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US President Donald Trump honoured Elon Musk with the Medal of Science, calling him a "modern-day Thomas Edison", "titan", "genius" and "national treasure". Trump also awarded science medals to Sergey Brin, Jensen Huang and Lisa Su, while Satya Nadella and Michael Dell received technology medals.
US President Donald Trump presents the Medal of Science to Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk during the "A New Golden Age" summit ( Photo- Reuters)
Oct 9, 2026 01:38 IST
US President Donald Trump presented the Medal of Science to Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Thursday, hailing him as a “modern-day Thomas Edison” and calling him a “titan”, “genius” and a “national treasure”.
Trump honoured Musk during the “A New Golden Age” summit at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, where he praised the billionaire for his work across space technology, satellite communications and other areas. The institute has been renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace by the Trump administration.
“He’s a titan. He’s a genius. There’s nobody like him,” Trump said while presenting the medal to Musk. He also compared the SpaceX chief to American inventor Thomas Edison and praised his contributions to SpaceX and Starlink.
President Trump awarded medals to a number of leading tech executives at the Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, including SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su and Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies.— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 8, 2026
Trump also presented the Medal of Science to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su. The Medal of Technology and Innovation was awarded to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell.
Trump described the six technology leaders as “national treasures” and said the ceremony marked a significant moment for American science and technology.
“This is a big day in the world of science and the world of technology,” Trump said, adding that the honourees would “go down in the annals of history”.
The awards were part of the administration’s “A New Golden Age” summit, which focused on advances in science and technology, including artificial intelligence. Trump has repeatedly called for the US to maintain its leadership in AI development and has argued against regulations that he says could slow technological growth.
The recognition of Musk and the other technology executives also marked a departure from the traditional profile of Medal of Science recipients. Established in 1959, the award has historically been given largely to academic researchers and scientists.
Five of the six technology leaders honoured by Trump were immigrants to the US. Musk was born in South Africa, Brin in Russia, Huang and Su in Taiwan, while Nadella moved to the US from India. Dell was born in Texas.
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