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US President Donald Trump on Thursday awarded SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and a handful of other tech titans the prestigious National Medal of Science during a ceremony at the Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.
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Musk received the award alongside Google cofounder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and AMD chief Lisa Su.
“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.”
A White House press release said Musk was awarded the National Medal of Science “for engineering achievements of extraordinary ambition and scale that have pushed the frontiers of space exploration, intelligent systems, communications, and beyond, renewing American technological leadership and opening a new chapter in American manufacturing.”
