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Peter Diamandis
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Peter H. Diamandis

Dr. Diamandis experiencing Zero-G in a Vomit comet
Born May 20, 1961 (1961-05-20) (age 50)
The Bronx, New York, New York, United States
Nationality Greek-American
Education MIT and Harvard Medical School
Occupation Entrepreneur
Employer X Prize Foundation
Known for Personal spaceflight industry
Title Chairman

Dr. Peter H. Diamandis (born May 20, 1961) is considered a key figure in the development of the personal spaceflight industry, having created many space-related businesses or organizations. He is the Founder and Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation, an educational non-profit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.[1]

His foundation is best known for offering the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private-sector manned spaceflight, a prize that was won in October 2004 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and famed aviation designer Burt Rutan with SpaceShipOne, the world's first non-government piloted spacecraft. More recently, Diamandis has created the Rocket Racing League. Born as a cross between Indy car racing and rocket-powered flight, RRL is developing a brand-new motor sport.

In addition to serving as chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation, Diamandis is also the CEO and co-founder of Zero Gravity Corporation, which offers parabolic weightless flights to the general public. He is also the co-Founder and a Director of Space Adventures, Ltd, the company that has flown eight private citizens on Soyuz to the International Space Station.

Contents

Notable achievements

Diamandis also:

  • Co-founded and is chairman of the Singularity University.
  • Served as CEO of BlastOff! Corporation, which designed a private mission to land on the Moon as a mix of entertainment, internet and space. The company brought together talent from NASA/JPL and Hollywood.
  • Served as CEO of Desktop.tv, a spin-off company from BlastOff! Designed to provide a global peer-to-peer television network for broadcasting unique content to the desktop.
  • Served as Chairman of Starport.com[1], an Internet channel for space exploration for kids of all ages. The site represents over twenty astronauts and features space heroes, missions and simulations. Sold to Space.com[2].
  • Served as President & EVP Business Development of Angel Technologies Corporation - Broadband.com. Angel Technologies Corporation is a commercial communications company developing wireless broadband communications networks (www.broadband.com).
  • Co-founded Space Adventures Ltd. in 1994 [3], a leading space- tourism company. Space Adventures arranged Dennis Tito’s flight to the International Space Station in 2001 (the first space tourist).
  • Served as Vice President of Commercial Space Programs for CTA Inc., a $190M-revenue space technology company responsible for developing new CTA commercial space initiatives in small satellite remote sensing and communications.
  • Founded and served as Director of Constellation Communications, Inc. (CCI) in 1991. CCI was one of five low Earth orbit applicants designing a low-Earth orbit satellite constellation for voice telephony. Constellation plans to deploy an equatorial ring of 10 satellites to provide communications primarily to Brazil and Indonesia.
  • Founded and served as CEO of International MicroSpace, Inc. (IMI) in 1989. IMI was an entrepreneurial space technologies company focusing on the provision of low-cost launch services (ORBEX launch vehicle program). IMI was awarded a launch services contract for 1 launch plus 9 options from Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) worth up to $125M. IMI was purchased by CTA Incorporated in 1993 and closed down in 1994 after SDIO canceled the contract.
  • Founded and served as Managing Director & CEO of International Space University (ISU) in 1987. ISU is the world's leading graduate program for multi-national and multi-disciplinary study of space involving over 30 nations and 140 graduates per year. ISU has established a $30M graduate-level campus in Strasbourg, France. During the period 1992–1994, Diamandis served as Co-Chair of the ISU Business & Management Department. [4]
  • Co-founded and served as director of the Space Generation Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 1985 to create, in all people born since the advent of the Space Age on 4 October 1957, a sense of identity — an awareness that they are born as members of a space-faring race. The Foundation supports numerous educational and research projects.
  • Founded SpaceFair in 1983. SpaceFair is a national space conference hosted by MIT in '83, '85, and '87.
  • Founded Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) in 1980. SEDS currently is the world's largest college- and high school-based student pro-space organization. [5]

Education

Diamandis received undergraduate and graduate degrees in aerospace engineering and health, sciences and technology from MIT where he became a brother of the Theta Deuteron charge of Theta Delta Chi. He got an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Awards

  • 1983 MIT John Asinari Award for outstanding Undergrad Life Sciences research.
  • 1984 MIT William L. Stewart, Jr Award for the Founding of SEDS.
  • 1985–1986 Harvard Med. School Student Research Grant American Heart Assoc.
  • 1986–1987 Biomedical Research Support Grant supported by the NIH.
  • 1986 Space Industrialization Fellowship presented by the Space Foundation.
  • 1988 Aviation Week & Space Tech. Laurel in recognition of Founding ISU..
  • 1992 Space Frontiers Foundation "Pioneers Award" Presented for cumulative work done in the commercialization and development of the space field.
  • 1994 "Top-25 Young Stars of Space" award presented by the National Space Society for outstanding work done by space pioneers under the age of 40.
  • "Konstantine E. Tsiolkovsky Award" presented by the Russian Government for the creation of ISU (along with T. Hawley and R. Richards).
  • 2002 World Technology Award, presented by the World Technology Counsel
  • 2005 Doctorate of Space Achievement (Honoris Causa) by ISU
  • 2006 Robert & Virginia Heinlein Prize, for Advances in Space Commercialization[2]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Stanford eCorner Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Speaker Series on X Prize history and incentives (April 23, 2008)
  2. ^ Carreau, Mark (25 May 2006). "Leader in space tourism wins prize". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3887126.html. 

References

External links


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