Cosmic Variance (among others) reports that 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics Steve Chu will be the next Secretary of Energy. Sean gives a good run-down of the many reasons why this is a Good Thing.
Like Sean, I've met Chu in person. Unlike Sean, my one meeting with him doesn't shed any light on anything.
I met him at a reception at the National Academy of Sciences in honor of the American science laureates (Chu, Bill Phillips, and... somebody else). I was talking to Paul Lett, one of the permanent members of Bill's group about something or another when Chu stopped to say hi to Paul.
He was badly jet-lagged from flying in earlier that day, and mentioned that his room at the Watergate hadn't been available when he got in. Genius that I am, I said "Just tell them you're a plumber, and go on up." He looked at me like I had two heads, and I had to explain my unfunny Watergate joke. He wandered off shortly after that.
So, there you go. What that tells you about his likely policy direction as Secretary of Energy, I don't know.
Congratulations to him, and to the Obama administration for making a good pick.
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I was just thinking, "Wait, where do I know that name from?" Wikipedia gave me enough clues to spark my memory of you talking about him.
What I hope this means is that Obama wants to emphasize the non-nuclear weapon part of the DOE more than it has been in the past. Seriously, I'm the last person to argue against nuclear weapons as a defense pillar, but more than a third of the DOE discretionary fund is for national security-- which in that budget means, explicitly, weapons. By contrast, the production, planning, and maintenance of actual energy is only about 15% of the DOE budget.
Posted by: John Novak | December 10, 2008 8:59 PM
Though almost nobody will quite get it, I love this pick as a "F*** you" to Sarah Palin. John McCain went around saying, "Nobody in this country knows more about energy than Sarah Palin."
I feel quite confident that Steven Chu knows more about energy than Sarah Palin.
Posted by: Andrew Foland | December 10, 2008 11:22 PM
But then again, so do things that crawl under rocks Andrew ;).
I think this is an awesome pick. I guess he does have a bit of a reputation as an ass, but unless that gets him into too much trouble with the political people, I'd chalk that up as a good thing.
Posted by: Coriolis | December 11, 2008 10:29 AM
Woot! Steve Chu is L33t. Energy is going to be so powned.
Posted by: Mike | December 11, 2008 10:47 AM