Peter Diamandis

Diamandis was born in The Bronx, New York. 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. 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 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.

Diamandis graduated from MIT in 1983 with a B.S. in molecular genetics. 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.

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 completing his M.D.