Steven Chu
Encyclopedia
Steven Chu is an American
physicist
and the 12th United States Secretary of Energy
. Chu is known for his research at Bell Labs
in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light
, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1997, along with his scientific colleagues Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
and William Daniel Phillips
. 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, Berkeley
and the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
, where his research was concerned primarily with the study of biological systems at the single molecule level. Previously, he had been a professor of physics at Stanford University
. He is a vocal advocate for more research into alternative energy
and nuclear power
, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuel
s is essential to combating climate change
. For example, he has conceived of a global "glucose economy", a form of a low-carbon economy
, in which glucose
from tropical plants is shipped around like oil
is today.
, was born in St. Louis, Missouri
, with ancestry from Taicang
, in Jiangsu
province, and graduated from Garden City High School. He received both a B.A.
in mathematics
and a B.S.
in physics
in 1970 from the University of Rochester
. He went on to earn his Ph.D.
in physics from the University of California, Berkeley
, in 1976, during which he was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
.
Chu comes from a family of scholars. His father earned an advanced chemical engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and taught at Washington University in St. Louis
and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, while his mother studied economics. His maternal grandfather, Dr. Shu-tian Li
earned a Ph.D. degree from Cornell University
and his mother's uncle, Li Shu-hua
, a notable physical scientist, studied physics at the Sorbonne
before they returned to China
. His older brother Gilbert Chu
is a professor and researcher of biochemistry and medicine at Stanford University
. His younger brother, Morgan Chu
, is a partner and the former Co-Managing Partner at the law firm Irell & Manella
LLP. According to Chu, his two brothers and four cousins earned three M.D.
s, four Ph.D.
s, and a J.D.
among them. In 1997, he married Jean Fetter, a British American
and an Oxford
-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 baseball
, swimming
and cycling
. He taught himself tennis
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 vault
using bamboo poles obtained from the local carpet store. Chu said he never learned to speak Chinese
because his parents always talked to him and his brothers in English
, although he said (in 1997) that he was trying to learn Mandarin
, believing that if he could stay in China for "at least six months", he would become fluent.
for two years before joining Bell Labs
, where he and his several co-workers carried out his Nobel Prize-winning laser cooling
work. He left Bell Labs and became a professor of physics at Stanford University
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 Cosmology
. In August 2004, Chu was appointed as the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory
, 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 biofuel
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 energy
for transportation.
Chu's early research focused on atomic physics
by developing laser cooling
techniques and the magneto-optical trap
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 clock
with great precision.
While at Stanford, Chu's research interests expanded into biological physics
and polymer physics
at the single molecular level. In the field of biological physics, he studied enzyme
activity and protein and RNA folding
using techniques such as fluorescence resonance energy transfer
, atomic force microscopy, and optical tweezers
. Chu's research in polymer physics
made use of individual molecules of DNA
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.
and nuclear power
, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combat global warming
. He also spoke at the 2009 and 2011 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 Council
, an international collaboration between business and science, established to create momentum for the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference
in Copenhagen
.
Chu was instrumental in submitting a winning bid for the Energy Biosciences Institute
, a BP
-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.
Based partially on his research at UC Berkeley, Chu has speculated that a global "glucose economy", a form of a low-carbon economy
, could replace the current system. In the future, special varieties of high-glucose
plants would be grown in the tropics
, processed, and then the chemical would be shipped around like oil is today
to other countries. The St. Petersburg Times has stated that Chu's concept "shows vision on the scale needed to deal with global warming."
Chu has also advocated making the roofs of buildings and the tops of roads around the world white or other light colors, which could possibly reflect a lot of sunlight
back into space and significantly mitigate global warming. The effect would be, according to Chu, similar to taking every car in the world off the roads for about 11 years. Samuel Thernstrom, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
and co-director of the AEI Geoengineering
Project, expressed support in The American
and remarked "Chu has done the nation a service" since "the idea has an important role to play in the climate debate."
in 1997 for the "development of methods to cool
and trap atoms with laser light", shared with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
and William Daniel Phillips
. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
, the American Philosophical Society
and the Academia Sinica
, and is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
and of the Korean Academy of Science and Engineering
. He was also awarded the Humboldt Prize
by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
in 1995.
Dr. Chu received an honorary doctorate from Boston University
when he was the keynote speaker at the 2007 commencement exercises. He is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council
. 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. Washington University in St. Louis
and Harvard University
awarded him an honorary doctorate during their 2010 and 2009 commencement exercises, respectively. He was also awarded an honorary degree from Yale University
during its 2010 commencement.
His nomination to be Secretary of Energy was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate
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 US Cabinet after having won a Nobel Prize. He is also the second Chinese American to be a member of the US Cabinet
after Elaine Chao
.
