On Thursday, Sept. 19, David B. Goldstein received perhaps the most incredible news of his life. But he was told not to tell anyone — not even his family — for six days.
He did tell his wife. But his son, who was one of the few teenagers in the area to go with the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay to Israel this summer, was to deliver a talk the next night at Shabbat services, and Goldstein didn’t want to steal his son’s fire.
So he waited until Saturday, and then he broke the news to his children that he was selected as one of 24 “geniuses” by the MacArthur Foundation, a prize that comes with $500,000 and no strings attached.
Incidentally, another winner, Daniel Jurafsky, is originally from Los Altos and grew up attending Congregation Beth Am. An associate professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Jurafsky, 39, is an expert in computational linguistics.
“We were very proud of him before the award, but we’ve been on cloud nine since,” said Jurafsky’s mother Ruth, who with his father Al, are still members of Beth Am.
For San Francisco physicist Goldstein, who is an active member of Congregation Beth Israel-Judea, being selected for this prestigious award was beyond his wildest dreams.
“Of course everyone has their fantasies that you can get something like this, but there are so many people doing great things in the world,” he mused. “Even if you do something great, who’s going to notice.”
The Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation, whose board selects its winners without letting them know they are being considered, obviously noticed.
An expert in the field of energy, Goldstein, 51, is originally from Cleveland. “My parents were exceptional teachers,” he said. “They raised all of our family with strong ethical and Jewish values. My father would say, ‘I don’t care what you do, but I want you to be the best at it.'”
Goldstein attended public schools and then came to the Bay Area in 1969 to attend U.C. Berkeley. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in physics, he completed his doctorate there as well.
On staff at the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco, Goldstein is a specialist in energy efficiency.
The refrigerator — the appliance that uses the most energy in the home — has become more energy-efficient over the years largely due to Goldstein’s efforts.
“Refrigerators were the biggest single user of electricity in the home in 1975,” said Goldstein. In fact, refrigerators then used 40 percent as much energy as a car does today. After 30 years of work, “the new fridge uses one-quarter of the energy of the old one while being cheaper, bigger, with more features and more profitable to make. This is a win-win for everybody.”
While the refrigerator is the best example of a success story, “pick any major appliance and a similar story is happening or needs to be happening,” said Goldstein.
Last Thursday, Goldstein had just left a meeting at the Department of Energy in Washington, when his cell phone rang.
Daniel Socolow, director of the MacArthur Fellows program thought he was calling Goldstein at 8:30 a.m., but since he was in Washington, it was actually 11:30 a.m.
“When I sounded funny he said, ‘Are there people with you? Could I talk to you in private?'”
After he was told the news and sworn to secrecy, he collected himself and went back to join his colleagues. “I’m trying to pretend everything is normal, but I’m grinning like an idiot,” he said. “They asked me what was going on, and I had to say, ‘Oh nothing.’ That I couldn’t call my parents and people I work with was gut-wrenching.”
After the news broke, he was deluged with phone calls, including from childhood friends and his high school physics teacher.
While the $500,000 award comes with no conditions, it is expected the recipient will use it to further his or her work.
“When trying to affect policy, you do your job and see what opportunities come up. Now you’re confronting those opportunities with a new tool you didn’t have before.”
He is also thrilled that the issue of saving energy will get more attention.
Goldstein, who also is interested in not only reducing car emissions but people’s reliance on their cars, is such a strong advocate for his cause that his family does not own a car.
“They take public transit to come to synagogue,” said Rabbi Evan Goodman. “Even when their kids came to religious school, they would come on BART to the Daly City BART station,” about a 15-minute walk from the Brotherhood Way synagogue. “They really put their values into action by doing.”
Goodman said everyone at the congregation was thrilled for Goldstein, adding, “He’s incredibly deserving. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”