Alan Docking Racing
Motor racing team
Founded	1975
Country	United Kingdom
Team Principal(s)	Alan Docking
Current series	British F3 A1 Grand Prix British Formula Ford Superleague Formula
Former series	Formula 2 Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix
Drivers
Drivers' titles	1976 British F3 (Keegan) 1977 British F3 (South) 2002 British F3 (Kerr)
Teams' titles	2011 Superleague Formula

Alan Docking Racing (ADR) is motor racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom. The team was formed in 1975 by Australian Alan Docking.

The team competed in the British Formula 3 series throughout most of its existence, however, it has also graduated to A1 Grand Prix and Superleague Formula and has also competed in sports and saloon cars at a national and international level. The team ran also as Alan Docking Racing Finland.

History[link]

With team creation, ADR ran in British F3 winning in a row the 1976 and 1977 championships with Rupert Keegan and Stephen South. In 1978, it compete in the European Formula Two Championship with drivers including Stefan Johansson.

ADR join the British Formula Ford Championship in 1987 and 1988 with Mazda. Returned in British F3 since 1989, the team has raced with notable drivers including Mika Salo, Hideki Noda, Ricardo Rosset, Mark Webber and Marcos Ambrose.

In 2002 ADR won their third British F3 title with Robbie Kerr.

In 2005-06, ADR collaborate with A1 Team Australia in the new A1 Grand Prix championship.

Series results[link]

A1 Grand Prix results[1]
Year	Car	Team	Race	Wins	Poles	Fast laps	Points	T.C.
2005-06	Lola-Zytek	A1 Team Australia	22	0	0	0	51	13th
2006-07	Lola-Zytek	A1 Team Australia	22	0	0	0	25	13th
2007-08	Lola-Zytek	A1 Team Australia	20	0	0	0	20	17th
2008-09	Ferrari	A1 Team Australia	14	0	0	1	36	8th

• D.C. = Drivers' Championship position, T.C. = Teams' Championship position.

References[link]

External links[link]

• alandockingracing.com, Alan Docking Racing official website

This racing-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Marcel Albers
Nationality	Dutch
Born	(1967-04-29)April 29, 1967
Died	April 20, 1992(1992-04-20) (aged 24)
Previous series
1991–92 1990 1989	British Formula Three Championship EFDA Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries Formula Ford 1600 Netherlands
Championship titles
1989	Formula Ford 1600 Netherlands

Marcel Albers (April 29, 1967 – April 20, 1992) was a Dutch motor racing driver.

Having progressed through the ranks of the Dutch formulae, including a Formula Ford championship win in 1989, Albers moved to the Opel Euroseries for 1990, going on to finish a creditable sixth in the championship. A move to Formula Three for 1991 followed and again impressed, finishing fifth in the championship. He also finished third at the prestigious Marlboro Masters, finishing behind Scotsman David Coulthard and Spain's Jordi Gené. These performances had installed Albers to be one of the title favourites for the 1992 British championship. After a win in the opening round at Donington Park, Marcel retired from the second round at Silverstone and then qualified on the front row for round three.

Marcel was killed at Thruxton in Hampshire, during round 3 of the 1992 British Formula Three season. Having recovered from earlier gearbox troubles, he was running behind his team-mate Elton Julian on Woodham Hill, just before the braking area to the Club chicane, when he hit the back of Julian's car. His Ralt cartwheeled across the track, and smashed into the safety fencing, where he lay stricken in his car for an hour. Having been extracted from his car, he died on the way to the medical centre. He posthumously finished 7th in the race (which had been stopped after the accident) and 11th in the championship.

He was no relation to fellow Dutch motor racing driver Christijan Albers.

External links[link]

• Albers' Motorsport Memorial page
• Albers' car after hitting Julian

This biographical article related to Dutch auto racing is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Paul Allen
Born	(1953-01-21) January 21, 1953 (age 59) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Residence	Mercer Island, Washington, U.S.
Alma mater	Washington State University (Dropped out in 1974)
Occupation	Co-founder of Microsoft Chairman of Vulcan Inc., Investor
Net worth	US$ 14.2 billion (2012)[1]

Paul Gardner Allen (born January 21, 1953) is an American investor and philanthropist best known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, a leading developer of personal-computer software systems and applications. He is also the 48th richest person in the world along with Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco (and family) who ranks the same with an estimated wealth of $14.2 billion as of March 2012.^[1]. He is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc., which manages his business and philanthropic efforts. Allen also has a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio which includes technology companies, real estate holdings, and stakes in other technology, media, and content companies. Allen also owns two professional sports teams, the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL),^[2] and the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).^[3] He is also part-owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, which joined Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2009.^[4] Allen's memoir Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft was released on April 19, 2011.

Early life and career[link]

Paul Allen was born in Seattle, Washington, to parents Kenneth Samuel Allen, an associate director of the University of Washington libraries, and Edna Faye (née Gardner) Allen, on January 21, 1953.^[5] Allen attended Lakeside School, a private school in Seattle, and befriended Bill Gates, who was almost three years younger and shared a common enthusiasm for computers.^[6] They used Lakeside's Teletype terminal to develop their programming skills on several time-sharing computer systems.^[7] After graduation, Allen attended Washington State University, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity but dropped out after two years in order to work as a programmer for Honeywell in Boston, placing him near his old friend again.^[7] Allen later convinced Gates to drop out of Harvard University in order to create Microsoft.