His scientific work continues, however, including a paper on gravitational redshift
published in Nature (463, 926–929) in Feb 2010 and a second one co-authored in July 2010.
Under his leadership in 2010 the Department of Energy
updated the water usage regulations on toilets and showers.
In March 2011 Chu said that federal regulators should not delay approving construction licenses for planned U.S. nuclear power plants because of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
. "I think those things can proceed," Chu told reporters on Capitol Hill, referring to construction license applications pending at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
.
In August 2011 Chu praised an advisory panel’s report on curbing the environmental risks of natural-gas development. Chu responded to the panel’s report on hydraulic fracturing
, the controversial drilling method that’s enabling a U.S. gas boom while bringing fears of groundwater contamination and other harms along with it. The report called for greater data collection of air and water data, as well as “rigorous” air pollution standards and mandatory disclosure of chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process, among other steps. “The report ... recommends a range of tools for implementing these measures, including regulation, continuous improvement in best practices by industry, and ongoing research and development,” Chu said in a statement. “I will be working closely with my colleagues in the Administration to review the recommendations and to chart a path for continued development of this vital energy resource in a safe manner,” he added.
Chu was forced to testify before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee in 2011 because of his decision to make now-bankrupt Solyndra
the first recipient of a federal energy loan program. Chu approved a $535 million loan to Solyndra, which went bankrupt in 2011.
|-
|-
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physicist
Experimental physics
Within 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 the 12th United States Secretary of Energy
United States Secretary of Energy
The 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 position was formed on October 1, 1977 with the creation of the Department of Energy when President Jimmy...
. Chu is known for his research at Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light
Laser cooling
Laser 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 Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The 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, along with his scientific colleagues Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji is a French physicist and Nobel Laureate. He shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics with Steven Chu and William Daniel Phillips for research in methods of laser cooling and trapping atoms...
and William Daniel Phillips
William Daniel Phillips
William Daniel Phillips is an American physicist and shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1997 with Steven Chu and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji. He is of Italian and Welsh descent.-Biography:...
. 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, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
and the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The 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...
, where his research was concerned primarily with the study of biological systems at the single molecule level. Previously, he had been a professor of physics at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. He is a vocal advocate for more research into alternative energy
Alternative energy
Alternative 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 power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuel
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes 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 combating climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
. For example, he has conceived of a global "glucose economy", a form of a low-carbon economy
Low-carbon economy
A Low-Carbon Economy or Low-Fossil-Fuel Economy is an economy that has a minimal output of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment biosphere, but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide...
, in which glucose
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...
from tropical plants is shipped around like oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
is today.
Personal life
Chu, a Chinese AmericanChinese American
Chinese Americans represent 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, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, with ancestry from Taicang
Taicang
Taicang is a coastal city in Jiangsu Province of People's Republic of China. It is approximately to the northwest of Shanghai, and 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 GDP...
, in Jiangsu
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. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
province, and graduated from Garden City High School. He received both a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and a B.S.
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
in 1970 from the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
. He went on to earn his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in physics from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, in 1976, during which he was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
NSF-GRF
The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program is an annual grant awarded by the National Science Foundation to approximately 2,000 doctoral-level students in the natural, social, and engineering sciences at US institutions...
.
Chu comes from a family of scholars. His father earned an advanced chemical engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The 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 education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
and taught at Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a 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 110 nations...
and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, while his mother studied economics. His maternal grandfather, Dr. Shu-tian Li
Shu-tian Li
Shu-tian Li was a citizen of the United States, a Chinese American educator and engineer. His brother, Shu-hua Li or Li Shu-hua was a physicist and a former Secretary of Education in China, and contributed to the founding of UNESCO. Dr...
earned a Ph.D. degree from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and his mother's uncle, Li Shu-hua
Li Shu-hua
Li 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 Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
before they returned to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. His older brother Gilbert Chu
Gilbert Chu
Gilbert Chu is a Chinese American Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at the Stanford Medical School.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, and an M.D. from Harvard...
is a professor and researcher of biochemistry and medicine at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. His younger brother, Morgan Chu
Morgan Chu
Morgan 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 & Manella
Irell & Manella
Irell & 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.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
s, four Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
s, and a J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
among them. In 1997, he married Jean Fetter, a British American
British American
British Americans are citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in the United Kingdom . The term is seldom used by people to refer to themselves and is used primarily as a demographic or historical research term...
and an Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
-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 baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim 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 diamond...
, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
and cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
. He taught himself tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
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 vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and 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 Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
because his parents always talked to him and his brothers in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, although he said (in 1997) that he was trying to learn Mandarin
Standard Mandarin
Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , 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 researcher
Postdoctoral research is scholarly research conducted by a person who has recently completed doctoral studies, normally within the previous five years. It is intended to further deepen expertise in a specialist subject, including acquiring novel skills and methods...
for two years before joining Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
, where he and his several co-workers carried out his Nobel Prize-winning laser cooling
Laser cooling
Laser 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 University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
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 Cosmology
Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
The 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 Laboratory
United States Department of Energy National Laboratories
The 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 biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
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 energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
for transportation.
Chu's early research focused on atomic physics
Atomic physics
Atomic 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 cooling
Laser cooling
Laser 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 trap
Magneto-optical trap
A 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 microkelvins, 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 clock
Atomic clock
An atomic clock is a clock that uses an electronic transition frequency in the microwave, optical, or ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum of atoms as a frequency standard for its timekeeping element...
with great precision.
While at Stanford, Chu's research interests expanded into biological physics
Biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...
and polymer physics
Polymer physics
Polymer physics is the field of physics that studies 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 enzyme
Enzyme
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...
activity and protein and RNA folding
Protein folding
Protein folding is the process by which a protein structure assumes its functional shape or conformation. It 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 transfer
Fluorescence resonance energy transfer
Förster 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 tweezers
Optical tweezers
Optical tweezers are scientific instruments that use a highly 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
Polymer physics
Polymer physics is the field of physics that studies polymers, their fluctuations, mechanical properties, as well as the kinetics of reactions involving degradation and polymerisation of polymers and monomers respectively....
made use of individual molecules of DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
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 climate change
Chu has been a vocal advocate for more research into alternative energyAlternative energy
Alternative 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 power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combat global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
. He also spoke at the 2009 and 2011 National Science Bowl about the importance of America's science students, emphasizing their future role in environmental planning
Environmental planning
Environmental Planning is the process of facilitating decision making to carry out development with due consideration given to the natural environmental, social, political, economic and governance factors and provides a holistic frame work to achieve sustainable outcomes.-Elements of environmental...
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 Council
Copenhagen Climate Council
The 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 Conference
2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference
The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 December and 18 December. The conference included the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate...
in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
.
Chu was instrumental in submitting a winning bid for the Energy Biosciences Institute
Energy Biosciences Institute
The 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 BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
-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.
Based partially on his research at UC Berkeley, Chu has speculated that a global "glucose economy", a form of a low-carbon economy
Low-carbon economy
A Low-Carbon Economy or Low-Fossil-Fuel Economy is an economy that has a minimal output of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment biosphere, but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide...
, could replace the current system. In the future, special varieties of high-glucose
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...
plants would be grown in the tropics
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
, processed, and then the chemical would be shipped around like oil is today
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
to other countries. The St. Petersburg Times has stated that Chu's concept "shows vision on the scale needed to deal with global warming."
Chu has also advocated making the roofs of buildings and the tops of roads around the world white or other light colors, which could possibly reflect a lot of sunlight
Sunlight
Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere, and solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon.When the direct solar radiation is not blocked...
back into space and significantly mitigate global warming. The effect would be, according to Chu, similar to taking every car in the world off the roads for about 11 years. Samuel Thernstrom, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
and co-director of the AEI Geoengineering
Geoengineering
The concept of Geoengineering refers to the deliberate large-scale engineering and manipulation of the planetary environment to combat or counteract anthropogenic changes in atmospheric chemistry The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in 2007 that geoengineering options, such...
Project, expressed support in The American
The American (magazine)
The American is an online magazine published by the American Enterprise Institute , a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. The magazine's primary focus is the intersection of economics and politics...
and remarked "Chu has done the nation a service" since "the idea has an important role to play in the climate debate."
Honors and awards
Steven Chu is a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in Physics
The 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 cool
Laser cooling
Laser 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-Tannoudji
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji is a French physicist and Nobel Laureate. He shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics with Steven Chu and William Daniel Phillips for research in methods of laser cooling and trapping atoms...
and William Daniel Phillips
William Daniel Phillips
William Daniel Phillips is an American physicist and shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1997 with Steven Chu and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji. He is of Italian and Welsh descent.-Biography:...
. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The 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." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The 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 Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
and the Academia Sinica
Academia Sinica
The Academia Sinica , headquartered in the Nangang District of Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. It supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from mathematical and physical sciences, to life sciences, and to humanities and social sciences.Academia Sinica has...
, and is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The 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. It is headquartered in Beijing, with institutes all over the People's Republic of China...
and of the Korean Academy of Science and Engineering
Korean Academy of Science and Engineering
The Korean Academy of Science and Technology is the Republic of Korea’s highest academy of science and serves as an integrated think-tank for science and technology of South Korea...
