Table of Contents

Introduction Page 1-2

Education Page 2

Career Page 3-14

Views Page 14-16

Awards and Recognition Page 17-18

Lessons we can learn from Elon Page 19

Musk

References Page 20
Abstract
Elon Musk is one of the most influential leaders in the twenty first century. He
has been changing how the world works by introducing technology via
companies like PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX. Elon Musk is one of the most
successful people in the world. His successes range from electric cars to space
travel. Elon Musk managed to succeed twice in the tech industry, something
that most tech entrepreneurs cannot do even once. Musk is different in his
motivations from a typical businessman. He puts first: the desire to help
humankind with a deep empathy. Despite having a difficult early life musk
encountered his challenges head on and succeeded on becoming one of tech
worlds biggest names. He is a person who is working on taking humanity to
the very next stage of Evolution.
 Page |1

Introduction
Elon Reeve Musk (born June 28, 1971) is a technology entrepreneur, investor,
and engineer. He holds South African, Canadian, and U.S. citizenship and is the
founder, CEO, and chief engineer/designer of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and
product architect of Tesla, Inc.; co-founder of Neuralink; founder of The Boring
Company; co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI;[10] and co-founder
of PayPal. In December 2016, he was ranked 21st on the Forbes list of The
World's Most Powerful People. He has a net worth of $22.8 billion and is listed
by Forbes as the 40th-richest person in the world.

Born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk moved to Canada when he was

17 to attend Queen's University. He transferred to the University of
Pennsylvania two years later, where he received a Bachelor's degree in
economics from the Wharton School and a Bachelor's degree in physics from
the College of Arts and Sciences. He began a Ph.D. in applied physics and
material sciences at Stanford University in 1995 but dropped out after two days to
pursue an entrepreneurial career. He subsequently co-founded Zip2, a web
software company, which was acquired by Compaq for $340 million in 1999.
Musk then founded X.com, an online bank. It merged with Confinity in 2000 and
later that year became PayPal, which was bought by eBay for $1.5 billion in
October 2002.

In May 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space

transport services company, of which he is CEO and lead designer. He joined
Tesla, Inc., an electric vehicle manufacturer, in 2004, the year after it was
founded,[12] and became its CEO and product architect. In 2006, he inspired the
creation of SolarCity, a solar energy services company (now a subsidiary of
Tesla) and operated as its chairman. In 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI, a
nonprofit research company that aims to promote friendly artificial intelligence.
In July 2016, he co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company focused on
developing brain–computer interfaces. In December 2016, Musk founded The
Boring Company, an infrastructure and tunnel-construction company.

In addition to his primary business pursuits, Musk has envisioned a high-speed

transportation system known as the Hyperloop, and has proposed a vertical take-
 Page |2

off and landing supersonic jet electric aircraft with electric fan propulsion, known

as the Musk electric jet. Musk has stated that the goals of SpaceX, Tesla, and
SolarCity revolve around his vision to change the world and humanity. His goals
include reducing global warming through sustainable energy production and
consumption, and reducing the risk of human extinction by establishing a human
colony on Mars.

Education

At the age of 17, in 1989, Musk moved to Canada to attend Queen's University,

avoiding mandatory service in the South African military. He left in 1992 to
study business and physics at the University of Pennsylvania; he graduated with
an undergraduate degree in economics and stayed for a second bachelor's degree
in physics.

After leaving Penn, Musk headed to Stanford University in California to pursue a

PhD in energy physics. However, his move coincided with the Internet boom, and
he dropped out of Stanford after just two days to become a part of it, launching
his first company, Zip2 Corporation.
 Page |3

Career
Zip2

In 1995, Musk and his brother, Kimbal, started Zip2, a web software company,

with money raised from a small group of angel investors. The company
developed and marketed an Internet city guide for the newspaper publishing
industry. Musk obtained contracts with The New York Times and the Chicago
Tribune and persuaded the board of directors to abandon plans for a merger
with CitySearch. While at Zip2, Musk wanted to become CEO; however, none of
the board members would allow it. Compaq acquired Zip2 for US$307 million in
cash and US$34 million in stock options in February 1999. Musk
received US$22 million for his 7 percent share from the sale.

