| Bio/Wiki | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Elon Reeve Musk |
| Nickname | Iron Man |
| Profession(s) | Entrepreneur, Investor |
| Famous For | Being the CEO of Tesla and Space X |
| Physical Stats & More | |
| Height (approx.) | in centimeters– 180 cm in meters– 1.80 m in feet inches– 5’ 11” |
| Weight (approx.) | in kilograms– 75 kg in pounds– 165 lbs |
| Eye Color | Moss Green |
| Hair Color | Light Ash Blonde |
| Personal Life | |
| Date of Birth | June 28, 1971 |
| Age (as in 2023) | 47 Years |
| Birthplace | Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa |
| Zodiac sign/Sun sign | Cancer |
| Signature |  |
| Nationality | American |
| Hometown | Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa |
| School | • Waterkloof House Preparatory School • Bryanston High School • Pretoria Boys High School |
| College/University | • Queen’s University • University of Pennsylvania • Stanford University, California |
| Educational Qualification(s) | • Bachelor of Science in Economics from University of Pennsylvania • Bachelor of Science in Physics from University of Pennsylvania • PhD in Energy Physics from Stanford University, California (Dropped Out) |
| Religion | Atheist |
| Ethnicity/Race | • South African (from his father’s side) • Canadian (from his mother’s side) • British (from his grandmother’s side) • He also has Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry |
| Food Habit | Non-Vegetarian |
| Political Inclination | He considers himself a half Republican and a half Democrate |
| Hobbies | Reading, Playing Video Games, Travelling |
| Awards, Honours, Achievements | 2007: For his work on Tesla and SpaceX, he was awarded Inc Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year award 2008: Elon was awarded American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low award for his enormous contribution for space transportation in 2007/2008 2008: Awarded National Wildlife Federation 2008 National Conservation Achievement award for SolarCity and Tesla 2009: National Space Society’s Von Braun Trophy 2010: Awarded the FAI Gold Space Medal (highest award in air and space), for designing the 1st privately developed rocket to reach orbit by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale 2010: The Kitty Hawk Foundation recognized him as a Living Legend of Aviation in 2010 2011: Elom was awarded with $250,000 Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization 2012: Awarded the ‘a Gold Medal’ (Royal Aeronautical Society’s highest award) 2015: Awarded IEEE Honorary Membership 2018: Appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) |
| Controversies | • Elon Musk’s tweet “A little red wine, vintage record, some Ambien … and magic!” got him a lot of media attention since it was a dangerous drug combination that he had mention publicly on his social media. • In 2018, Musk’s mini-submarine was dismissed considering it a ‘PR Stunt’ by many including the diver who saved the 12 boys from the cave in Thailand, Elon’s another tweet landed him in a controversy. He called the British Diver a “pedo guy” in his tweet. Tesla’s shares fell 4% after the public found his behavior erratic. Thereafter Elon was asked to apologize by the Tesla investors. The diver filed a legal lawsuit against Musk demanding $75,000 in damages. • Musk considers Artificial Intelligence as the most dangerous threat to the human race. His warnings for Artificial Intelligence was entitled as ‘Irresponsible’ by Mark Zuckerberg. To which Elon stated Zuckerberg has a very limited understanding of ‘AI’. • In September 2018, Elon was accused with security fraud charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, the board of Directors of Tesla stated that they believe in the work ethics of Musk and added, “fully confident in Elon, his integrity, and his leadership of the company.” After the Directors tried to make a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Elon gave an ultimatum to Tesla that he would quit as the CEO of Tesla if any settlement was made. The case is yet to be resolved. |
| Girls, Affairs, and More | |
| Marital Status | Divorced |
| Affairs/Girlfriends | • Justine Musk • Cameron Diaz (2013)  • Talulah Riley • Amber Heard (2016-2017)  • Grimes (2018)  |
| Family | |
| Wife/Spouse | • Justine Musk (2000-2008), Writer • Talulah Riley (2010-2012 & 2013-2016), Actress |
| Children | Son(s)– Griffin, Xavier, Damian, Saxon, Kai Daughter– None |
| Parents | Father– Errol Musk (Electromechanical Engineer, Pilot, Sailor) Mother– Maye Musk (Model, Dietitian)  |
| Siblings | Brother– Kimbal Musk (Entrepreneur, Philanthrophist) Sister– Tosca Musk (Filmmaker)  |
| Favourite Things | |
| Favorite Actor | Robert Downey Jr. |
| Favorite Film(s) | Star Wars, The Martian, Thank you for smoking |
| Favorite TV Show | The Big Bang Theory |
| Favorite Book(s) | The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Foundation series |
| Favourite Poet | Shakespeare |
| Favorite Comic | Marvel’s X-Men |
| Style Quotient | |
| Car(s) Collection | • 1978 BMW 320i • Ford Model T • McLaren F1 • Jaguar Series 1 1967 E-type • Audi Q7 • Hamann BMW M5 |
| Money Factor | |
| Salary (approx.) | ₹1 (at Tesla) |
| Net Worth (approx.) | ₹20.2 Billion (as in August 2018) |
Some Lesser Known Facts About Elon Musk
- Does Elon Musk smoke?: Yes
Elon Musk Smoking
- Does Elon Musk drink alcohol?: Yes
Elon Musk Drinking Alcohol
- He has his roots in America, Canada, South Africa and also has Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.
- At the age of 10, Elon started teaching himself computer programming after developing an interest in the Commodore VIC-20 (computer).
- He sold his first video game, ‘Blastar’ to ‘PC and Office Technology’ (a magazine) for $500. He was just 12 years old that time.
- In his childhood, he was deeply inspired by Isaac Asimov’s book, ‘Foundation series.’
