Trump to award National Medal of Science to Elon Musk

President Trump will award the National Medal of Science to Elon Musk and other prominent tech executives Thursday, a White House official confirmed to The Hill’s broadcast partner, NewsNation.

Musk, the head of SpaceX and Tesla , will receive this high honor at the White House’s “Science: A New Golden Age” summit. Three other tech leaders will be presented this award, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su.

The president will also award two people with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement. Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, and Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, are both set to receive this recognition Thursday.

Fox News was the first to report on these awards.

“The Trump Administration is grateful for the contributions of these incredible leaders in science and technology,” assistant White House press secretary Liz Huston said in a statement. “These recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation.”

All of the honorees have contributed in some way to Trump’s or the Republican Party’s campaigns or causes.

Musk, who briefly joined the Trump administration to lead an effort to reduce the federal workforce, was the president’s largest individual donor for his 2024 campaign. Brin donated large sums to the Republican National Committee in 2025 and appeared at Trump’s second inauguration ceremony.

At the launch of the White House’s “ Trump Accounts ” in July, the president told reporters to “ go out and buy a Dell computer ” after the company’s leader and his wife pledged to donate $6.25 billion to the program. Nvidia also promised to match the Treasury Department’s $1,000 deposits for its employees.

Huang has appeared at high-profile events alongside Trump, including the president’s recent state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Musk was also present at this event.

Musk and Huang were also among the tech leaders who recently signed a White House pledge to self-police the development of advanced artificial intelligence models, amid rising concerns about the dangers this technology could pose to humanity.