X.com and PayPal

In March 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-

mail payment company, with US$10 million from the sale of Zip2. One year
later, the company merged with Confinity, which had a money-transfer service
called PayPal. The merged company focused on the PayPal service and was
renamed PayPal in 2001. PayPal's early growth was driven mainly by a viral
marketing campaign where new customers were recruited when they received
money through the service. Musk was ousted in October 2000 from his role as
CEO (although he remained on the board) due to disagreements with other
company leadership, notably over his desire to move PayPal's Unix-based
infrastructure to Microsoft Windows. In October 2002, PayPal was acquired
by eBay for US$1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk
received US$165 million. Before its sale, Musk, who was the company's
largest shareholder, owned 11.7% of PayPal's shares.

In July 2017, Musk purchased the domain X.com from PayPal for an undisclosed
amount, stating that it has sentimental value to him.
 Page |4

SpaceX
In 2001, Musk conceived Mars Oasis, a project to land a miniature
experimental greenhouse on Mars, containing food crops growing on
Martian regolith, in an attempt to regain public interest in space exploration. In
October 2001, Musk travelled to Moscow with Jim Cantrell (an aerospace
supplies fixer), and Adeo Ressi (his best friend from college), to buy
refurbished Dnepr Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could send the
envisioned payloads into space. The group met with companies such as NPO
Lavochkin and Kosmotras; however, according to Cantrell, Musk was seen as a
novice and was consequently spat on by one of the Russian chief designers, and
the group returned to the United States empty-handed. In February 2002, the
group returned to Russia to look for three ICBMs, bringing along Mike Griffin.
Griffin had worked for the CIA's venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel, as well as
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and was just leaving Orbital Sciences, a
maker of satellites and spacecraft. The group met again with Kosmotras, and
were offered one rocket for US$8 million; however, this was seen by Musk as too
expensive; Musk consequently stormed out of the meeting. On the flight back
from Moscow, Musk realized that he could start a company that could build the
affordable rockets he needed. According to early Tesla and SpaceX
investor Steve Jurvetson, Musk calculated that the raw materials for building a
rocket actually were only 3 percent of the sales price of a rocket at the time. It
was concluded that theoretically, by applying vertical integration and the modular
approach from software engineering, SpaceX could cut launch price by a factor
of ten and still enjoy a 70-percent gross margin. Ultimately, Musk ended up
founding SpaceX with the long-term goal of creating a true spacefaring
civilization. With US$100 million of his early fortune, Musk founded Space
Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, in May 2002. Musk is chief executive
officer (CEO) and chief technology officer (CTO) of the Hawthorne, California-
based company. By 2016, Musk's private trust holds 54% of SpaceX stock,
equivalent to 78% of voting shares.

SpaceX develops and manufactures space launch vehicles with a focus on

advancing the state of rocket technology. The company's first two launch vehicles
 Page |5

are the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets (a nod to Star Wars' Millennium Falcon),

and its first spacecraft is the Dragon (a nod to Puff the Magic Dragon).[65] In
seven years, SpaceX designed the family of Falcon launch vehicles and the
Dragon multipurpose spacecraft. In September 2008, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket
became the first privately funded liquid-fueled vehicle to put a satellite into Earth
orbit.[32] On May 25, 2012, the SpaceX Dragon vehicle berthed with the ISS,
making history as the first commercial company to launch and berth a vehicle to
the International Space Station. In 2006, SpaceX was awarded a contract from NASA
to continue the development and test of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon
spacecraft in order to transport cargo to the International Space Station, followed by
a US$1.6 billion NASA Commercial Resupply Services program contract on December
23, 2008, for 12 flights of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the Space Station,
replacing the US Space Shuttle after it retired in 2011. Astronaut transport to the ISS is
currently handled solely by the Soyuz, but SpaceX is one of two companies awarded a
contract by NASA as part of the Commercial Crew Development program, which is
intended to develop a US astronaut transport capability by 2018.
 Page |6

