Every era has produced a few people with the vision and ability to change our lives by creating things that had never before seemed possible. Thomas Edison, whose work spanned from 1875 to 1910, invented the light bulb, the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and greatly improved versions of the telephone. Edison’s ability to blend theoretical creativity with practical applications is what made him the visionary of his day. The 21st century has a man with similar talents, who is pushing the boundaries of modern technology in numerous directions. 

Elon Musk has a comprehensive vision of how the world can evolve, coupled with the unique ability to make those visions into present day reality. He is known to most people for the rockets his company SpaceX launches, and the electric cars he produces at Tesla. But those are just the tip of his innovative iceberg. His other current ventures include Starlink communication satellites, SolarCity energy, xAI artificial intelligence, the AI search engine Grok, Neuralink for brain health, the Boring company for rapid transit, and of course the social media platform “X” (formerly known as Twitter). As if that wasn’t enough, he also worked to bring more efficiency and transparency to the US government. Musk is the wealthiest individual in the world with an estimated net worth of about €500 billion. So who is this modern day Edison whose energy and imagination seem boundless?

Elon Musk was born and raised in South Africa before immigrating to Canada at the age of 18. He went on to study at several top universities in America, and became a US citizen in 2002. His first business venture was an online payment site that eventually became part of PayPal. In 2002 that company was sold, and Musk used most of his share to start SpaceX. Up until then almost all rockets had been built by large governments (US, Russia, China, EU) with limitless resources, but Musk thought he could do it better. So, despite having no previous experience with rockets or space travel, he chose to follow his vision of how to make them more efficient. He designed a new rocket called Falcon 1, but the first three versions exploded before going into orbit. By 2008 SpaceX was almost bankrupt, and could afford just one more rocket to make a final try at reaching orbit. That one was successful; the company was saved; and a new era in space travel was born.

SpaceX grew rapidly, and eventually they were doing all of the resupply missions to the International Space Station. With this success, Musk turned toward a challenge that had always puzzled him. The vast majority of the cost for building a rocket is in the large first stage that lifts it into space. No one had ever thought it was possible to recover this booster stage, so they were always lost. Having to build an expensive new booster for every launch made no sense to Musk, so in 2012 he started developing technology to make the boosters reusable by having them return safely to earth. There were many fiery failures, but Musk did not give up, and finally in 2015 he successfully landed a booster intact. Since then over 400 SpaceX missions have landed their rocket boosters, and had them reconditioned to be used again.  

SpaceX is by far the world's largest rocket launcher, eclipsing all private competitors and national programs. Musk’s ultimate vision is to develop a fully-reusable, cost-effective rocket that can bring people to Mars and beyond. In 2019 SpaceX began work on ‘Starship’ - the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. Eight prototypes have been launched since 2023. Each one has shown improved performance, but as of this writing none have been completely successful. However, in the last two missions they have been able to catch and reuse the booster rockets. The video of this giant booster nestling into the massive arms of the catching tower is like watching a science fiction movie.

In 2019 SpaceX expanded by launching “Starlink”, which is a series of small communication satellites that provide internet access on your phone from even the most remote places on Earth. Over 10,000 of these Starlink satellites have been launched, and they follow each other in low orbit around our planet. Here is how it works: Users have a Starlink kit that includes a small satellite dish and a wifi router. You mount the dish somewhere with a clear view of the northern sky, and then attach it to the router which is plugged into a power source or battery. The dish transmits your phone’s signals to the Starlink satellites that are orbiting overhead. Every few minutes your connection is automatically handed over to the next satellite in the chain as it passes your location. These satellites send your message to a ground station that forwards it to the place you are trying to contact.

In 2004, just two years after starting SpaceX, Musk jumped into the electric car business by founding Tesla Motors. Bear in mind that since the 1920’s, every small car company that had tried to compete with the automotive giants had been complete failures. But here was Musk, with no previous experience in that business, taking them on. It was a time when all of the major car manufacturers in the world were working feverishly to create electric cars that would attract the public. Yet it turned out that Musk’s Tesla was the one that eventually stirred the imagination of drivers throughout the world. How did he do that? The Tesla Model S went into production in 2012, and it was part of a very innovative marketing strategy. Musk’s eventual goal was to sell millions of affordable electric cars to the general public. Yet his first car was very luxurious, very fast and very expensive. Why begin with a car that almost nobody could afford to buy?

The plan was to create a car that was so technologically and stylistically amazing that people would notice and respect the Tesla name. Then, with lessons learned from building the Model S, they were better able to create the Model 3 - a beautiful car with the most advanced all-electric engineering, but at a relatively affordable price. The Model S gave Tesla instant credibility, which helped the Model 3 to become the most popular electric car in the world. In addition, Musk is tackling the challenge of having enough electric car charging stations with his usual enthusiasm. Tesla has built thousands of super powerful stations throughout the US, and is expanding to the rest of the world. These are all solar-powered and free for Tesla owners.

Speaking of solar energy, Musk has developed two major clean energy businesses that now operate under the Tesla brand. Solar City is the largest manufacturer of solar panels and solar roof shingles in the US. Musk has also tackled the problem which has stifled solar energy from the beginning: having enough battery capacity to store excess energy. Tesla currently produces state of the art batteries to store solar energy for both homes and major electricity grids. Musk is also aware of the need for more efficient roads and rapid transit, so he founded The Boring Company. Its goal is to improve the process of building tunnels to make it faster and more economical. He has already completed several commuter tunnels that drivers are using in the Las Vegas area.

Musk is also a leader in artificial intelligence (AI). In 2015, he co-founded Open AI, which at the time was a non-profit artificial intelligence research company. But in 2023 he felt that the other owners were taking it in a dangerous direction, so he left, and started xAI, which includes the Grok search engine. Musk’s creativity and curiosity also extends to healing serious brain injuries. In 2016, he and 8 scientists founded Neuralink to develop implantable brain–computer interfaces that allow people with disabilities to communicate and function. For instance, a person who is paralyzed and cannot speak, is able to communicate via a computer, simply using his thoughts.

In 2022 Musk acquired the social media platform Twitter for 44 billion dollars, and rebranded it as “X”. He said his motivation was that, “Governments and special interests control the legacy media. They control what people see and hear by deciding what gets published.” He feels that opening this popular platform to all opinions can help to save free speech, which is a bedrock of democracy. On top of all this, he has worked to bring more efficiency and transparency to the US government. He put together a team of genius technocrats at DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) who have uncovered billions of dollars in wasteful spending. On a personal level, Musk has a tendency to be a bit brash and insensitive, but like him or loathe him, there is no denying that this is an extraordinary man. His boundless imagination envisions innovations in an astounding variety of areas, and with his seemingly tireless energy he turns theoretical possibilities into real world inventions and solutions. Thomas Edison would be proud… and astounded!