biography of ELON MUSK, Elon musk

                                                      Biography of ELON MUSK

                                                          
 He is the 21st Century Howard Hughes, JohnD. Rockefeller and Steve Jobs - all rolled into one dynamic package. His hunger for global change mirrors the senseof adventure of the great explorers of the past. His ideas, considered crazy by everyone aroundhim, have opened up new frontiers as he continues to improve the world with the aid of technologicaladvancement. His goal to make the earth a better placeto live on has expanded to encompass the entire universe - including the possibility of supportinghuman life on Mars. , we get upclose and personal with the man who was the model for Marvel’s Iron Man movie franchisecharacter Tony Start... Of course, the man we are talking about isElon Musk.

                                        Early Life

                                                    
 Elon Musk was born on June 28th, 1971 in Pretoria,South Africa. His Canadian born mother was a dietitian,with his father being a mechanical and electrical engineer. The boy had a natural leaning towards technology,buying his first computer - a Commodore VIC 20 - with money he had saved when he was justten years old. By the age of twelve, he had created his ownvideo game, Blaster, which he sold for $500. As a pre-teen, he had already taught himselfcomputer programming. Musk’s life came to a crossroads in hislate teens when he was faced with compulsory military service in South Africa. While he had no problem with the thought ofserving his country in uniform, he was repulsed by the idea of being a part of a system thatsuppressed the country’s indigenous black people. His desire was to get to America, the landof opportunity, especially in regard to his growing fascination with all things relatedto computer technology. To do so, however, he figured that he wouldhave to use Canada as a stepping stone.
                                                                       
His mother was still a Canadian citizen and,so steps were taken for Elon to acquire Canadian citizenship for himself. Move to North America After graduating from the Pretoria Boy’sHigh School, he emigrated to Canada in June 1989, aged just seventeen. He had hardly any money and no real connections,turning up on the doorsteps of distant relatives of his mother and being put to work on theirfarms. As well as tending vegetables and shovelinggrain, he got a job at a lumber mill, cleaning out boilers. Then he managed to secure a job as an internclerk at a local bank. In 1990, he moved to Kingston, Ontario wherehe began a science degree at the Queen’s University. Two years later, he was able to achieve hisgoal of living in the United States, transferring his studies to the University of Pennsylvania. Within two more years he graduated with doubledegrees, in science and business. It was around this time that Musk came acrossa copy of the Douglas Adams book, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The book, which revolves around a supercomputerwhich is built to figure out the ultimate answer to the question of “life, the universeand everything.” After 7.5 million years of computing, it spitsout the answer - the number 42. Along with that answer, the computer, whichcan talk, adds some sage advice, telling the inquirer . . . “The problem with you, to be quite honestwith you, is that you never really know what the question is.” For Musk, reading that was a lightbulb moment.
                                                                 
He later recalled . . . “It highlighted an important point, whichis that a lot of times the question is harder than the answer.” By the time he emerged from university, Muskwasn’t entirely sure what the questions were. But he knew that they were tied up in threekey areas: the internet, clean energy and outer space. In 1995, Musk enrolled himself in a Ph.D.program for energy physics at Stanford University. Yet, after an attendance of just two days,he decided to drop out in order to launch his first business. His love for physics never wavered, but hesaw greater opportunities in the burgeoning internet revolution - a way to make societybetter - and himself richer. Zip2 Musk realized that, as more and more companiesestablished an online presence, they would need to have their printed materials convertedinto digital documents. If he could fill that need, he would be ontoa winner. Elon teamed up with his younger brother Kimbalto develop content publishing software designed for news and media companies. At a time, when many venture capitalists hadnever even heard the word ‘internet’, it was a major risk.

The product that the Musk brothers came upwith was called Zip2. It started life as a tool that would helppeople to search for maps and directions on the internet, with people also being ableto post information through something similar to a micro-blogging system. Things were tough for Musk in these earlydays. He had no money, not even enough to rent anoffice and an apartment at the same time. So, he rented an office where he slept ona futon, taking care of his personal hygiene down at the local “Y”. Staring with small newspapers, Musk was ableto quickly grow his client base. Agreements were made with large media companies,including the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times to allow those companies to useZip2 to make their content readily available to their readers via the internet. The program was then used by many similarcompanies, along with e-commerce sites, as a platform for their web presence. By 1999, the Zip2 Corporation was providingweb hosting, web development and maintenance services for close to two hundred websites. They came to the attention of the online cityguide CitySearch, who were interested in a merger. This deal didn’t work out, but another onedid. After just four years of operation, the Zip2Corporation was sold to Compaq Computers for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stockoptions. PayPal At the age of 28, Elon Musk was a multi-millionaire. But, he was just getting started, and evenbefore the ink was dry on the Zip2 deal, he had thrown himself into his next venture - X.com. Musk’s vision was to create the world’sfirst online bank and he invested $10 million to kick it off. The goal was to offer every service that youcould get from a conventional bank, but with the added benefit that you could send andreceive money securely using only your email address. X.com was an immediate success. After just a year of operation, it was mergedwith a money transfer system called Confinity. The combined businesses were renamed Paypalin 2001.

