ELON MUSK

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION by IDO KRISPIN

Throughout history, there have been people who have influenced the way we live. Elon Musk is one of these people.

I chose to prepare this research project on Elon Musk for several reasons. To begin with, although he is only 49 years old, he has done a lot of things that have influenced the world. Secondly, he is an interesting man who has original ideas.

There are a number of things that I already know about Elon Musk. Firstly, I know that he is the first and only person that sent a private spaceship into space. In addition, I know that he is the owner of Tesla, an American electric car.

I expect to learn new and interesting things about Elon Musk. First and foremost, I expect to find out about his childhood and where he grew Also, I want to learn how he started his career and who helped him succeed. Finally, I would like to discover what else he has done in his life so far.

Elon Musk has left his mark on the world. I am looking forward to finding out more about him.

Biography

Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. He has a sister and a brother and his brother was his early business partner. When he was 9 years old, his parents got divorced and he went to live with his father although his father was an evil man.

As a child, Elon Musk loved to read books and when he was ten years old, he became interested in computers. He learned computer programming from a manual and as a result he created a video game which he sold to PC and Office Technology magazine for $500 when he was only 12 years old.

When Elon Musk turned 18, he decided to go to college in the U.S.A. because he felt that “America is where great things are possible, more than any other country in the world.” Musk began his higher education at University of Pretoria, where he studied for only 5 months, then he entered Queen’s University in Canada and after three years he transferred to University of Pennsylvania where he got his Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from the College of Arts and Science. In 1995, Musk was accepted to a Ph. D program in energy physics/materials science at Stanford University in California but decided to quit at some point in order to start an internet startup.

In 1995, Musk and his brother Kimbal together with his friend Greg Kouri started Zip2 which was a web software company and in 1999, the company was bought by Compaq for $307 million and Musk received $22 million from the sale.

In 1999, Musk founded X.com, a company that provides online financial services and e-mail payment and in the year 2000, X.com merged with Confinity which had a money-transfer service called PayPal. PayPal has remained popular until today. In 2002, eBay bought PayPal and in 2017, Musk purchased X.com from PayPal.

In 2001, Musk came up with the idea of landing a miniature experimental greenhouse on Mars in order to make people more interested in space exploration. Musk flew to Moscow twice, in order to purchase ballistic missiles that could send payloads into space.

The deal didn’t work out so Musk decided to start a company that could build affordable rockets and that is when he founded SpaceX, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. In 2006, SpaceX was chosen by Nasa to provide crew and cargo to the International Space Station. In May, 2012, the company made history as the first commercial company that launched a vehicle to the International Space Station.

Musk believed that in order to make space travel affordable, they had to make rockets reusable. Space industry experts thought that is was impossible but in December, 2015, SpaceX managed to successfully land its rocket back at the launch pad. In 2017, SpaceX launched 18 successful missions.

In 2015, SpaceX began developing satellites that would provide satellite Internet access and in May, 2019 the company launched 60 operational satellites.

Musk was influenced by Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. He believes that space exploration is important because life on other planets might become necessary in order to ensure the survival of the human race. In May, 2020, SpaceX launched its first crewed flight. It was the first time a private company placed a person into orbit.

In addition to Musk’s involvement in space exploration, he is also active in Tesla company. In 2008, he became the CEO of the company and has been holding this position until today. Tesla’s sports car is an all-electric car which uses lithium-ion battery cells. The company has also built a four-door sedan, an SUV/minivan and other affordable electric cars. In July 2016, Tesla began developing Autopilot which is an advanced driver-assistance system similar to Mobileye.

In December 2015, Musk announced the creation of OpenAl which is a non-profit artificial intelligence company whose aim is to develop artificial intelligence that is safe and will benefit humanity and in 2016 he co-founded a neurotechnology start-up company that integrates the human brain with artificial intelligence.

Musk has also contributed to society by building a small rescue pod that helped the rescuers during the Tham Luang cave rescue. Furthermore, he is the chairman of the Musk Foundation that provides solar-power energy systems in disaster areas and other goals. Musk and his foundation donated over $480,000 to install new water fountains with filtration systems so that all the schools in Michigan will have free, safe drinking water from the water filtration systems.

