WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Thursday awarded Elon Musk and a handful of other tech titans the country’s most prestigious honors in science and engineering during a ceremony at the Institute of Peace in Washington.Musk received the National Medal of Science alongside Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and AMD chief Lisa Su.Two more recipients received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation: Michael Dell of Dell Technologies and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.At the award ceremony, Trump credited the honourees with “helping pioneer an incredible future for America”.”I want to thank everybody for being here as we celebrate the exciting advance of science and technology in the golden age of America,” Trump said in his opening remarks, before turning his attention to Musk, who he called an “industrial titan” and “our modern-day Thomas Edison.””Few Americans in history have done more to advance America’s national interest than Elon in one field after another. His genius and determination have made science fiction into reality,” Trump said.”Elon, I want to congratulate you. You’re my friend and all of that, but you are a very, very special guy. Thank you very much and congratulations Elon,” he added.Despite his glowing words, Trump and Musk have navigated a rather volatile relationship in recent years.Musk joined Trump in the latter stages of his presidential campaign and went on to take a much-publicised role as defacto leader of the White House’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) following Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025, spearheading efforts to make the government leaner.But the pair’s relationship fractured after Musk criticised Trump’s spending bill, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” prompting the start of a bitter and public feud.However, Musk has found himself back in Trump world in recent weeks, with the Tesla CEO set to take on a role as co-director of “Project Meridian.”The project, commissioned by the Department of Defense, will study the future of warfare, helping identify the weapons and technologies the US military will need to build and master and proposing “actionable solutions to start developing, testing and fielding these capabilities.”Five of the six people receiving medals on Thursday were born outside the US. Four are among the 10 wealthiest people in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.The award ceremony took place hours after the Trump administration announced it was suspending Microsoft and other top tech companies from using the H-1B visa system, which allows companies to hire skilled foreign workers and put them on a path toward permanent residency in the US.
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