Can it be, a real scientist making energy decisions in the United States? I would have preferred an engineer, but I’ll take a physicist.
President Elect Obama announced his energy team last week, nominating Nobel physicist Steven Chu to head the Department of Energy. Chu has a very impressive resume: he’s a Nobel Prize winning physicist for his work in cooling and trapping atoms with laser light; and he is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he has pushed for research into solar power, biofuels, and other alternative energy as a way to fight global warming.
Chu, throughout his career, has constantly thought big, followed through, and exceeded scientific expectations. Chu has what it takes to keep science going, and he clearly recognizes the need to invest in science, from grade schools to universities to industry. Now Chu sees the importance for the government to think in new and big ways about the energy problem, and more importantly he has ideas about how to get it done.
For the first time, the Secretary of Energy will be filled by a Nobel Laureate and an Asian American. While both of these firsts are impressive, what really sets him a part is the rare combination of a brilliant scientific mind and a natural way with people.
Obama’s choice of Steven Chu for Secretary of Energy gives me hope for science in 2009!
