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U.S. Secretary of Energy Perry visits Fermilab
Energy secretary extols virtues of science
BATAVIA – In a folksy, down-home talk at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Batavia Jan. 9, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry presented himself as an advocate for the Department of Energy’s 17 national laboratories and the expansion of science on a global scale.
Perry spoke for nearly an hour to a packed audience in Fermi’s Ramsey Auditorium, frequently making jokes at his own expense, but also restating unequivocally his support for the particle physics and accelerator laboratory.
“I started my college career [in 1967] the year this laboratory was being created. Organic chemistry … changed my life,” Perry said, as the audience exploded in laughter.
“The dean of the veterinary school called me in [during] my second year. He said, ‘James, you don’t really want to be a veterinarian, do you?’”
![[United States Secretary of Energy Rick Perry talks to employees of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Batavia during a visit Jan. 9 in the Ramsey Auditorium.]
Perry recounted how he worked at the local vet clinic 16 miles outside of town all summer and this was his dream that sustained him.
“‘I’m looking at your transcript, son. You don’t want to be a veterinarian,’” the dean said, as the audience laughed again.
Perry graduated with a degree in animal science from Texas A and M University, going on to become governor of Texas.
Later, he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for president in 2012 and 2016. Perry was nominated and confirmed as U.S. Energy Secretary last year.
'Crown jewels'
But in more serious remarks, Perry said the Department of Energy’s 17 laboratories “are the crown jewels of American science.”](13377858-ea97-43d8-8843-bdb9311f20b8/image-pv_web.jpg)
[United States Secretary of Energy Rick Perry talks to employees of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Batavia during a visit Jan. 9 in the Ramsey Auditorium.]
Perry recounted how he worked at the local vet clinic 16 miles outside of town all summer and this was his dream that sustained him.
“‘I’m looking at your transcript, son. You don’t want to be a veterinarian,’” the dean said, as the audience laughed again.
Perry graduated with a degree in animal science from Texas A and M University, going on to become governor of Texas.
Later, he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for president in 2012 and 2016. Perry was nominated and confirmed as U.S. Energy Secretary last year.
'Crown jewels'
But in more serious remarks, Perry said the Department of Energy’s 17 laboratories “are the crown jewels of American science.”
[Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Director Nigel Lockyer (left) shares a laugh with United States Secretary of Energy Rick Perry during a presentation by Perry in Fermilab's Ramsey Auditorium on Jan. 9.]
“As the nation’s leading particle physics lab, Fermilab plays a vital role in bringing the national and international high-energy physics community together in pursuit of great discoveries,” Perry said. “The Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, for instance, are a terrific example of continued U.S. leadership in this community.”
Perry's visit highlighted Fermilab’s leadership as the host laboratory for LBNF/DUNE, the first international megascience experiment to be built at a U.S. DOE lab.
While at Fermilab, Perry visited several experiments focused on neutrinos — tiny particles that could hold the key to unlocking the mystery of why matter and the universe exist.
Perry said every day he goes in to work, he passes by a letter written by Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt.
[Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory employees listen to a presentation by United States Secretary of Energy Rick Perry during a visit Jan. 9 in the Ramsey Auditorium.]
“It reminds me of the potential of the Department of Energy has … and the work that you are doing here truly is and has the potential to be incredibly mind blowing,” Perry said. “It is in the next generation that you are going … to create a desire in their minds and their hearts and their souls to do what you’re doing. … The ability to create in them the desire to be like you. … I want to come here today and be part of the cheering section. … I want to come here today and say thank you."
Perry said the work done at Fermi and other labs has the power to change the quality of people’s lives in a positive way.
“That is why it is so important that these laboratories be funded properly [for] this important work that we do,” Perry said.
Perry also said his goal would also be for the laboratories' work to be monetized.
Perry said he will be meeting with scientist counterparts in other countries this year, with the goal of bringing them to the U.S.
[Congressman Bill Foster (center) listens to a presentation by United States Secretary of Energy Rick Perry during a visit to the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory on Jan. 9.]
'A quick study'
Though Perry had previously advocated eliminating the Department of Energy, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, said Perry was clearly “a quick study” in his understanding of the importance of the department and its functions and has become as effective as anyone in that job.
“Secretary Perry’s honest and sincere enthusiasm for the science that we do here shone through, both in his remarks here and the tour we took together of all the incredible research that is being done at Fermilab,” Foster said.
“He was just full of questions at all different levels. How could this be applied in the real world and the incredible science that is really the reason that brings people into this auditorium and this laboratory from around the world," Foster said. "And I’m really impressed that he has seen his mission to lead and to advocate for the Department of Energy and the Office of Science.”
Foster had been a scientist at Fermilab before serving in Congress.
Foster said the nation’s science labs have always brought talented scientists from other countries to the U.S. “and contributing to our national mission.”
“I hope that is one of the areas where he will be an effective advocate,” Foster said.
In terms of commercializing work done at Fermilab, Foster said the invention of proton therapy to treat cancer was due to Robert Wilson – the man whose name is on the building where Ramsey Auditorium is located and who was Fermilab’s first director.
The proton therapy machine at the Loma Linda University Cancer Center in California was developed at Fermilab and has treated thousands of cancer patients, Foster said.
“It shows the power of an idea and the strength of a laboratory in getting that idea to become real and to work in the real world and then having it commercialized,” Foster said. “There are companies that design and build and install these things because they have seen the success that was demonstrated at Fermilab, curing cancer with protons.”