Just heard this on NPR tonight. Wow, Dr. Steven Chu has had quite the career! He was one of the two reasons I went to Stanford for my phd. The year I arrived and planned to rotate with him, he won the Nobel prize and really seemed overly busy for a student like me that liked attention. After winning the nobel prize, he met with the president of China (an engineer), who I imagine tried to recruit him to help with science education in China. He also went to my alma mater for undergrad (University of Rochester). After enough of us complained about not having enough preparation for the qualifying exams at Stanford, he taught for a couple of years a “Back of the Envelope Physics” class, which I still have the notes for. I was on the Stanford presidential search committee in 1999/2000 and Professor Chu was on the previous search committee (along with Condi Rice), and he gave me good advice for that adventure. I eventually did my research in biophysics with Steven Boxer, and Professor Chu was my co-advisor in the physics department. When I returned to finish my PhD, he had already “moved on” to direct the National Livermore Labs. He was a very demanding professor and the students in his lab rarely did anything other than work, but if they persevered, they did very well wherever they went. There’s more, but will hold back. Very happy for him and hope he makes us proud!

Here’s his bio from the Nobel committee and the NPR article.