11. Doon Gibbs

As the newly appointed director of one of the nation’s most advanced scientific research facilities, Doon Gibbs has to be conversant in a wide array of mind-boggling subjects that befits his role as the guiding force of 3,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $700 million. He’s seen the potential of BNL’s National Synchrotron Light Source II to probe matter and the ability of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider to glimpse the universe within a few millionths of a second after it was born. And to think that he can do all this and more in Brookhaven! Let’s hope that Gibbs can keep persuading the know-somethings in Congress not to be swayed by the know-nothings when it comes to federal funding for this important facility so America can stay on the cutting edge of science and technology.