Microsoft[link]

Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1975, and began marketing a BASIC programming language interpreter.^[6] Allen came up with the original name of "Micro-Soft," as recounted in a 1995 Fortune magazine article.^[8] In 1980, after promising to deliver IBM a Disk Operating System (DOS) they had not yet developed for the Intel 8088-based IBM PC, Allen spearheaded a deal for Microsoft to purchase a Quick and Dirty Operating System (QDOS) written by Tim Paterson who, at the time, was employed at Seattle Computer Products. As a result of this transaction, Microsoft was able to secure a contract to supply the DOS that would eventually run on IBM's PC line. This contract with IBM was the watershed in Microsoft history that led to Allen and Gates' wealth.^[7]

Allen was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1982. His cancer was successfully treated by several months of radiation therapy. However, he did not return to Microsoft and began distancing himself from the company.^[7] Allen officially resigned from his position on the Microsoft board in November 2000 but was asked to consult as a senior strategy advisor to the company's executives.^[9] He sold 68 million shares of Microsoft stock that year,^[10] but still owns a reported 138 million shares.^[11]

Recognition[link]

In 2007 and 2008, Allen was listed among the Time 100 Most Influential People in The World.^[12]

He received the Vanguard Award from the National Cable & Telecommunications Association on May 20, 2008.

On October 30, 2008, the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors honored Paul Allen for his “unwavering commitment to nonprofit organizations in the Pacific Northwest and lifetime giving approaching US$1 billion.”^[13][14] Paul Allen has received awards and honorary degrees from several universities. In May 1999, Washington State University bestowed its highest honor, the Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award, upon him. He received a Docteur honoris causa from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne on March 31, 2007.

On October 26, 2008, Paul Allen was given the Herbie Hancock Humanitarian Award from the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz for his "visionary achievements as a businessman and a global philanthropist."

On January 31, 2009, Paul Allen received a special merit award from the Oregon Sports Authority.

Philanthropy[link]

Paul Allen has made contributions to organizations related to health and human services, and toward the advancement of science and technology. The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation was established in 1986 to administer most of his contributions.^[15] Through the Foundation, Allen awards approximately $30 million in grants annually.^[16] Roughly 60% of the Foundation's money goes to non-profit organizations in Seattle and the state of Washington, and 12% to Portland, Oregon. The remaining 28% is distributed to other cities within the Pacific Northwest and internationally.^[16] Since 1990, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has awarded $428 million to non-profit organizations, as of 2010.^[17] That includes charitable projects known as "venture philanthropy". The most famous of these projects are the Experience Music Project, Seattle Cinerama Theatre, the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, the Flying Heritage Collection (airworthy vintage military aircraft) and the Allen Telescope Array (ATA).^[17] The ATA is a partnership between the University of California, Berkeley and the SETI Institute.^[18] Allen has a flower fly named after him for his contributions to Dipterology, called Paul Allen's flower fly.^[19] Allen has also funded the purchase of many Jimi Hendrix artifacts, including the guitar Hendrix played at Woodstock, and ensured their public display in the Experience Music Project exhibits.^[20]

In December 2010, it was announced that Paul Allen had pledged $26 million to his alma mater, Washington State University, for its School for Global Animal Health. The gift will be the largest received by the university. In the late 1980s, Allen donated US$18 million to build a new library at the University of Washington, named after his father, Kenneth S. Allen.^[21] US$5 million was donated in 2003 to establish the Faye G. Allen Center for Visual Arts, named after his mother.^[22] Allen was also the top private contributor, with US$14 million in donations, and namesake, of the "Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering", which was designed by LMN Architects of Seattle and completed in 2003.^[23] Throughout the years, Allen has contributed millions of US$ to the University of Washington Medical School.^[24] The foundation awarded US$3.2 million for prostatitis research in 1997, followed by an additional $1.0 million grant in 2002.^[25] More recently, the foundation contributed $5.0 million for an early cancer-detection project at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.^[26]

With his sister, Jo Lynn Allen, Paul Allen pledged $100 million in 2003 to found the Allen Institute for Brain Science, a nonprofit corporation (501(c) (3)) and medical research organization. Utilizing the mouse model system (given its great similarity to human DNA), 20,000 genes in the adult mouse brain were mapped to a cellular level for the Allen Brain Atlas. The data generated from this effort is contained in the free and publicly available Allen Brain Atlas application.

On July 16, 2008, Allen launched a $ 41 million online "Allen Spinal Cord Atlas" mouse gene map. Allan Jones, chief scientific officer, said: "The Allen Spinal Cord Atlas offers profound potential for researchers to unlock the mysteries of the spinal cord and how it is altered during disease or injury." The spinal cord atlas is set up like the Allen Institute's earlier atlas of the mouse brain.^[27] The Map could reveal new treatments for human neurological disorders. The map points researchers toward places where genes are active^[28][29][30]

On November 19, 2008, Allen appeared at the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Hall of Fame to present the second annual Founder's Award for musical achievement. The award was presented to Robbie Robertson, a founding member of the seminal 1960s band The Band and a noted composer of film scores. Allen founded the museum in 2000. The award was presented as part of a gala benefit for EMP. The finale was a four-song set with all the evening's musicians on stage, including Allen and Robertson on guitar.

Paul Allen is also a founding member of The International SeaKeepers Society and hosts its proprietary SeaKeeper 1000TM oceanographic and atmospheric monitoring system on all three of his megayachts.

