'Significant Possibility' Interview with Steve Chu at Copenhagen Climate Council, November 3, 2008.
- Interview with Steven Chu from "Growing Energy" from the PBS series e² energy
- Interview with New York Times