In this essay I’ll be discussing Elon Musk’s life and the inventions that have revolutionized our lives. Elon is my choice because of the amazing, futuristic and creative inventions he has made. Elon inspires me so much in the physics world. I will be discussing how he overcame what was “the seemingly impossible” in this essay.

Elon was conceived on June 28th, 1971 in Pretoria. Elon was born in South Africa to Maye and Errol. His Canadian mother was also a dietician. His father was a South African born electromechanical engineer. Elon is the oldest brother of his two siblings. Kimbal’s brother and Tosca. Elon and his parents divorced when Elon was ten. Elon then spent the majority of time with his father traveling all over South Africa. Errol was said to be abusive and cruel towards the children. Especially Elon and Kimbal, Errol would lecture them for hours. Elon’s childhood was not easy, but in spite of that he made some good friends. Elon had thought that he’d made some good friends. However, he continued to be bullied. It hurt. It was as if they had decided that I am the one, and would be relentless in their pursuit. Growing up was difficult because of this. It was a difficult time for many years. Elon was bullied and harassed by school gangs who beat him to death. Then, when he returned home, it would be just as bad. Elon went to the English-speaking Waterkloof House Preparatory schools. Later, Elon graduated Pretoria All Boys High School.

Elon’s VIC-20 computer was his first piece of technology. Soon after, his clever self developed the video game “Blastar”, which is based on the concept of “space invasions”. This “code” was sold for $500. He was 17 when he moved to Canada. Later, he obtained Canadian citizenship to avoid the South African Military. Apartheid was the main goal of the South African Military in the 1980’s.

After studying at Queen’s University for two years, he went to the University of Pennsylvania. He studied two majors at the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor’s of Science in Physics as well as a Bachelor’s of Arts in Economics. Both of his majors were influential in shaping his future. Physics shaped his thoughts and influenced how he lived. He said that physics was a good way to think, to get to the fundamentals of things and then reason from there. He would fix computers that were infected with viruses. And he fixed them. He was well known in college for being able to solve any and all computer problems.

The idea was a good one, which he came up with together with his college friend Ressi. They bought an old fraternity home with ten rooms. Musk and Ressi chose to study during the weekdays. On weekends, the couple transformed their ten-bedroom residence into a dance club. Covering windows with trashbags or other decor to create a pitch-black house. Around five hundred people would come and party for $5 each. They made an incredible profit of up to $2500 a weekend. The second house had 14 bedrooms. They would make the tables from plywood and empty kegs. Elon said he occasionally drank diet coke and vodka. At each of the weekend parties, Elon hoped he could earn enough to cover his monthly rent.

In Palo Alto California he began a PhD program in applied physics. In only two days, he had dropped out and started a new venture. Musk, along with his brother Kimbal and $28,000 they had in their hands, founded Zip2, which offered, licensed, and assisted newspapers to create an online guide. Elon wanted Elon was CEO, but board members wouldn’t allow it. Board sold company for 307 plus $34 million. He received 7%, or $22 million.

He co-founded “X-.com”, an online bank account, shortly after. He spent 10 million dollars of the Zip2 sales. He purchased Confinity (another tool for online banking) and its money-transfer service, “Paypal”, after the dotcom burst. Paypal was soon the largest part in X.com. In 2001, he renamed x.com to paypal after noticing this. Paypal was the preferred payment method within a short time. Elon was fired from his position as CEO yet again, leading to the sale of an additional company. He sold Paypal in 2002 to Ebay for $165 million.

In 2001 he visited Moscow to look for an ICBM he might modify to be able to lift loads into orbit. Elon’s advisors and him did not agree and he stopped. He tried again, in 2002, and again failed. The Russian aerospace companies demanded a budget that was far beyond his. He thought that he could start a business to produce affordable rockets by using vertical integration and a modular engineering. He launched “Space X”, a space exploration company, in 2002. His goal was to establish a “true-space-faring society”. This mission was funded with $100 million. The first of his projects, Falcon 1, set a record for the first liquid-filled, privately funded rocket that launched a satellite in Earth’s orbit. SpaceX continues to create history. SpaceX Dragon docked to the International Space Station in 2012. In 2015, SpaceX made another history when it successfully landed the first stage Falcon rocket at the launchpad. NASA funded Spacex’s missions with $1.6 billion.

Musk continued to work on his major projects. In 2003, Tesla Motors Inc. had just started. Martin Eberhard & Marc Tarpenning started the company in 2003, but they didn’t make it through the first funding round of 2004. Then, he was able to take control of the company by investing $7.5 millions. The car was his idea, he insisted that the Tesla Roadster be designed to the highest standards and the body must be made of all carbon fibre. The first Tesla sold 2,500 cars in 31 countries. The greatest problem for the company was the scarcity of charging stations worldwide compared with the countless gas stations. In 2013, he made the decision to invest more in charging stations along the East and West coasts. He also granted all other automobile companies the use of its technology patent for electric car production worldwide. In 2014, his salary was just $1 per year, but he received compensation in the form of stocks. He said that Tesla wasn’t about making money but about technology advancement.

Aside from the many other investments that he made, a big one was “Hyperloop”. This hypothetical machine would be able to transport passengers in under 35 minutes between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Estimated costs are $6 billion. The 5 mile Hypertrack would be launched as a Pilot Program in 2016. He has since invested in a competition to design the pod. Since 2017, he’s received verbal government approval to start building the hyper track connecting Washington D.C. to NYC.

My opinion is that the Tesla Roadster was the greatest achievement. With a 0-60-second time of 1.9, a quarter mile of 8.8 and a top of 250 mph with a range 620miles, the Tesla Roadster is the fastest vehicle in the entire world. This car is one of 1,000 available to reserve. The prince for this vehicle is $250,000. This seems reasonable.

He has earned a networth of $22.1 Billion US dollars. This is despite all the risks and investments he made and all his ideas. It is certain that more will come. His impact on physics is not the only thing that’s impressive. Musk did not just create the fastest car, but he also created a new lifestyle. I was amazed to see this car on the road in Duluth. In his mind, the future has already arrived. It is clear that with all his accomplishments since his very first invention in 1995, he’ll be able to do more. This incredible entrepreneur changed the way we live and gave birth to electric cars. These cars will become more and more common in daily life. Ideas will continue to improve. They will soon be smarter, faster and stronger. You know, his team has already developed the self-driving Tesla. It is certain that there will be more.

elliotjones

Elliot Jones is a 29-year-old middle school teacher and blogger. He has been writing since he was a teenager, and his writings have been featured on various websites and in magazines. He enjoys writing about education, parenting, and lifestyle topics.