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Steven Chu

28 February 1948 – present

Steven Chu is an American physicist who shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light, work carried out at Bell Laboratories. He later taught at Stanford University and directed the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. From 2009 to 2013 he served as United States Secretary of Energy.

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Life events

Born in St. Louis, Missouri
28 February 1948

He was born to Chinese immigrant parents and grew up in Garden City, New York.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Graduated from the University of Rochester
1970

He took degrees in mathematics and physics.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Doctorate in physics at the University of California, Berkeley
1976

He stayed on at Berkeley as a postdoctoral fellow after completing his PhD.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Joined Bell Laboratories
1978 – 1987

He worked at the Holmdel and Murray Hill sites, later heading the quantum electronics research department.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Demonstrated laser cooling of atoms in "optical molasses"
1985

His group used crossed laser beams to slow and confine neutral atoms at very low temperatures.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Became a professor of physics at Stanford University
1987 – 2004

He later chaired the physics department and worked on single-molecule biophysics.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Shared the Nobel Prize in Physics
1997

The prize was shared with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William D. Phillips for methods of cooling and trapping atoms with laser light.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
2004 – 2009

He directed the laboratory and pushed its work on biofuels and solar energy.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Sworn in as United States Secretary of Energy
21 January 2009 – April 2013

He served in the cabinet of President Barack Obama until April 2013.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Returned to Stanford University as a professor
2013

He resumed teaching and research in physics and molecular and cellular physiology.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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