Now working with Confinity founders PeterThiel and Max Levchin, the business dropped the idea of a fully functional online bankand focused on the feature that seemed to grab everyone’s attention - the abilityto send money to and from anyone who had the same app. At this early stage, the system relied ona Windows based handheld device. During the first months of the merger, fromJanuary 1999 to October 2000, Musk was CEO of X-com. During this time he set up a viral systemthat grew it into the world’s largest e-mail payment system. New customers were offered a twenty dollarcash card, along with an additional ten dollars for referring a friend. Within two months, more than a hundred thousandnew customers came onboard. But not all was well within the company’smanagement. The problem was Musk’s management style,which can best be described as dictatorial. Both Thiel and Levchin found it difficultto work with him.

 They were especially frustrated at his needto micromanage everything. Disputes and divisions arose over which technologiesto use and how to brand the company. As a result of such divisions, Thiel and Levchinorganized a coup against CEO Musk while he was meeting with prospective customers overseas. He returned to the country to discover thathe had been fired as CEO by the board and replaced by Thiel. Shortly thereafter the name of the companywas changed to PayPal. From there it grew exponentially, leadingto a buy out by Ebay in 2002. The cost of the sale was a staggering 1.5billion dollars. As the largest shareholder, Musk walked awaywith $165 million. SpaceX Even before PayPal was sold, Musk was on tohis next business venture. Ever since he was a child he had been fascinatedby space exploration. He had been an avid science fiction reader- now he had the money to turn fiction into reality. He was convinced that the earth was destinedto collapse as a life sustaining planet.

The sooner we started working on the technologyrequired for interplanetary travel and for sustaining life beyond Earth, the better. In discussions with a friend one day, Muskcomplained that, despite the vast improvements in the technology industry, the space industryhas lagged sorrowfully behind. Since man had set foot on the moon way backin 1969 it appeared to him that no meaningful progress had been made. He was determined to change that and his thirdcompany, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, was to be his platform to do it. A major goal of SpaceX is to create a spacevehicle that can take people, equipment and other necessary resources to Mars and to builda transportation infrastructure that will allow humans to become a multi-planetary species. When Musk let the world in on his vision,he was immediately subjected to ridicule. Industry experts dismissed him as a rich,bored playboy, claiming that his physics degree and previous business ventures hardly madehim qualified to conceptualize, develop and build rockets. However, they were underestimating Musk, whowas not only a quick study, but who also brought on board the best engineers from top aerospacecompanies such as Boeing, TWA and NASA.

Musk was disappointed that NASA seemed disinterestedin space exploration. He wanted to pique the public’s interestin order to encourage NASA to increase their allocated funds on a project to land a deviceon Mars and then build a bubble bioverse. He also wanted to introduce a cheaper andsafer alternative to Space shuttle travel. He was struck by the fact that the Russianswere able to produce rockets that were cheaper and safer than anything the Americans couldcome out with. He traveled to Russia in an attempt to purchasea ‘refurbished ICBM’, but the deal became too complicated. Musk next set his sights on creating and successfullylaunching a reusable rocket, which he called Falcon 1, that could fly off to space, returnto Earth and then be launched back to space again. The first scheduled launch for Falcon 1 wasin 2005, yet three years later, after multiple failed attempts, Falcon 1 was still to haveits first successful flight. Finally, on its fourth attempt, Falcon 1,successfully launched. On the back of this success, SpaceX was ableto secure a $1.6 billion contract from NASA involving 12 future flights on their rocket,Falcon 9, to the International Space Station. Musk has estimated that SpaceX’s effortscan minimize the U.S. government’s expenses by around $1 billion per year... Electric Cars Musk has always been fascinated by cars andspecifically by the dream of creating a breed of electric cars that totally transform thedriving experience.

While he was still a sophomore at university,he had become aware of the world’s depleting resources. What was needed was an alternative sourceof fuel, one that would not produce the carbon emissions that were damaging the environment. It was from these ideas that Musk decidedto pursue electric cars. A year after launching SpaceX, Musk was introducedto Al Ciccone and Tom Gage of AC Propulsion, the company behind an all electric car knownas the Tzero. Musk was interested in mass producing theTzero, but Ciccone and Gage showed no interest. They did, however, introduce Musk to a groupof men who were dedicated to finding a more environmentally friendly vehicle. In July 2003, Musk teamed with three of them,Ian Wright, Marc Tarpening and Martin Eberhard to form the Tesla Corporation, in recognitionof the father of AC induction motors, Nikola Tesla. From the very beginning, Tesla faced an uphillbattle.

