Peter Diamandis Peter H. Diamandis (/ˌdiːəˈmændɪs/; born May 20, 1961) is a Peter Diamandis Greek American engineer, physician,[1] and entrepreneur best known for being founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation, cofounder and executive chairman of Singularity University and coauthor of The New York Times bestsellers Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think and BOLD: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World. He is former CEO and cofounder of the Zero Gravity Corporation, cofounder and vice chairman of Space Adventures Ltd., founder and chairman of the Rocket Racing League, cofounder of the International Space University, cofounder of Planetary Resources, cofounder of Celularity, founder of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, vice chairman and cofounder of Human Longevity, Inc.[2] Contents Early life Born May 20, 1961 Career The Bronx, New York International Space University City, New York, United International MicroSpace, Inc. States Constellation Communications Nationality Greek American X PRIZE Foundation Education Massachusetts Zero Gravity Corporation Institute of Technology Angel Technologies Corporation Harvard Medical Space Adventures, Ltd. School BlastOff! Corporation Occupation Entrepreneur Rocket Racing League Employer X Prize Foundation Singularity University Planetary Resources Inc. Known for Personal spaceflight Human Longevity Inc. industry Celularity Title Chairman Books Website diamandis.com (http:// diamandis.com/) Additional notable achievements Personal life Notes External links Videos Early life Diamandis was born in The Bronx, New York.[3] His parents, both Greek immigrants, were in the medical business. His father was a physician. From a very early age, Diamandis expressed a keen interest in space exploration.[4] At age 8, he began giving lectures on space to his family and friends.[4] At age 12, Diamandis won first place in the Estes Rocket Design Competition for building a launch system able to simultaneously launch three rockets.[5] After graduating from Great Neck North High School in 1979, Diamandis attended Hamilton College for his first year, then transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study biology and physics. During his second year at MIT in 1980, Diamandis cofounded Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.[6] Diamandis graduated from MIT in 1983[7] with a B.S. in molecular genetics.[8][9][10] He then entered Harvard Medical School to pursue his M.D. During his second year of medical school, he cofounded the Space Generation Foundation to promote projects and programs that would help the "Space Generation"— all those born since the flight of Sputnik—get off the planet.[5] During his last year of medical school in 1989, Diamandis was acting as managing director of the International Space University and CEO of International Micro Space, a microsatellite launch company.[11] In 1986, Diamandis put his medical degree on hold and returned to MIT to pursue a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics, conducting research at NASA Johnson Space Center, the MIT Man Vehicle Laboratory and MIT's Whitehead Biomedical Institute.[12] After completing his M.S. at MIT, Diamandis returned to Harvard completing his M.D.[11] Career Diamandis has participated on the boards of several companies throughout his career, including Hyperloop [13] and Cogswell Polytechnical College.[14] He has also won several awards in his field, including Economist "No Boundaries" Innovator of the Year, [15] the Neil Armstrong Award for Aerospace Achievement and Leadership,[16] the World Technology Award, presented by the World Technology Counsel, and [17] the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Innovation,[18] among others. International Space University In 1987, during his third year of medical school, Diamandis cofounded International Space University with Todd Hawley, Walter Anderson and Robert Richards.[19] Diamandis served as the managing director and chief operating officer of the university until 1989. Today, ISU offers a Space Studies program[20] and two accredited Master of Space Studies degrees.[21] It has grown into a $30 million university campus headquartered in Strasbourg, France. International MicroSpace, Inc. Diamandis cofounded Microsat Launch Systems, later renamed International MicroSpace Inc.,[22] in 1989 during his fourth year of medical school and served as the company's CEO. IMI designed a small launcher called Orbital Express for taking 100-kg payloads to low-Earth orbit, collaborating with Bristol Aerospace for the manufacture.[22] The company won a $100 million SDIO contract for one launch plus nine options and was sold to CTA Inc of Rockville, MD in 1993 for $250,000.[22] Diamandis joined CTA for one year as VP of Commercial Space Programs post-acquisition.