Peter Diamandis

DR. PETER H. DIAMANDIS is the world's leading space entrepreneur, most famous for creating the X PRIZE, which inspired the first private spacecraft, Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne.

He is the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation (www.xprize.org), a non-profit organization promoting the formation of space tourism and other major milestones. Since Burt Rutan and Paul Allen won the first $10,000,000 X PRIZE in 2002 with SpaceShipOne, the foundation has launched X PRIZEs in for genomics, automotive and other achievements. The X PRIZE Foundation is backed by an impressive list of billionaires, philanthropists, scientists and entrepreneurs.

Diamandis is also CEO of Zero Gravity Corporation, a commercial space company developing private, FAA-certified parabolic flight utilize Boeing 727-200 aircraft. As of this writing, Zero Gravity has let over 2,500 private citizens experience the thrill of zero gravity flight. He also founded Space Adventures Ltd. (www.spaceadventures.com), the company which has brokered five private flights into space, including those of engineer Dennis Tito and software billionaire Charles Simonyi's flights.

As a self-described "astropreneur," his passion is to open up the space frontier to private individuals and industry, finally breaking through what Gerard O'Neil in 1975 called "The High Frontier." Dr. Diamandis' visionary work on the XPRIZE, Zero Gravity and Space Adventure have been pushing through what is becoming a new consumer space revolution.

Dr. Diamandis is an avid pilot (single engine and glider) who has flown a MiG-25 to 85,000 feet. He lives in Los Angeles.