Gilbert Levin is an American engineer, the founder of Spherix and the principal investigator of the Viking mission Labeled Release experiment. In 1997, Levin published his conclusion that a 1976 Viking lander had discovered living microorganisms on Mars. He is noted for still claiming that his experiment on board the 1976 Viking Mars landers to detect microscopic life on Mars rendered a true positive result. On 12 April 2012, an international team including Levin reported, based on mathematical speculation through cluster analysis of the Labeled Release experiments of the Viking program, that may suggest the detection of "extant microbial life on Mars." He is one of the scientific advisers of the International Committee Against Mars Sample Return. He also patented an inexpensive method to make tagatose, an artificial sweetener, in 1988. Spherix has acquired four families of mobile communication patents from the Rockstar Consortium in exchange for cash and Spherix common stock. Rockstar will also receive a percentage of future profits from Spherix after recovery of patent monetization costs and an initial priority return on investment to Spherix.