Trump Awards Medals to Musk, Brin, and Other Tech Leaders

President Donald Trump gathered with some of the most powerful tech leaders in America on Thursday at a special White House science summit. The event was called 'Science: A New Golden Age Summit' and was held at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. Trump gave out the country's top science and technology honors to several well-known executives. The White House said the summit marked the start of a new era of American discovery and innovation.

Trump awarded the National Medal of Science to Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and AMD CEO Lisa Su. He also gave the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Dell founder Michael Dell. Trump handed each winner a medal and a certificate of honor. He later invited some of their family members onto the stage to take photos.

"You're going to go down in the annals of history as being great," Trump told the winners. A White House spokesperson said the administration was "grateful for the contributions of these incredible leaders in science and technology." She added that the winners are "helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation."

The summit took place just hours after Vice President JD Vance announced that Microsoft and several other companies would be removed from a program that lets foreign workers apply for green cards. Even so, several speakers at the event stressed how important immigrants are to American science. Nadella, the Microsoft CEO who was honored at the event, is himself an immigrant.

Jensen Huang spoke to reporters as he walked through the venue with his parents. "I was an immigrant, and my parents brought us here to pursue the American dream," he said. "It's an incredible honor, and something that could only happen here in America," he added, referring to receiving his medal.

Carnegie Mellon University president Farnam Jahanian also spoke about immigration during a discussion about American research universities. He pointed out that China now produces more engineers and scientists than the United States, Europe, and Japan combined. "We need to have an immigration policy that can recruit the best talent to come to this country," said Jahanian, who is also an immigrant.

The summit was an all-day event that built on a report released by the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy. That report focused on how the Trump administration wants to boost scientific discovery. Michael Kratsios, who led the report, pointed to rising costs in medical research and fewer new medicines being approved as signs that science has been moving too slowly. The report called for sending money directly to promising scientists instead of routing it through large institutions.

The event kicked off with several big funding announcements. America's leading artificial intelligence companies pledged about $2.4 billion in computing tools and resources to help federal agencies work on science projects. The areas being funded include quantum computing, AI-powered laboratories, and making nuclear engineering more efficient.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman and Energy Secretary Chris Wright also announced a new partnership to use nuclear technology in space exploration. Isaacman said that nuclear power could allow NASA spacecraft to travel farther and work for longer periods of time. "Thanks to President Trump, America's nuclear renaissance is reaching a new frontier," said Wright.

The summit focused on key scientific areas including artificial intelligence, nuclear power, and quantum computing. The Trump administration has started calling artificial intelligence 'super intelligence,' or 'SI.' Nobel Prize-winning physicist John Martinis said the technology is already speeding up his research. "I feel like we're in it right now," he said of the golden age of science.