18. Doon Gibbs

Under the inspired leadership of Doon Gibbs, Brookhaven National Laboratory continues to be on the forefront of discovering the mysterious forces at work in our universe and expanding our understanding of the vast unknown. With an annual budget of more than $600 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (pre-President Trump) and some 3,000 talented scientists, engineers and support staff, he oversees some of the most advanced technology in America, including the National Synchrotron Light Source II, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Hard X-Ray Nanoprobe Beamline. And to think that those amazing devices are all just a few miles off Exit 68 on the Long Island Expressway. What’s just as amazing is that Gibbs can explain what all those contraptions actually do, a worthy achievement in itself. The Northeast Solar Energy Research Center at BNL is looking brighter by the day, and so is its Center for Functional Nanomaterials. A fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society, Gibbs is spearheading a veritable scientific revolution for all of mankind, right here on Long Island.