We already brought you part one of our list of 15 things you probably did not know about Elon Musk, and now we’re back with part two! Check out eight more fascinating facts about the CEO of Tesla Motors that you definitely (probably) did not know below. You might be surprised by what you find out!
Number Eight: He Has Experience With Explosives. Growing up, Musk experimented a lot with explosives and fireworks. In fact, he has said that he’s surprised he still has all of his fingers because of all the experimenting he did.
Number Seven: He Sold His First Program for $500. Musk’s very first program was called Blastar, and he sold it for just $500. He sold the program when he was just 12 years old.
Number Six: He Almost Opened an Arcade. When he was 16 years old, Musk almost opened an arcade with his younger brother, Kimbal. The two had a lease and they even had suppliers; however, they couldn’t get their business approved by the city.
Number Five: He Moved to Canada to Become an American. Musk thought that becoming an American citizen would be easier if he approached it as a Canadian rather than as a South African, so he moved to Canada to study at Queens University. He transferred to Penn in 1992, but he didn’t end up becoming an American citizen until 2002.
Number Four: He Was Homeless. When he first moved to Canada from South Africa, Musk was both broke and homeless. He began working at a lumber mill and did other odd jobs to make ends meet, and some of the jobs he did were so toxic he needed a hazmat suit.
Number Three: He Paid for School by Throwing Parties. While he was at Penn, Musk and his roommate turned their fraternity house into a nightclub, and they threw parties so he could fund his education.
Number Two: He Scared Off a Few Dates. When he was still dating, Musk would often talk about his interests to them. He admitted that his dates would often get bored with his discussion of electric cars.
Number One: He Dropped Out of Stanford After Two Days. Musk was accepted to Stanford’s doctoral program to study physics. However, just 48 hours into the program, he dropped out to pursue his own ideas. Clearly, that was a good idea.