US scientist John O'Keefe and Norwegians May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser have won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.
"The discoveries ... have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries," the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute said.
"This year's laureates have discovered a positioning system, an 'inner GPS' in the brain that makes it possible to orient ourselves in space," the jury said.
The trio will share the prize of 8 million Swedish crowns (€880,000).
Medicine is the first of the Nobel Prizes awarded each year.
Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel.
#nobelprize2014 #Medicine awarded discoveries were made in 1971 (O’Keefe) and 2005 (@MayBrittMoser & Edvard Moser) pic.twitter.com/UmIXNs7Jt6
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2014
University College Cork is to award Prof O'Keefe an honorary doctorate in recognition of his contributions to neuroscience.
Prof O'Keefe's father came from Newmarket in Co Cork, and he still has family living in the area today.