Musk believed that the key to making space travel affordable is to make rockets
reusable, though most experts in the space industry did not believe that reusable
rockets were possible or feasible. On December 22, 2015, SpaceX successfully
landed the first stage of its Falcon rocket back at the launch pad. This was the
first time in history such a feat had been achieved by an orbital rocket and was a
significant step towards rocket reusability lowering the costs of access to
space. This first stage recovery was replicated several times in 2016 by landing
on an autonomous spaceport drone ship, an ocean-based recovery platform, and
by the end of 2017, SpaceX had landed and recovered the first stage on 16
missions in a row where a landing and recovery were attempted, including all 14
attempts in 2017. 20 out of 42 first stage Falcon 9 boosters have been recovered
overall since the Falcon 9 maiden flight in 2010. [73] In 2017 SpaceX launched 18
successful Falcon 9 flights, more than doubling their highest previous year of 8.
[74]

On February 6, 2018, SpaceX successfully launched the Falcon Heavy, the

fourth-highest capacity rocket ever built (after Saturn V, Energia and N1) and the
most powerful rocket in operation as of 2018. The inaugural mission carried
a Tesla Roadster belonging to Musk as a dummy payload.

SpaceX began development of the Starlink constellation of low earth orbit

satellites in 2015 to provide global internet coverage, with an initial 60 satellites
launched on 24 May 2019.

SpaceX is both the largest private producer of rocket engines in the world and
holder of the record for the highest thrust-to-weight ratio for a rocket engine
(the Merlin 1D). SpaceX has produced more than 100 operational Merlin 1D
engines. Each Merlin 1D engine can vertically lift the weight of 40 average
family cars. In combination, the 9 Merlin engines in the Falcon 9 first stage
produce anywhere from 5.8 to 6.7 MN (1.3 to 1.5 million pounds) of thrust,
depending on altitude.

Musk was influenced by Isaac Asimov's Foundation series and views space

exploration as an important step in preserving and expanding the consciousness
of human life. Musk said that multiplanetary life may serve as a hedge against
threats to the survival of the human species.
 Page |7

An asteroid or a super volcano could destroy us, and we face risks the dinosaurs
never saw: an engineered virus, inadvertent creation of a micro black hole,
catastrophic global warming or some as-yet-unknown technology could spell the
end of us. Humankind evolved over millions of years, but in the last sixty years
atomic weaponry created the potential to extinguish ourselves. Sooner or later,
we must expand life beyond this green and blue ball—or go extinct. Musk's goal
is to reduce the cost of human spaceflight by a factor of 10. In a 2011 interview,
he said he hopes to send humans to Mars' surface within 10–20 years. In Ashlee
Vance's biography, Musk stated that he wants to establish a Mars colony by 2040,
with a population of 80,000.[33] Musk stated that, since Mars' atmosphere lacks
oxygen, all transportation would have to be electric (electric cars, electric trains,
Hyperloop, electric aircraft). Musk stated in June 2016 that the first uncrewed
flight of the larger Interplanetary Spaceship was aimed for departure to the red
planet in 2022, to be followed by the first crewed ITS Mars flight departing in
2024. In September 2016, Musk revealed details of his architecture to explore
and colonize Mars.

In late 2017, SpaceX unveiled the design for its next-generation launch vehicle
and spacecraft system—BFR (later renamed to Starship)—that would support all
SpaceX launch service provider capabilities with a single set of very large
vehicles: Earth-orbit, Lunar-orbit, interplanetary missions, and
even intercontinental passenger transport on Earth, and totally replace the Falcon
9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon vehicles in the 2020s. Starship will have a 9-meter
(30 ft) core diameter. Significant development on the vehicles began in 2017,
with an initial prototype unveiled in September 2019, while the new rocket
engine (Raptor) development began in 2012, with a first test flight performed in
August 2019.
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Tesla
Tesla, Inc. (originally Tesla Motors) was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin
Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who financed the company until the Series A
round of funding. Both men played active roles in the company's early
development prior to Elon Musk's involvement. Musk led the Series A round of
investment in February 2004, joining Tesla's board of directors as its
chairman. Musk took an active role within the company and oversaw Roadster
product design at a detailed level, but was not deeply involved in day-to-day
business operations. Following the financial crisis in 2008 and after a series of
escalating conflicts in 2007, Eberhard was ousted from the firm. Musk assumed
leadership of the company as CEO and product architect in 2008, positions he
still holds today. Indeed, as of 2019, Elon Musk is the longest tenured CEO of
any automotive manufacturer globally.

