Does Elon Musk Deserve A Nobel Prize? Some Think So

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Originally published on EV Obsession.

Should Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk be given a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences? He has been having quite an impact on a number of important industries as of late, has he not?

And some of the Nobel Prize categories have become seemingly rather easy to win, haven’t they? After all, Barack Obama managed to win a Nobel Peace Prize after becoming president of the US after having done precisely nothing, other than be elected president. (Yes, I’m aware that different processes and institutions are involved in the selection of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and the Peace Prize.)

Despite the somewhat caustic humor above, though, I actually do think a good case could be made that awarding Elon Musk with a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences would be justified. A fair number of people seem to be in agreement, as a Change.org petition is now making the rounds calling for exactly that.

The petition was apparently started by an Edward Tanas, of Calgary, Canada. Without further ado, here’s the text of the petition to the Swedish Nobel Prize Committee:

We, the signed, would like you, the Swedish Nobel Committee, to award Mr Elon Musk a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Mr Musk has spent most of his life helping not only to help the economics of transportation flourish with technological breakthroughs but has done so in a manner that addresses climate change.

His ventures into the production of electric cars. most recently the more affordable Tesla Model 3, which at the time of writing this petition has over 253,000 orders, has helped to reduce the impact on the environment by replacing internal combustion engine vehicles.

Biography

Elon Reeve Musk is an American entrepreneur, inventor and investor. He is best known for his role as CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors, and as co-founder of online money transfer system PayPal, and of commercial space program SpaceX.

Elon was born in South Africa, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. He was raised primarily by his father, who was an engineer. Elon became interested in computers at a young age and began programming in his teens. After high school, Elon emigrated to Canada, where he attended college, and later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.

In 1995, Musk started a PhD in applied physics at Stanford University in California, but quickly dropped out to start his own company. He would go on to sell that company, called Zip2, to Compaq, for more than $300 million in 1999, of which he received $22 million. With that capital, Musk started X.com in 1999. It was an online banking site that later changed its name to PayPal. EBay purchased the company in 2002 for $1.5 billion in stock, of which $165 million went to Musk. That same year, he became an American citizen.

Flush from the PayPal sale, Musk looked to the heavens, and began SpaceX, a private, for profit space program. After a few false starts, the company began developing its own rockets. The company launched a landmark commercial spacecraft in 2009 and again in 2012.

While planning his assault upon the heavens, Musk took an interest in more terrestrial matters, specifically the way people get across the surface of the earth. After a major investment in 2004, Musk joined the board of Tesla Motors as its chairman. Also contributing as a product architect, he played a role in the designs of the cars Tesla was building. Following the 2008 financial crisis, Musk assumed the mantle of Tesla Motors CEO, a position he still holds today.

Beyond Tesla and SpaceX, Musk remains involved in a number of futuristic projects. He is connected with a high-speed transportation system called the Hyperloop. He has also been a proponent of a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) supersonic jet aircraft.

We thank you for your patience in reading about his past accomplishments and various ventures which have benefited society and will continue to do so.

If you agree with the argument, you can head on over to the Change.org petition page.

Reprinted with permission.