A Book from 1952 Predicted Someone Named 'Elon' Would Guide Humans to Mars

You may take for granted the fact that Elon Musk's name now invariably appears alongside the words "Mars" and "space." But that wasn't always the case, especially not back in 1952, you know, 19 years before Musk was born. 

Yet a freaky coincidence came to light in December last year, and it's catching people's attention once again. 

It just so happens that Musk's first name, Elon, appeared in the German scientist's, Wernher von Braun, book "The Mars Project" as a connection to Mars exploration. What stands out about this link is that von Braun's book was published 69 years ago, far ahead of when Musk would be involved with anything to do with the Red Planet. 

Fun fact: von Braun was part of the German team of scientists during WWII that created the Vengeance Weapon 2, which later proved instrumental for the U.S. space program during the Cold War.

In his science fiction novel, von Braun writes about a futuristic (at the time the book was published this meant the 1980s) people who would colonize Mars, and who would be led by someone called "Elon." 

How in the sweet name of all things possible could von Braun predict Musk's involvement with Mars? 

Well, after closer inspection, and translation (the first version was published in German, followed by an English one in 1953), someone called Pranay Pathole explained via a Twitter post that the "Elon" in the book "isn't the name of the person but rather the name of the position something like an elected meritocratic president." 

So even though the coincidence is still worthy of a mention, von Braun didn't quite predict that Elon would be leading the colonizers on Mars, but that someone who held the title "Elon" would. In any case, the link is far too supernatural to go unmentioned. 

The whole coincidence was brought up on Twitter in December last year after Musk himself posted a short and sweet message saying "Destiny, destiny, No escaping that for me." To which someone called Toby Li jumped at the opportunity to respond with the 1952 book linking Elon to Mars.

Speaking about destiny, did you know that Von Braun's 1953 book "Mars Project," referenced a person named Elon that would bring humans to Mars? Pretty nuts pic.twitter.com/m28yFU4Ip6

— Toby Li (@tobyliiiiiiiiii) December 30, 2020

It seemed a little too good to be true for Musk who responded with a  "Are we sure this is real?" 

And then the truth came out after Pathole shared a more accurate version of the meaning, linking Elon to the governor of the Mars colony. 

Yeah it's real. This is the English transcript of the same book ... But "Elon" referred by Von Braun in the book isn't the name of the person but rather the name of the position something like an elected meritocratic president pic.twitter.com/GADiMJHxLp

— Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) December 30, 2020

Who would have believed such a story to be true? Given Musk's strong link to sending humans to Mars and beyond, it's fascinating to uncover such hidden treasures.