Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk has revealed that his son was given an Indian name because his partner, Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, has Indian roots. Musk said his son carries the middle name “Sekhar” in honour of Nobel Prize-winning Indian-American astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.
Elon Musk spoke during Nikhil Kamath’s podcast
Elon Musk was speaking on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s podcast People by WTF, Musk revealed Zilis’s background and their family. “I’m not sure if you know this, but my partner Shivon is half Indian,” Musk said on the show. He added, “One of my sons is with her; his middle name is Sekhar after Chandrasekhar.”
Chandrasekhar, an Indian-American astrophysicist, shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work on the theoretical studies of the physical processes important to the structure and evolution of stars.
Who is Shivon Zillis?
Zilis is a long-time tech and artificial intelligence professional. She joined Neuralink in 2017 and is currently the company’s director of operations and special projects. Various reports suggest that Zilis grew up in Ontario, Canada.
Zilis is a long-time tech and artificial intelligence professional. She joined Neuralink in 2017 and is currently the company’s director of operations and special projects. Various reports suggest that Zilis grew up in Ontario, Canada.
Shivon Zilis grew up in Ontario, Canada, and studied economics and philosophy at Yale University, where she also played as a goalie on the ice hockey team. She later worked at IBM and Bloomberg, handling internal projects and start-up partnerships, before moving into venture capital at Bloomberg Beta. In 2016, she turned her focus fully to artificial intelligence after joining OpenAI, becoming the youngest member of its board before stepping down in 2023. Speaking at a Canadian AI conference, Zilis said Neuralink was the most complicated but fascinating project she had ever worked on. Zilis and Elon Musk welcomed twins, Strider and Azure, in 2021. Their daughter, Arcadia, was born in February 2024, and Zilis later confirmed the birth of their fourth child, Seldon Lycurgus. Musk also has several other children with different partners.