Tesla Motors first built an electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster, in 2008, with
sales of about 2,500 vehicles to 31 countries. Tesla began delivery of its four-
door Model S sedan on June 22, 2012. It unveiled its third product, the Model X,
aimed at the SUV/minivan market, on February 9, 2012; however, the Model X
launch was delayed until September 2015. In addition to its own cars, Tesla sold
electric powertrain systems to Daimler for the Smart EV, Mercedes B-Class
Electric Drive and Mercedes A Class, and to Toyota for the RAV4 EV. Musk
was able to bring in both companies as long-term investors in Tesla. usk favored
building a more affordable Tesla model and building and selling electric vehicle
powertrain components so that other automakers could produce electric vehicles
at affordable prices without having to develop the products in-house; this led to
the Model 3 that was unveiled in 2016, with a planned base price
of US$35,000. Several mainstream publications have compared him with Henry
Ford for his work on advanced vehicle powertrains.[101]

In a May 2013 interview with All Things Digital, Musk said that to overcome the
range limitations of electric cars, Tesla planned to expand its network of
 Page |9

supercharger stations, tripling the number on the East and West coasts of the U.S.
that June, with plans for more expansion across North America, including
Canada, throughout the year.

In 2014, Musk announced that Tesla would allow its technology patents to be
used by anyone in good faith in a bid to entice automobile manufacturers to speed
up development of electric cars. "The unfortunate reality is electric car programs
(or programs for any vehicle that doesn't burn hydrocarbons) at the major
manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than
1% of their total vehicle sales," Musk said

In February 2016, Musk announced that he had acquired the Tesla.com domain

name from Stu Grossman, who had owned it since 1992, and changed Tesla's
homepage to that domain.
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As of January 29, 2016, Musk owned about 28.9 million Tesla shares, which

equates to about 22% of the company. As of 2014, Musk's annual salary is one
dollar, similar to that of Steve Jobs and other CEOs; the remainder of his
compensation is in the form of stock and performance-based bonuses.[107][108] In
January 2018, Musk was granted an option to buy up to 20.3 million shares if
Tesla's market value were to rise to $650 billion. Majority shareholder approval
was approved in March 2018. The grant was also meant to end speculation about
Musk's potential departure from Tesla to devote more time to his other business
ventures.[110] A report by advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. to its clients argued
against granting the options. In September 2018, Musk was charged by the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission for a tweet claiming that funding had been
secured for taking Tesla private. The lawsuit characterized the tweet as false,
misleading, and damaging to investors, and sought to bar Musk from serving
as CEO on publicly traded companies.[111][112] Two days later, Musk reached a
settlement with the SEC. As a result, Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million
each, and Musk was forced to step down as Tesla chairman while remaining
Tesla's CEO.[113] Musk also proclaimed in several interviews since that he does
not regret sending the tweet that triggered the SEC investigation. According to
Reuters, Musk said the tweet was "Worth It".[114]

According to ABC News, "As recently as Oct. 4 2018, Musk issued a sarcastic
tweet, describing the agency [SEC] as the 'Shortseller Enrichment Commission,'
despite having agreed to settlement terms a week earlier that his company, Tesla,
would monitor his tweets and other communications." [115] In a December 2018
interview with CBS's “60 Minutes”, Musk mentioned that since reaching an
agreement with SEC, none of his tweets have been censored. He further
mentioned that he has no respect for the SEC by saying, "I want to be clear. I do
not respect the SEC." On February 19, 2019, according to Forbes, Musk stated in
a tweet that Tesla would build half a million cars in 2019. The SEC reacted to
Musk's tweet by filing in court, initially asking the court to hold him in contempt
for violating the terms of settlement agreement with such a tweet, which was
disputed by Musk. This was eventually settled by a joint agreement between
Musk and the SEC clarifying the previous agreement details.
 P a g e | 11

In January 2019, Musk traveled to China for the groundbreaking of

Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory, which is the company's first large-scale plant
outside the U.S.  Part of his visit to China, Musk also met the Chinese premier Li
Keqiang. During their exchange, Musk expressed his admiration for China and
wished he could visit China more often, to which the Chinese premier was quoted
as saying "We can issue you a Chinese green card if that helps.

