President Donald Trump called Elon Musk “one of the greatest technology founders to ever live” at the Science: A New Golden Age summit on October 8, where he presented Musk with the National Medal of Science. Introducing the entrepreneur, Trump said he was an industrial titan and a brilliant engineer.
The White House’s award citation credited Musk’s engineering work in space exploration, intelligent systems and communications. Sergey Brin, Jensen Huang and Lisa Su also received the National Medal of Science, while Michael Dell and Satya Nadella received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
Musk responded to the recognition on X by thanking the employees across his companies. He credited their contribution to his work, saying that without them, anything he had done would have been impossible.
The summit accompanied a broader research push. The administration announced initiatives representing more than $6 billion in investments across government, industry, academia and philanthropy, including computing resources for scientists and support for early-career researchers. The commitments span public funding, industry contributions and philanthropic support.
The event also extends Trump’s promotion of AI as a national priority. Earlier Thursday, he insisted that the technology should be called “Super Intelligence,” as we reported, following a September 29 executive order directing the use of that terminology in executive-branch communications.
