In Their Own Words: Elon Musk

Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m.

Elon Musk was a multimillionaire by the time he reached the age of 31. Part of the new breed of what The New York Times calls “thrillionaires” — high-tech entrepreneurs using their boundless wealth to turn science-fiction dreams into reality — Musk is always thinking about the next big thing.

Again and again, he has put everything on the line to advance his SpaceX programs and get more than just astronauts into space. Musk is determined that someday his spacecraft will allow ordinary people to reach — and live safely — on other planets. The co-founder and CEO of the Tesla line of electric vehicles, he is also the visionary behind the Hyperloop high-speed transport system, and companies making significant leaps forward in artificial intelligence.

From his childhood as a bullied boy who was told he would never amount to anything, to the young innovator who was told he was crazy, to the self-taught rocket scientist, the story of Elon Musk is a fascinating portrait of a singular, larger-than-life trailblazer.