 The concept of an electric car was years awayfrom capturing the public attention. And, just as was the case with SpaceX, thequestion was loudly asked how a visionary with no experience in the car industry couldsuccessfully establish a new company and a new product and stand against the industrygiants. What’s more, they were attempting to dosomething that those industry giants had been unable to do. In fact, Robert Lutz, CEO of General Motors,stated that lithium ion technology for cars was at least 10 years into the future. As a result of the lack of industry enthusiasm,very few investors wanted anything to do with Tesla. In fact, Musk had to fund the majority ofthe operations of the company himself. The goal of having the first roadstar rollingoff the assembly line by 2007 never materialized, as costs continued to mount. Just as with X.com years earlier, tensionsarose among the management. Musk, who was Chairman of the Board, had nofaith in Martin Eberhard, the president of the company. Before long Eberhard had been ousted and Muskput himself in full control. He was now the CEO of two start ups.

Even for a dynamo like Musk, this was toomuch. Still, he had to make both companies work. His master plan for Tesla was to build a luxuryelectric sports car, along with a line of more affordable cars, and an electric poweredcar with zero emissions. In 2008, the first Roadstar was shipped out. This $110,000 electric sports car could runfor 200 miles on a single charge and was capable of going from 0-60 miles per hours in lessthan 4 seconds. The more family affordable electric car wascalled the Tesla Model S. Its release began in June of 2012. Sales took off, and there are currently 500rolling off the production lines every week. As well as being the CEO of Tesla, Musk isalso the chairman of the board of directors of another environmental company, SolarCity. While not the founder of the company, he isvery involved in achieving the company’s mission to deliver complete solar energy systemsto the end users without the cost of any up-front fees. It also promised reduced utility bills forall of its customers.

 By offering free installation and zero downpayment to homeowners, Musk has made it easier for consumers to afford solar energy and hasrevolutionized the way the solar industry is run. SolarCity had enjoyed tremendous growth andsuccess, with clients that include eBay, Wal-Mart and the U.S. Military, making it the numberone solar power service provider in the United States. Hyperloop As if being an industry leader in space travel,electric cars and solar power isn’t enough, in August 2013, Musk proposed a completelynew mode of personal transport. He called it the ‘Hyperloop.’ The concept will allow people to travel betweenlarge cities at the speed of sound, allowing passengers to go from San Francisco to L.A.in about 30 minutes. It involves a vacuum sealed pod that rideson top of electromagnetic waves, in much the same way as a surfer’s board rides an ocean’swaves. The pods will glide across the track at speedsof many hundreds of miles per hour. This eliminates the problem of friction createdby wheels on tracks.

 The same month that Musk unveiled plans forHyperloop, the crowdsourcing and collaboration platform JumpStartFund was established. Comprised of more than a hundred engineers,developers and investors, the group took on Hyperloop as their first project. In 2014 they formed Hyperloop TransportationTechnologies, and undertook a feasibility study. In 2015, Musk ran a student competition todesign and build HyperLoop pods. A SpaceX sponsored mile long track was builtto run the pods on. On July 20th, 2017 Musk announced that hehad gained ‘verbal government approval’ to build a Hyperloop track between New YorkCity and Washington, D.C. Elon Musk is one guy who it is a challengeto keep up with. In the twelve months from December 2015 toDecember 2016 he started no less than three companies - Open AI, a not-for-profit artificialintelligence research company, Neuralink, a neurotechnology start-up with the aim ofintegrating the human brain with A.I and The Boring Company, which aims to bring down thecost of tunnel boring by ten-fold. Personal Life Elon Musk has been married two times.
                                                             
He met his first wife, Justine Wilson, whilethey were both students at Queen’s University in Ontario. They tied the knot in 2000. Justine is a fantasy novelist who describedher life with Elon as a ‘dream lifestyle’ that was empty at the core. Her husband was so focused on his work that,even when he was at home, his mind didn’t seem to be there. The marriage ended in 2008 in a very messypublic sdivorce. Elon and Justine have five children together,a set of twins and a set of triplets. Musk met his second wife, Talulah Riley, ata London nightclub. They were married just six weeks after hefiled for divorce from Justine. The wedding took place at Skibo Castle inScotland - he was 39, she was 23. Things apparently didn’t go well, with Muskannouncing their separation just two years later on Twitter . . .@rileytalulah It was an amazing four years. I will love you forever. You will make someone very happy one day. The couple got back together in 2014, buta divorce was finalized towards the end of 2016. When it comes to the future of Elon Musk,the best advice is to watch this space. He has never backed down from his ambitionto travel to Mars and, possibly, retire there one day. Until that happens we can be assured thathe will continue to revolutionize the way that the world consumes energy, benefits fromtechnology, and travels into space.