SolarCity

Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for SolarCity, which was
then co-founded in 2006 by his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive. By 2013,
SolarCity was the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United
States. SolarCity was acquired by Tesla, Inc. in 2016 and is currently a wholly
owned subsidiary of Tesla.

The underlying motivation for funding both SolarCity and Tesla was to help
combat global warming. In 2012, Musk announced that SolarCity and Tesla
would collaborate to use electric vehicle batteries to smooth the impact of rooftop
solar on the power grid, with the program going live in 2013.

On June 17, 2014, Musk committed to building a SolarCity advanced production

facility in Buffalo, New York, that would triple the size of the largest solar plant
in the United States. Musk stated the plant will be "one of the single largest solar
panel production plants in the world," and it will be followed by one or more
even bigger facilities in subsequent years.[131] The Tesla Gigafactory 2 is a
photovoltaic (PV) cell factory, leased by Tesla subsidiary SolarCity in Buffalo,
New York. Construction on the factory started in 2014 and was completed in
2017. Tesla accepted $750 million in public funds from New York
Governor Andrew Cuomo as part of the Buffalo Billion project- a plan to invest
money to help the economy of the Buffalo, New York area- to build the factory
and infrastructure.

Hyperloop
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On August 12, 2013, Musk unveiled a concept for a high-speed transportation

system incorporating reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules ride
on an air cushion driven by linear induction motors and air compressors.[134] The
mechanism for releasing the concept was an alpha-design document that, in
addition to scoping out the technology, outlined a notional route where such a
transport system might be built: between the Greater Los Angeles Area and
the San Francisco Bay Area.

After earlier envisioning Hyperloop, Musk assigned a dozen engineers

from Tesla and SpaceX who worked for nine months, establishing the conceptual
foundations and creating the designs for the transportation system.[136][137] An early
design for the system was then published in a whitepaper posted to the Tesla and
SpaceX blogs. Musk's proposal, if technologically feasible at the costs he has
cited, would make Hyperloop travel cheaper than any other mode of transport for
such long distances. The alpha design was proposed to use a partial vacuum to
reduce aerodynamic drag, which it is theorized would allow for high-speed travel
with relatively low power, with certain other features like air-bearing skis and an
inlet compressor to reduce freestream flow. The document of alpha design
estimated the total cost of an LA-to-SF Hyperloop system at US$6 billion, but
this amount is speculative.

In June 2015, Musk announced a design competition for students and others to

build Hyperloop pods to operate on a SpaceX-sponsored mile-long track in a
2015–2017 Hyperloop pod competition. The track was used in January 2017, and
Musk also started building a tunnel.

Hyperloop One, a company unaffiliated with Musk, had announced that it had
done its first successful test run on its DevLoop track in Nevada on July 13, 2017.
It was on May 12, 2017, at 12:02 a.m. and had lasted 5.3 seconds, reaching a top
speed of 70 mph.

On July 20, 2017, Elon Musk announced that he had received verbal government
approval to build a hyperloop from New York City to Washington, D.C.,
stopping in both Philadelphia and Baltimore. However, the New York City
Transit Authority, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation
Authority, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Maryland Transit
 P a g e | 13

Administration, United States Department of Homeland Security, as well as the

mayors of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. stated that
they are unaware of any such agreement.

Neuralink
In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup company to
integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence. The company is centered on
creating devices that can be implanted in the human brain, with the eventual
purpose of helping human beings merge with software and keep pace with
advancements in artificial intelligence. These enhancements could improve
memory or allow more direct interfacing with computing devices. [150] Musk sees
Neuralink and OpenAI as related: "OpenAI is a nonprofit dedicated to
minimizing the dangers of artificial intelligence, while Neuralink is working on
ways to implant technology into our brains to create mind-computer interfaces.
 P a g e | 14

In December 2015, Musk announced the creation of OpenAI, a not-for-profit

artificial intelligence (AI) research company. OpenAI aims to develop artificial
general intelligence in a way that is safe and beneficial to humanity.

