- 1969 Stanhope Historical Essay Prize, University of Oxford
- 1978- Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
- 1989 Wolfson Literary Award for History
- 1989 William H Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine
- 1993 Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft des Senats der Freien-und Hansestadt
- Hamburg (civic medal for cultural services)
- 1993 Fellow of the British Academy
- 1994 Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History
- 1998 Honorary Fellow, Jesus College, Oxford
- 1999 Honorary Fellow, Birkbeck College, University of London
- 2000 Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
- 2005 History Honoree, Los Angeles Times Book Awards
- 2006 History Honoree, Los Angeles Times Book Awards
- 2008 Invited Participant, Petra Conference of Nobel Laureates
- 2009 Honorary Member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
- 2010 Founding Fellow, Learned Society of Wales
- 2011 Honorary Fellow, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
- 2012 Appointed Knight Bachelor in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List
- 2012 Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of London
- 2014 Norton Medlicott Medal of the Historical Association
- 2015 Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Oxford
- 2015 British Academy Leverhulme Prize and Medal
- 2017 Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge
- 2019 Honorary Doctor of Laws, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
- 2020 Honorary Fellow, Gresham College
- 2021 Freeman of the City of London
- 2022 Honorary Member, Austrian Academy of Sciences