Gerard ’t Hooft has received a broad range of (shared) top international prizes. His awards span the highest levels of scientific recognition, including the Nobel Prize, Wolf Prize, and major European and Dutch distinctions, as well as international academy medals, state honours, and symbolic recognitions such as an asteroid naming.
In addition, Gerard ’t Hooft has been awarded numerous honorary doctorates, reflecting international recognition from universities worldwide. He is also a member or fellow of several leading scientific academies and societies, indicating sustained peer recognition, collaboration, and formal inclusion in elite research communities.
Selected awards
- Nobel Prize in Physics (1999), shared with M. Veltman
- Wolf Prize in Physics (1981). Often regarded as the second most prestigious prize in physics
- Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2015). A modern, high prestige prize
- Franklin Medal (1995). One of the oldest and most prestigious American science awards
- Spinoza Prize (1995). Highest scientific award in the Netherlands (link in NED)
- KNAW Lorentz Medal (1986). Highly selective Dutch award for top-level theoretical physics
- High Energy Physics Prize (1999). The most important European prize in particle physics
- Lomonosov Medal (2011). One of the highest scientific honours in Russia
- Commander in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (1999). One of the highest civilian honours in the Netherlands (link in NED)
Full list of awards
- 1963: Runner-up prize, National Mathematics Olympiad, the Netherlands
- 1974: Winkler Prins Award, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- 1977: Akzo Award, Arnhem, the Netherlands
- 1979: Dannie Heineman Prize, New York, USA
- 1981: Leigh Page Prize Lecturer, Yale, USA
- 1982: Wolf Prize of the State of Israel
- 1983: Pius XI Medal, presented by Pope John Paul II, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican City
- 1986: Lorentz Medal, KNAW, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- 1995: Physica Prize, NNV, Utrecht, the Netherlands
- 1995: Franklin Medal, Philadelphia, USA
- 1995: Spinoza Prize, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO, the Netherlands
- 1997: Gian Carlo Wick Commemorative Medal, World Federation of Scientists, Lausanne, Switzerland
- 1999: Oskar Klein Lecture, Oskar Klein Silver Medal, Royal Academy of Sweden, Stockholm
- 1999: High Energy Physics Prize, European Physical Society, presented at the International Europhysics Conference, Tampere, Finland
- 1999: Commander in the Order of the Netherlands Lion
- 1999: De Zilveren Academiepenning, from the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, KNAW, the Netherlands
- 1999: Nobel Prize in Physics, with M. Veltman, awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm
- 2000: Ida Waldman Award for high Achievement in service of Mankind, in recognition of Excellence in Contributions to human knowledge and welfare as the recipient of the 1999 Nobel prize in Physics, New York, Ross University, USA
- 2000: Honorary Medal of the City of Astana, Kazakhstan
- 2001: Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, awarded by Anne Gazeau-Secret, Ambassador of France in the Hague
- 2006: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Award, Tokyo
- 2011: Erice Prize 2009
- 2011: Lomonosov Medal, awarded by The Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
- 2015: 1st Award Gravity Research Foundation, Wellesley Hills, MA, USA
- 2016: Niels Bohr Institute Medal of Honour
- 2021: Marcel Grossman Award
- 2025: Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Selected special honours
- Pius XI Medal (1983), presented in Vatican City by Pope John Paul II
- Officier de la Légion d’Honneur (2001), France’s highest national order of merit
- Asteroid naming: 9491 Thooft (2000). It is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter
- Pizza XOΦT (Pizza ‘t Hooft), Sofia, Bulgaria, Restaurant Einstein
Full list of honorary doctorates, fellowships and memberships
- 1981: Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Chicago, Illinois, USA
- 1996: Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of Leuven, Belgium
- 1998: Honorary Doctorate, University of Bologna, Italy
- 2000: Honorary Fellow, Institute of Physics, Singapore
- 2000: Honorary member, Nederlandse Natuurkundige Vereniging, the Netherlands
- 2000: Honorary Doctor, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian University, Republic of Kazakhstan, with K. Von Klitzing and V. Sadovnichy, Rector M. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
- 2001: Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, Hofstra University, New York, USA
- 2001: Honorary Degree of Doctor Scientiae, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
- 2001: Doctorat de Science Honoris Causa, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France
- 2002: Honorary Professor, Nanjing University, China
- 2003: Doctor of Science, honoris causa, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA
- 2004: Honorary Doctor Degree, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
- 2004: Honorary Professor, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- 2005: Honorary Fellow, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, India
- 2006: Honorary Doctor Degree, University of Salamanca, Spain
- 2009: Honorary Doctorate, Albanian University, Tiranë
- 2012: Honorary Doctorate, National Polytechnic University of Odessa, Ukraine
- 2016: FIAS Senior Fellow Laureatus
- 2017: Doctor Honoris Causa Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- 2018: Honorary Professor of Sichuan Normal University, China
- 2018: Honorary Member, Solvay Institutes, Brussels