$2.7 Million Raised For "Radical Breakthroughs"
The X Prize Foundation held a "Benefit for Humanity" fund-raiser
Saturday, hosted by Google founder Larry Page at the company's
headquarters in Mountain View, CA.
Those attending the fund-raiser included Lawrence Bender,
producer of "An Inconvenient Truth"; Tipper Gore; Google
co-founder, Sergey Brin; Sir Richard Branson; Dr. Stuart Blusson,
sponsor of the Archon X Prize for Genomics; Erik Lindbergh,
grandson of Charles Lindbergh; Robert K. Weiss, vice chairman of
the X Prize Foundation and film producer; Anousheh Ansari, title
sponsor of the Ansari X Prize and the first private female space
tourist; opinion columnist and blogger Arianna Huffington; and Ted
Waitt, founder of Gateway Computers.
Representatives with the X Prize Foundation tell ANN
actor/comedian Robin Williams also gave an impromptu performance
for the crowd of more than 300, based on his thoughts on Stephen
Hawking in zero gravity, methane powered automobiles, and
automotive GPS systems that take on the personalities of different
cultures.
"The success that the X Prize Foundation has achieved so far
with minimal resources is astounding. We all look for this kind of
leverage. The X Prize model has huge potential to unlock innovation
around the grand challenges that are important to each other," Page
said.
The X Prize Foundation was conceived by Dr. Peter H. Diamandis,
a staunch believer that focused and talented teams in pursuit of a
Prize and acclaim can change the world.
The live auction raised $1.9 million thanks to such bids as that
of Ted Waitt, founder of Gateway Computers, who bid $100,000 to
become a member of the Genome 100, which will map his personal
genome -- and a bid of $300,000 by Waitt and Raymond Sidney for
trips to space on Virgin Galactic.
Other auction wins included trips to Sir Richard Branson's
private African retreat and personal island, and JC Huizenga's
$330,000 winning bid for the Fisker Coach Tramonto automobile --
complete with a lifetime of carbon credits. Zero G auctioned off
experiences in weightlessness with Stephen Hawking and Anousheh
Ansari to Bill Lee, Anne Wojcicki and George Harkin for $160,000.
Google Earth creator Brian McClendon won one of the few US flags
that have made the trip to the moon, courtesy of a donation by
Nancy Conrad, wife of Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad for
$120,000.
Robin Williams took the stage with an impromptu comedy
performance that included his thoughts on Stephen Hawking in zero
gravity, methane powered automobiles, and automotive GPS systems
that take on the personalities of different cultures.
"Larry brought together an impressive array of leaders who are
enthusiastic supporters of our Prize-driven philanthropy model,"
noted Tom Vander, Ark X Prize president. "People really understood
that important breakthroughs can be made at this point in our
history that will alleviate a number of critical problems facing
society today. With the money raised, we're on our way to
addressing new challenges."
The X Prize Foundation is an educational nonprofit Prize
institute whose mission is to create "radical breakthroughs" for
the benefit of humanity. On October 4, 2004, the X Prize Foundation
captured world headlines when Mojave Aerospace Ventures, led by
legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan and Microsoft Co-founder
Paul Allen, built and flew the world's first private vehicle to
space twice in two weeks to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Sir Richard Branson
was so enthused by Rutan's Ansari Prize, he struck a deal with
Rutan to design suborbital rocket planes for his new Virgin
Galactic fleet for commercial spaceflight by 2009.
The Foundation has since expanded to offer new Prizes for
breakthroughs in medicine, healthcare, energy production and
consumption, education and the automotive industry. In October of
2006, the X Prize Foundation announced the $10 million Archon X
Prize for genomics, which will reward the first private effort to
map 100 human genomes in 10 days.
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