On November 15, 2009, Jody Allen, Paul Allen's sister and the CEO of Vulcan made public that Paul had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer in the lymph system. As of October 2010, he has been free of cancer.^[31]

On May 24, 2010, Allen launched the Allen Human Brain Atlas, a publicly available online atlas charting genes at work throughout the human brain. The data provided represent the most extensive and detailed body of information about gene activity in the human brain to date, documenting which genes are expressed, or "turned on" where.^[32]

A report in February, 2012, named Allen as the most charitable living American in 2011. Allen's donations, totaling $372.6 million, were beat out by only two others, both of them are deceased.^[33]

In March 2012 he continued the funding of the Allen Institute for Brain Science with a contribution of $300 million to look at how we see.^[34][35]

Investments[link]

Paul Allen (third from right) and Burt Rutan (fifth from right) were presented with the Ansari X PRIZE by members of the X PRIZE Foundation in 2004.

Ticketmaster[link]

In 1993, Paul Allen invested $243 million to acquire 80% of Ticketmaster. Under his ownership, Ticketmaster moved into the Internet in 2 phases: it started in June 1995 by displaying a searchable database of Ticketmaster's events; on September 11, 1996, the first transaction came in. The company went public on 19 November 1996. In 1997, David Geffen introduced Barry Diller to Paul Allen, who was increasingly frustrated at Fred Rosen, Ticketmaster's CEO, and was looking for a change at the helm: in May, Home Shopping Network acquired 47.5% of Allen's stock for $209 million worth of HSN stock.^[36]

Interval Research Corporation[link]

In 1992, he and David Liddle cofounded Interval Research Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based laboratory and new business incubator that was dissolved in 2000 after generating over 300 patents,^[37] four of which were the subject of Allen's August 2010 patent infringement lawsuit against AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo!, and YouTube.^[38][39]

Spacecraft[link]

Allen confirmed that he was the sole investor behind Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne suborbital commercial spacecraft on October 4, 2004.^[40] SpaceShipOne climbed to an altitude of 377,591 feet (115,090 m) and was the first privately funded effort to successfully put a civilian in suborbital space. It won the Ansari X Prize competition and received the $10 million prize.^[41]

On December 13, 2011, Allen announced Stratolaunch Systems. Stratolaunch is a proposed orbital launch system consisting of a dual-bodied, 6 engine jet aircraft, capable of carrying a rocket to high altitude; the rocket would then separate from its carrier aircraft and fire its own engines to complete its climb into orbit. The carrier aircraft would utilize carbon composites as well as 747 jet engines and parts. If successful, this project would be the first wholly privately funded space transport system.^[42]

South Lake Union[link]

Allen was a key developer and investor in the development of the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle as a biotechnology hub and mixed-use community.^[43] He was also the largest private landowner in South Lake Union and owns nearly 2,600,000 square feet (240,000 m²) in the neighborhood.^[43] His holdings company has a development capacity of more than 10,000,000 square feet (930,000 m²) of new residential, office, retail and biotech research space.^[43] The South Lake Union redevelopment represents one of the largest urban revitalization projects in the country.^[44] Allen has made investments estimated at US$200 million as of 2005, and promoted for city funding of the Seattle Streetcar line known as South Lake Union Streetcar, which runs from Seattle's Westlake Center to the south end of Lake Union.^[45] The Streetcar is a public and private partnership made possible because of a Local Improvement District (LID) supported by businesses and residents along the line;^[46] it officially started operation on December 12, 2007.^[47] This development has been criticized as a city-supported real estate investment for Vulcan Inc.,^[48] and concerns over the loss of low-income housing have been expressed.^[49]

Octopus[link]

The launch of Paul Allen's 416 feet (127 m) yacht, Octopus, secured its position as one of the world's largest yachts in 2003.^[50] As of 2011, it is 12th in the list of motor yachts by length. The yacht is equipped with two helicopters, two submarines, a swimming pool, a music studio and a basketball court.^[51] Allen also owns Tatoosh, also one of the world's 100 largest yachts.

Allen is known for throwing huge, celebrity-studded parties on his yacht, such as a 2005 New Year's Eve party in which he and his band played Johnny Cash songs with R&B star Usher. His band also played at another party he hosted during the Cannes film festival with keyboardist Dave Stewart.^[51][52][53]

Sports[link]

Portland Trail Blazers[link]

Allen purchased the Portland Trail Blazers NBA team in 1988 from California real estate developer Larry Weinberg for $70 million.^[3] He was also instrumental in the development and funding of their Rose Garden in 1993.^[7] The Blazers are valued at approximately $300 million according to a 2006 issue of Forbes.^[54] Allen has been asking Portland and Oregon officials for assistance in the financing of the Blazers since 2006, which he estimated would lose $100 million over the next three years.^[55] Then-Portland Mayor Tom Potter rebuffed the requests.^[56] Allen announced the completion of the acquisition of the Rose Garden on April 2, 2007, and stated that this was a major milestone and a positive step for the franchise.^[57] He said, “My efforts are focused on continuing to support the Trail Blazers and the long-term financial health of the franchise."^[58] As of 2010, according to a 2011 issue of Forbes, the Portland Trail Blazers were worth $356 million, ranked No. 14 out of 30 NBA teams.^[59]

Seattle Seahawks[link]

Allen purchased the Seattle Seahawks NFL team in 1997 when former owner Ken Behring threatened to move the Seahawks to Southern California.^[2] Allen was allowed to buy the team despite owning the NBA's Trail Blazers because Portland doesn't have an NFL team. (NFL rules prohibit team owners from either outright ownership or a majority share of another sports team outside its home market if they play in the same city as another NFL team.) He played a large part in the development of the new Seahawks' stadium, CenturyLink Field, although it was funded largely by tax revenue.^[60]

Seattle Sounders[link]

Allen's Vulcan Sports & Entertainment is part of the ownership team of the Seattle Sounders FC, a Major League Soccer franchise that began play in 2009 at CenturyLink Field, a stadium also controlled by Paul Allen.^[4] The ownership team also includes film producer Joe Roth, businessman Adrian Hanauer, and comedian Drew Carey. Sigi Schmid, two-time MLS Cup winner, is the team’s head coach.

