When Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, the capital of the Republic of South Africa, on 28 June 1971, no one probably imagined that he would become one of the most recognisable and influential people in the world. It took him many years to get to the point where he is now.
As a ten-year-old, he learned to program on his first computer, and two years later he sold his first programme, the computer game Blastar. After emigrating to Canada, he took on various jobs, but he wanted to start a university. He was able to realise this idea in 1992, when he he was awarded a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated with a double bachelor’s degree in economics and physics.
Since then, his career as an entrepreneur has continued. He chose the United States as his place of work and residence United States. In 1995, he founded his company called Zip2.com, which dealt with web software. It developed and sold an online city guide for the publishing, with contracts signed by The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.
After four years, he co-founded X.com, a financial services company that handles payments via email. After another year, it was merged with the company, which owned the money transfer service PayPal. In 2002, eBay took over PayPal, and Musk bought the X.com domain because he said it had sentimental value for him.
One of Elon Musk’s most recognisable projects is the company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). It was founded in 2002 and develops launchers for space vehicles. The owner’s goal is to reduce the cost of space flight. It believes that this is possible, among other things, through multiple launches of the same rockets. The first rocket developed by SpaceX was the Falcon 1, which was launched for the first time on 24 March 2006. This rocket in September 2009 became the first private rocket in the history of astronautics to place a satellite into Earth orbit. The second rocket is the Falcon 9, launched for the first time on 4 June 2010.
Its main task is to launch the Dragon spacecraft, also developed by the company, into orbit which carries supplies to the International Space Station. The company’s plans also include the construction of a spacecraft, the presence of a permanent colony on Mars and several satellites providing internet. Musk sees conquering space as an opportunity for man. According to him, it gives man the opportunity to secure himself against dangerous and unpredictable phenomena that may occur on Earth. He mentions among them a collision with another celestial bodies, climate change, epidemics, or the use of weapons of mass destruction.
Another project that we associate directly with Musk’s name is Tesla Inc. He is co-founder of the company and its CEO. The aim of the business is to to provide low-cost, electric cars for the mass customer. Although the first model developed model was intended for customers with an affluent wallet, but these funds would allow the fund research and design of cheaper versions.
The year 2015 brought another project. OpenAI – a non-profit research organisation dedicated to artificial intelligence. Its aim is to develop artificial general intelligence in a way that is safe and safe and beneficial to humanity. A year later, Musk became co-founder of Neuralink. The company is involved in the development of neurotechnology. Its goal is to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence.
It focuses on creating devices that can be implanted in the human brain to make it easier for humans to connect to software and allow them to keep pace with the advances of artificial intelligence.
A similar start-up to OpenAI has a mining company dedicated to digging tunnels. The Boring Company is based in Los Angeles, California. The aim of its work is to create a network of underground of tunnels that will reduce surface traffic. The Las Vegas Convention Centre has created the LVCC Loop, which is the first commercially operating all-electric, zero-emission underground public transport system, in which passengers are transported directly to their destination, with no stops along the way.
There was also a lot of excitement about its investment this year, the purchase of Twitter, a social media social media. His years of work show how intensely active he has been. He was the founder or co-founder of several companies – including Zip2, PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink and Boring Company.
In January 2021, he was named the world’s richest man by Forbes magazine and agency Bloomberg. He is also currently at the top of this ranking.
Musk also chairs the foundation named after him, which funds science education, aid paediatrics and clean energy research. He is the recipient of many awards including the most recent in 2019, when he received the Stephen Hawking Award for his astounding achievements for humanity and tremendous successes in the field of space travel and from 2021, when he was Time Weekly’s Man of the Year for his immense power and influence on reality. An interesting fact is from 2017, when he received an Ph. honoris causa from the Stanisław Staszic University of Science and Technology in Kraków.
The figure of Elen Musk arouses interest, and it is difficult not to appreciate the diverse activities and innovative ideas which he also manages to implement. This is a person whose achievements are worth getting to know, and at the same time look forward to further investments realised.
Redacted by:
Michał Krajski, Prawy.pl
Sources :
1. https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk
2. https://www.boringcompany.com/
3. Piotr Kościński, Miliarderzy wciąż decydują, [w:] “Idziemy” nr 50 (893)/2022.