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Edvard Ingjald Moser (; born 27 April 1962) is a Norwegian professor of psychology and neuroscience at th
Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience
at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. In 2005, he and
May-Britt Moser May-Britt Moser (born 4 January 1963) is a Norwegian psychologist and neuroscientist, who is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She and her then-husband, Edvard Moser, shar ...
discovered
grid cell A grid cell is a type of neuron within the entorhinal cortex that fires at regular intervals as an animal navigates an open area, allowing it to understand its position in space by storing and integrating information about location, distance, and ...
s in the brain's medial
entorhinal cortex The entorhinal cortex (EC) is an area of the brain's allocortex, located in the medial temporal lobe, whose functions include being a widespread network hub for memory, navigation, and the perception of time.Integrating time from experience in th ...
. Grid cells are specialized neurons that provide the brain with a coordinate system and a metric for space
In 2018, he discovered a neural network that expresses your sense of time in experiences and memories
located in the brain's lateral
entorhinal cortex The entorhinal cortex (EC) is an area of the brain's allocortex, located in the medial temporal lobe, whose functions include being a widespread network hub for memory, navigation, and the perception of time.Integrating time from experience in th ...
. He shared the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accordi ...
in 2014 with long-term collaborator and then-wife
May-Britt Moser May-Britt Moser (born 4 January 1963) is a Norwegian psychologist and neuroscientist, who is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She and her then-husband, Edvard Moser, shar ...
, and previous mentor John O'Keefe for their work identifying the brain's positioning system. The two main components of the brain's GPS are; grid cells and
place cells A place cell is a kind of pyramidal neuron in the hippocampus that becomes active when an animal enters a particular place in its environment, which is known as the place field. Place cells are thought to act collectively as a cognitive represe ...
, a specialized type of neuron that respond to specific locations in space. Together with May-Britt Moser he established the
Moser research environment The Moser research environment ( no, Moser-miljøet) is the informal name of Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. The neuroscience research institute is founded ...
, which they lead. Moser was born to German parents who had moved to
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
in the 1950s, and grew up in
Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrativ ...
. He received his education as a psychologist at the
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo The Department of Psychology ( no, Psykologisk institutt) at the University of Oslo is the oldest and largest research institute and educational institution in psychology in Norway. It is Norway's main research institution in clinical psycholog ...
and obtained a PhD in
neurophysiology Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that studies nervous system function rather than nervous system architecture. This area aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases. Historically, it has been dominated ...
at the
Faculty of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...
at the same university in 1995; in 1996 he was appointed as associate professor in biological psychology at the Department of Psychology at the
Norwegian University of Science and Technology Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including th ...
(NTNU); he was promoted to professor of neuroscience in 1998. In 2002, his research group was given the status of a separate "centre of excellence". Edvard Moser has led a succession of research groups and centres, collectively known as the
Moser research environment The Moser research environment ( no, Moser-miljøet) is the informal name of Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. The neuroscience research institute is founded ...
. He is an external scientific member of the
Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology The Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology was a research institute of the Max Planck Society located in Martinsried, a suburb of Munich in Germany. It existed between 1984 and 2022 and merged with the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology to the new, ...
, with which he has collaborated over several years.


Background and early life

Moser was born in
Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrativ ...
to German parents Eduard Paul Moser (1928–2013) and Ingeborg Annamarie Herholz (1931–). His parents had grown up in
Kronberg im Taunus Kronberg im Taunus is a town in the Hochtaunuskreis district, Hesse, Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Before 1866, it was in the Duchy of Nassau; in that year the whole Duchy was absorbed into Prussia. Kronberg lies at t ...
, a suburb of
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, where Moser's grandfather Eduard Moser had been Lutheran parish priest. Moser's father trained as a
pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks' ...
builder and emigrated to Norway together with his friend Jakob Pieroth in 1953 when they were offered employment at a pipe organ workshop at Haramsøy. They later established their own workshop and built many church pipe organs in Norway. The Moser family originally was from
Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...
; Moser is a South German topographic name for someone who lived near a
swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
or
mire A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types ...
(South German ''Moos''). Edvard Moser grew up at Hareid and in
Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrativ ...
. He was raised in a conservative
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
family. Edvard Moser married
May-Britt Moser May-Britt Moser (born 4 January 1963) is a Norwegian psychologist and neuroscientist, who is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She and her then-husband, Edvard Moser, shar ...
in 1985 when they were both students. They announced that they are divorcing in 2016.


