Biomedical scientist Alan Mackay-Sim, whose research helped achieve a feat described as "more impressive than man walking on the moon", has been named the 2017 Australian of the Year for his pioneering stem cell research.

Professor Mackay-Sim's work was central to the 2014 surgery that allowed Darek Fidyka, a Polish firefighter, to walk again and even ride a custom-built bicycle. This made him the first paraplegic in the world to recover mobility after the complete severing of the spinal nerves. The success was hailed by fellow researcher Geoff Raisman as more impressive than the moon landing.

Mr Fidyka, who had been stabbed 18 times in the back by his partner's former husband four years earlier, described the feeling of recovering movement in his legs as akin to being "born again".

Professor Mackay-Sim is a leading global authority on the human sense of smell and the biology of nasal cells. The successful surgery that allowed Mr Fidyka to walk again involved taking cells from his nose, growing them in a lab and injecting them into his spinal cord.