- Elon had a very dreadful childhood as he was bullied in his school. Once, he even got hospitalized after a group of boys beat him until he became unconscious and threw him down a flight of stairs.
- Just before his 18th birthday, Elon moved to Canada against his father’s will. His father wanted Elon to complete his graduation from Pretoria itself but Elon chose to flee since he believed that it was easier to get to the United States from Canada.
- In 1995, after raising funds from a small group of ‘angel investors,’ Elon and his brother, Kimbal, founded ‘Zip2’ (a web software company). Elon wanted to become the CEO of Zip2 but was not allowed by the other members of the board. However, Zip2 was later acquired by Compaq in 1999.
- In 1999. Elon co-founded an e-mail payment and online financial services company, ‘X.com.’ A year later, X.com merged with Confinity, which provided a money-transfer service called, ‘PayPal.’ In 2000, He was knocked out from his position of CEO because of some disagreement with the allied party. Elon was the largest shareholder of X.com before it was acquired by eBay in 2002.
- In 2000, he got married to his first wife, Justine Wilson. Their first son, Nevada Alexander Musk, died just after 10 weeks of his birth due to ‘Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).’ Through “in vitro fertilization” the couple was blessed with twins and triplets in the year 2004 and 2006 respectively.
- He drafted “Mars Oasis” in 2001. The project was aimed to gain public interest in space exploration. Elon went to Russia to buy refurbished ‘Dnepr Intercontinental ballistic missiles’ (ICBMs) for his project from the companies like NPO Lavochkin, and Kosmotras. He was spat upon by one of the Russian chief designers after Elon proposed his plan. He returned empty-handed to the US.
- In 2002, in another meeting with the company Kosmotras, the company offered one rocket for $8 million to Elon, which he found too expensive. He left the meeting in between in anger and there he got the idea of founding a company which could build the cost-effective rockets he needed and hence Elon ended up founding “SpaceX” in May 2002.
- In 2003, Tesla (a car manufacturer company) was co-founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. In 2004, Elon joined the company as the Chairman of the board of Directors. Amidst some financial crisis and a few conflicts in 2008, Elon became the CEO of Tesla overthrowing Martin Eberhard from the post.
- Musk’s Salary at Tesla is ₹1 only.
- In 2005, his aircraft: (1994) model Dassault Falcon 900, was used in the film, “Thank you for smoking.” Elon made a cameo in the film as the pilot of the plane.
- He was a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board in 2006.
- Musk provided financial support to his cousins, Lyndon, and Peter Rive, who founded ‘SolarCity’ in 2006. He also helped them by giving the initial concept about the project. Tesla, Inc wholly acquired SolarCity in 2016.
- In 2008, Elon and Justine shared the custody of their five sons after getting separated from each other.
- After dating actress, Talulah Riley, Elon tied the knot with her in 2010. In 2012, Musk announced divorce with the actress. In 2013, Elon remarried her after which Musk again announced that he had filed for a second divorce from Talulah. Though the divorce was withdrawn but was later finalized in 2016.
- In 2010, his name was among “Time‘s 100 people” who affected world the most and was also listed among the 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire magazine.
- Musk was listed among the “America’s 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 And Under” by Forbes in February 2011.
- In 2013, Musk became the Fortune Businessperson of the year for SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity.
- In 2015, Elon made a cameo, playing himself in an episode, “The Musk Who Fell to Earth” of ‘The Simpsons.’ In the same year, Elon made a guest appearance, playing himself in an episode of the famous series, ‘The Big Bang Theory.’
- Along with Sal Khan and Mark Zuckerberg, he was listed as one of the “Top 10 Business Visionaries Creating Value for the World” in 2016.
- He held the 21st position on the Forbes list of the World’s Most Powerful People in December 2016.
- In 2016, Musk purchased the Tesla.com domain name from Stu Grossman.
- ‘Neuralink,’ was co-founded by Musk in 2016. It is a startup company that incorporates the human brain with artificial intelligence. It strives to create devices that can be embedded in the human brain.
- In 2017, Elon bought the domain X.com from PayPal, stating that he holds “great sentimental value” with it.
- On 6 February 2018, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched ‘Falcon Heavy’ which carried a ‘Tesla Roadster’ as a dummy payload belonging to Musk. Falcon Heavy is the world’s 4th highest capacity rocket ever built, becoming the most powerful rocket in operation as of 2018.
Space X launched Falcon Heavy with a Tesla Roadstar as a dummy payload
- Once, Musk was stuck in a traffic jam, it was then, Musk decided to build a tunnel and unveiled its company’s name, ‘The Boring Company.’
- In 2018, Musk tried to assist the rescuers in the ‘Tham Luang cave rescue operation,’ in which a junior football team got trapped in (a cave in Thailand). His engineers at SpaceX and The Boring Company constructed a submarine called, ‘Wild Boar’ to be sent to Thailand to rescue the children. By the time his submarine reached Thailand, eight of the twelve children had already been rescued so the Government of Thailand did not use his submarine.
Elon Musk’s ‘Wild Boar’ being tested for the rescue operation
- In 2018, Elon announced that SpaceX would be sending its first passenger, Yusaku Maezawa (a Japanese billionaire) to the moon by 2023.
Elon Musk With Yusaku Maezawa
- In an interview, Elon revealed that Tesla would never make an electric motorcycle. He further revealed that when he was a teenager he was almost killed by a truck while driving his motorcycle.
- Being a Philanthropist, he founded the ‘Musk Foundation,’ which aims to provide solar-power energy systems in the disaster-prone areas.
- On his trip to India, he spent a night with a spiritual guru who told him to serve the poor. That is how Musk got the enlightenment of social service.
