Nobel-Winning Physicist Rumored to Be Obama's Pick for Energy Secretary

cnet news - Everybody and their mother-in-law is reporting that Steven Chu, director of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will be nominated as the Obama administration's Energy Secretary.

The Obama Transition Press Office had no official comment, but this looks to be a done deal. Among other news organs, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Obama will name Chu at a press conference on Thursday in Chicago. Barring a snag, Chu's appointment would mark the arrival of the first Nobel Laureate in the cabinet.

Chu, the Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since August 2004, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. Previously, he headed up the Quantum Electronic Department at Bell Laboratories.

He has often used his bully pulpit to talk about the need to develop alternative sources that will help reduce the earth's carbon footprint. As part of any prospective solution, he has spoken favorably about the potential of nuclear power.

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