Steven Chu

Biography

Abstract

Steven Chu is the William R. Keenan, Jr. Professor of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University (2013-present). He is a Nobel laureate and former United States Secretary of Energy. His research interests include the cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, biofuels, and solar energy.

Important Dates

February 28, 1948Birth, Saint Louis (Mo.).

1970Obtained BS in Physics and BA in Mathematics, University of Rochester, Rochester (N.Y.).

1976Obtained PhD in Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley (Calif.).

1976 – 1978 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley (Calif.).

1978 – 1987Member, Technical Staff (1978-1983) and Head, Quantum Electronics Research Division (1983-1987), Bell Laboratories.

1987Awarded Herbert P. Broida Prize, American Physical Society.

1987 – 2004Professor of Physics and Applied Physics (1987-1990); Chair, Department of Physics (1990-1993; 1999-2000); and Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor of Physics and Applied Physics (1990-2004), Stanford University, Stanford (Calif.).

1989 – 1990Chair, Division of Laser Science, American Physical Society.

1990Visiting Professor, Collège de France.

1990 – 1993Member, Physics Advisory Committee, National Science Foundation.

1992 – 1994Member, Committee on Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, National Academy of Sciences.

1993Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1993 – 1995Quantum Electronics Representative, International Union of Pure and Applied Scientists.

1994Awarded Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, American Physical Society.

1996 – 1999Member, Executive Committee, Board on Physics and Astronomy, National Academy of Sciences.

1997Received Nobel Prize in Physics with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William D. Phillips "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light".

1998Member, American Philosophical Society.

2004 – 2009Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley (Calif.).

2009 – 2013Secretary of Energy, United States Department of Energy, Washington (D.C.).

2013 – presentWilliam R. Keenan, Jr. Professor of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford (Calif.).

Occupation

Applied physicist.

Places

Birth

Saint Louis (Mo.)

Undergraduate Education

Rochester (N.Y.)

Graduate Education

Berkeley (Calif.)

Employment

Stanford (Calif.)

Berkeley (Calif.)

Washington (D.C.)

Subjects

Applied physics and engineering.

Diodes.

Dipole moments.

Lasers.

Relationships

People

Advisors & Collaborators

Cohen-Tannoudji, Claude

Shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics along with William D. Phillips "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light".

Phillips, William D. (William Daniel), 1948-

Shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light".

Colleagues

Aeppli, Gabriel

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Alivisatos, P.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Alvarez, Luis W., 1911-1988

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Anderson, P. W. (Philip W.), 1923-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Appelbaum, J. A. (Joel A.)

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Ashkin, Arthur, 1922-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Aspnes, D. E.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Beasley, Malcolm

Both employed at Stanford University.

Bienenstock, Arthur

Both employed at Stanford University.

Birge, Raymond T. (Raymond Thayer), 1887-

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Bishop, David John, 1951-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Bjorken, James D.

Both employed at Stanford University.

Brinkman, William F. (William Frank), 1938-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Buchsbaum, Solomon J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Bucksbaum, Philip H.

Both employed at Stanford University and Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Burchat, P. (Patricia)

Both employed at Stanford University.

Byer, R. L. (Robert L.), 1942-

Both employed at Stanford University.

Cabrera, Blas

Both employed at Stanford University.

Cava, Robert J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Chabal, Yves Jean, 1952-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Chamberlain, O. (Owen)

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Chemla, D. S.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Chew, Geoffrey F.

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Clarke, John, 1942-

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Cohen, Marvin L.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Coppersmith, Susan Nan

Both employed at AT & T Bell Laboratories.

Cutler, Cassius Chapin

Both employed at Stanford University.

Diamond, R. M.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

DiSalvo, Francis

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Dolan, Gerald

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Drell, Persis S.

Both employed at Stanford University.

Dynes, Robert C.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Eigler, Donald

Both employed at AT & T Bell Laboratories.

Eisenstein, James P. (James Philip)

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Fairbank, William Martin, 1917-1989

Both employed at Stanford University.

Falcone, Roger W.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Falicov, L. M. (Leopoldo Maximo), 1933-1995

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Fetter, Alexander L., 1937-

Both employed at Stanford University.

Fleury, Paul A.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Fulton, Theodore Alan

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Geballe, Theodore H.

Both employed at Stanford University.

Glaser, D. A.

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Goldhaber, Gerson

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Gossard, A. C.

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Greene, Laura H.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Hagstrum, Homer D.

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Hahn, E. L. (Erwin Louis), 1921-

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Haldane, F. Duncan M.

