Dr. Chu was born on February 28, 1948 in St. Louis, Missouri. He received BS in Physics and, AB in Mathematics, University of Rochester in 1970 and Ph.D. in Physics, University of California, Berkeley in 1976. His doctoral thesis is entitled "Forbidden magnetic dipole transition doublet-6P(½)- doublet-7P(½) in atomic thallium."
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Dr. Chu served as postdoctoral fellow, University of California, Berkeley (1975-78), research staff, AT&T Bell Laboratories (1976-87), and head, Quantum Electronics Research Department (1983-87). In 1987, he joined the faculty of Stanford University and was appointed Theodore and Frances Beballe Professor of Humanities and Science in 1990. He also served as Morris Loeb Lecturer, Harvard University (1987-88); associate editor, Optics Letters (1988- ); visiting professor, College de France (1990); Richtmeyer Memorial lecturer (1990).
Dr. Chu invented optical molasses in which the use of laser beams traps and cools atoms of a very thin gas to nearly the lowest temperature. For this new discovery, Dr. Chu won the Nobel prize in physics in 1997. The award was shared with William D. Phillips, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji of the Laboratory of Physics of the Laboratory of Physics at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris.
Other honors Dr. Chu received include Woodrow Wilson fellow (1970), Bioida Prize, American Physics Society (1987), Richtinger Memorial Prize, American Physics Society and American Associations of Physics Teachers (1990), Arthur Schawlow Prize for Laser Science (1994), King Faisal Prize for Science (co-winner, 1993), William F. Meggers Award, Optical Society of America (1994), and Guggenheim fellow (1996)..
He is a member, National Academy of Science; fellow, Optical Society; fellow, American Physics Society; fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences; chair of laser science, Topical Group, American Physics Society (1989-90); member, Physics Advanced Council, National Science Foundation (1990-93); member, National Academy of Science Electron Laser Review (1993- ); member, American Philosophical Society; member, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, China; and member, Korean Academy of Science and Technology.