June 14, 2002
Remarks by Secretary
of Energy Spencer Abraham
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Thank you
very much, it's an enormous pleasure to be
at Brookhaven National Laboratory this afternoon.
I am especially pleased to have had the opportunity
to tour one of America's greatest national
laboratories with Congressman Felix Grucci,
a man who has served this lab and the people
of this community with great skill and dedication.
As a member of the House Science Committee,
Congressman Grucci understands better than
anyone the pivotal role this premier facility
plays in our national effort to maintain American
leadership in science and technology.
So let me thank the Congressman for his effective
support of Brookhaven and for his support
of the Department of Energy laboratories around
the country.
Dr. Paul ( Peter Paul, Interim Director),
let me take this opportunity to thank you
for showing us the marvels of Brookhaven.
And thank you for your leadership of Brookhaven
and for your important contributions to science
over the years.
Dr. Raymond Orbach, our Director of Science
at the Department, thank you for joining us
today.
I want everyone here to know that even though
Ray Orbach has been on the job for just a
few months, he has already shown the kind
of leadership and wisdom we need in that office.
The Director of Science also serves as my
principal science advisor, so I am reassured
to have someone with Ray's broad knowledge
of science, and sound judgment, as we face
some very hard decisions in the future.
And, of course, though he is not here today,
let me say how pleased I've been to have the
opportunity to work with Jack Marburger, who
led Brookhaven for four years, in his new
capacity as the President's Science Advisor.
Brookhaven's loss is the Nation's gain.
Announcement of Nanoscience Center
President Bush has given the scientific community
a challenge. He said recently that the more
research and development we do, "the
more likely it is we'll find interesting answers
to energy problems, or health problems, or
national security challenges."
And he has made nanotechnology one of the
major scientific initiatives of his Administration.
So, I've come to Brookhaven today to help
fulfill the President's challenge.
On behalf of the entire Department of Energy,
I am pleased to announce today the approval
to begin the Conceptual Design of the $85
million Center for Functional Nanomaterials
here at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The
Center, which will be located next to the
National Synchrotron Light Source, will design
new classes of materials to boost energy efficiency,
new solar energy devices, and superconducting
materials for vastly improved energy transmission.
The Center will be one of the most advanced
research centers for nanoscale science anywhere
in the world. Nanoscience offers the potential
for a second industrial revolution. Possible
applications range from microscopic chemical
factories to electronic devices that first
assemble themselves and then repair themselves.
This is new science we are exploring here
â?¦ and it requires new ways
of doing science. To realize the promise of
nanoscience â?¦ to create new
light weight materials that can actually repair
themselves, or make highly efficient solar
cells â?¦ to produce revolutionary
new lubricants that can grease the wheels
of tomorrow's machines with efficiencies we
can't even imagine today â?¦
to do all this and more means our scientists
must work together as never before.
When this center is complete, physicists,
chemists, material scientists, and biologists
will work with computer scientists and engineers
exploring the world atom-by-atom. You need
major facilities for this kind of work â?¦
major facilities with the best new technology
â?¦ and the best minds America
has to offer. We have all of this here at
Brookhaven.
No one really knows where this science will
ultimately lead us, but we do know that we
are at the beginning of a science initiative
that may change the way we look at, and can
use, the world around us.
In practical terms we are talking about the
ability to literally see atoms, make them
grow new structures, or manufacture machines
smaller than a human cell â?¦
and the implications of that new science are
enormous.That is why we are so serious about
America leading the way in nanoscience.
Nanoscience requires the cross-cutting knowledge
of many fields, it requires access to accelerators,
synchrotron light sources, and other large
scale equipment. So everyone in our Department
and at all our National Laboratories can be
especially proud of the absolutely necessary
and unique contribution we will play in this
new science.
DOE and American Leadership in Science
Of course, it's not just progress in nanotechnology
that will depend upon our Department in the
future. The Department of Energy could well
have been called the Department of Science
and Energy â?¦ given our contribution
to American science. And the reason we are
so deeply involved in science is simple. Our
mission here at DOE â?¦ as I
have stressed since becoming Secretary â?¦
is national security.
