Operator Finance Kang Zhao/Wen
On the morning of February 10, Beijing time, the American Academy of Engineering released the list of additional academicians of the National Academy of Engineering in 2021, of which Tesla CEO Elon Musk was selected, which was a big surprise, and also reminded of a bunch of tobacco academicians, liquor academicians and so on in China.
As for why Musk was elected as an academician, the American Academy of Engineering said that SpaceX founder Musk has made breakthroughs in the design, engineering, manufacturing and operation of reusable launch vehicles and sustainable transportation and energy systems. However, this has triggered a bunch of hot discussions, because Musk's rocket is completed by a company, not Musk's scientific research results, Musk himself is not an inventor, a creator, but a businessman, he does not engage in research, but let others do research, such a person elected as an academician, but also shows the respect of the American Academy of Sciences for successful people.
Not one of Musk's entrepreneurs was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, but also Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, LG Energy Solutions Michigan President Gray Denise, and General Electric's head of smart grid business McDonald John. And Microsoft CEOs are busy with business every day, where there is time to engage in scientific research, which also makes some netizens sigh: What is the standard for academicians of the American Academy of Sciences?
In China, whether entrepreneurs will be elected academicians has been controversial. In recent years, a series of entrepreneurs or business names have appeared in the list of effective candidates for the co-election of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, such as Baidu's Robin Li, Alibaba's Wang Jian, BYD's Wang Chuanfu, Bydy's Wang Li, chief engineer of Moutai Distillery (Group) Co., Ltd., Xie Jianping, president of The Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute of China National Tobacco Corporation, Chen Yumin of Shandong Gold Group Co., Ltd., and so on. In the end, some of these entrepreneurs really became academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
(Editor-in-Charge: Han Li)
![Academicians Musk and Fang Daining were selected as academicians of the National Academy of Engineering in 2021[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)