Trump hails Musk as ‘modern-day Edison’; five of six medal winners are immigrants

President Trump presented Elon Musk and other tech leaders with the nation’s top science and technology honors, a lineup in which five of the six recipients were born outside the United States.

President Donald Trump personally presented Elon Musk with the National Medal of Science on Oct. 8 at the "Science: A New Golden Age" summit at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, calling him "our modern-day Thomas Edison."

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su also received the science medal, while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Dell founder Michael Dell received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. It was the first time Trump handed out the honors himself.

A screen showing Genesis Mission partners at the summit

An immigrant success story

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella receives the National Medal of Technology and Innovation

Five of the six honorees are immigrants: Musk was born in South Africa, Brin in Moscow, Huang and Su in Taiwan, and Nadella in India. "I was an immigrant, and my parents brought us here to pursue the American dream," Huang told NBC News.

Trump said the country lives "in an age of American wonders and technological marvels." The summit focused on artificial intelligence, nuclear energy and quantum computing, and $2.4 billion in AI computing pledges were announced. Established by Congress in 1959, the National Medal of Science is the highest U.S. honor for scientists and engineers.