What awards do famous scientists get?

Answer 1

This is a hard to answer question, because there are literally thousands of awards given out to scientists for outstanding discoveries and huge breakthroughs in their field. In addition, scientists is a very broad category as there are biologists, chemists, physicists, medical researchers, chemical engineers, geologists, etc.

I can answer what the most prestigious award for a scientist to get is, and that would be a Nobel Prize. Winning a Noble Prize often makes a formerally unknown scientist famous, at least within their field of study. A Nobel Prize in science can be awarded for an outstanding discovery or advancement in the field of chemistry, physiology or medicine (same category), and physics. In addition though not typically thought of by many as "true scientists" there is a Nobel Prize for economics¹. Also though rare, a scientist can win a nobel peace prize as well. An example is Linus Pauling, who was incremental in researching the effects of nuclear weapons and the eventual passage of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty between the Soviet Union, The United States of America, and Great Britain.

If your interested in learning more about the extensive list of awards a scientist can earn, I would recommend looking at the Wikipedia article titled "List of Prizes, Medals, and Awards" and going to the "Science and Technology" subsection. I have also included the URL below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prizes,_medals,_and_awards#Science_and_technology

¹Economics, like psychology and sociology, is a social science, which due to unpredicatable behavior and forces makes the hypothesis and outcome have a much larger disparity compared to traditional sciences.