The National Medal of Science usually goes to lab researchers and professors. On Thursday, President Donald Trump gave it to four of the most powerful people in tech.

At a White House summit at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Trump presented the medal to SpaceX and Tesla chief Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and AMD CEO Lisa Su, the AP reported. He gave the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Dell founder Michael Dell. MS NOW reported it was the first time Trump has handed out the medals as president.

Musk got the warmest words. "Elon is our modern-day Thomas Edison," Trump said, calling him a "national treasure." He credited SpaceX with ending NASA's need to rely on other nations for rides to space. He also said Starlink equipment Musk sent saved hundreds of lives after a hurricane in North Carolina, a claim the Free Press Journal said was not backed up in the summit record.

Five of the six winners were born abroad, the AP noted: Musk in South Africa, Brin in Russia, Huang and Su in Taiwan, and Nadella in India. The same morning, Vice President JD Vance announced that Microsoft was being suspended from a program that lets companies sponsor skilled foreign workers for green cards.

The medal was created in 1959. Trump's uncle, MIT engineer John Trump, won it in 1983, and the president compared the winners to him.

The ceremony also marks a turn in Trump's ties with Musk. The two fell out publicly last year after Musk left his government cost-cutting role and attacked Trump's spending bill. They have since patched things up.

What we know: Six tech leaders received the nation's top science and technology medals.
What we don't: Why the Microsoft visa move and Nadella's medal fell on the same day; the White House did not tell the AP.