The Sounders sold out every home game during its first season, setting a new MLS record for average match attendance and the most season tickets sold in the league. The team finished the 2009 season with a winning record and qualified for the MLS playoffs, where they were eliminated in the conference semi-finals. Seattle Sounders FC is only the second expansion team in MLS history to win the U.S. Open Cup tournament in its first season, and in 2010 became the first team to repeat as U.S. Open Cup champion in almost three decades, in front of the largest crowd to ever witness a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final in the history of the 97-year-old tournament.

Recognition[link]

On January 26, 2011 at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, Paul Allen was named Seattle Sports Commission Sports Citizen of the Year, an award that has been renamed the Paul Allen Award.

Filmmaking[link]

Paul and Jo Lyn Allen are the owners and executive producers of Vulcan Productions, a filmmaking company headquartered in Seattle. Vulcan Productions’ mission is to initiate, develop and finance independent film projects of substance and enduring significance. Their projects support the passionate vision of the artist, while challenging and celebrating the world of ideas and human values. Through their collaborative partnerships with established and emerging filmmakers, Vulcan Productions explores creative opportunities that result in engaging and inspirational storytelling.

Their films have received prestigious recognition, ranging from a Peabody to Independent Spirit Awards to Golden Globes, Emmys and Grammys, and have also been nominated for Academy Awards, among many others.

As of 2011, Vulcan Productions’ Web-based project, Success at the Core, is providing a comprehensive professional toolkit that helps middle school leadership teams and teachers elevate classroom instruction for significantly improved student success. This Emotional Life, a documentary series on psychology created by Vulcan Productions and the NOVA/WGBH Science Unit in 2010, examines the human desire and struggle for happiness. This multi-platform project also includes pertinent resources for audiences, including innovative toolkits in the areas of early childhood attachment and the emotional health of military families—two areas covered in depth in the series.

In March 2011, Vulcan Productions' This Emotional Life won three medals at the 2011 New York Festival Television and Film Awards. They include:

• Gold Medal — Film Production
• Gold Medal — Health/Medical Information
• Silver World Medal — Direction ("Facing Our Fears" episode)

Books[link]

• Allen, Paul, Idea Man: a memoir by the co-founder of Microsoft, New York : Portfolio/Penguin, 2011. ISBN 978-1-59184-382-5

See also[link]

• List of select cases of Hodgkin's Disease

Notes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Rich, Laura, The accidental zillionaire: demystifying Paul Allen, Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley & Sons, 2003. ISBN 0-471-23491-5

External links[link]

• Paul Allen official home page
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Paul Allen on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about Paul Allen in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Paul Allen collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Paul Allen collected news and commentary at The Wall Street Journal
• Paul Allen entry from The Oregon Encyclopedia
• Paul Allen at THOCP.net
• Business profile at Forbes

Elon Musk
Musk in 2008.
Born	(1971-06-28) June 28, 1971 (age 40) Pretoria, South Africa[1]
Residence	Bel Air, Los Angeles, California
Citizenship	United States[2]
Education	B.S. in Physics and B.A. Economics from University of Pennsylvania
Occupation	Engineer, inventor, entrepreneur
Known for	Co-founder of Zip2, PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla Motors
Salary	$1[3]
Net worth	$2 billion (2012)[2]
Title	CEO and CTO of SpaceX, Chairman of SolarCity, CEO of Tesla Motors
Political party	Independent[4]
Spouse	Justine Musk 2000–2008 Talulah Riley 2010–2012
Children	Five sons

Elon Musk (born June 28, 1971) is a South African-born American business magnate, engineer and inventor. He is best known for co-founding SpaceX, Tesla Motors and X.com, which later became Paypal after acquiring the service. He is currently the CEO and Chief Designer of SpaceX, CEO and Product Architect of Tesla Motors and Chairman of SolarCity. While at those companies, Musk co-designed the first viable electric car of the modern era^[5], the Tesla Roadster, a private successor to the Space Shuttle, Falcon 9/Dragon, and the world's largest Internet payment system, PayPal.

Early life[link]

Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, the son of a Canadian-American mother and a South African father. His maternal grandfather was from Minnesota, and had moved to Saskatchewan, where Musk's mother was born. His father is an engineer and his mother is an author, nutritionist and model, appearing on the cover of New York Magazine in 2011 and a Time Magazine supplement in 2010^[6].

Musk bought his first computer at age 10 and taught himself how to program;^[7] by the age of 12 he sold his first commercial software for about $500, a space game called Blastar.^[7]

After matriculating at Pretoria Boys High School he left home in 1988 at the age of 17, without his parents' support and in part because of the prospect of compulsory service in the South African military: "I don't have an issue with serving in the military per se, but serving in the South African army suppressing black people just didn't seem like a really good way to spend time".^[7] He wanted to move to the US, saying: "It is where great things are possible".^[8]

In 1992, after spending two years at Queen's University, Elon left Canada, pursuing business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania on a full scholarship. From the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, he received an undergraduate degree, and stayed on another year to finish a second bachelor's degree in physics.^[9] His undergraduate degrees behind him, and drawing inspiration from innovators such as Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla,^[10] Musk then considered three areas he wanted to get into that were "important problems that would most affect the future of humanity", as he said later, "One was the Internet, one was clean energy, and one was space".^[7]

Career[link]

