Elon Musk

Experience

Recent

• August 2020

  "a Fitbit in your skull"

  • Musk described one of their early devices as "a Fitbit in your skull" which could soon cure paralysis, deafness, blindness, and other disabilities. _{Many neuroscientists and publications criticized these claims. For example, MIT Technology Review described them as "highly speculative" and "neuroscience theater".}

• May 2020

  Demo-2, Grimes' son 👶

  • SpaceX launched its first manned flight, the Demo-2, becoming the first private company to both place a person into orbit and dock a crewed space-craft with the ISS. Furthermore, it marked the first time an American astronaut was launched from American soil on an American rocket since the end of the Space Shuttle program. 🚀
  • Grimes gave birth to a son on May 4, 2020.
    • According to Musk and Grimes, his name was "X Æ A-12" (pronounced /ˈɛks.æʃˌeɪ.twɛlv/ EKS-ash-AY-twelv[368]); however, the name was deemed illegal under California law, because it contained characters that are not in the modern English alphabet, and was then changed to "X Æ A-Xii". This drew more confusion, as Æ is not a letter in the modern English alphabet. The child was eventually named "X AE A-XII", with "X" as a first name and "AE A-XII" as a middle name.

Back then

• May 2019

  The second Starlink set of test satellites _{and the first large deployment of a piece of the constellation occurred, when the first 60 operational satellites were launched.}

• January 2019

  Traveled to China for the groundbreaking of Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory.

• October 2018

  Donated over $480,000 to install new water fountains at all Flint, Michigan schools. 💧

• February 2018

  SpaceX began development of the Starlink constellation of low Earth orbit satellites in 2015 to provide satellite Internet access, with the first two prototype satellites launched in February 2018.

• 2018

  Left the OpenAI board _{to avoid possible future conflicts with his role as CEO of Tesla as Tesla increasingly becomes involved in AI.}

• July 2017

  Purchased x.com domain from PayPal _{for an undisclosed amount, stating that it has sentimental value to him.}

• July 13, 2017

  • Hyperloop One announced first successful test run.
    • Hyperloop One, a company participating in Hyperloop competition, had announced that it had done its first successful test run on its DevLoop track in Nevada on July 13, 2017. It lasted 5.3 seconds, reaching a top speed of 70 mph.

• September 2016

  Revealed Mars colonization exploration architecture details. 👽

• 2016

  Amber Heard, SolarCity Acquisition, Neuralink

  • Began dating American actress Amber Heard _{but the two split up after one year due to their conflicting schedules.}
  • SolarCity was acquired by Tesla, Inc. in 2016 and is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Tesla.
  • Co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup company to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence.
  • By 2016, Musk's private trust holds 54% of SpaceX stock, equivalent to 78% of voting shares.

• December 2015

  Announced creation on OpenAi, Artificial Intelligence company.

• January 2015

  • Made a cameo in The Simpsons episode. 🎥
  • Donated US$10 million to the Future of Life Institute.

• June 17, 2014

  • Committed to building a SolarCity advanced production facility in Buffalo.
    • 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. 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.

• 2014

  Announced Open-Sourcing Tesla Technology 🚘 _{to 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}

• August 12, 2013

  • Unveiled a concept for a high-speed transportation system.🚄
    • 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. 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.

• 2013

  SolarCity became the second largest solar power provider. 🌞

• May 25, 2012

  SpaceX's vehicle docked with ISS for the first time.

• 2012

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

• 2011

  Expressed his hope to send human to Mars _{he said he hopes to send humans to Mars' surface within 10–20 years.}.

• 2010

  • The Musk Foundation collaborated with SolarCity to donate a 25-kW solar power system to the South Bay Community Alliance's hurricane response center in Coden, Alabama. 🌞
  • Married his second wife, Talulah Riley

• 2008

  Musk and Wife, Justine Separated

• 2007

  Became the CEO of Tesla.

• 2006

  • Birth to triplets, SolarCity and SpaceX Success
    • Musk and his wife had other 3 sons, triplets. 👶👶👶
    • Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for SolarCity, which was then co-founded in 2006 by his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive.
    • From 2006, SpaceX got various contracts from NASA to transport cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.

• February 2004

  Joined Tesla 🚘 _{Musk led the Series A round of investment for Tesla in February 2004, joined Tesla's board of directors as its chairman.}

• 2004

  Musk's wife gave birth to twin sons. 👶👶

• July 2003

  Tesla, Inc was incorporated _{by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who financed the company until the Series A round of funding.}.

• October 2002

  eBay acquired PayPal _{PayPal was acquired by eBay for US$1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk received US$165 million.}

• May 2002

  Founded SpaceX, a space exploration company. 🚀

• February 2002

  • Got an idea to build affordable Rockets. 🚀
    • 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.

• October 2001

  • Went to Moscow to buy ICBMs to send payloads to Mars.
    • 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.

• 2001

  Interest in Space Exploration ✨ _{Conceptualized 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.}

• 2000

  • PayPal and Marriage ⚭
    • X.com merged with Confinity, which had a money-transfer service called PayPal and Musk became the CEO and company's largest shareholder by owning 11.7% of shares. The merged company focused on the PayPal service and was later renamed PayPal. PayPal's early growth was driven mainly by a viral marketing campaign where new customers were recruited when they received money through the service.
    • Married Justine Wilson

• March 1999

  Cofounded X.com, a financial service and payment company.

• February 1999

  Sold Zip2 to Compaq for US$307 million.

• 1995

  Started Zip2 _{web software company which developed and marketed an Internet city guide for the newspaper publishing industry. The company raised money from a small group of angel investors.}

• 1992

  Went to University of Pennsylvania to Study Business and Physics. 🎓

• June 1989

  Moved to Canada to attend Queen's University.

• 1983

  Sold the code of a BASIC-based video game he created called Blastar for approximately $500.

• 1981

  Developed an interest in computing with the Commodore VIC-20 and taught himself computer programming.

• June 28, 1971

  Born 👶🚀 in Pretoria, South Africa.