Trump Awards Elon Musk the National Medal of Science at White House Summit

President Donald Trump presented Elon Musk with the National Medal of Science on Thursday, the highest recognition the United States government bestows on researchers and engineers. The ceremony took place during the White House’s “Science: A New Golden Age” summit, held at the Institute of Peace in Washington, according to the White House.

During the event, Trump described Musk as a “national treasure” and “our modern-day Thomas Edison,” adding that few Americans have done more to advance the country’s interests across multiple fields. The president also characterized the Tesla and SpaceX chief as an “industrial titan, brilliant engineer and one of the greatest technology founders to ever live.”

The official citation credits Musk for engineering achievements “of extraordinary ambition and scale” that have expanded the frontiers of space exploration, intelligent systems, communications, and other areas, renewing American technological leadership and opening a new chapter in American manufacturing. Tesla is not named directly in the citation, though the references to intelligent systems and American manufacturing broadly encompass the company’s work, including its Terafab chip project.

Musk was not the only technology figure honored. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su received the same Medal of Science, while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell were awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. It marked the first time Trump has presented either award during his two terms in office. The National Science Foundation notes that 529 individuals have received the Medal of Science since Congress established it in 1959.

The ceremony caps a rapid reconciliation between Trump and Musk, following a public falling-out in 2025 when Musk departed DOGE and criticized the “Big Beautiful Bill.” Musk, who was the largest contributor to Trump’s 2024 campaign, has recently returned to the president’s orbit: he sat at Trump’s left during a September 29 White House AI lunch, was named to help lead the Pentagon’s Project Meridian study on the future of warfare, and has echoed the administration’s “super intelligence” terminology. For Tesla and SpaceX shareholders, the relationship raises practical questions about federal approvals, since Tesla’s Robotaxi and Cybercab expansion depends on national autonomy rules and SpaceX’s Starship and Starlink programs rely on the FAA, FCC and NASA. Thursday’s ceremony did not directly alter any of those regulatory paths.