Both employed at AT & T Bell Laboratories.

Hamann, Donald, 1939-

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Hellman, Frances

Both employed at AT & T Bell Laboratories.

Helmholz, August Carl, 1915-2003

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Hofstadter, Robert, 1915-1990

Both employed at Stanford University.

Hohenberg, Pierre C.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Holdren, John P.

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Hopfield, John J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Jackson, John David, 1925-2016

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Jackson, Shirley Ann, 1946-

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Jeffries, C. D., 1922-

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Johnson, Peter D., 1952-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Kahn, Steven Michael

Both employed at Stanford University.

Kirkpatrick, Paul

Both employed at Stanford University.

Kittel, Charles

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Kivelson, Steven

Both employed at Stanford University.

Laughlin, Robert B.

Both employed at Stanford University.

Linde, A. D.

Both employed at Stanford University.

Loeb, Leonard B. (Leonard Benedict), 1891-

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Louie, Steven G., 1949-

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Lyneis, Claude, 1943-

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Mandelstam, Stanley

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

McKee, Christopher, 1942-

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Meyerhof, Walter E. (Walter Ernst), 1922-

Both employed at Stanford University.

Millis, Andrew J.

Both employed at AT & T Bell Laboratories.

Murray, Cherry Ann

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Narath, Albert, 1933-

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Nelson, Ann E. (Ann Elizabeth)

Both employed at Stanford University.

Nygren, David R.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Oddone, Piermaria J.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Osheroff, Douglas D.

Both employed at Stanford University and Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Patel, C. Kumar N.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Penzias, Arno A.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Perlmutter, Saul

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Phillips, J. C.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Phillips, Julia M.

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Pinczuk, Aron

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Poskanzer, A. M. (Arthur M.), 1931-

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Price, Paul Buford

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Raghavachari, Krishnan

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Reynolds, John Hamilton, 1923-2000

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Rowell, John Martin, 1935-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Schawlow, Arthur L., 1921-1999

Both employed at Stanford University.

Segrè, Emilio

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Sessler, A. M. (Andrew Marienhoff)

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Shank, C. V. (Charles V.)

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley.

Shen, Y. R.

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Shen, Zhi-Xun

Both employed at Stanford University.

Shirley, David Arthur, 1934-

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Smith, George E., 1930-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Smith, Neville, 1942-2006

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Smoot, George

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Steiner, Herbert M.

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Stephens, F. S. (Frank Samuel)

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Stillinger, F. H.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Stöhr, Joachim

Both employed at Stanford University.

Störmer, Horst

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Susskind, Leonard

Both employed at Stanford University.

Tank, David William, 1953-

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Tersoff, J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Thomas, Gareth, 1932-2014

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Trilling, George H.

Both employed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Watson, Kenneth M.

Both employed at University of California, Berkeley.

Weeks, John David

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Wieman, C. E. (Carl Edwin)

Both employed at Stanford University.

Institutions

Major Positions

AT & T Bell Laboratories

Member, Technical Staff and Head, Quantum Electronics Research Division.

Bell Telephone Laboratories

Member, Technical Staff and Head, Quantum Electronics Research Division.

Collège de France

Visiting Professor.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Director.

Stanford University. Department of Applied Physics

Professor of Applied Physics and Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor of Applied Physics.

Stanford University. Department of Physics

Professor of Physics; Chair, Department of Physics; and Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor of Physics.

Stanford University. School of Humanities and Sciences

William R. Keenan, Jr. Professor of Humanities and Sciences.

United States. Department of Energy

Secretary of Energy.

University of California, Berkeley. Department of Physics

Obtained PhD (Physics) in 1976. Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

American Philosophical Society

American Physical Society

Chair, Division of Laser Science; received 1987 Herbert P. Broida Prize and received 1994 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science.

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member; Member, Committee on Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics; and Member, Executive Committee, Board on Physics and Astronomy.

National Science Foundation (U.S.)

Member, Physics Advisory Committee.

University of Rochester. Department of Mathematics

Obtained BA in 1970.

University of Rochester. Department of Physics and Astronomy

Obtained BS (Physics) in 1970.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

American Institute of Physics 75th anniversary symposium and convocation [webcasts], 2006.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Steven Chu papers, 1949-2004 (bulk 1975-2004).

Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Stanford University

Stanford, CA 94305, USA

Subject

Collected papers related to the formation of the division of high polymer physics, 1943-1944.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Published Resources

Author

Conversations with History: Steven Chu.

Nobel Prize Autobiography.