Profile
Elon Musk
Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa (now known as Tshwane). He holds dual nationality of Canada and the United States, and is an entrepreneur, engineer, and philanthropist. He is currently CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO of Tesla, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of SolarCity. Elon Musk graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in economics and physics.
On May 31, 2012, the "Dragon" capsule of Musk's company SpaceX successfully docked with the International Space Station and returned to Earth, ushering in the era of private operation of space transportation. On November 21, 2013, the famous American financial magazine "Fortune" announced the "Business Person of the Year 2013", and Tesla Motors CEO Musk topped the list. On September 22, 2016, Elon Musk ranked 11th on Bloomberg's list of the world's 50 most influential people. On December 14, 2016, he won the honor of "The Most Influential CEO in 2016". On December 4, 2017, he ranked 43rd on Bloomberg Businessweek's 2017 list of the world's 50 most influential people.
At 4:45 on February 7, 2018, SpaceX's "Falcon Heavy" launch vehicle successfully launched for the first time from the Kennedy Space Center in the United States and successfully completed the complete recovery of two first-stage booster rockets.
Early life
Elon Musk
Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa on June 28, 1971. His father is an Anglo-Dutch mixed-race man who works as an electrical and mechanical engineer in South Africa. His mother was born in Canada and is a model who also works as a writer and nutritionist. In 1980, Elon Musk lived with his father after his parents divorced. Inspired by his father, Elon Musk was obsessed with science and technology when he was a child.
In 1981, 10-year-old Elon Musk used his pocket money and part of the funds sponsored by his father to buy his first computer. Later, he bought a programming textbook and learned how to program.
In 1983, 12-year-old Elon Musk successfully designed a space game software called "Blastar" and later sold it to "PC and Office Technology" magazine for $500, making his first pot of gold in his life.
In 1988, 17-year-old Elon Musk left his family after graduating from Pretoria Boys' High School and went to Canada alone to live with his mother's relatives.
In 1989, Elon Musk obtained Canadian citizenship and applied to attend Queen's University in Ontario the following year.
In 1992, Elon Musk transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania on a scholarship to study economics. During his college years, Elon Musk began to pay in-depth attention to the Internet, clean energy, and space, three areas that will affect the future development of mankind. After Elon Musk received a bachelor's degree in economics, he stayed in school for another year and received a bachelor's degree in physics.
Investment and entrepreneurship
In 1995, after dropping out of school, Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk founded Zip2, a company that developed online content publishing software for news organizations, with random angel investment from a small group in Silicon Valley. At that time, both the New York Times and the Chicago Post became customers of the Musk brothers.
Main achievements
Elon Musk has a close relationship with Hollywood. Movie star George Clooney and director Cameron are all his guests. Searching for his name in the Internet Movie Database yields a long list of results. Musk has served as a producer on three films.
In 2000, Elon Musk's sister Tosca Musk established the independent film production company "Musk Entertainment". Elon Musk served as the producer of the first movie "Quiz", and other famous ones such as "Thank you for smoking" in 2005. The 1994 Dassault Falcon 900 aircraft that appeared in this movie was registered in his name. In addition, he has guest-starred as himself in 7 movies and TV series.
When the director of Iron Man approached Elon Musk in order to enrich the role, he expressed strong interest in being a producer. Part of the film was shot in the empty factory area of SpaceX headquarters. In the final credits, Elon Musk's name was listed in the "Special Thanks" column.
Elon Musk has recently told everyone he meets that he wants to retire on Mars. SpaceX’s factory in Hawthorne, California, has 1,500 engineers working hard on this goal. Hanging next to the door is a huge picture of Mars. The huge former Boeing 777 manufacturing plant houses the Falcon 9 rocket and the capsule-shaped spacecraft called the Dragon spacecraft.
personal life
On January 18, 2012, Elon Musk announced on Twitter that he had broken up with British actress Talulah Riley. His last wife was a science fiction writer. Because he kept exposing the details of the divorce on his blog, especially the property disputes, it once caused a media storm and finally broke up.
Elon Musk's name often appears in entertainment reports. In the public eye, Musk often appears as a playboy. For example, he once bought a McLaren F1 sports car for US$1 million, flies on private jets, and cannot stay with a woman for a long time. Both of his marriages ended in breakup, with the second ending not long ago.
Elon Musk is nowhere near as cool as Iron Man. Musk is not only a technology freak, but also a workaholic. He works more than 100 hours a week. He is extremely busy and often lies down at 3 o'clock at night. He has to rush to a meeting early the next morning and fly to another city to participate in an event in the evening. He also has to find time to play with his five sons. In an interview, he specifically clarified that his original intention of starting SpaceX was not the childhood complex that some people take for granted, nor was it because of its high return on investment, but because it would be deeply beneficial to the future of mankind.
Sometimes, his personality can get him into trouble. He was sued for defamation by Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, and eventually settled out of court.
social evaluation
Elon Musk’s friends describe him as a person with extremely clear goals and a habit of seeing the world from an engineer’s perspective. Adeo Ressi, his roommate at the University of Pennsylvania, said that he is also a crazy entrepreneur. When they were in college, the two of them opened a nightclub. Every time the police called, Musk always responded calmly.
When he was in college, he often thought about what are the real problems facing the world and which ones will affect the future of mankind. He is bullish on the internet, sustainable energy and space exploration. Later, he entered these three fields as promised and dropped three blockbusters in succession: PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX.
"As long as he sees something good, he will keep working hard until he reaches his goal," Ressi said.
He will fight back relentlessly against those who oppose him, making no secret of his true thoughts.
