Peter H. Diamandis (born May 20, 1961) is an American engineer, physician and entrepreneur best known for being the founder and chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation, the co-founder and chairman of Singularity University and the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think. He is also the former CEO and co-founder of the Zero-Gravity Corporation, the co-founder and vice chairman of Space Adventures Ltd., the founder and chairman of the Rocket Racing League, the co-founder of the International Space University, the co-founder of Planetary Resources, and founder of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.
Diamandis was born in the Bronx, New York. His parents, both Greek immigrants, were in the medical business; his father was a physician (OB-GYN). From a very early age, Diamandis expressed a keen interest in space exploration. At age 8, he began giving lectures on space to his family and friends. At age 12, Diamandis won first place in the Estes Rocket Design Competition for building a launch system able to simultaneously launch three rockets.
After matriculating from Great Neck North High School in 1979, Diamandis attended Hamilton College for his freshman year, then transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study biology and physics. During his sophomore year at MIT in 1980, Diamandis co-founded Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. Diamandis graduated from MIT in 1983 with a B.S. in molecular biology. He then entered Harvard Medical School to pursue his M.D. During his second year of medical school, he co-founded 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. 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.
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. After completing his M.S. at MIT, Diamandis returned to Harvard and completed his M.D. |
Peter Diamandis: Abundance is our futureOnstage at TED2012, Peter Diamandis makes a case for optimism -- that we'll invent, innovate and create ways to solve the challenges that loom over us. "I'm not saying we don't have our set of problems; we surely do. But ultimately, we knock them down."
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Peter Diamandis - The best way to predict the futurePeter Diamandis, Chairman and Co-Founder of Singularity University, discusses the best way to predict the future, and shares his personal philosophies on innovation and the commercial space industry. Flimed at Singularity University's Executive Program, March 2010.
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Big Think Interview With Peter DiamandisA conversation with the Chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation.
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