Award Rutherford Medal

Order of the British Empire (Commander, 1988)

Royal Society of New Zealand (Fellow, 1990)

Order of the British Empire (Dame Commander, 1995)

Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement (non-fiction, 2004)

Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of the Humanities (2007)

New Zealander of the Year (2013)

Principal Companion, New Zealand Order of Merit (2006)

Fellow of the Royal Society of London (2001)

Honorary Fellow, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University

Fellow, Royal Society of New Zealand (1997)

Marsden Medal (2000)

Royal Society of New Zealand (Fellow)

New Zealand Order of Merit (Companion, 2006)

National Academy of Sciences (Foreign Associate, 2018)