Career

Edvard Moser was awarded the ''cand.psychol.'' degree in psychology at the Department of Psychology at the
University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
in 1990. He was then employed as a research fellow at the Faculty of Medicine, where he obtained his ''dr.philos.'' doctoral research degree in the field of
neurophysiology Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that studies nervous system function rather than nervous system architecture. This area aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases. Historically, it has been dominated ...
in 1995. He also has studied mathematics and statistics. Early in his career, he worked under the supervision of
Per Andersen Per Oskar Andersen (12 January 1930 – 17 February 2020) was a Norwegian brain researcher at the University of Oslo. Research by his lab, specifically by Terje Lømo (and Timothy Bliss, who helped characterize the phenomenon years later), led ...
. Moser went on to undertake postdoctoral training with
Richard G. Morris Richard Graham Michael Morris, (born 27 June 1948), is a British neuroscientist. He is known for developing the Morris water navigation task, for proposing the concept of synaptic tagging (along with Uwe Frey), and for his work on the function ...
at the Centre for Neuroscience,
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...
, from 1995 to 1997, and was a visiting postdoctoral fellow at the laboratory of John O'Keefe at the
University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...
for two months. Moser returned to Norway in 1996 to be appointed associate professor in biological psychology at the Department of Psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. He was promoted to full professor of neuroscience in 1998. Moser is also head of department of the NTNU Institute for Systems Neuroscience. He is a member of the
Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters ( da, Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab, DKNVS) is a Norwegian learned society based in Trondheim. It was founded in 1760 and is Norway's oldest scientific and scholarly institution. The ...
,
Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Unive ...
, the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
, and the
Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences ( no, Norges Tekniske Vitenskapsakademi, NTVA) is a learned society based in Trondheim, Norway. Founded in 1955, the academy has about 500 members. It is a member of the International Council of Ac ...
. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems at the
University of Edinburgh Medical School The University of Edinburgh Medical School (also known as Edinburgh Medical School) is the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the United Kingdom and part of the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinar ...
.


Honours

*1999: Prize for young scientists awarded by the
Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters ( da, Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers Selskab, DKNVS) is a Norwegian learned society based in Trondheim. It was founded in 1760 and is Norway's oldest scientific and scholarly institution. The ...
*2005: 28th annual W. Alden Spencer Award (College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University) *2006: 14th Betty and David Koetser Award for Brain Research (University of Zürich) *2006: 10th Prix "Liliane Bettencourt pour les Sciences du Vivant" 2006 (Fondation Bettencourt, Paris) *2008: 30th Eric K. Fernström's Great Nordic Prize (Fernström Foundation, University of Lund) *2011:
Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine Established in 1986, the Louis-Jeantet Prizes are funded by the ''Fondation Louis-Jeantet'' and awarded each year to experienced researchers who have distinguished themselves in the field of biomedical research in one of the member states of t ...
*2011: Anders Jahre Award (with May-Britt Moser) *2012: Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize (with May-Britt Moser) *2013:
Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry is an annual prize awarded by Columbia University to a researcher or group of researchers who have made an outstanding contribution in basic research in the fields of biology or biochemis ...
(with May-Britt Moser and John O'Keefe) *2014:
Karl Spencer Lashley Award The Karl Spencer Lashley Award is awarded by The American Philosophical Society as a recognition of research on the integrative neuroscience of behavior. The award was established in 1957 by a gift from Dr. Karl Spencer Lashley. Recipients * 20 ...
(with May-Britt Moser) *2014: Foreign associate of the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...
. *2014:
Körber European Science Prize The Körber European Science Prize is presented annually by the Körber Foundation in Hamburg honoring outstanding scientists working in Europe for their promising research projects. The prize is endowed with one million euro (until 2018: 750,000 e ...
*2014: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with May-Britt Moser and John O'Keefe) *2018: Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (with May-Britt Moser)


Other

Edvard Moser has been a member of the board of reviewing editors in science since 2004 and he has been reviewing editor for Journal of Neuroscience since 2005. Edvard Moser chaired the programme committee of the European Neuroscience meeting ( FENS Forum) in 2006.


