President Trump Awards Most Prestigious Honors to Tech Giants
United States President Donald Trump awarded the country’s most prestigious science and engineering honors to executives from top technology firms.
On Thursday, Trump presented the National Medal of Science to billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and AMD semiconductor CEO Lisa Su.
He personally awarded the medal to Elon Musk.
“We honor an industrial titan, a brilliant engineer, and one of the greatest technology founders to ever live.” “His name is Elon Musk.” President Trump praises Elon Musk during the Golden Age of American Innovation Summit at the Institute of Peace, where Musk is among the leading innovators being honored with the nation’s highest awards for scientific and technological achievement.
“Few Americans in history have done more to advance America’s national interest than Elon.
“Elon is our modern-day Thomas Edison — and, 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.”
Two more recipients received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation: Michael Dell of Dell Technologies and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers, and his wife, Susan, pledged $6.25 billion to support the federal "Trump Accounts" program, a tax-advantaged children's savings and investment initiative. He dropped out of college in his first year and developed his computers in the family garage.
At the award ceremony, Trump credited the honourees with “helping pioneer an incredible future for America.”
“Because of these people here, we will always be on top. No one else can compete with us,” Trump said.
Five of the six medal recipients on Thursday were born outside the US. Four are among the 10 wealthiest people in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