In 1995, Musk went on to a graduate program in applied physics and materials science at Stanford. He stayed two days before dropping out to start Zip2, which provided online content publishing software for news organizations, with his brother Kimbal Musk. In 1999, Compaq's AltaVista division acquired Zip2 for US$307 million in cash and US$34 million in stock options.^[11]

PayPal[link]

In March 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company. One year later, in a 50/50 merger^[12], X.com acquired Confinity^[13], operator of the then largest auction payments service PayPal. Musk was a principal architect behind the purchase, which hinged on his belief in the emerging online-transfer, or “P2P” technology.^[13] Musk believed that the Confinity sub-brand would become the necessary vehicle to incorporate and develop a person-to-person payment platform within X.com.^[13] The combined company at first adopted X.com as the corporate name, but in February 2001, X.com changed its legal name to PayPal Inc. Musk was instrumental in the new PayPal’s focus on a global payment system and departure from the core financial offerings of X.com.^[14]

PayPal’s early growth was due in large part to a successful viral growth campaign created by Musk.^[15] In October 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for US$1.5 billion in stock.^[16] Before its sale, Musk, the company's largest shareholder, owned 11.7% of PayPal's shares.^[17]

SpaceX[link]

Musk with President Obama at the Falcon 9 launch site in 2010

In June 2002, Musk founded his third company, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX),^[18] of which he is currently the CEO and CTO. SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles with a focus on advancing the state of rocket technology. The company's first two launch vehicles are the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets and its first spacecraft is Dragon^[19].

On 23 December 2008, SpaceX was awarded a $1.6 billion NASA contract for 12 flights of their Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, replacing the Space Shuttle after it retired in 2011. Initially, Falcon 9/Dragon will replace the cargo transport function of the Shuttle and astronaut transport will be handled by the Soyuz. However, SpaceX has designed Falcon 9/Dragon with astronaut transport in mind and the Augustine commission has recommended that astronaut transport be handled by commercial companies like SpaceX.^[20]

Musk views space exploration as an important step in expanding—if not preserving—the consciousness of human life.^[21] Musk has said that multiplanetary life may serve as a hedge against threats to the survival of the human species. "An asteroid or a super volcano could destroy us, and we face risks the dinosaurs never saw: An engineered virus, inadvertent creation of a micro black hole, catastrophic global warming or some as-yet-unknown technology could spell the end of us. Humankind evolved over millions of years, but in the last sixty years atomic weaponry created the potential to extinguish ourselves. Sooner or later, we must expand life beyond this green and blue ball—or go extinct." Musk's goal is to reduce the cost of human spaceflight by a factor of 100. He founded SpaceX with $100 million of his early fortune. He remains chief executive officer and chief technology officer of the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company.

In seven years, SpaceX has designed the family of Falcon launch vehicles and the Dragon multi-purpose spacecraft from the ground-up. In September 2009, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket became the first privately funded liquid-fueled vehicle to put a satellite into Earth orbit. NASA selected SpaceX to be part of the first program that entrusts private companies to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. This contract, which has a minimum value of $1.6 billion and a maximum value of $3.1 billion, has become a cornerstone of the Space Station's continued access to cargo delivery and return. In addition to these services, SpaceX's goals include simultaneously lowering the price of orbital spaceflight and improving reliability, both by an order of magnitude, while creating the first fully reusable orbital launch vehicle. In the coming years, Musk will focus on delivering astronauts to the International Space Station, but has stated his personal goal of eventually enabling human exploration and settlement of Mars. In a 2011 interview, he said he hopes to send humans to Mars' surface within 10–20 years.^[22]. On May 25, 2012, the SpaceX Dragon vehicle docked with the ISS, making history as the first commercial company to launch and dock a vehicle to the International Space Station.

Tesla Motors[link]

Musk is also co-founder and head of product design at Tesla Motors, where he led development of the Tesla Roadster, the first production electric sports car. Musk's interest in electric vehicles extends long before the creation of Tesla. He originally went to Silicon Valley to do a PhD in Applied Physics and Materials Science at Stanford, where his goal was to create ultracapacitors with enough energy to power electric cars.

Musk provided almost all of the capital for Tesla's first two funding rounds and continued to invest in every subsequent financing round. As a result of the financial crisis in 2008 and a forced layoff at Tesla,^[23] Musk agreed to assume the additional responsibility of CEO.

Tesla Motors previously built an electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster, and has shipped over 2,200 vehicles to 31 countries. Tesla expects to be in production with its four-door Model S sedan by July 2012 and unveiled its third product the Model X, aimed at the SUV/minivan market, on February 9, 2012. Model X is scheduled to begin production in late 2013.

In addition to its own cars, Tesla sells electric powertrain systems to Daimler for the Smart EV and Mercedes A Class, and to Toyota for the upcoming electric RAV4. Musk was also able to bring in both companies as long term investors in Tesla.

Musk is principally responsible for an overarching business strategy that aims to deliver affordable electric vehicles to mass-market consumers. His vision was to create the Tesla Roadster as a means to that end—a car aimed specifically at affluent early adopters, whose purchase of the sports car would subsidize the research and development costs of lower priced models of electric vehicles. From the start of Tesla, Musk has been a champion of the Model S, a four-door family sedan with an anticipated base price of half that of the Roadster. Musk has also favored building a sub-$30,000 subcompact and building and selling electric vehicle powertrain components so that other automakers can produce electric vehicles at affordable prices without having to develop the products in house.^[24] Several mainstream publications have compared him with Henry Ford for his revolutionary work on advanced vehicle powertrains.^[25]

He is reported to have a 29% stake in Tesla, which is currently valued above $1 billion, as of March 2012.^[26][27]

SolarCity[link]

