Time’s Person of the Year is Elon Musk

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, poses for a photo in 2013.

Musk is seen at left with his sister, Tosca, and Kimbal in 1976.

Musk celebrates his 18th birthday in 1989. He would leave South Africa for Canada, where he studied at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In 1995, Musk graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in economics and physics.

Maye Musk celebrates her 50th birthday party with her children in 1998. With her, from left, are Tosca, Kimbal and Elon. In 1995, Elon Musk co-founded Zip2 Corp., a company that developed online city guides. He would sell it to Compaq in 1999 for $307 million.

PayPal CEO Peter Thiel, left, and Musk pose at the company’s corporate headquarters in Palo Alto, California, in 2000. Musk had co-founded X.com, an online banking and financial services company. It merged with Continuity in 2000 and was renamed PayPal. The online payment platform was acquired by eBay in a $1.5 billion deal in 2002. Musk pocketed $165 million.

Musk, bottom, watches a Falcon 1 rocket lift off in 2008. It was the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit.

In 2008, Musk became CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors. Years earlier, he had joined the electric-car company as chairman of the board, overseeing its initial round of investment funding.

Musk walks with US President Barack Obama at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in 2010.

Musk is joined by his fiancee, actress Talulah Riley, and his twin sons, Griffin and Xavier, at a Nasdaq opening-bell ceremony in 2010. Musk has been married three times — twice to Riley. Their second divorce came in 2016.

Musk unveils the Falcon Heavy rocket, billed as the world’s most powerful rocket, in 2011. Musk told CNN he decided to build the rocket to put bigger satellites into orbit.

Musk attends the opening of a Tesla store in Newport Beach, California.

Musk walks in a procession after delivering the commencement speech at the California Institute of Technology in 2012.

Musk holds up a model rocket in this photo for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine in 2012.

Musk appears on the late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in 2013.

Musk poses with a Tesla during a visit to Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 2014.

Musk and his then-wife, Talulah Riley, attend the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2014.

Musk represents SpaceX at a US Senate subcommittee hearing in 2014. The hearing was to learn more about space launch programs. SpaceX had already landed a few federal contracts at that point, and Musk made his case for more.

Musk unveils the dual-engine chassis of the new Tesla Model D in 2014.

Musk attends the Time 100 Gala with filmmaker George Lucas, left, and rapper Kanye West in 2015.

Musk guest-stars on an episode of the TV sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” in 2015. He played himself.

Musk and other business leaders listen to US President Donald Trump during a visit to the White House in 2017.

Musk and his girlfriend, singer Grimes, attend the Met Gala in New York in 2018.