I think there’s more to him than just genius at the raw engineering/physics level. It’s a rare combination to get someone who has the technical basics and understanding but to have the ability to think and process way beyond that, to couple new radical ideas together with the ability to draw the engineering talent together to get it implemented.
Drive, innovation, and OTB thinking
You know who EM reminds me of? Verner Von Braun. Usually a person specializes in particular focus within his field of expertise. Take rockets for example...you have guidance specialists, propulsion, fuel systems, mechanical structure, atmospherics, etc. Von Braun was an expert on every single rocket main system and sub system. That one man was THE reason that our 1960 US space program had any real success.