PUBLIC EVENT
You can view the event recording below.
Hosted by the Academy's President, Sir Jim McDonald GBE FREng FRSE, this year we welcomed keynote speaker Professor Steven Chu FREng who delivered his lecture, The challenges in getting to net zero GHG emissions.
Elected as an Academy international Fellow in 2011, Professor Chu is Professor of Physics, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and Energy Science and Engineering, at Stanford University. He shared his unique insights both shaping policy inside government and creating new technologies in the lab, reflect on the status of renewable investment, net zero targets and whether nuclear fusion has a realistic chance of being the breakthrough technology in our quest for clean energy.
The Hinton Lecture is the Academy’s flagship annual lecture, named after the late Lord Hinton of Bankside OM KBE FRS FREng, the first President of the Academy. The Hinton lecture aims to focus on themes around a sustainable society, and is one of the most prestigious events in the Academy calendar.
Professor Steven Chu FREng
Steven Chu is Professor of Physics, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He received the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for laser cooling and trapping of atoms. He is now developing and applying new methods in molecular biology and medical imaging, materials science, and batteries. Previously, he was U.S. Secretary of Energy, where he began ARPA-E, the Energy Innovation Hubs, and was tasked by President Obama to help BP stop the Macondo Oil spill.
Professor Sir Jim McDonald GBE FREng FRSE
Professor Sir Jim McDonald GBE FREng FRSE is one of Scotland’s most accomplished engineers and President of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In HM The Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List in June 2012, Sir Jim was awarded a knighthood for services to education, engineering and the economy. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross in the 2024 New Year Honours list for services to engineering, to education and to energy.
Professor Steve Chu FREng - full biography
Steven Chu is Professor of Physics, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He received the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for laser cooling and trapping of atoms. He is now developing and applying new methods in molecular biology and medical imaging, materials science, and batteries. Previously, he was U.S. Secretary of Energy, where he began ARPA-E, the Energy Innovation Hubs, and was tasked by President Obama to help BP stop the Macondo Oil spill. Previously, he was Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford, and helped initiate Bio-X, which linked the physical and biological sciences with engineering and medicine.
Other contributions include the first optical tweezers manipulation of biomolecules, precision atom interferometry based on optical pulses of light, and single molecule FRET of biomolecules tethered to surfaces.
He is now developing and applying new methods in molecular biology and medical imaging, materials science, and batteries. Previously he was U.S. Secretary of Energy, where he began ARPA-E, the Energy Innovation Hubs, and was tasked by President Obama to help BP stop the Macondo Oil spill. Previously, he was Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford, and helped initiate Bio-X, which linked the physical and biological sciences with engineering and medicine.
Before Stanford, he was a department head at Bell Laboratories. He was past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Senior Advisor to the Directors of the NIH and the NNSA. He received an A.B. degree in mathematics and a B.S. degree in physics from the University of Rochester, a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, has 35 honorary degrees, and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and 8 foreign academies.