Ko San (born October 19, 1976) is CEO and founder of TIDE Institute and ATEAM Ventures.

Biography

Ko, San was born in

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

, South Korea. A graduate of

Hanyoung Foreign Language High School Hanyoung Foreign Language High School () is a high school in South Korea. Located in southeast Seoul, South Korea, the medium-sized college preparatory school was founded in 1990. Academics Students study 13-15 subjects every year, with one ...

, Ko studied mathematics and cognitive science at

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the SKY (universities), SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities. The university's main c ...

. He won a bronze medal at a national amateur boxing tournament in 2004 and climbed a 7,546-meter high mountain in China's

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

Province,

Muztagh Ata Muztagh Ata (meaning 'Ice Mountain Father' in English), formerly known as Mount Tagharma and Wi-tagh, is the second highest of the mountains which form the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, with an elevation of . It is sometimes regarded a ...

, the same year. After graduating at Seoul National University, he started working at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology as a researcher. His research topic was computer vision. On December 25, 2006, he was chosen as one of two finalists in the

Korean Astronaut Program The Korean Astronaut Program () was an initiative by the South Korean government to send the first Korean into space via the Russian space program. A ten day flight to the International Space Station (ISS) with astronaut Yi So-yeon occurred in ...

, set to fly as a crew on the Russian

Soyuz TMA-12 Soyuz TMA-12 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was launched by a Soyuz FG rocket at 11:16 UTC on 8 April 2008. It docked to the Pirs module of the station on 10 April 2008. Landing occurred at 03:37 on 24 October ...

in April 2008. On September 5, 2007, the

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

Ministry of Science and Technology chose Ko San over

Yi So-Yeon Yi So-yeon (born June 2, 1978) is a South Korean astronaut and biotechnologist who became the first Korean to fly in space. Lee was born and raised in Gwangju, South Korea and graduated from KAIST with a Master's degree in Mechanical Engine ...

based on performance in

tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

during training in Russia. However, on March 10, 2008, this decision was reversed, after the

Russian Federal Space Agency The State Corporation for Space Activities "Roscosmos", commonly known simply as Roscosmos (), is a state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space flights, cosmonautics programs, and aerospace research. Originating from ...

asked for a replacement because Ko apparently violated security protocol for maintaining secret information twice at the

Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC; Russian: Центр подготовки космонавтов имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is a Russian training facility responsible for tra ...

. After returning from Russia he continued working at Korea Aerospace Research Institute. He started studying public policy at the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 2010. Now he is taking a leave of absence from the

to run an NGO, TIDE Institute, which he founded in February 2011. In April 2013 he opened Fab Lab Seoul, a public open space where tools for digital fabrication such as 3D printers, CNCs and laser cutters are available for startups and makers.

References

External links

Korean Will Go Into Space in 2008

Two astronaut finalists pass medical checks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ko, San South Korean astronauts People from Busan Seoul National University alumni 1976 births Living people