[23] Constellation Communications In 1991, Diamandis founded Constellation Communications, Inc., one of five low-Earth orbit satellite constellations for voice telephony. The company was funded to deploy an equatorial ring of 10 satellites to provide communications primarily to Brazil and Indonesia. Constellation was sold to E-Systems and Orbital; Diamandis remained director until 1993.[24] X PRIZE Foundation In 1994, Diamandis founded the X PRIZE Foundation after the failure of International MicroSpace, Inc[1] and reading Charles Lindbergh's The Spirit of St. Louis.[19][25] He serves as chairman and CEO of the foundation. X PRIZE was created to fund and operate a $10 million incentive competition intended to inspire a new generation of private passenger-carrying spaceships. The prize was announced on May 18, 1996 in St. Louis, MO without any purse money or any teams.[26] The prize was ultimately funded through an insurance policy underwritten by the Anousheh and Hamid Ansari Family and renamed the Ansari X PRIZE in their honor. The $10 million competition attracted 26 teams from seven countries as teams and was won on October 4, 2004 by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, a team run by famed aviation designer Burt Rutan and funded by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen. The winning vehicle, SpaceShipOne, was piloted to space twice within two weeks to win the competition. The first flight was made on September 29, 2004, piloted by Mike Melvill, and the winning, second flight was made on October 4, 2004, by pilot Brian Binnie. SpaceShipOne was the world's first non-government piloted spacecraft[27] and is now hanging in the National Air and Space Museum adjacent to the Spirit of St. Louis aircraft.[6] In January 2005, the X PRIZE Foundation Board of Trustees expanded the focus of the X PRIZE to address four different group areas: Exploration (oceans and space), Life Sciences, Energy and Environment, and Education and Global Development.[28] Since inception, the foundation has launched the $10M Ansari X PRIZE (awarded),[29] the $10M Automotive X Prize (awarded), the $10M Archon X Prize (in progress), the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE (in progress), the $10M Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE,[30] the $2M Lunar Lander Challenge (awarded), the $1.4M Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge (awarded),[31] and the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health X PRIZE.[32] In May 2012, the Robin Hood Foundation announced its plans to partner with the X PRIZE Foundation for several New York-based challenges targeted at eradicating poverty.[33] The X PRIZE Foundation has a staff of approximately 50 individuals and is headquartered in Culver City, California. Its board of trustees includes Larry Page, Elon Musk, James Cameron, Dean Kamen, Ratan Tata, Ray Kurzweil, Jim Gianopulos, Naveen Jain, Arianna Huffington, Will Wright and Craig Venter.[34] Zero Gravity Corporation In 1994, Diamandis cofounded ZERO-G with Byron Lichtenberg and Ray Cronise. The space entertainment company offers weightless experiences aboard its FAA-certified Boeing 727 aircraft and provides NASA with parabolic flight services for research, education and training.[35] The company has flown over 10,000 customers. In 2007, physicist Stephen Hawking experienced eight rounds of weightlessness on a ZERO-G flight. Diamandis said that the successful outcome of that flight was proof that "everyone can participate in this type of weightless experience."[36] He would recount the experience of taking Dr. Hawking into the upper atmosphere at TED2008.[37] Angel Technologies Corporation Between 1995 and 1999, Diamandis was the president of Angel Technologies Corporation, a commercial communications company that develops wireless broadband communications networks.[38] Space Adventures, Ltd. Founded in 1998, Space Adventures is a space tourism company that has flown eight private customer missions to the International Space Station since 2001.[39] Diamandis is the cofounder and vice chairman of Space Adventures.[40] BlastOff! Corporation Between 2000 and 2001, Diamandis was the CEO of BlastOff! Corporation, which proposed to fly a private rover mission to land on the Moon as a mix of entertainment, Internet and space.[41] The company lost funding and ceased business in 2001. Rocket Racing League In 2005, Diamandis cofounded the Rocket Racing League.[42] Developed as a cross between IndyCar racing and rockets, it envisioned enabling the public to enjoy speed, rockets and competitive spirits. Diamandis was the chairman of RRL[43][44] until it ceased business.[45] Singularity University In 2008, alongside American author, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, Diamandis cofounded Singularity University (SU). Today Diamandis serves as the university's cofounder and executive chairman.[46]