Status as in having a nature article centered around you and your work?

There's no denying that he is a brilliant pioneer, and his accomplishments are indeed incredible, but that does not translate into status which is probably very upsetting.

There is an informal honour's code among scientists that you don't take credit for other people's ideas. While it is forgivable for a PhD or postdoc to be unaware of older work -- after all there's sooo much of it -- a senior researcher should not act carelessly with attributions. And where they do, it's useful to remind them that they have transgressed dearly held ethical norms.

It depends on what you mean by status. His papers are cited 13,493 times. And that's what matters to most scientists.