Steven Chu

"Steven Zhu" redirects here. For the musician, see Zhu (musician).
Steven Chu
FREng ForMemRS HonFInstP
Chu in 2014
12th United States Secretary of Energy
In office
January 21, 2009 – April 22, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
DeputyDaniel Poneman
Preceded bySamuel Bodman
Succeeded byErnest Moniz
Personal details
Born (1948-02-28) February 28, 1948 (age 76)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic[1][failed verification][2]
Spouse(s)Lisa Chu-Thielbar (divorced)
Jean Fetter
​
(m. 1997)​
Children2
Parent
Relatives
EducationUniversity of Rochester (BA, BS)
University of California, Berkeley (MS, PhD)
OccupationPolitician, writer
ProfessionPhysicist
Awards
WebsiteUniversity website
Scientific career
FieldsAtomic physics, biological physics, polymer physics
Institutions
ThesisObservation of the Forbidden Magnetic Dipole Transition 62P1/2→72P1/2 in Atomic Thallium (1976)
Doctoral advisorEugene D. Commins
Doctoral studentsMichale Fee
Chinese name
Chinese朱棣文
Hanyu PinyinZhū Dìwén

Steven Chu[3] FREng ForMemRS HonFInstP (Chinese: 朱棣文; born February 28, 1948)[4] is an American physicist and former government official. He is a Nobel laureate and was the 12th U.S. secretary of energy. He is currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University. He is known for his research at the University of California, Berkeley, and his research at Bell Laboratories and Stanford University regarding the cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, for which he shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William Daniel Phillips.[5][ambiguous]

Chu served as U.S. Secretary of Energy under the administration of President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. At the time of his appointment as Energy Secretary, Chu 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[6][7][8] was concerned primarily with the study of biological systems at the single molecule level.[9] Chu resigned as energy secretary on April 22, 2013.[10][11][12][13][14] He returned to Stanford as Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology.[citation needed]

Chu is a vocal advocate for more research into renewable energy and nuclear power, arguing that a shift away from fossil fuels is essential to combating climate change.[15][16][17] 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.[18] On February 22, 2019, Chu began a one-year term as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[19]

  1. ^ Steven Chu's file. PolitiFact. Retrieved on 2012-02-04.
  2. ^ "Fundraising activities are limited, but star power brings in the bucks". Archived from the original on 2012-02-15. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  3. ^ Chu, Steven was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 1986 for his contributions in atomic physics and laser spectroscopy, including the first observation of parity non-conservation in atoms, excitation and precision spectroscopy of positronium, and the optical confinement and cooling of atoms.
  4. ^ O'Shea, Jennifer L. (December 30, 2008). "10 Things You Didn't Know About Steven Chu; Steven Chu is President-elect Obama's pick for energy secretary". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
  5. ^ Steven Chu on Nobelprize.org Edit this at Wikidata
  6. ^ Ashkin, A.; Dziedzic, J. M.; Bjorkholm, J. E.; Chu, S. (1986). "Observation of a single-beam gradient force optical trap for dielectric particles". Optics Letters. 11 (5): 288. Bibcode:1986OptL...11..288A. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.205.4729. doi:10.1364/OL.11.000288. PMID 19730608.
  7. ^ Raab, E.; Prentiss, M.; Cable, A.; Chu, S.; Pritchard, D. (1987). "Trapping of Neutral Sodium Atoms with Radiation Pressure". Physical Review Letters. 59 (23): 2631–2634. Bibcode:1987PhRvL..59.2631R. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.59.2631. PMID 10035608.
  8. ^ Chu, S.; Bjorkholm, J.; Ashkin, A.; Cable, A. (1986). "Experimental Observation of Optically Trapped Atoms". Physical Review Letters. 57 (3): 314–317. Bibcode:1986PhRvL..57..314C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.314. PMID 10034028.
  9. ^ "Dr. Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy". United States Department of Energy. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
  10. ^ "White House Email: Energy Secretary Chu Must Go 'As Soon As Possible'". ABC News. 2011-11-11. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  11. ^ Dixon, Darius. "Energy Secretary Steven Chu to resign". Politico. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  12. ^ Mufson, Stevenson. "Energy secretary Steven Chu resigns". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  13. ^ Dalton, R (2009). "Steven Chu prepares for power". Nature. 457 (7227): 241. doi:10.1038/457241a. PMID 19148062.
  14. ^ Service, R. F. (2007). "Steven Chu profile. Steering a national lab into the light". Science. 315 (5813): 784. doi:10.1126/science.315.5813.784. PMID 17289971. S2CID 1451679.
  15. ^ H. Josef Hebert (2008-12-08). "Energy secretary pick argues for new fuel sources". Associated Press. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  16. ^ Sarah Jane Tribble, 'Nuclear: Dark horse energy alternative,' Archived 2013-08-29 at the Wayback Machine Oakland Tribune, 2007-06-18.
  17. ^ Directors of DOE National Laboratories (August 2008). "A Sustainable Energy Future: The Essential Role of Nuclear Energy" (PDF). Department of Energy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-30.
  18. ^ "A scientist who is on tap, on top". St. Petersberg Times. July 26, 2009. Archived from the original on January 24, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
  19. ^ "Nobel Laureate Steven Chu Assumes Term as AAAS President". Reuters. 22 February 2019.