And in my view, a serious commitment to national
security demands a serious commitment to science,
including basic research.
This commitment strengthens our energy security,
international competitiveness, economic growth
and intellectual leadership. Let me give you
a few examples.
We were able to deliver cutting-edge detection
devices after 9/11 to help secure the Winter
Olympics because DOE funded biologists, chemists,
and others were doing basic research for years
before these devices were critically needed.
Our scientists are working today in our Genomes
to Life Program to sequence the DNA of major
toxins, which will lead to better detection
and decontamination â?¦ and our
scientists are looking for better ways to
sense and track radiological materials.
Moreover, if we ever hope to leapfrog today's
energy challenges we must look to basic research.
We must explore fusion power. And we must
explore the promise the biotech revolution
holds for using microbes to create entirely
novel types of clean energy.
The Department is also one of this nation's
major sponsors of advanced computers for science.
We did this in the first instance for obvious
national security reasons. And we have gone
on to establish the country's first supercomputer
center for science. Now more than ever, however,
virtually all science depends on teraflops.The
computer is no longer simply a tool for science.
Computation is science itself, and enables
scientists to understand complex systems that
would otherwise remain beyond our grasp. It's
an indispensable contributor to our national
security work, to nanotechnology, as well
as to every other venture we undertake in
science.
And I intend that this Department maintains
America's lead in this critical field.
What is so exciting about the work we do is
that we produce benefits to America and the
world that go well beyond the original scope
of our mission.
Researchers probably never anticipated when
they started smashing atoms and protons in
our large accelerators that their science
â?¦ their very basic research
on matter â?¦ would eventually
give us remarkable life-saving technology.
One of every three hospital patients in the
U.S. benefits from nuclear medicine. About
10,000 cancer patients are treated every day
with electron beams from linear accelerators.
Superconductors developed for high energy
accelerators now provide the strong and stable
magnetic fields needed for the sharpest Magnetic
Resonance Imaging. And accelerators invented
for high energy and nuclear physics research
now provide intense sources of synchrotron
light that is used for structural biology,
chemistry, and material research.
High energy physicists, looking to share information,
invented and helped establish the World Wide
Web: a profound advance in human civilization
- if only because it occupies the free time
of our teenagers.
The practical value of basic research is often
disguised. And those engaged in it often seek
only to follow their curiosity, rather than
to find an every day use for their work. But,
as I hope I have shown, the connection of
basic research to our missions here at DOE
couldn't be stronger.
I think it's clear. A nation that embraces
basic research embraces a brighter future.
Science and the DOE Mission
The science we do here at DOE is broad based
indeed. We explore the origins of matter,
as well as explore the near-term possibilities
of wind power, fuel cells, clean burning coal,
and the next generation of nuclear power plants.
We are looking at counter terrorism detection
systems that may take years, even decades,
to deploy. But we also delivered to first-responders
chemical detectors the size of a Palm Pilot
that are used today to protect us all.
Science at DOE is superb, it is varied, and
it remains focused on our mission.
And science at DOE could have no better partner
than the men and women of Brookhaven Lab.
You have brought four Nobel Prizes in physics
to the country â?¦ found new
treatments for Parkinson's disease â?¦
invented practical devices for fuel efficiency
â?¦ all of this while you were
also seeking to discover the origins of the
universe.
With RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider)
â?¦ and with the nanoscience
center which we launch today â?¦
Brookhaven is on track to remain one of America's,
and the world's, most valuable centers for
scientific research.
Finally, let me say again what an honor it
to be here with all of you today. But the
greatest honor is really the honor to lead
this effort in science â?¦ to
serve our President who is proud of the work
you do at this lab â?¦ and to
help all of you solve the mysteries of science.
The work you do here could not be more important.
The President knows this. I know this. And
the American people know this. Thank you again.
