In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re sharing a series of posts highlighting the significant contributions of these communities in shaping the energy industry.
Steven Chu, Nobel Prize Co-Winner, Former Secretary of Energy & Distinguished Professor
Dr. Steven Chu has an impressive resume, to say the least: Nobel Prize co-winner for Physics in 1997 for his pioneering work on the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light; tenured professor in Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University; director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where he pursued alternative and renewable energy technologies; and Secretary of Energy under the Obama administration, among many other accomplishments.
“I called my mother up when they announced the Nobel Prize, waiting until 7 in the morning. She said, ‘That’s nice — and when are you going to see me next?’”
Throughout his career, he has placed environmental protection and the public's interests at the forefront of his work and policy development. Under his leadership, the Department of Energy was instrumental in advancing several initiatives to accelerate the clean energy transition, such as playing a central role in implementing funding for renewables. As Energy Secretary, he was responsible for implementing the administration’s goals: increase investment in renewable energy, reduce the country’s dependency on fossil fuels, and address the global climate crisis while creating millions of new jobs. His tenure as Energy Secretary from 2009 to 2013 was the longest to date and was marked by the recruitment some of the brightest scientists and engineers to the department.
Following his cabinet post, he resumed his professorship at Stanford University as William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology in the Medical School. Prior to his time as Energy Secretary, he was director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University, where he helped launch Bio-X, a multi-disciplinary institute combining the physical and biological sciences with medicine and engineering. He was head of the Quantum Electronics Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories.
To hear Dr. Chu’s thought on achieving net zero, listen to the Cleaning Up podcast with Michael Liebreich. You can also listen to him on The Energy Impact Podcast and on the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment’s webinar.
About Dr. Steven Chu
- Received honorary doctorates from Boston University, Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard University, Penn State University, Williams College, Dartmouth College, Amherst College, among 32 honorary degrees.
- Published over 280 papers in atomic and polymer physics, biophysics, biology, bio-imaging, batteries, and other energy technologies
- Elected an international fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering UK in 2011, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2014.
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Academia Sinica, and is a foreign member of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Korean Academy of Sciences and Technology and the National Academy of Sciences, Belarus.
- Received an A.B. degree in mathematics and a B.S. degree in physics from the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Chu was born in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1948. He is married to Dr. Jean Chu, an accomplished scientist who holds a PhD in Physics from Oxford and has served as Chief of Staff to two Stanford University presidents as well as Dean of Admissions. He has two children, Geoffrey and Michael, by a previous marriage.