Elon Musk is South Africa's very own rags to riches story
- Sold his first computer programme aged 12, after teaching himself programming
- Was inspired by a popular cult status science fiction book
- Dropped out of Stanford after only 2 days to create his first company with his brother
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Starting off with humble beginnings Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa on 28th of June 1971 to Errol and Maye Musk. He was the oldest of 3 children and was something special from quiet a young age. When he was only 9 years old he got his first computer and began teaching himself programming. At the tender young age of 12 he had sold his first programme, Blastar, a computer game similar to Space Invader. Destined for great things, Musk completed his schooling and tried to move to the United States at age 17 to avoid serving in the army. However he was rejected at the time and had to settle for Canada.
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Briefly.co.za learned that once Musk was in Canada he struggled to make ends meet and enrolled at Queens University. During a struggle with depression he was inspired by the science fiction novel, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In the book a supercomputer is asking the answer to the meaning of life to which it answered: 42. Intrigued by the need to ask the right questions he thought to himself: What would have the greatest impact on the future of humanity? He determined that the internet, the transition to renewable energy sources and space colonization would fit the bill and used this as the foundation of his empire. Now he was faced with the issue of funding to explore these areas.
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He moved to the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated with an undergraduate in economics and a bachelors in physics. From here he would go on to Stanford University where he would only attend for 2 days before dropping out to begin Zip2 Corporation with his brother. This was a phenomenal success and when he company was sold to Compaq for an unbelievable $340 million. He used this as the capital to start many different successful companies such as Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla and many more. Today his net worth sits at $22.3 billion USD.
Musk's story is truly every science fans dream come true and he shows no signs of slowing down. He is living proof that anything is possible, no matter what your story is.
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Source: Briefly News
