Honors
- In 1947, Kuiper was awarded the Janssen Medal of the Astronomical Society of France.
- In 1959, Kuiper won the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society.
- In 1971, Kuiper received the Kepler Gold Medal from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Franklin Institute.
Besides the minor planet 1776 Kuiper, the crater Kuiper on the Moon, craters on Mars and Mercury, the now-decommissioned Kuiper Airborne Observatory was also named after him.
Most astronomers refer to a region of small planets beyond Neptune as the "Kuiper belt", since Kuiper had suggested that such small planets or comets may have formed there. However he believed that such objects would have been swept clear by planetary gravitational perturbations so that none or few would exist there today.
The Kuiper Prize, named in his honor, is the most distinguished award given by the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences, an international society of professional planetary scientists. The prize recognizes outstanding contributors to planetary science, and is awarded annually to scientists whose lifetime achievements have most advanced our understanding of planetary systems. Winners of this award include Carl Sagan, James Van Allen, and Eugene Shoemaker.
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