Selected publications

*Moser, E.I., Mathiesen, I. & Andersen, P. (1993). Association between brain temperature and dentate field potentials in exploring and swimming rats
Science, 259, 1324–1326
*Brun, V.H., Otnæss, M.K., Molden, S., Steffenach, H.-A., Witter, M.P., Moser, M.-B., Moser, E.I. (2002). Place cells and place representation maintained by direct entorhinal-hippocampal circuitry
Science, 296, 2089–2284
*Fyhn, M., Molden, S., Witter, M.P., Moser, E.I. and Moser, M.-B. (2004). Spatial representation in the entorhinal corte
Science, 305, 1258–1264
. *Leutgeb, S., Leutgeb, J.K., Treves, A., Moser, M.-B. and Moser, E.I. (2004). Distinct ensemble codes in hippocampal areas CA3 and CA1
Science, 305, 1295–1298
* Leutgeb, S., Leutgeb, J.K., Barnes, C.A., Moser, E.I., McNaughton, B.L., and Moser, M.-B (2005). Independent codes for spatial and episodic memory in the hippocampus
Science, 309, 619–623
. *Hafting, T., Fyhn, M., Molden, S., Moser, M.-B., and Moser, E.I. (2005). Microstructure of a spatial map in the entorhinal corte

*Colgin, L.L, and Moser, E.I. (2006). Rewinding the memory record

*Sargolini, F., Fyhn, M., Hafting, T., McNaughton, B.L., Witter, M.P., Moser, M.-B., and Moser, E.I. (2006). Conjunctive representation of position, direction and velocity in entorhinal cortex
Science, 312, 754–758
*Leutgeb, J.K., Leutgeb, S., Moser, M.-B., and Moser, E.I. (2007). Pattern separation in dentate gyrus and CA3 of the hippocampus
Science, 315, 961–966
*Fyhn, M., Hafting, T., Treves, A., Moser, M.-B. and Moser, E.I. (2007). Hippocampal remapping and grid realignment in entorhinal cortex

* Hafting, T., Fyhn, M., Bonnevie, T., Moser, M.-B. and Moser, E.I. (2008). Hippocampus-independent phase precession in entorhinal grid cells

*Kjelstrup, K.B., Solstad, T., Brun, V.H., Hafting, T., Leutgeb, S., Witter, M.P., Moser, E.I. and Moser, M.-B. (2008). Finite scales of spatial representation in the hippocampus
Science 321, 140–143
*Solstad, T., Boccara, C.N., Kropff, E., Moser, M.-B. and Moser, E.I. (2008). Representation of geometric borders in the entorhinal cortex
Science, 322, 1865–1868
*Moser, E.I., Moser, M-B. (2011). Crystals of the brain. EMBO Mol. Med. 3, 1–4. *Moser, E.I., Moser, M-B. (2011). Seeing into the future. Nature, 469, 303–4 *Jezek, K., Henriksen, EJ., Treves, A., Moser, E.I. and Moser, M-B. (2011). Theta-paced flickering between place-cell maps in the hippocampus. Nature, 478, 246–249. * Giocomo, LM., Moser, E.I., Moser, M-B. (2011) Grid cells use HCN1 channels for spatial scaling. Cell, 147, 1159–1170. * Igarashi, KM., Lu L., Colgin LL., Moser M-B., Moser EI. (2014) Coordination of entorhinal-hippocampal ensemble activity during associative learning


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moser, Edvard 1962 births Living people People from Hareid People from Ålesund Norwegian people of German descent Norwegian neuroscientists Norwegian University of Science and Technology faculty Max Planck Society people Norwegian Nobel laureates Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine University of Oslo faculty Members of the American Philosophical Society Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Members of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters Alumni of the University of Edinburgh