| 1994 | APS International Prize for New Materials (with A. Fert und S.S.P. Parkin) |
| 1994 | IUPAP Magnetism Award (with A. Fert) |
| 1996 | Technology Prize of the "Association of Friends and Benefactors of Research Centre Jülich" |
| 1997 | Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize (with A. Fert und S.S.P. Parkin) |
| 1998 | German Future Prize awarded by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany |
| 2002 | Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy of Ruhr University Bochum |
| 2003 | External Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society |
| 2004 | Manfred von Ardenne Prize for Applied Physics from the European Society of Thin Films (EFDS) |
| 2006 | Award for "European Inventor of the Year" by the European Commission and the European Patent Office |
| 2007 | Stern Gerlach Medal of the German Physics Society (DPG) |
| 2007 | Japan-Prize der Science and Technology Foundation of Japan (JSTF) (with A. Fert) |
| 2007 | Wolf-Foundation-Prize in physics (with A.Fert) |
| 2007 | Nobel Prize in physics (with A.Fert) |
| 2008 | Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany |
| 2008 | Honorary Doctorate, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, University of Cologne |
| 2008 | Honorary Doctorate, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology II (Physics and Mechatronics Engineering), Saarland University |
| 2008 | Freedom of the City Jülich |
| 2008 | Freedom of the City Lauterbach |
| 2008 | Order of Merit of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia |
| 2008 | Honory doctorate, Gebze Institute of Technology, Turkey |
| 2008 | Minerva Prize of Förderverein Museum Jülich |
| 2008 | Full Member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of North Rhine-Westphalia, Section for Engineering and Economics |
| 2009 | Honory doctorate, University of Athens, Greece |
| 2011 | Honorary Membership of the German Physical Society (DPG) |
