Elon Musk named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year"

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, was named "Person of the Year" for 2021 by Time magazine.

On Monday, the magazine unveiled the results of the selection of the world's richest people.

Edward Fersenthal, editor-in-chief of Time magazine, said on today on Monday: "He is reshaping life on Earth, and possibly life outside of Earth."

In Time magazine's profile of Musk, Felsentahl wrote: "The Person of the Year is a sign of influence, and few people have a greater influence than Musk on life on Earth, and possibly even beyond Earth."

"In 2021, Musk is not only the richest man in the world, but probably the richest example of a dramatic transformation in our society," he said.

In September 2021, Musk's space company made history by successfully sending four private passengers into orbit, the first space mission to perform a national crew. In April, NASA selected SpaceX as one of the space companies to build a lunar landing system capable of sending astronauts to the moon by 2024.

Time magazine also named researchers working on the new crown vaccine as this year's "heroes" on the same day. The cover image features scientists Katalin Kariko, Barney S. Graham, Kizzmekia Corbett and Drew Weissman — all of whom "have made extraordinary breakthroughs in introducing innovative and highly potent vaccine platforms based on messenger RNA that will have an impact on our health and well-being far beyond this pandemic," the magazine wrote.

Last Thursday, the magazine presented awards in different categories, including Simone Biles as Athlete of the Year and Olivia Rodrigo as Artist of the Year.

For nearly a century, the magazine has elected a Person of the Year each year. Last year, Time magazine selected then-president-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to top the list.

Time magazine's selection of The Person of the Year at the end of each year is not necessarily an award, but rather represents the person's influence on the news over the past year.