Since 1979, the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Preis (Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize) has been annually given in his honor. The prize is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, German Ministry of Education and Research), and it is awarded by a selection committee appointed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the BMBF.