A scientist is not neccesarily a good administrator.
Neither is a professional politician. It just depends on their managerial experience and their judgement factor. Some scientists have had very good admin/managerial experience especially those who lead teams of other scientists i.e. those who are deans or department heads at large universities, leaders of research teams, etc. Steve Chu is more than qualified in all these regards.
Steve Chu is currently the Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory the oldest and most distinguished DOE owned and funded laboratory with a staff of over 4000 staff and 800 students and a budget of over $650 million dollers with 76 buildings (owned by the DOE) on 200 acres hosting over 3,000 international guests per year. Additionally he has over 20+ years of DOE related administrative experience working as a member and co-chair of several reports by the InterAcademy Council (IAC) (international science organization), Copenhagen Climate Council (an international climate change awareness group that advises the UN), Chair of the Physics and Applied Physics Department at Stanford University, Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, head of the Quantum Electronics Research Department at Bell Laboratories, co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics . He has written over 220 scientific papers and is a fellow or member of the world’s leading scientific academies. He serves on numerous boards including the Hewlett Foundation, the University of Rochester, and the Executive Committee of the National Academies’ Board on Physics and Astronomy. He has also been an advisor to the directors of the National Institutes of Health and the National Nuclear Security Agency. That along with being a Nobel Laureate just adds to his prestige.
Besides, the DoE is more about handling the nuclear weapons of america than handling energy production.
No it isn't. The DOE covers both aspects as seen in the DOE's mission statement below:
DOE writes:
The Department of Energy's overarching mission is to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States; to promote scientific and technological innovation in support of that mission; and to ensure the environmental cleanup of the national nuclear weapons complex. The Department's strategic goals to achieve the mission are designed to deliver results along five strategic themes:
Energy Security: Promoting America’s energy security through reliable, clean, and affordable energy
Nuclear Security: Ensuring America’s nuclear security
Scientific Discovery and Innovation: Strengthening U.S. scientific discovery, economic competitiveness, and improving quality of life through innovations in science and technology
Environmental Responsibility: Protecting the environment by providing a responsible resolution to the environmental legacy of nuclear weapons production
Management Excellence: Enabling the mission through sound management
Steve Chu has experience (more than some previous DOE secretaries who have had only non-nuclear corporate experience) handling both nuclear energy research (including overseeing nuclear weapon research as the Director of the DOE owned Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) and other energy related research. IMHO, he is more than qualified and excellent choice by Obama.
Edited by DevilsAdvocate, : No reason given.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.Dr. Carl Sagan
™ Version 4.2