Portrait of John O'Keefe

Seated portrait of John O'Keefe, in his laboratory in the Anatomy Building, University College London.

Professor John O'Keefe, neuroscientist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1992 and served on its Council from 1995 to 1996. John's research transformed our understanding of spatial memory in the brain. He discovered that animals have an ‘internal GPS’, where individual cells respond to an animal’s physical position in space, creating a cognitive map. His insight fundamentally shows how we navigate through a complex world.

His finding sparked further research into the neural basis of the cognitive map, revealing other spatial cells: head direction cells, which form an internal compass, and grid cells, which code for the distance moved in a particular direction. For his seminal work, John shared the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He was also awarded the Royal Society's Ferrier Medal and Lecture in 2013 and its Kavli Prize in 2014.