John O'Keefe, alongside husband-and-wife team May-Britt and Edvard Moser, has won the Nobel Prize for Medicine

An American-British scientist who helped to uncover the brain's "inner GPS system" has today been jointly awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Medicine more than 40 years after his research.

John O´Keefe, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London, made the first key discovery in understanding the brain's navigation system in 1971 when he identified "place cells" which map the environment around us.

It was 34 years later in 2005 that Norwegian scientists and married couple May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser found a second type of nerve cell - the "grid cell" which generates a coordinate system for path-finding.

The Nobel Prize assembly said together the three scientists have "solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries - how does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?"

The research could help researchers understand the spatial memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease.

The Nobel Assembly added: "The discovery of the brain's positioning system represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of how ensembles of specialised cells work together to execute higher cognitive functions.

"It has opened new avenues for understanding other cognitive processes, such as memory, thinking and planning."

Professor O'Keefe, who has recently become the inaugural head of the new Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, a new research centre in neural circuits and behaviour at UCL, has been praised by colleagues for his "pioneering" work.

UCL president professor Michael Arthur said: "John O'Keefe is one of UCL's outstanding neuroscientists and I am delighted that his work on the very basic question of how the hippocampus in the brain stores spatial information and thus allows us to navigate our way through a complex world, has been recognised by the award of the Nobel Prize in Medicine."

The scientist is the 29th Nobel Laureate among UCL's academics and students, past and present.

Vice-president Professor David Price, said: "The UCL community is thrilled to learn that Professor O'Keefe's pioneering work has been so deservedly recognised."

Professor Alan Thompson, Dean of the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences, said: "This is wonderful news and a fitting tribute to John's seminal discoveries and immense contribution to neuroscience. We should all be very proud of the work he has done and continues to do in UCL. Many, many, congratulations."

Professor O'Keefe, who was born in New York, received his doctoral degree in physiological psychology from McGill University in Canada, in 1967.

After that, he moved to the UK for postdoctoral training at UCL, where he was first appointed Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in 1987.

The University of Edinburgh said the Mosers are the latest of many Nobel Laureates to have links with the institution.

From 1995 to 1997, both Professor May-Britt Moser and Professor Edvard Moser worked as post-doctoral researchers with Richard Morris, Professor of Neuroscience at the Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems (CCNS).

Edvard Moser remains an Honorary Professor at the university's College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

Prof Morris said: "I am absolutely delighted for this prestigious award to go to dear friends and fabulous scientists.

"I am particularly pleased for May-Britt and Edvard - both former post-doctoral students and current affiliates at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems. It is wonderful news."

Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, said the trio, including Royal Society Fellow Prof O'Keefe, were "deserving winners".

Praising their "outstanding contribution to neuroscience", he said: "This is great recognition for their important work and the Royal Society congratulates all three on their success."