South Africa-born American entrepreneur Elon Musk can be called a man of multiple achievements. From Tesla to SpaceX, some of his revolutionary initiatives have been bringing about a massive change in the automotive industry. While Tesla is popularising electric sports cars, SpaceX is helping the Americans to reach space after nine years without relying on Russian rockets.
Today on his 51st birthday, let’s take a look at some interesting facts about the ‘Real-life Iron Man’:
At the age of 12, Musk developed a video game named ‘Blastar’ which was later sold to PC and Office Technology magazine for $500. The game is still available on the internet. He also worked for a gaming startup, ‘Rocket Science.’
Once, Musk used to rent his friend’s house every weekend and turned it into a nightclub for his college pals. He used to take $5 as the entry fee of the club. Sometimes almost 500 people used to visit the club and he earned $2,500 per weekend.
Elon Musk’s first car was a McLaren F1 which he bought in 1999. But due to not being able to afford the insurance he had to sell the car.
Elon Musk completed his two bachelor's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. Then, he moved to California at the age of 24 to pursue PhD in applied physics at Stanford University. But he gave up only after two days and started his first business venture, Zip2 which provided newspapers with maps and business directories.
Iron Man director Jon Favreau developed the character of Tony Stark after being inspired by Musk who later got a cameo in Iron Man 2. He has also featured in several American sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory, South Park and Simpsons.
In 2013, the SpaceX CEO purchased James Bond’s classic submarine car featured in the 007 classic The Spy Who Loved Me for $968,000 at a London auction.
In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company, of which he serves as CEO and Chief Engineer. In 2004, he was an early investor in electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc. (now Tesla, Inc.). He became its chairman and product architect, eventually assuming the position of CEO in 2008. In 2006, he helped create SolarCity, a solar energy company that was later acquired by Tesla and became Tesla Energy. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit research company promoting friendly artificial intelligence (AI). In 2016, he co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company focused on developing brain–computer interfaces, and founded The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company. He agreed to purchase the major American social networking service Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion. Musk has proposed the Hyperloop, a high-speed vactrain transportation system, and is the president of the Musk Foundation, an organization which donates to scientific research and education.
Musk has been criticized for making unscientific and controversial statements, such as spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, he was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for falsely tweeting that he had secured funding for a private takeover of Tesla; he settled with the SEC but did not admit guilt, and he temporarily stepped down from his Tesla chairmanship. In 2019, he won a defamation case brought against him by a British caver who had advised in the Tham Luang cave rescue.
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