By making AI available to everyone, OpenAI wants to "counteract large

corporations who may gain too much power by owning super-intelligence
systems devoted to profits, as well as governments which may use AI to gain
power and even oppress their citizenry." Musk has stated he wants to counteract
the concentration of power. In 2018 Musk left the OpenAI board to avoid
possible future conflicts with his role as CEO of Tesla as Tesla increasingly
becomes involved in AI

Views

Destiny and religion

When asked whether he believed "there was some kind of destiny involved" in
humanity's transition to a multi-planetary species, rather than "just physics",
Musk responded:

Well, I do. Do I think that there's some sort of master intelligence architecting all
of this stuff? I think probably not because then you have to say: "Where does the
master intelligence come from?" So it sort of begs the question. So I think really
you can explain this with the fundamental laws of physics. You know it's
complex phenomenon from simple elements.

Musk has stated that he does not pray, or worship any being, although he asked
"any entities that [were] listening" to "bless [the] launch" before an
important Falcon 1 launch. When asked whether he thought science and religion
could co-exist, Musk replied "Probably not.

Extraterrestrial life
 P a g e | 15

Although Musk believes there could be simple life on other planets, he is unsure
whether other intelligent life is likely. Musk later said that he "hope[s] that there
is other intelligent life in the known universe", and stated that it is "probably
more likely than not, but that's a complete guess."

Musk has also considered the simulation hypothesis as a potential solution to

the Fermi paradox:

The absence of any noticeable life may be an argument in favour of us being in a

simulation ... Like when you're playing an adventure game, and you can see the
stars in the background, but you can't ever get there. If it's not a simulation, then
maybe we're in a lab and there's some advanced alien civilization that's just
watching how we develop, out of curiosity, like mould in a Petri dish ... If you
look at our current technology level, something strange has to happen to
civilizations, and I mean strange in a bad way. ... And it could be that there are a
whole lot of dead, one-planet civilizations.

Artificial intelligence
Musk has frequently spoken about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence,
calling it "the most serious threat to the survival of the human race". During a
2014 interview at the MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium, Musk described AI
as humanity's largest existential threat, further stating, "I'm increasingly inclined
to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and
international level, just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish."
Musk described the creation of artificial intelligence as "summoning the demon".

Despite this, Musk has previously invested in DeepMind, an AI firm,

and Vicarious, a company working to improve machine intelligence. In January
2015, he donated $10 million to the Future of Life Institute, an organization
focused on challenges posed by advanced technologies.[248] He was previously the
co-chairman of OpenAI, a nonprofit artificial intelligence research company.[249]

Musk has said that his investments are "not from the standpoint of actually trying
simulation, to which he answered:

The strongest argument for us probably being in a simulation I think is the

following: 40 years ago we had Pong – two rectangles and a dot. That's where we
 P a g e | 16

were. Now 40 years later we have photorealistic, 3D simulations with millions of

people playing simultaneously and it's getting better every year. And soon we'll
have virtual reality, we'll have augmented reality. If you assume any rate of
improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality,
just indistinguishable.

Musk's warnings about artificial intelligence have brought him some controversy.
He and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg have clashed, with the latter calling
his warnings "pretty irresponsible".[252] Musk responded to Zuckerberg's censure
by saying that he had discussed AI with Zuckerberg and found him to have only a
limited understanding of the subject. In 2014, Slate's Adam Elkus argued that
current AIs were as intelligent as a toddler, and only in certain fields, going on to
say that Musk's "summoning the demon" analogy may be harmful because it
could result in significant cuts to AI research budgets.
 P a g e | 17

Awards and Recognition

 In 2006, Musk served as a member of the United States National Academy of
Sciences Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board.

 Inc Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2007 for his work on Tesla
and SpaceX

 2007 Index Design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster. [308] Global
Green 2006 product design award for his design of the Tesla Roadster,
presented by Mikhail Gorbachev.

 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low award for the

most outstanding contribution in the field of space transportation in 2007/2008.
Musk was recognized for his design of the Falcon 1, the first privately
developed liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit.

