Martine Rothblatt — BrandWiki

Martine Rothblatt

Overview

Martine Rothblatt

birth date	1954 (age 72)
birth place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
education	University of California, Los Angeles (B.A., J.D, M.B.A) Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (Ph.D.)
occupation	Chairwoman of United Therapeutics
spouse	Bina Rothblatt (m. 1982)‡R1R‡‡R2R‡
children	4

Martine Aliana Rothblatt (born 1954) is an American lawyer, author, and entrepreneur. Rothblatt graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with J.D. and M.B.A. degrees in 1981, then began to work in Washington, D.C., first in the field of communications satellite law, then in bioethics and biomedicine.[3] She is also influential in the field of aviation, particularly electric aviation, as well as with sustainable building.

She is the founder and chairwoman of the board of United Therapeutics. She was also the CEO of GeoStar and the creator of SiriusXM Satellite Radio. She was the top earning CEO in the biopharmaceutical industry in 2018.[4]

Early life and education

Rothblatt was born in 1954 into an observant Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, to Rosa Lee and Hal Rothblatt, a dentist.[1]

Career

Satellite communications

Upon graduating from UCLA in 1981 with a joint J.D./M.B.A. degree, Rothblatt was hired by the Washington, D.C., law firm of Covington & Burling to represent the television broadcasting industry before the Federal Communications Commission in the areas of direct broadcast satellites and spread spectrum communication. In 1982, she left to study astronomy at the University of Maryland, College Park, but was soon retained by NASA to obtain FCC approval for the IEEE C band system on its tracking and data relay satellites and by the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Radio Frequencies to safeguard before the FCC radio astronomy quiet bands used for deep space research. Later that year she was also retained as vice president by Gerard K. O'Neill to handle business and regulatory matters for her newly invented satellite navigation technology, known as the Geostar System.[7]

Rothblatt is a regulatory attorney.[8] She also served as a member of the Space Studies Institute (SSI) board of trustees.[9]

In 1984, she was retained by Rene Anselmo, founder of Spanish International Network, to implement her PanAmSat MBA thesis as a new company that would compete with the global telecommunications satellite monopoly, Intelsat. In 1986, she discontinued her astronomy studies and consulting work to become the full-time CEO of Geostar Corporation, under William E. Simon as chairman. She left Geostar in 1990 to create both WorldSpace and Sirius Satellite Radio. She left Sirius in 1992 and WorldSpace in 1997 to become the full-time chairman and CEO of American medical biotechnology company United Therapeutics.[10]

Rothblatt was responsible for launching several communications satellite companies, including the first private international spacecom project (PanAmSat, 1984), the first global satellite radio network (WorldSpace, 1990), and the first non-geostationary satellite-to-car broadcasting system (Sirius Satellite Radio, 1990).[11] Rothblatt helped pioneer airship internet services with her Sky Station project in 1997, together with Alexander Haig.[12][13] She then successfully led the effort to get the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allocate frequencies for airship-based internet services.[14]

As an attorney-entrepreneur, Rothblatt was also responsible for leading the efforts to obtain worldwide approval, via new international treaties, of satellite orbit/spectrum allocations for space-based navigation services (1987) and for direct-to-person satellite radio transmissions (1992). She also led the International Bar Association's biopolitical project to develop a draft Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights for the United Nations (whose final version was adopted by the UNESCO on November 11, 1997, and endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1998).[3][15]

Medical and pharmaceutical

Rothblatt is a well-known voice for medical and pharmaceutical innovation. In 1994, motivated by her daughter being diagnosed with life-threatening pulmonary hypertension,[16] Rothblatt created the PPH Cure Foundation and in 1996 founded United Therapeutics.[17][10] That same year, she says, she had sex reassignment surgery.[18] At that time she also began studying for a Ph.D. in medical ethics at the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London. The degree was granted in June 2001 based upon her dissertation on the conflict between private and public interests in xenotransplantation. This thesis, defended before England's leading bioethicist John Harris, was later published by Ashgate House under the title Your Life or Mine.[19]

Aviation

Rothblatt is an airplane, seaplane[23] and helicopter pilot with night-vision goggle (NVG) certification. She generally pilots a Pilatus PC-12NG, a Kodiak 100 and a Bell 429WLG. Her other achievements in aviation include providing current weather information to all XM radio-equipped North American aircraft via her SiriusXM satellite system, and pioneering Aircraft Geolocation Tracking via her Geostar Satellite System.[1] In 2018, Rothblatt received the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center Annual Achievement Award for innovation in rotary-wing flight.[24][25]

Electric aviation

Rothblatt's company United Therapeutics formed a subsidiary, Lung Biotechnology, to preserve and restore selected donor lungs, making them viable for transplantation.

