US President-elect Barack Obama announced on December 15 his choice, the Nobel Prize winning physicist Steven Chu as his energy secretary to head the Energy Department.
Chu, 60, who is currently the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, would be the first Asian-American to lead the department.
His 1985 work on laser trapping of atoms at ultra-low temperatures of a millionth degree above absolute zero, led to his being a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in physics in 1997. That seminal work, together with other techniques like magnetic cooling, laid the foundation for achieving one of the holy grails of statistical physics in 1995; the so-called Bose-Einstein condensation which demonstrates a new form of matter.
The phenomenon was predicted by none other than the great physicist Albert Einstein and then-young Indian physicist S. N. Bose in 1926. Those who achieved the goal in 1995 were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2001.
But will he make a good energy secretary?
Chu is no dyed-in-the-wool, ivory-tower type physicist. He is also one of America’s effective advocates for scientific solutions to global warming and the need for carbon-neutral renewable sources of energy. In this regard, he fits perfectly well into Obama’s green energy agenda which the latter has eloquently espoused during the heated electoral campaign. The new presidency aims for a low-carbon society by building more wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydro facilities.
Obama understands that crafting a viable energy policy could make or break his presidency. He also understands that the process is complex and requires the brightest minds to help him steer his energy ship to the right direction. His choice of Chu reflects the importance he gives to energy issues.
In his numerous forays around the globe, Chu has delivered a consistent message centered on “stronger storms, shrinking glaciers, prolonged droughts and rising sea levels” in apparent reference to the dire consequences of global warming.
Since assuming the directorship of Berkeley Lab in August, 2004, Chu has marshaled the Laboratory’s considerable scientific resources on energy security and global climate change, the production of new fuels and electricity from sunlight through non-food plant materials and artificial photosynthesis, energy-efficient technologies and climate science.
University of California Chancellor Robert Birgeneau who has known Chu for decades has this to say about the character of the man: “Steve Chu has been relentless about addressing the technical challenges of renewable energy in a deep way. We will now have an energy policy that can mean the U.S. will have a chance of obtaining energy self-sufficiency through new technology.”
Among other things, Chu was credited with helping establish the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a $135 million DOE-funded bioenergy research center and the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), which was bankrolled by a $ 500 million grant from British Petroleum.
“Steve Chu has been an incredible visionary and true leader, particularly in the area of energy,” said Jay Keasling, who heads JBEI. “Now the country and the world will benefit from that vision and leadership."
He will be missing the ensconced academic life. But LBL’s loss will be America’s gain when the physicist-energy advocate brings his scientific talent, vision and passion for energy and the environment into the highest chambers of national energy policy.
How we wish that such inspired choice to head a very important government agency would be translated to our local situation!
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Note added, December 19, 2008: The papers reported today that the powerful senate Commission on Appointments bypassed the confirmation of Department of Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Lito Atienza along with three other cabinet members. The most vocal critics of Reyes are energy committee chairperson Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Senator Jinggoy Estrada, whose father was ousted in 2001 and under which Reyes served as Army Chief of Staff. Defensor-Santiago simply said that Reyes is unfit to be an energy secretary.
Key to this is Obama's inaugural address this January. Let's listen to how excited people get...
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