Steven Chu, Ph.D (born February 28, 1948), is an American physicist and currently the 12th United States Secretary of Energy. As a scientist, Chu is known for his research in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997.
Beside his scientific career, Chu has also developed interest in various sports, including baseball, swimming and cycling. On May 15, 2009, he made a surprise appearance at Bike-to-Work Day in Washington, DC, where he stated his goal to decrease his cycling time from Chevy Chase, Maryland, to the Georgetown boathouse from 18 to 15 minutes.
He taught himself tennis by reading a book in the eighth grade, and was a second-string substitute for the school team for three years. He also taught himself how to pole vault using bamboo poles obtained from the local carpet store. Chu said he never learned to speak Chinese because his parents always talked to him and his brothers in English, although he said (in 1997) that he was trying to learn Mandarin, believing that if he could stay in China for "at least six months", he would become fluent.