Electric aviation

Rothblatt's company United Therapeutics formed a subsidiary, Lung Biotechnology, to preserve and restore selected donor lungs, making them viable for transplantation.[26] Rothblatt began looking at electric helicopters as a way of reducing energy consumption and noise while reducing transportation time for the sensitive organs.[27]

In September 2016, Rothblatt teamed with Glen Dromgoole of Tier 1 Engineering and pilot Ric Webb of OC Helicopters to conduct the world's first electric-powered full-size helicopter flight at Los Alamitos Army Airfield.[27][28] The helicopter, a modified Robinson R44 weighed 2,500 pounds with Webb as its test pilot, flew for five minutes, attained 400 feet and exceeded 80 knots airspeed, all completely powered by rechargeable batteries.[29]

On February 16, 2017, Rothblatt's electric helicopter established new world records of a 30-minute duration flight and an 800-foot altitude at Los Alamitos Army Airfield.

Sustainable building

In September 2018, Rothblatt inaugurated the world's largest net zero office building site, called the Unisphere, containing 210,000 square feet of space in Silver Spring, Maryland, powered, heated and cooled completely from on-site sustainable energy technologies.[45][46][47] This office building uses 1 MW of solar panels, fifty-two geothermal wells, a quarter mile long earth labyrinth and electrochromic glass to operate with a zero carbon footprint while graphically communicating its net energy status in real time to the building occupants.[45][47]

Awards and honors

Rothblatt has received many awards, including several honorary doctorate degrees.

In April 2008, Rothblatt was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society.[66]

On May 11, 2010, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Ben Gurion University of the Negev in recognition of her accomplishments in satellite communications and biotechnology.[67]

In September 2017, Forbes magazine named Rothblatt one of the 100 Greatest Living Business Minds of the past century, with special reference to her roles as a "perpetual reinventor, founder of Sirius and United Therapeutics, and creator of PanAmSat."[68] On December 5, 2017, North Carolina State University conferred her an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree.[69]

In January 2018 Rothblatt was presented the UCLA Medal, the university's highest award, in recognition of her creation of Sirius XM satellite radio, advancing organ transplant technology, and having "expanded the way we understand fundamental concepts ranging from communication to gender to the nature of consciousness and mortality."[70] On May 16, 2018, Rothblatt and Didi Chuxing President Jean Liu were awarded Doctors of Commercial Science degrees, honoris causa, at NYU's 186th Commencement at Yankee Stadium.[71] She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the University of Victoria[72] after a nomination by Aaron Devor, Chair in Transgender Studies at the university.[73][74]

In 2019, Rothblatt was recognized as one of Business Insider 's most powerful LGBTQ+ people in tech.[75] Also in 2019, Rothblatt received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Sir Peter Jackson during the International Achievement Summit in New York City.[76][77]

In October 2021, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) selected Dr. Rothblatt for its highest honor, the Meritorious Service to Aviation Award, for her fostering of aviation weather information on the flight deck and of advanced air mobility such as electric helicopters.[78]

In April 2023, Rothblatt received the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences in recognition of her many transformative, diverse, singular scientific and public service contributions.[79]

Through support of the National Space Society and her leadership, the Martine Rothblatt Space Settlement in our Lifetime Prize supports the expansion of humanity beyond Earth.[80]

In 2025, she was awarded two Doctor of Science honoris causa degrees, one from the Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine at Northwell Health, and one from Queen Mary University of London.[81][82]

In January 2025, the University of Verona announced that it would confer Rothblatt an honorary degree in medicine (laurea honoris causa in Medicina non abilitante).[83][84]

In February 2026, Rothblatt was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for leadership in the fields of spectrum and satellite engineering, organ transplantation, and electric aviation.[85][86]

In 2026, Forbes ranked Rothblatt eighth on its “Innovator 250” list of America’s greatest innovators.[87][88]

Martine Rothblatt

Early life and education

Career

Satellite communications

Medical and pharmaceutical

Aviation

Electric aviation

Electric aviation

Sustainable building

Personal life

Reception

Awards and honors

Bibliography

Filmography

Further reading

External links

References

Early life and education

Career

Satellite communications

Medical and pharmaceutical

Aviation

Electric aviation

Electric aviation

Sustainable building

Personal life

Social activism

Reception

Awards and honors

Bibliography

Filmography

Further reading

External links

References