Fridtjof Nansen Award for Outstanding Research presented to May-Britt Moser by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
On 27 November 2013, May-Britt Moser received the Fridtjof Nansen Award for Outstanding Research in Science and Medicine, accompanied by the Nansen Medal, from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. The award honored her exceptional contributions to neuroscience, especially her work on the neural mechanisms of spatial representation.
This national prize recognizes researchers who have achieved international prominence while maintaining strong roots in Norwegian science. By 2013, Moser’s research on grid cells and related spatial coding in the hippocampal formation had placed Trondheim at the center of global systems neuroscience. The Nansen Award acknowledged not only the specific discoveries but also the creation of a vibrant research environment and the mentoring of a new generation of neuroscientists.
Historically, the event marked Moser as one of Norway’s most distinguished scientists of her era. In terms of women’s history, it contributed to the visibility of women as recipients of major national scientific honors in a field traditionally dominated by men. The award reinforced the idea that pioneering theoretical and experimental work in neuroscience can emerge from smaller countries and from female-led laboratories, reshaping both geographical and gender expectations in high-level research.