Musk provided the initial concept for SolarCity, where he remains the largest shareholder and chairman of the board. SolarCity is the largest provider of solar power systems in the United States. His cousin Lyndon Rive is the CEO and co-founder.^[28][29] The underlying motivation for funding both SolarCity and Tesla is to help combat global warming.^[30]

Philanthropy[link]

Musk is Chairman of the Musk Foundation, which focuses its philanthropic efforts on science education, pediatric health and clean energy. He is a trustee of the X Prize Foundation, promoting renewable energy technologies. He sits on the boards of The Space Foundation, The National Academies Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, The Planetary Society, and Stanford Engineering Advisory Board. Musk is also a member of the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

In 2010, Musk began a multi-million dollar program through his foundation to donate solar power systems for critical needs in disaster areas. The first such solar power installation occurred on a hurricane response center in Alabama that had been neglected by state and federal aid. To make it clear that this was not serving Musk's commercial interests, SolarCity noted that it had no present or planned business activity in Alabama.^[31]

In 2001, Musk had plans for a "Mars Oasis" project, which would land a miniature experimental greenhouse on Mars, containing food crops growing on Martian regolith.^[32][33] He put this project on hold when he came to the conclusion that the fundamental problem preventing humanity from becoming a true spacefaring civilization was the lack of advancement in rocket technology. He has sought to address this by founding SpaceX to create revolutionary new interplanetary rockets.

His long term goal is to help humanity through SpaceX by creating a true spacefaring civilization.^[34] Musk's philosophy and description of what is needed to solve the problem are provided in the IEEE podcast "Elon Musk: a founder of Paypal, Tesla Motors, and SpaceX"^[35] and article "Risky Business."^[33]

In April 2012 Musk joined The Giving Pledge, offering a moral commitment to donate the majority of his fortune to philanthropy.^[36] Musk became a member of the campaign first popularized by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates with a class of 12 of America’s wealthiest families and individuals, which included Arthur Blank and Michael Moritz.^[36]

Awards and recognition[link]

Listed as one of Time Magazine's 100 people who most affect the world in 2010. Jon Favreau, director of the Iron Man movies, describes in his article how Musk was the inspiration for Favreau's film depiction of genius billionaire Tony Stark.^[37]

The world governing body for aerospace records, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, presented Musk in 2010 with the highest award in air & space, the FAI Gold Space Medal, for designing the first privately developed rocket to reach orbit. Prior awardees include Neil Armstrong, Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites and John Glenn.

Named as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire magazine.^[21]

In June 2011, Musk was awarded the $500,000 Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization^[38]

In February 2011, Forbes listed Musk as one of "America's 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 And Under".^[39]

Recognized as a Living Legend in Aviation in 2010 by the Kitty Hawk Foundation for creating the successor to the Space Shuttle (Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft). Other awardees include Buzz Aldrin and Richard Branson.^[40]

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low award for the most outstanding contribution in the field of space transportation in 2007/2008. Musk was recognized for his design of the Falcon 1, the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to reach orbit.^[41]

National Space Society's Von Braun Trophy in 2008/2009, given for leadership of the most significant achievement in space. Prior recipients include Burt Rutan and Steve Squyres.^[42]

National Wildlife Federation 2008 National Conservation Achievement award for Tesla Motors and SolarCity. Other 2008 awardees include journalist Thomas Friedman, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy and Florida Governor Charlie Crist.^[43]

The Aviation Week 2008 Laureate for the most significant achievement worldwide in the space industry.^[44]

R&D Magazine Innovator of the Year for 2007 for SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity.^[45]

Automotive Executive of the Year (worldwide) in 2010 for demonstrating technology leadership and innovation via Tesla Motors. Prior awardees include Bill Ford Jr, Bob Lutz, Dieter Zetsche and Lee Iacocca. Musk is the youngest ever recipient of this award.^[46]

Inc Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2007 for his work on Tesla and SpaceX.^[47]

2007 Index Design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster.^[48]

Global Green 2006 product design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster, presented by Mikhail Gorbachev.^[49]

Honorary doctorate in design from the Art Center College of Design ^[50]

Musk is a Director of the Planetary Society, a Trustee of The X-Prize Foundation and a member of the Stanford University Engineering Advisory Board. He has previously served as a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board.^[51]

In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Musk was ranked as the #10 (tied with rocketry pioneer and scientist Wernher von Braun) most popular space hero.^[52]

In 2010, Musk was elected to the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology.^[53]

In 2011, Musk was honored as a Legendary Leader at the Churchill Club Awards.^[54]

Interests[link]

Musk has described himself as a workaholic who routinely invests 100 hours per week in running Tesla Motors and SpaceX, often flying in a fuel-efficient corporate jet.^[55]

The SpaceX factory was used as a shooting location for Iron Man 2 and Musk has a cameo in the movie.^[56] In addition, Jon Favreau, director of the Iron Man movies, describes in his article how Musk was the inspiration for Favreau's film depiction of genius billionaire Tony Stark.^[37]

Musk previously owned and later sold a McLaren F1 sports car and a Czech made jet trainer aircraft Aero L-39.^[57] The 1994 model Dassault Falcon 900 aircraft used in the film Thank You for Smoking is registered to Musk (N900SX). Musk executive-produced the film and had a small cameo role as the pilot.^[58]

Family[link]

Musk lives in Bel-Air, California. He recently ended a four year relationship with his second wife, British actress Talulah Riley.^[59] Musk has five sons with his first wife, the Canadian-born author Justine Musk, whom he met while both were students at Queen's University and whom he married in 2000.^[60]

