Great minds sparked in South Africa

 

Elon Musk, schooled at Pretoria Boys High, now Canada's own real life "Iron Man" most famous inventor, started, paypal, started Tesla Motors, started SpaceX.

Michael Thackeray, a South African-born researcher working at Argonne who filed a patent in the U.S. for a composite cathode structure of the core of a lithium-ion battery, which "costs by nearly half, extends life, and — importantly — improves safety compared to previous li-ion batteries. The patent is now at the heart of a international patent battle. 

Rory Byrne, originally from Pretoria, studied at Witwatersrand University, designed the Ferrari that won over 60 Grand Prix.

Gordon Murray, originally from Durban, studied at Natal Technical College (now Durban University of Technology), designed the McLaren F1 road cars and Formula One cars, then in 2009 started trend for the modular city car, with Yamaha built such a car, the eMotive, in 2013. . 

Keith Helfet, from Calvinia, studied at Cape Town's university, designed the Jaquar XJ-220, XK-10 and F-Type, as well as South Africa's electric car, the Joule, (which seems to have been designed by Kobus Meiring's company Optimal Energy (2004 to 2012) to spend millions from the Innovation Fund, rather than take the car to production.

 Johan de Nysschen, the brand-building genius recruited from Nissan's Infniti brand by General Motors to restore the fortunes of Cadillac. Before Nissan, Johan steered Audi to greener pastures in the VW stable.

Pierre Terblanche is a South African motorcycle designer born in 1956 in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape. Some say if he designed no other bike, the 2002 Ducati Mutlistrada will be a good enough legacy. He started his career in advertising, working for Ford, working with Volkswagen in Germany and for Cagiva at San Marino, and later Ducati. He now makes Royal Enfield look good and has designed boats for the South African shipyard Bobkat.

Hans Fouche, engineer, inventor and chocolate melter who, as chief aerodynamicist for F1 teams like Lotus and Brabham, was at the forefront of pioneering 3D printing, starting in the 1980s with super-glue pushed out by compressed air to make rapid prototypes for air-tunnel tests.   

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