Steven Chu
Scientists

Steven Chu Net Worth

. Dr. Steven Chu is a renowned physicist and scientist of Chinese-American heritage who served as the United States Secretary of Energy. Born to two Chinese parents who had fled their homeland, Chu was raised in a large city in the northeast and was pushed to excel academically. His hard work paid off and he was recognized for his breakthrough research work as a student, and given a prominent position at a major lab. Chu went on to win the most prestigious award in academic achievement and continued to develop new lines of research into the physical properties of energy development and use. He eventually became the head of one of the country's most prestigious research institutions and was appointed to a high-level cabinet position. Today, Dr. Steven Chu is a respected academic and scholarly expert in many hard scientific disciplines, and a role model to many members of the Asian-American society.
Steven Chu is a member of Scientists

Age, Biography and Wiki

Who is it? Former United States Secretary of Energy
Birth Day February 28, 1948
Birth Place St. Louis, United States
Age 76 YEARS OLD
Birth Sign Pisces
President Barack Obama
Deputy Daniel Poneman
Preceded by Samuel Bodman
Succeeded by Ernest Moniz
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Jean Fetter
Children 2
Father Ju-Chin Chu
Relatives Shu-tian Li (grandfather) Gilbert Chu (brother) Morgan Chu (brother)
Education University of Rochester (BA, BS) University of California, Berkeley (MS, PhD)
Awards Nobel Prize in Physics (1997)
Website University website
Fields atomic physics, biological physics, polymer physics
Institutions Bell Labs Stanford University Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Thesis Observation of the forbidden magnetic dipole transition 6²P1/2-7²P1/2 in atomic thallium (1976)
Doctoral advisor Eugene D. Commins
Doctoral students Michale Fee
Chinese 朱棣文
Hanyu Pinyin Zhū Dìwén
TranscriptionsStandard MandarinHanyu PinyinIPA Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhū Dìwén IPA [ʈʂú tî.wə̌n] Zhū Dìwén[ʈʂú tî.wə̌n]
IPA [ʈʂú tî.wə̌n]

💰 Net worth: $1.7 Million (2024)

Steven Chu, the former United States Secretary of Energy, is estimated to have a net worth of $1.7 million in 2024. Known for his exceptional scientific expertise and contributions to energy policy, Chu served as the Secretary of Energy from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama. Throughout his career, he has made significant strides in the field of physics, particularly in the development of laser cooling and trapping techniques. With his impressive achievements in academia and government, Chu has earned recognition and financial success.

Biography/Timeline

1970

Chu was born in St. Louis, Missouri, with ancestry from Liuhe, Taicang, in Jiangsu, China, and graduated from Garden City High School. He received both a B.A. in mathematics and a B.S. in physics in 1970 from the University of Rochester. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1976, during which he was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

1987

After obtaining his doctorate he remained at Berkeley as a postdoctoral researcher for two years before joining Bell Labs, where he and his several co-workers carried out his Nobel Prize-winning laser cooling work. He left Bell Labs and became a professor of physics at Stanford University in 1987, serving as the chair of its Physics Department from 1990 to 1993 and from 1999 to 2001. At Stanford, Chu and three others initiated the Bio-X program, which focuses on interdisciplinary research in biology and Medicine, and played a key role in securing the funding for the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology. In August 2004, Chu was appointed as the Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory, and joined UC Berkeley's Department of Physics and Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Under Chu's leadership, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been a center of research into biofuels and solar Energy. He spearheaded the laboratory's Helios project, an initiative to develop methods of harnessing solar power as a source of renewable Energy for transportation.

1995

He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Academia Sinica, and is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Korean Academy of Science and Engineering. He was also awarded the Humboldt Prize by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 1995.

1997

Steven Chu is a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for the "development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light", shared with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and william Daniel Phillips.

2007

Chu received an honorary doctorate from Boston University when he was the keynote speaker at the 2007 commencement exercises. He is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council. Diablo Magazine awarded him an Eco Awards in its April 2009 issue, shortly after he was nominated for Energy Secretary.

2008

Chu faced controversy for a statement he made prior to being appointed, claiming in a September 2008 interview with the Wall Street Journal that "somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” However, in March 2012 he retracted this comment, saying "since I walked in the door as secretary of Energy I’ve been doing everything in my powers to do what we can to … reduce those prices” and that he "no longer shares the view [that we need to figure out how to boost gasoline prices in America]".

2009

He joined the Copenhagen Climate Council, an international collaboration between Business and science established to create momentum for the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

2010

His scientific work continued, however, and he even published a paper on gravitational redshift in Nature in February 2010 and another one he co-authored in July 2010.

2011

In August 2011 Chu praised an advisory panel report on curbing the environmental risks of natural-gas development. Chu responded to the panel’s report on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial drilling method that is enabling a U.S. gas boom while bringing fears of groundwater contamination. The report called for better data collection of air and water data, as well as “rigorous” air pollution standards and mandatory disclosure of the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process. Chu said that he would "be working closely with my colleagues in the Administration to review the recommendations and to chart a path for continued development of this vital Energy resource in a safe manner".

2013

On February 1, 2013, Chu announced his intent to resign. In his resignation announcement, he warned of the risks of climate change from continued reliance on fossil fuels, and wrote, "the Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones; we transitioned to better solutions". He resigned on April 22, 2013.

2014

Chu was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2014. His nomination reads:

2015

In 2015, Chu signed the Mainau Declaration 2015 on Climate Change on the final day of the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. The declaration was signed by a total of 76 Nobel Laureates and handed to then-President of the French Republic, François Hollande, as part of the successful COP21 climate summit in Paris.

2019

Chu was instrumental in submitting a winning bid for the Energy Biosciences Institute, a BP-funded $500 million multidisciplinary collaboration between UC Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, and the University of Illinois. This sparked controversy on the Berkeley campus, where some fear the alliance could harm the school’s reputation for academic integrity.

Some Steven Chu images

About the author

Lisa Scholfield

As a Senior Writer at Famous Net Worth, I spearhead an exceptional team dedicated to uncovering and sharing the stories of pioneering individuals. My passion for unearthing untold narratives drives me to delve deep into the essence of each subject, bringing forth a unique blend of factual accuracy and narrative allure. In orchestrating the editorial workflow, I am deeply involved in every step—from initial research to the final touches of publishing, ensuring each biography not only informs but also engages and inspires our readership.