There were a few surprises during Thursday's ceremony honoring innovators in American science and technology, which happened at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump handed out the National Medal of Science to four people, including at least one who is extremely familiar to the readers of these pages.
One of those on hand to take home a medal was former DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) administrator and SpaceX/Tesla founder Elon Musk (start around the one-minute mark in the "@POTUS presents the National Medal of Science " video below).
.@POTUS: "We honor an industrial titan, a brilliant engineer, and one of the greatest technology founders ever to live. His name is @elonmusk." https://t.co/WpoZQps8E2
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 8, 2026
Elon accepted the honor "on behalf of the amazing people" who surround him. Without them, Musk added, "anything I have done would have been impossible."
Thank you on behalf of the amazing people of SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink and Boring Company, without whom anything I have done would have been impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 8, 2026
Trump also gave two more honors, known as the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, to Satya Nadella and Michael Dell, the CEOs and chairmen of Microsoft and Dell Technologies, respectively.
Watch:
.@POTUS presents the National Medal of Science to Sergey Brin, @JensenHuang, @elonmusk, and @LisaSu, and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to @MichaelDell and @satyanadella. https://t.co/8IGZV6s9Of
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 8, 2026
Trump detailed how Michael Dell got his start, then eventually built the computer tech powerhouse, Dell.
Watch:
.@POTUS: "@MichaelDell took $1,000 and an idea in his University of Texas dorm room and turned it into a revolution in personal computing." https://t.co/pO5gJHqQYP
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 8, 2026
Dell took part in Wednesday's announcement event, as I previously wrote, for the program created by the Invest America Act's investment accounts, AKA Trump Accounts, which his company is helping to support with funding. Learn more about the accounts here.
Pres. Trump praised Nadella's decades of important work during the ceremony.
Watch:
.@POTUS: "For more than three decades, @satyanadella has been a key figure in the transformation of Microsoft — revolutionizing the company and empowering businesses, students, and consumers from all over the world with some of the most capable software ever built." https://t.co/SMN4Dn0ODZ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 8, 2026
Nadella expressed his humble thanks to the president:
Thank you, @POTUS, for this incredible honor today. I'm humbled to stand alongside so many giants of American innovation and looking forward for what we can continue to do together to advance technology and drive American prosperity.
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) October 8, 2026
The other National Medal of Science honorees for 2026 were: (find video of Pres. Trump's full remarks about each one linked below)
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA - "... laid the foundations for the explosion of Super Intelligence (SI)..."
Lisa Su, chair and CEO of AMD - "She played a critical role in improving chip performance."
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google - "He has helped pioneer web applications, smartphones, cloud computing, and every other major internet breakthrough...He returned to Google to drive progress in Super Intelligence."
There was also a surprising flashback video played honoring Dr. John Trump ... who happened to be Pres. Trump's paternal uncle.
President Ronald Reagan awarded the Science Medal to John Trump in 1983. (You can watch the full video, courtesy of the White House, here.)
And in a special presentation, the 45th and 47th president was given his uncle's medal mounted on a plaque.
After a brief video tribute to Dr. John Trump is played, @POTUS is presented with the National Medal of Science originally awarded to his uncle in 1983 https://t.co/sc4Znbe9te
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 8, 2026
Trump spoke about his uncle's crucial accomplishments during and after World War II, pausing briefly to mull the memory of what it had meant for the late scientist and longtime MIT professor to receive the honor all those years ago.
.@POTUS: "My uncle, Dr. John Trump, was a great scientist and professor at MIT for 52 years... For his achievements in the production and use of radiation in medical and industrial applications, Dr. John Trump was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Ronald Reagan in 1983."
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 8, 2026
"Today, we honor six more national treasures who are helping pioneer an incredible future for America," he said, tying in today's innovators with Dr. Trump's achievements, "by awarding them the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation."
Congrats to all!