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GLOBAL INSPIRATIONAL LEADERS AWARD
At the confluence of cutting-edge science and space exploration, where magic is borne and miraculous discoveries await, an extraordinary figure emerges: autodidact polymath, protean Renaissance explorer, Christopher Altman is an American quantum technologist and NASA-trained commercial astronaut bringing tomorrow's technologies to bear on today's greatest challenges.
In vibrant Japan, immersive studies on a Japanese Fulbright Fellowship brought together the sharp contrast between the futuristic, neon-lit cityscapes of Tokyo's living cybernetic metropolis with the ancient temples, bonsai gardens, and spartan dojos where Altman practiced bushidō, the traditional Japanese martial arts disciplines of kendo, shōdan kyūdo, and judo.
In 2001, he was recruited to multidisciplinary, Deep Future research institute Starlab, where his research group's record-breaking artificial intelligence project was featured in a Discovery Channel Special, recognized with an official entry into the Guinness Book of World Records, and he was called to provide expert testimony to the French Senate, Le Sénat, on the long-term future of Artificial Intelligence.
In the aftermath of the tragic September 11 attacks, Altman volunteered, then was elected to serve as Chairman for the UNISCA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. His Chair Report to the General Assembly on the exponential acceleration of converging technologies found resonance at the highest echelons of power — at the White House, through direct meetings with US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, et al — providing early momentum for the creation of the United States Cyber Command. For his contributions to the field, he was selected as recipient for the annual RSA Information Security award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Policy the following year.
Altman was then tasked to spearhead a priority national security program in Japan, personally reporting to directors DARPA QuIST and ARDA/DTO, direct predecessor to IARPA, under mandate to create coherent national research estimates and compile long-term science and technology roadmaps for advanced research and development activity across East Asia, attending conferences including the World Technology Summit and the Gordon Research Conference, collaborating with leading scientists and Nobel laureates, and briefing US national labs researchers, policy and research funding agency leaders with a comprehensive assessment of forward-looking trends in the field. His comprehensive national quantum roadmaps went on to serve as the quintessential prototype for the creation of the official US Government Quantum Roadmap — an accolade conveyed directly by the program chair leading the initiative at Los Alamos National Labs.
Returning to the United States from a graduate research fellowship at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Altman was recruited to lead a futures studies program at NASA's Ames Research Center, where he was mentored by a panel of veteran astronauts and shuttle mission commanders and a USAF General, PhD astrophysicist and former head of US Space Command. Altman conducted manned spaceflight training, then selected by a committee comprised of current and former NASA astronauts and astronaut trainers to as a flight member with the world's first commercial astronaut corps. His keynote on The Future of Spaceflight — broadcast live to 108 cities around the world — served as catalyst for NASA to fund the corps for its first series of manned spaceflight missions. Altman successfully completed spaceflight training the subsequent spring.
As senior research scientist at PISCES, a technology testbed and astronaut training facility on the slopes of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii — where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin trained for the Apollo 11 Moon landing — Altman served as principal investigator for a team that includes NASA and Caltech scientists working together with the world's-first inventors and world-record holding pioneers of free-space quantum teleportation. As Chief Scientist for Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Technology, Altman works with colleagues to establish the foundation for a global network of satellites linked together by macroscopic quantum entanglement for secure quantum communications.
As affiliate researcher at Harvard University, Altman's reach extended far beyond Earth's orbit and out among the stars: The Galileo Project seeks definitive evidence of extraterrestrial artifacts through the detection of anomalous aerial technosignatures and interstellar objects — a mission complemented by his role as lead astronaut with the VASCO Project, a program aiming to pinpoint celestial transient events in search of potential exoprobes orbiting the Earth, with preliminary results twice published in the scientific journal Nature.
Sustainable living in space requires sustainable living on Earth, through in situ resource utilization (ISRU) and beneficial, dual-use spin-off technologies. As Chief Astronaut Technical Officer for MIT partner Mars City Design, Altman's experience and perspective is applied to directing agency plans for long-term lunar and Mars settlement. As Cofounder and Chief Scientist of SolarCoin, he aims to accelerate our societal transition from petroleum-dependent, scarcity economics to a renewable energy-based, post-scarcity economy. With each step forward, his tireless efforts lift humanity just a little bit closer to the stars — and to a future where we can truly call the whole cosmos home.
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