THE INTERNATIONAL Space University (ISU), which began as a dream of three young men (one still a medical student) has become a reality. With more than $1 million in capital commitments to date; 105 students (ten in medicine) from 20 nations paying $10 000 each (mainly sponsored by governments, foundations, and major corporations); and completion in August of the first intensive nine-week session on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass, the ISU has hopes, among other goals, of changing the way future aerospace physicians are trained.
Peter Diamandis, MD, PhD, 26 years old, is the ISU's deputy administrator and was director of its summer session. Together with graduate students Todd Hawley and Bob Richards, Diamandis organized a founding conference at MIT last April, bringing together about 150 top officials from space programs in the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan, India, the People's Republic of China,