Edvard I. Moser
Who was Edvard I. Moser?
Nobel laureate: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2014)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Edvard I. Moser (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Edvard Ingjald Moser is a Norwegian psychologist and neuroscientist born in 1962 in Ålesund Municipality, Norway. He completed his education at the University of Oslo and became a leading figure in neuroscience research. As of May 2024, Moser is a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, where he has developed a well-known research program focused on the brain's navigation systems.
Moser's career took off quickly after he joined NTNU. In 1996, he became an associate professor in biological psychology at the Department of Psychology, and two years later, he was promoted to professor of neuroscience. His research was formally recognized in 2002 when his group earned the "centre of excellence" status. Throughout his career, Moser has led several research groups and centers, collectively known as the Moser research environment.
The highlight of Moser's scientific work is his groundbreaking study on the brain's positioning system, conducted with his collaborator and wife, May-Britt Moser. Together, they discovered and described grid cells, specialized neurons that create a coordinate system in the brain, working with place cells to form the brain's internal GPS. This discovery transformed the understanding of how mammals navigate and remember spatial locations.
Moser's achievements were capped by the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2014, which he shared with May-Britt Moser and their former mentor John O'Keefe. This honor topped a series of international awards recognizing his contributions to neuroscience, including the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2011), the Perl-UNC Prize (2012), and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (2013). His work continues to impact neuroscience research worldwide, enhancing understanding of memory, navigation, and spatial cognition.
Before Fame
Edvard Moser was born in Ålesund Municipality, a coastal town in western Norway, and grew up during a time when neuroscience was becoming a distinct scientific field. The 1960s and 1970s saw rapid advancements in brain research, thanks to new technologies and methods that allowed scientists to study individual neurons and their functions.
Moser attended the University of Oslo in the 1980s and early 1990s, when the field of neuroscience was growing rapidly. New recording techniques and computational methods were providing new ways to understand brain function, especially in learning, memory, and spatial navigation. This scientific setting laid the groundwork for Moser's later breakthrough discoveries in how the brain processes spatial information.
Key Achievements
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2014) for discovering the brain's positioning system
- Co-discovery and characterization of grid cells that form the brain's internal coordinate system
- Establishment of the internationally recognized Moser research environment at NTNU
- Recognition as Norwegian Centre of Excellence director since 2002
- Receipt of multiple prestigious international science awards including the Louis-Jeantet Prize and Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize
Did You Know?
- 01.He shared the Nobel Prize with his then-wife May-Britt Moser, making them the fifth married couple to win a Nobel Prize together
- 02.The grid cells he discovered fire in a hexagonal pattern that creates a coordinate system in the brain, similar to latitude and longitude lines on a map
- 03.He was named "Årets trønder" (Person of the Year in Trøndelag) in 2014, recognizing his contributions to the region where NTNU is located
- 04.His research center was designated as a Norwegian Centre of Excellence, a status granted to only the most outstanding research environments in Norway
- 05.The brain's GPS system he helped discover is located in the entorhinal cortex, one of the first brain regions affected by Alzheimer's disease
Family & Personal Life
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine | 2014 | for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain |
| Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize | 2013 | — |
| Fridtjof Nansen Award of Excellence, Mathematics-Natural sciences class | 2013 | — |
| Årets trønder | 2014 | — |
| Körber European Science Prize | 2014 | — |
| Karl Spencer Lashley Award | 2014 | — |
| Perl-UNC Prize | 2012 | — |
| W. Alden Spencer Award | 2005 | — |
| Eric K. Fernströms Nordiska Pris | 2008 | — |
| Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine | 2011 | — |
| Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science | 2010 | — |
| Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav | 2018 | — |
| Eric K. Fernströms Nordiska Pris | 2008 | — |