On the face of it, the similarities between Elon Musk and Thomas Edison are not hard to see: Each is an American engineer turned entrepreneur with a long list of inventions, electrical and otherwise, to his credit. Both men have captured the popular imagination, and are deservedly revered for their contributions to society. Looking a little deeper, we find some uncanny parallels between the lives of these two, as Peter Mears writes in a recent installment of the Biz Vinci* blog.

*This article comes to us courtesy of Evannex (which also makes aftermarket Tesla accessories). Authored by Charles Morris.

Musk and Edison had different backgrounds – the former was born in South Africa, and the latter was born in Ohio and grew up in Michigan. However, both seem to have had difficult childhoods. Edison was a sickly child, and had lifelong hearing problems stemming from an early bout of scarlet fever (a cruel irony for a man who would later make great advancements in sound recording). Mears tells us that Musk was severely bullied as a child. Musk told biographer Ashlee Vance that his father had a domineering streak, and discouraged the young man's interest in computers.