. He was also awarded the Humboldt Prize
Humboldt Prize
The Humboldt Prize, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to internationally renowned scientists and scholars, and is currently valued at € 60,000 with the possibility of further support during the prize winner's life. Up to one...
by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is a foundation set-up by the government of the Federal Republic and funded by the German Foreign Office, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and others for the promotion of international co-operation...
in 1995.
Dr. Chu received an honorary doctorate from Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
when he was the keynote speaker at the 2007 commencement exercises. He is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council
Design Futures Council
The Design Futures Council is an interdisciplinary network of design, product, and construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the industry and environment...
. 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. Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a 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 110 nations...
and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
awarded him an honorary doctorate during their 2010 and 2009 commencement exercises, respectively. He was also awarded an honorary degree from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
during its 2010 commencement.
Secretary of Energy
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
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 US Cabinet after having won a Nobel Prize. He is also the second Chinese American to be a member of the US Cabinet
United States Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
after Elaine Chao
Elaine Chao
Elaine 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 Asian Pacific American woman and first Chinese American to be appointed to a President's cabinet in American history. Chao was the only cabinet...
.
His scientific work continues, however, including a paper on gravitational redshift
Gravitational redshift
In astrophysics, gravitational redshift or Einstein shift describes light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation of certain wavelengths that originate from a source that is in a region of a stronger gravitational field that appear to be of longer wavelength, or redshifted, when seen or...
published in Nature (463, 926–929) in Feb 2010 and a second one co-authored in July 2010.
Under his leadership in 2010 the Department of Energy
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...
updated the water usage regulations on toilets and showers.
In March 2011 Chu said that federal regulators should not delay approving construction licenses for planned U.S. nuclear power plants because of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
The is a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric ,...
. "I think those things can proceed," Chu told reporters on Capitol Hill, referring to construction license applications pending at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
.
In August 2011 Chu praised an advisory panel’s report on curbing the environmental risks of natural-gas development. Chu responded to the panel’s report on hydraulic fracturing
Hydraulic fracturing
Considerable controversy surrounds the current implementation of hydraulic fracturing technology in the United States. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of utilizing pressurized water, or some other liquid, to fracture rock layers and release petroleum, natural gas, or other...
, the controversial drilling method that’s enabling a U.S. gas boom while bringing fears of groundwater contamination and other harms along with it. The report called for greater data collection of air and water data, as well as “rigorous” air pollution standards and mandatory disclosure of chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process, among other steps. “The report ... recommends a range of tools for implementing these measures, including regulation, continuous improvement in best practices by industry, and ongoing research and development,” Chu said in a statement. “I will be working closely with my colleagues in the Administration to review the recommendations and to chart a path for continued development of this vital energy resource in a safe manner,” he added.
Chu was forced to testify before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee in 2011 because of his decision to make now-bankrupt Solyndra
Solyndra
Solyndra was a manufacturer of cylindrical panels of CIGS thin-film solar cells based in Fremont, California. Although the company was once touted for its unusual technology, plummeting silicon prices led to the company being unable to compete with more conventional solar panels...
the first recipient of a federal energy loan program. Chu approved a $535 million loan to Solyndra, which went bankrupt in 2011.
See also
- United States Department of EnergyUnited 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...
- Timeline of low-temperature technologyTimeline of low-temperature technologyThe following is a timeline of low-temperature technology and cryogenic technology .-16th century BCE – 17th century CE :...
- Energy policy of the United StatesEnergy policy of the United StatesThe energy policy of the United States is determined by federal, state and local public entities in the United States, which address issues of energy production, distribution, and consumption, such as building codes and gas mileage standards...
External links
- Secretary of Energy Steven Chu at United States Department of EnergyUnited 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...
- The Nobel Prize in Physics 1997 from Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
with biography, lecture, diploma, photos, symposia and links - Bio from Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryLawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryThe 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...
- Energy@Berkeley: Solutions for Global Warming, Berkeley University, November 13, 2007 includes link to event on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- BP Makes Berkeley World Center for Biofuels press release on the BP collaboration February 16, 2007
- Alternative Energy Sources March 28, 2005, Chu's PowerPoint presentation
- Energy@Berkeley: Solutions for Global Warming, Berkeley University, November 13, 2007 includes link to event on YouTube
- 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 InformationOffice of Scientific and Technical InformationThe Office of Scientific and Technical Information is a component of the Office of Science within the U.S. Department of Energy...
, United States Department of EnergyUnited 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 UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
Department of Physics- Steven Chu: Uncovering the secret life of molecules from Stanford [Online] Report (July 16, 1997)
- Chu's biophysics research group at University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
- Growing energy: Berkeley Lab's Steve Chu on what termite guts have to do with global warming from UC Berkeley News (September 30, 2005) March 12, 2008
- "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, April 19, 2009
|-
|-