The National Medal of Science is heading to some of the biggest names in tech. President Donald Trump plans to hand out the honors at a White House event on Thursday, October 8, according to CNBC, which confirmed the lineup with the White House.
The White House calls the event the Science: A New Golden Age Summit. Fox News was first to report the plans. Per Fox News, this is the first time Trump has presented these awards as president.
Who is getting the National Medal of Science
Four tech leaders are on the list for the National Medal of Science. Elon Musk, who runs Tesla and SpaceX, is one. Google co-founder Sergey Brin is another. Meanwhile, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su round out the group.
Two more executives will receive a different honor. Michael Dell of Dell Technologies and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are getting the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, Reuters reported.
Both medals carry real weight. For one, the National Science Foundation calls the science medal the nation’s highest honor for scientists and engineers. Congress created it back in 1959. The technology medal, per the Patent and Trademark Office, is also the top U.S. honor for technological achievement.
“The Trump Administration is grateful for the contributions of these incredible leaders in science and technology,” White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston said in a statement to CNBC.
Political money and the presidential science award lineup
Here is where the story gets spicy. CNBC reports that every honoree has given money, in some form, to Trump or Republican causes.
Musk was Trump’s biggest backer in the 2024 cycle, giving more than $290 million, per CNBC. In addition, Brin reportedly gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee in 2025. Huang gave to the fund for Trump’s White House ballroom, and Nvidia put $1 million into the inauguration. Huang has also backed Trump’s full-speed AI push in public.
Dell and his wife Susan committed $6.25 billion to seed the “Trump Accounts” savings program for kids. CNBC also notes that Trump’s latest disclosure shows trades in SpaceX, Tesla, Nvidia, Microsoft, AMD and Alphabet as recently as July. We have not independently checked those donation figures against federal records.
Still, plenty of past winners earned their honors without a campaign-finance footnote. That context will follow this ceremony, whether the White House likes it or not.
A Musk comeback in the middle of a science push
For Musk, the medal marks another step back toward Trump’s inner circle. Fox describes it as his latest return after he left the administration and the two had a public falling-out. His companies are also winning big federal contracts, including a $946 million NASA deal for three more astronaut missions.
The timing also fits a busy stretch for tech and Washington. On September 29, Trump hosted AI executives and released the voluntary White House Accord on Super Intelligence. Musk and Huang were among the signers. The pact lays out safety controls but leaves companies to decide how to enforce them.
The medals are separate from the summit’s main program. Reuters reported that Trump, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman are set to speak. The summit should spotlight a plan to overhaul how the government manages and hands out federal research money.
The Daily Wire, citing a White House official, also reports that Trump will unveil a $250 million initiative for next-generation researchers. No other outlet has confirmed that figure yet, so treat it as a report, not a done deal.
What to watch at the National Medal of Science ceremony
The ceremony has not happened, so every detail here describes a plan. The White House has not published a time or a location inside the building.
Two things are worth watching. First, whether Trump spells out the research funding overhaul in real detail. Second, whether the medal moment becomes a bigger story than the science. With some of the wealthiest people on Earth on stage, it could.