Musk's sister Tosca is the founder of Musk Entertainment and producer of various movies.^[61][62] Musk himself was the executive producer of her first movie, called Puzzled.^[63] His brother Kimbal is the CEO of a social search company OneRiot and owner of The Kitchen restaurant in Boulder, Colorado.^[64]

Controversies[link]

In October 2008, after Musk had confirmed an earlier report^[65] that Tesla Motors had only $9 million in cash,^[66] he was reported to have hired an outside IT contractor to go through all of the company's email and instant messages, then had a forensic investigator lift fingerprints from a printout discarded near a copier used to leak the email. The email implicated employee Peng Zhou as the source of the company's reported financial status. Zhou had sought to frame other employees at Tesla by claiming in his leaked emails that he was a four-year employee. Musk offered Zhou the option of apologizing to the company and resigning, which he did, rather than face prosecution.^[67]

On May 26, 2009, former Tesla Motors CEO Martin Eberhard filed suit in San Mateo County, California, against Tesla Motors and Musk for slander, libel, and breach of contract. The case hinged on the question of who could rightly be called a "founder" of Tesla.^[68] On July 29, 2009, a San Mateo County Superior Court judge struck down a claim by Eberhard, who asked to be declared one of only two founders of the company.^[68] Tesla said in a statement that the ruling is "consistent with Tesla's belief in a team of founders, including the company's current CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk, and Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel, who were both fundamental to the creation of Tesla from inception."^[69] In early August, Eberhard withdrew the case.^[70] The parties reached a final settlement on September 21. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but the agreement includes a provision that the parties will consider Eberhard, Musk, JB Straubel, Marc Tarpenning, and Ian Wright to be the five co-founders.^[71]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Elon Musk

• Elon Musk Twitter
• The Musk Foundation web site
• Viral Marketing, MBAs and pesky governments, Elon talks at Stanford (October 8, 2003)
• Statement of Elon Musk at House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearings on the Future Market for Commercial Space (April 20, 2005)
• Gimien, Mark (August 17, 1999). "Fast Track". Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/08/17/elon_musk/index.html. 
• Hoffman, Carl (June 2007). "Elon Musk Is Betting His Fortune on a Mission Beyond Earth's Orbit". Wired Magazine. http://www.wired.com/science/space/magazine/15-06/ff_space_musk. 
• Carlson, Nicholas (February 19, 2008). "Elon Musk's Tesla caught on video smoking Scoble and Calacanis". Valleywag. http://valleywag.com/358015/elon-musks-tesla-caught-on-video-smoking-scoble-and-calacanis. 
• Kanellos, Michael (February 15, 2008). "Elon Musk on rockets, sports cars, and solar power". CNET News.com. http://news.cnet.com/Elon-Musk-on-rockets%2C-sports-cars%2C-and-solar-power/2008-11389_3-6230661.html. 
• Chafkin, Max (December 2007). "Entrepreneur of the Year: Elon Musk". Inc. Magazine. http://www.inc.com/magazine/20071201/entrepreneur-of-the-year-elon-musk.html. 
• Bailey, Brandon (May 2010). "Elon Musk: Will his Silicon Valley story have a Hollywood ending?". San Jose Mercury News. http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_15138666. 
• History of PayPal

Interviews[link]

• "An interview with Elon Musk". HobbySpace. August 5, 2003. http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/archive/Interviews/Systems/ElonMusk.html. 
• "Lift off with Elon Musk". Carte Blanche. September 4, 2005. http://www.carteblanche.co.za/Display/Display.asp?Id=2879. 
• Bergin, Chris (January 20, 2006). "SpaceX's Musk and Thompson Q and A". nasaspaceflight.com. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2006/01/spacexs-musk-and-thompson-q-and-a/. 
• Video interview of Elon Musk by Zadi Diaz of EPIC FU, weekly web show that covers online pop culture (June 17, 2008)
• Gray, Sadie (January 4, 2009). "Forget the bungalow, retire to Mars". Sunday Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article5433496.ece. 
• "Uber Entrepreneur: An Evening with Elon Musk" video at the Churchill Club via FORA.TV (January 4, 2009)
• onInnovation
• An interview at the Founders Showcase. (August 5, 2010)
• An interview on the Kevin Pollak Chat Show. (September 17, 2009)
• Elon Musk: 'I'm planning to retire to Mars' a video interview for the Guardian. (August 1, 2010)
• An interview about commercial space flights on 60 minutes. (March 18, 2012)
• A 20 minute interview about sending humans to Mars with BBC's Jonathan Amos. (March 20, 2012)
• Elon Musk on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on April 10, 2012

This biographical article is written like a résumé. Please help improve it by revising it to be neutral and encyclopedic. (May 2008)

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2010)

Peter H. Diamandis
Dr. Diamandis experiencing Zero-G in a Vomit comet
Born	(1961-05-20) May 20, 1961 (age 51) The Bronx, New York, New York, United States
Nationality	Greek-American
Education	MIT and Harvard Medical School
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Employer	X Prize Foundation
Known for	Personal spaceflight industry
Title	Chairman

Dr. Peter H. Diamandis (born May 20, 1961) is considered a key figure in the development of the personal spaceflight industry, having created many space-related businesses or organizations. He is the Founder and Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation, an educational non-profit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.^[1]

His foundation is best known for offering the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for private-sector manned spaceflight, a prize that was won in October 2004 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and famed aviation designer Burt Rutan with SpaceShipOne, the world's first non-government piloted spacecraft. More recently, Diamandis has created the Rocket Racing League. Born as a cross between Indy car racing and rocket-powered flight, RRL is developing a brand-new motor sport.

