Dr. Peter H. Diamandis is a pioneer and leader in the commercial space arena having created many of the leading entrepreneurial space companies opening the personal spaceflight industry. Peter H. Diamandis, MD, is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Space Adventures (www.spaceadventures.com), which brokered the flights of five private citizens to the International Space Station, most recently Anousheh Ansari and Charles Simonyi; Richard Garriott is scheduled to launch October 12, 2008. Diamandis also is the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Zero Gravity Corporation (www.gozerog.com), a privately held space entertainment and tourism company, and the first and only FAA-approved provider of weightless flights for the general public. Dr. Diamandis serves as Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation (www.xprize.org), a non-profit organization promoting radical breakthroughs through large cash prizes. X PRIZE is best known for the $10M Ansari X PRIZE won by SpaceShipOne. Diamandis also is the Chairman and Co-Founder of the Rocket Racing League (www.rocketracingleague.com), an aerospace entertainment company established to host rocket-powered airplane and spaceship racing events that combine speed, technology, heroes and competition. In 1987, Diamandis co-founded and ran the International Space University (www.isunet.edu), where he served as the University’s first Managing Director. Today he serves as a Trustee of the $30M ISU that is based in Strasbourg, France. Prior to ISU, Diamandis served as Chairman of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), an organization that he founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1980. SEDS is the world's largest student pro-space organization.Dr. Diamandis attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he received his undergraduate degree in molecular genetics and graduate degree in aerospace engineering. After MIT he received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. In 2005 he was also awarded an honorary Doctorate from the International Space University. He has conducted research in a number of fields, including molecular genetics, space medicine and launch vehicle design. Dr. Diamandis is a sought-after speaker on commercial space travel, and has received numerous awards including the 2006 (inaugural) Heinlein Award, 2006 Lindbergh Award, 2006 Neil Armstrong Award, 2006 Wired RAVE Award, two-time winner of the Aviation & Space Technology Laurel, 2003 World Technology Award for Space, 1995 K. E. Tsiolkovsky Award and 1993 Space Frontier Pioneer Award. In 8th grade, while living in New York, Dr. Diamandis won first place in the Estes rocket design contest.Diamandis’ mission is to open the space frontier for humanity. His personal motto is: “The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!”