 National Wildlife Federation 2008 National Conservation Achievement award

for Tesla and SolarCity. Other 2008 recipients include journalist Thomas
Friedman, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Florida Governor Charlie
Crist.[311]

 National Space Society's Von Braun Trophy in 2008/2009, given for leadership
of the most significant achievement in space. Prior recipients include Burt
Rutan and Steve Squyres.

 Listed as one of Time's 100 people who most affected the world in 2010.

 The world governing body for aerospace records, Fédération Aéronautique

Internationale, presented Musk in 2010 with the highest award in air and space,
the FAI Gold Space Medal, for designing the first privately developed rocket to
reach orbit. Prior recipients include Neil Armstrong, Burt Rutan of Scaled
Composites and John Glenn.

 Named as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century

by Esquire magazine.
 P a g e | 18

 Recognized as a Living Legend of Aviation in 2010 by the Kitty Hawk

Foundation for creating the successor to the Space Shuttle (Falcon 9 rocket and
Dragon spacecraft). Other recipients include Buzz Aldrin and Richard Branson.

 In February 2011, Forbes listed Musk as one of "America's 20 Most Powerful

CEOs 40 And Under.

 In June 2011, Musk was awarded the US$250,000 Heinlein Prize for Advances

in Space Commercialization

 In 2012, Musk was awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society's highest award: a

Gold Medal.

 In 2013, Musk was named the Fortune Businessperson of the year for SpaceX,

SolarCity, and Tesla

 Awarded the President's award for Exploration and Technology of the Explorers

Club at the annual gala on the 16th of March 2014.

 In 2015, he was awarded IEEE Honorary Membership.

 In June 2016, Business Insider named Musk one of the "Top 10 Business

Visionaries Creating Value for the World" along with Mark Zuckerberg and Sal
Khan.

 In December 2016, Musk was ranked 21st on Forbes list of The World's Most
Powerful People.

 In May 2017, Musk was awarded the Oslo Business for Peace Award.

 Musk was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2018.

 Musk was awarded as member (fifth class) of the Most Admirable Order of the
Direkgunabhorn on 4 March 2019 for his contribution in the rescue at Tham
Luang cave, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand.
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Lessons we can learn from Elon Musk

 Having a Powerful vision- Elon co-founded PayPal and transformed the

industry of money transfer across the world. Therefore, Elon teaches us
the lesson of having a vision that is transformational and powerful.
 Thinking Big- Looking at Elon's history of innovation, the billionaire's
ideas don't just create a single product, they have a lasting impact on the
industry. PayPal changed the financial industry by digitizing money
transfer and making it easy for people around the world to send and
receive money online. His SpaceX program has a lasting impact on space
travel. He wants to make commercial space travel possible. Elon Musk
thinks big and through his exploits, he teaches us how to do it too.
 Executing Ideas well- the success of an idea depends on how well it is
executed. One that receives no action remains simply as an idea while one
that is executed effectively can grow into superb business. Elon Musk
indicates that you need to have an innovative team to execute your ideas.
With their participation, you can come up with business models that are
solid.
 Not giving up when failures occur- Before he started the SpaceX
program, Elon Musk dedicated $100 million to the endeavor. His first two
launches cost him $90 million and they both failed. The third one cost
him $10 million and it succeeded. From this we learn not to be afraid of
failure by coming up with a plan to manage it.
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References

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3. ^ "Inside Elon Musk's M Bel Air Mansion". Bloomberg News. Archived
from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b "Elon Musk". Forbes. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
5. ^ Curtis, Sophie (November 10, 2014). "Elon Musk 'to launch fleet of
internet satellites'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved June 23,
2015. Elon Musk, inventor and business magnate
6. ^ Vance, Ashlee (September 13, 2012). "Elon Musk, the 21st Century
Industrialist". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on
April 26, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
7. ^ "Engineer in Focus: Elon Musk". asme.org. Archived from the original
on November 19, 2018. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
8. "Introducing OpenAI". OpenAI Blog. December 12, 2015. Retrieved
March 8,2019.
9. ^ Jump up to:a b "The World's Most Powerful People". Forbes.
December 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
10. ^ Jump up to:a b LaMonica, Martin (September 21, 2009). "Tesla
Motors founders: Now there are five". CNET.