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The highest honor for American engineers- the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), has announced its list of newly elected members. This year, 111 academicians and 22 foreign academicians have been elected, among whom Elon Musk is the most watched.

Musk, one of the most influential global innovation leaders after Steve Jobs, leads multiple cutting-edge innovation companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, making him the richest person on the Earth.

However, being elected as a member of NAE is still impressive given that the National Academy of Engineering is the highest academic institution in the United States engineering community and one of the four national academic institutions in the United States.

Although Musk has frequent achievements in the industry, some critics still find him controversial in his ideas and practices, such as cryptocurrency and being a social media enthusiast.

Even more, Musk only holds a bachelor’s degree as his highest academic degree.

Despite all this, Musk has one more credential from now on: being an NAE member!

This list also includes many industry professionals, such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Kathleen Bergeron, the Hardware Engineering VP of Apple.

Several Chinese people have been elected too, such as Professor Fang Daining from Beijing Institute of Technology and Dr. Zhang Hongjiang, the executive director of the Intelligence Source Research Institute.

Why was Musk elected as a member of NAE?

Musk’s achievement at SpaceX has been recognized as the core reason. As the CEO and Chief Engineer of SpaceX, Musk has made breakthroughs in reusable launch vehicles, sustainable transportation, and energy systems.

Musk, Elon Reeve, founder, chief executive officer, and chief engineer, SpaceX, Hawthorne, Calif. For breakthroughs in the design, engineering, manufacturing, and operation of reusable launch vehicles and sustainable transportation and energy systems.

Undoubtedly, SpaceX is also the most attention-grabbing one of Musk’s many ventures.

Founded in 2002, SpaceX was a new chapter for Musk after achieving financial freedom through the X.com/Paypal entrepreneurship.

Musk believes that mankind should quickly grasp and achieve interstellar travel and survival on multiple planets during times of peace.

In Musk’s view, the universe is not peaceful, and the earth is not always safe. For example, events such as asteroid impacts are not without probability, and humans should take the initiative.

So Musk began cross-industry research and entered the aerospace field. Before Musk, aerospace was not a “civilian commercial” field, and no one would choose to start a business in this field.

Initially, Musk hoped to buy ready-made rockets, but the cost was too high. Later, he had to develop and launch rockets on his own, and after many failures, he finally realized the successful launch of rockets and, more importantly, their repeated reusability.

So far, SpaceX has achieved the feat of 11 consecutive rocket launches and recoveries, set the record for manned spaceflight by private rocket companies, and achieved the record for the total number of launches exceeding other organizations…

However, SpaceX’s development is not always smooth sailing.

In addition to frequent setbacks during the research and development process, there were also crises such as a loss of funding and bankruptcy on the brink.

Musk not only invested all the wealth he earned from his first venture into SpaceX, but also used Tesla to support SpaceX, robbing Peter to pay Paul.

But in the end, after years of purgatory, Musk’s multi-line drive has achieved tremendous success.

SpaceX now fully controls the technology of rocket reuse and manned entry into space stations, and the next step is to land on Mars.

And in SpaceX’s climb to the summit, it has also produced golden eggs like “satellite internet” Starlink, adding a disruptive commercial landing model, making SpaceX one of the highest-valued unlisted companies in the world.

After resolving production capacity issues, Tesla has also got on track, with soaring production capacity, sales, stock prices, and market value. It is now the world’s most valuable car company, and Musk has become the world’s richest person, even the richest person ever on earth.

In addition, several innovative companies under Musk’s leadership are also advancing simultaneously, such as solar company SolarCity, tunnel company Boring, super high-speed rail company Hyperloop, and brain-computer interface company Neuralink.# Elon Musk: The Most Innovative Figure Since Steve Jobs

Elon Musk has become the world’s most innovative figure since Steve Jobs. However, he is not without controversy.

Born in South Africa in 1971, Musk immigrated to Canada at the age of 17 to avoid military service. He first attended Queen’s University and later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, earning degrees in economics and physics.

In 1995, Musk moved to California and was accepted into a dual-degree program in materials science at Stanford. However, just a few days after enrolling, he chose to drop out and join the internet entrepreneurship boom in Silicon Valley.

Musk founded his first software company, Zip2, which was acquired by Compaq for $300 million in 1999. Later, he founded the online payment company X.com, which merged with Confinity to form PayPal before being acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion.

With these successes, Musk achieved personal financial freedom.

In 2002, he founded SpaceX, where he currently holds positions as CEO, CTO, and chief engineer.

In 2004, he entered Tesla as an investor, ousted the original founder, and took over as CEO, leading Tesla from 0 to 1 and taking it public.

Musk’s controversial actions include his “unconventional” behavior, including early actions at Tesla, supporting SpaceX financially with revenue from Tesla, and pursuing an aggressive approach to self-driving technology that some feel ignores human values.

Musk’s attitude and views on many issues have also sparked controversy, such as his handling of COVID-19 at his factories and his opposition to labor unions at Tesla.

Musk has also faced legal trouble due to his outspokenness, such as tweeting about Tesla’s privatization in 2018 and facing charges from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, resulting in him losing his position as chairman. Despite these controversies, Musk has not backed down from his public statements.

In any case, Musk is not without controversy. His supporters see him as a savior in the field of innovation, while his critics see him as too willing to overlook human life in the pursuit of technological advancement.

Interestingly, Musk, who is known for his controversial behavior, has even been elected as a member of the US National Academy of Engineering.

And, as some have jokingly pointed out, his highest academic achievement is only a bachelor’s degree.

Other notable figures elected to the Academy in the same year：

Aside from Musk, the 133 newly elected members of the Academy include many notable people from well-known companies.

For example, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, was elected for his contribution to cloud computing, as he played an important role in the process of cloud computing becoming infrastructure.

Kathleen Bergeron, Vice President of hardware engineering at Apple, has built new hardware products including Homepod and is also a well-known female technology representative within Apple.

In addition, Jim Yurko, an outstanding engineer in Apple’s materials department, was also elected as a member of the Academy.

Among Chinese representatives, Professor Fang Daining from Beijing Institute of Technology and Dr. Zhang Hongjiang, President of Zhiyuan Research Institute, were also elected as foreign members of the Academy.

Characteristics of Members of the National Academy of Engineering of the United States

Finally, it is worth reiterating the importance of the honor of member.

The National Academy of Engineering of the United States is the highest academic organization in the field of engineering in the United States and is one of the four major national academic institutions in the United States, alongside the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and National Research Council.

Since its establishment in 1964, being elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering has become one of the highest professional honors for engineers in the United States and even around the world.

The “criteria” for the National Academy of Engineering membership are also straightforward:

“To recognize those who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice or education.”

Along with the 111 American members and 22 foreign members elected this year, the total number of Academy members has reached 2,388, with 310 foreign members.

It is worth noting that this year’s list of members has several characteristics, such as:

Attention to basic fields. Many experts in related basic fields such as materials and earth sciences were elected.

Attention to fields such as space exploration and life sciences. Many members were elected due to space exploration, such as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Virgin Galactic CEO, and the popular Pfizer company during the COVID-19 pandemic also has several members elected.

Finally, engineers are not judged solely by their education background.This year’s newly elected academicians overwhelmingly come from the industry sector, with only a handful from universities or research institutions, strictly under the label of “industry-academia collaboration.”

Notable figures from the industry sector, such as Elon Musk and Satya Nadella, also lack a doctoral degree.

As the highest academic honor in the most developed country, it is worth noting that this honor values practical innovation over educational background.

Full list:
https://www.nae.edu/?id=270224

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This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.