In addition to serving as chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation, Diamandis is also the CEO and co-founder of Zero Gravity Corporation, which offers parabolic weightless flights to the general public. He is also the co-Founder and a Director of Space Adventures, Ltd, the company that has flown eight private citizens on Soyuz to the International Space Station.

Dr. Peter Diamandis also wrote the book Abundance along with Steven Kotler. ^[2]

Notable achievements[link]

Diamandis also:

• Co-founded and is chairman of the Singularity University.
• Served as CEO of BlastOff! Corporation, which designed a private mission to land on the Moon as a mix of entertainment, internet and space. The company brought together talent from NASA/JPL and Hollywood.
• Served as CEO of Desktop.tv, a spin-off company from BlastOff! Designed to provide a global peer-to-peer television network for broadcasting unique content to the desktop.
• Served as Chairman of Starport.com [2], an Internet channel for space exploration for kids of all ages. The site represents over twenty astronauts and features space heroes, missions and simulations. Sold to Space.com [3].
• Served as President & EVP Business Development of Angel Technologies Corporation - Broadband.com. Angel Technologies Corporation is a commercial communications company developing wireless broadband communications networks (www.broadband.com).
• Co-founded Space Adventures Ltd. in 1994 [4], a leading space- tourism company. Space Adventures arranged Dennis Tito’s flight to the International Space Station in 2001 (the first space tourist).
• Served as Vice President of Commercial Space Programs for CTA Inc., a $190M-revenue space technology company responsible for developing new CTA commercial space initiatives in small satellite remote sensing and communications.
• Founded and served as Director of Constellation Communications, Inc. (CCI) in 1991. CCI was one of five low Earth orbit applicants designing a low-Earth orbit satellite constellation for voice telephony. Constellation plans to deploy an equatorial ring of 10 satellites to provide communications primarily to Brazil and Indonesia.
• Founded and served as CEO of International MicroSpace, Inc. (IMI) in 1989. IMI was an entrepreneurial space technologies company focusing on the provision of low-cost launch services (ORBEX launch vehicle program). IMI was awarded a launch services contract for 1 launch plus 9 options from Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) worth up to $125M. IMI was purchased by CTA Incorporated in 1993 and closed down in 1994 after SDIO canceled the contract.
• Founded and served as Managing Director & CEO of International Space University (ISU) in 1987. ISU is the world's leading graduate program for multi-national and multi-disciplinary study of space involving over 30 nations and 140 graduates per year. ISU has established a $30M graduate-level campus in Strasbourg, France. During the period 1992–1994, Diamandis served as Co-Chair of the ISU Business & Management Department. [5]
• Co-founded and served as director of the Space Generation Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 1985 to create, in all people born since the advent of the Space Age on 4 October 1957, a sense of identity — an awareness that they are born as members of a space-faring race. The Foundation supports numerous educational and research projects.
• Founded SpaceFair in 1983. SpaceFair is a national space conference hosted by MIT in '83, '85, and '87.
• Founded Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) in 1980. SEDS currently is the world's largest college- and high school-based student pro-space organization. [6]
• Co-Founded Planetary Resources Inc. in April 2012 with Eric Anderson, an organization dedicated to mining asteroids. Billionaire investors include Google's Eric E. Schmidt and Larry Page, as well as Ross Perot, Jr., Charles Simonyi and others. Advisors include filmmaker/explorer James Cameron and several renowned scientists.

Education[link]

Diamandis received undergraduate and graduate degrees in aerospace engineering and health, sciences and technology from MIT, where he became a brother of the Theta Deuteron charge of Theta Delta Chi^{[citation needed]}. He got an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Awards[link]

• 1983 MIT John Asinari Award for outstanding Undergrad Life Sciences research.
• 1984 MIT William L. Stewart, Jr Award for the Founding of SEDS.
• 1985–1986 Harvard Med. School Student Research Grant American Heart Assoc.
• 1986–1987 Biomedical Research Support Grant supported by the NIH.
• 1986 Space Industrialization Fellowship presented by the Space Foundation.
• 1988 Aviation Week & Space Tech. Laurel in recognition of Founding ISU..
• 1992 Space Frontiers Foundation "Pioneers Award" Presented for cumulative work done in the commercialization and development of the space field.
• 1994 "Top-25 Young Stars of Space" award presented by the National Space Society for outstanding work done by space pioneers under the age of 40.
• "Konstantine E. Tsiolkovsky Award" presented by the Russian Government for the creation of ISU (along with T. Hawley and R. Richards).
• 2002 World Technology Award, presented by the World Technology Counsel
• 2005 Doctorate of Space Achievement (Honoris Causa) by ISU
• 2006 Robert & Virginia Heinlein Prize, for Advances in Space Commercialization^[3]

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Diamandis biography on Zero-Gravity website^{[dead link]}
• X PRIZE Foundation website
• Testimony by Peter Diamandis to U.S. House
• Wired magazine: Who needs NASA?
• BBC News: X-Prize man launches rocket race
• [http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthropy/extraordinary_feats_of_an_x-man Philanthropy:
• [7]

"Extraordinary Feats of an X-Man"]

• Star Trek-style 'tricorder' invention offered $10m prize

External links[link]

• Peter Diamandis talks about the X PRIZE and future of space travel (MIT Video)
• Peter Diamandis talks about the X PRIZE,Zero gravity,Rocket race league (open ssp08 lecture @ barcelona,spain) SSP08 podcast /rss feed
• TED Talks: Peter Diamandis on our next giant leap at TED in 2008
• TED Talks: Peter Diamandis on Stephen Hawking in zero g at TED in 2008
• Peter Diamandis' lecture at the Quantum to Cosmos festival at Perimeter Institute