US President Donald Trump will present the nation's highest scientific award to several prominent tech CEOs on Thursday. These include SpaceX and Tesla chief Elon Musk, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD chief Lisa Su at the Science: A New Golden Age summit.

Trump will also award the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, a White House official said.

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Why is the National Medal Of Science given?

The National Medal of Science is the highest honour the United States government can bestow on scientists and engineers. Established in 1959 by the US Congress, the honour is exclusively presented by the US President every year. The honour is given in fields of science, including chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, engineering, and social and behavioural sciences.

The first recipient of the honour was aerodynamicist Theodore von Kármán, who was awarded the medal in 1963 by President John F Kennedy. Over 500 distinguished scientists have received the honour since its establishment in 1959.

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Other significant recipients include Nobel Laureate David Baltimore, Canadian-American psychologist Albert Bandura, biochemist and Nobel Laureate Jenifer Doudna, Indian American mechanical engineer Subra Suresh and others.

What’s the significance of the National Medal of Technology?

Trump will also award the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, a White House official said. This honour is the highest honour bestowed for outstanding contributions to the nation's economic, environmental, and social well-being through technological innovation.

Originally established as the National Medal of Technology by the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 and renamed in 2007 under the America COMPETES Act. It was first awarded to Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak.

Honoured figures include Martin Cooper (handheld cellular phone), Jennifer A. Doudna and Feng Zhang (CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing), Eric R. Fossum (camera-on-a-chip), and Moderna, Inc. / Pfizer, Inc. (COVID-19 mRNA vaccines).

According to Reuters, the event will highlight the Trump administration's plan to overhaul how federal scientific research funding is managed and distributed.

Trump's technology adviser Michael Kratsios first released the administration's plan in July. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman are also scheduled to speak at the event, according to the invitation and a post by Kratsios on X.

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