To sum up, Musk is involved in many important projects to help the world become cleaner and is also a very generous philanthropist.

In the year 2000, Elon Musk married Justine Wilson whom he had met while they were both students at Queen’s University. They had a son but he died when he was only 10 weeks old but later they had five sons. In the year 2008 they got divorced and share custody of the five sons.

In 2010 Musk married Talulah Riley who is an English actress. They got divorced after four wonderful years but then remarried in 2013. However, in 2016 they got divorced again. Two years later, Musk began dating a musician named Grimes and on January 8, 2020 Grimes gave birth to their first son who they named “X AE-XII”.

MY FIGURE’S INFLUENCE ON ME

“I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary”

Elon Musk said this because he was born to an ordinary family, but he started doing extraordinary things when he was only ten years old. He created a code for a computer game and sold it to PC. Since then, he has done many extraordinary things, among them is launching the first private spacecraft.

I connect to this quote because I think that every person has something that sets him apart from anyone else. Therefore, every person is also extraordinary in a certain way.

It can be in the way they dress or behave, things they have invented, disabled people who excel in sports or in other fields despite their disability like Helen Keller who lost her hearing and her eye sight when she was 18 months old but graduated college and became an author, a political activist and a lecturer and there are examples of many other ordinary people who did extraordinary things.  I believe that if someone really wants something, he can do it even if everybody else thinks it is impossible

Interview

I have chosen to interview Mr. Smith. He is a fan of Elon Musk. He works at Tesla.

There are several reasons why I chose to interview this person. First of all, he has been a fan of Elon Musk for a long time. Moreover, he works at Tesla, which is a company owned by Elon Musk.

Q: Why are you a fan of Elon Musk?

A: Well, I think that Elon Musk is a unique person and there is a lot we can learn from him.

Q: What did you learn from him?

A: I learned that we should follow our dreams and not give up even if things become difficult.

Q: Have you ever been to any of Elon Musk’s lectures?

A: Yes, I have been to several of his lectures. I even took a picture with him.

Q: Which sentence do you remember best from his lectures and how has it affected you?

A: The sentence I remember the most is: “I could either watch it happen or be part of it.”  This sentence has influenced me in my life. I always try to take part in things that happen around me.

Q: What do you do in Tesla?

A: I work as a service automation technical project manager. I am responsible of the lifecycle of service automation initiatives.

Q: Is Elon personally involved in what is happening in Tesla?

A: He doesn’t come to the company very often but he attends all the important meetings where we decide about the final product.

Q: Do you know anything about his private life?

A: I only know that he has a brother and sister and that he is now married to Grimes and they have a son, but I was not invited to their wedding, ha ha ha!

Q: Have you ever driven Tesla’s autonomous car?

A: No, but I would love to drive such a car in the future.

Ido: Thank you so much for this interview.

Mr. Smith: You are welcome.

                      Reflection
I found the preparation of this project worthwhile for several reasons. First of all, I learned a lot about Elon Musk, the man, his business career and his achievements. Secondly, it was a different way to improve my English and last but not least, it was interesting.

I learnt many things while working on this project. For example, I learnt that Elon Musk is the second richest man in the world. In addition, I learnt details about his private life. I learnt that he was married three times, twice to his second wife, and that he has six children.

I developed a number of skills during our work on this project. I have enriched my vocabulary and I have improved my writing skills. Moreover, I have learnt to summarize articles.

On the one hand, there were things I enjoyed while preparing this project. I enjoyed learning new things and broadening my horizons. Because I did this project alone, I could work on it whenever I had time and when it was convenient for me.

On the other hand, there were things I enjoyed less while working on the project. For example, it was hard to find someone to interview about Elon Musk and also to decide what to include in the project and what not to include.

In conclusion, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to prepare this project. It has helped me improve my English and I have learnt new things. 

Bibliography

• Elon Musk – Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

• Elon Musk | Tesla- https://www.tesla.com/elon-musk

• Elon Musk – Tesla, Age & Family – Biography- https://www.biography.com/business-figure/elon-musk

• Elon Musk – Forbes- https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?sh=6dafebac7999