NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2008 – Peter H. Diamandis, a leading advocate of commercial space travel and champion of programs that spur technical innovation and ingenuity among young people, will be the keynote speaker at the 2008 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress this November in Boston.
Diamandis will speak on Sunday, Nov. 2, beginning at 5:30 p.m., at the Boston Sheraton Hotel.
He is the founder and chief executive officer of Zero Gravity Corp., a Nevada-based firm that operates weightless flights enabling researchers as well as tourists to navigate through space. He also is the co-founder of Space Adventures, Inc., the company which brokered Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth's flight to the International Space Station.
In 1987, Diamandis co-founded the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France, and served as the first managing director of the institution. Previously, he served as Chairman of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS), an organization Diamandis founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980. SEDS is the world’s largest pro-space organization for students.
Diamandis attended MIT, where he received his undergraduate degree in molecular genetics and graduate degree in aerospace engineering. After MIT he attended Harvard Medical School, where he earned his M.D. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the International Space University.
Diamandis is the winner of the Konstantine Tsiolkovsky Award, two-time winner of the Aviation & Space Technology Laurel, and the 2003 World Technology Award for Space.
In addition to the keynote address, the 2008 ASME Congress will include presentations on new advances in engineering. Experts will speak on aerospace technology, transportation, bioengineering, energy and the environment, and fluid mechanics, among other topics. The conference will continue to Nov. 6.
Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization promoting the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences. ASME develops codes and standards that enhance public safety, and provides lifelong learning and technical exchange opportunities benefiting the engineering and technology community.
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