In 1903, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology "in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science.

His father was Hannes Finsen [da], who belonged to an Icelandic family with traditions reaching back to the 10th century, and his mother was Johanne Formann from Falster, Denmark.

[3] When Niels was four years old his mother died, and his father married her cousin Birgitte Kirstine Formann, with whom he had six children.

[6] As a consequence of his low grades and difficulties with the Danish language, he was sent to Iceland in 1876 to enroll in his father's old school, Lærði skólinn, in Reykjavík.

Prioritisation of Icelandic and Faroese individuals in the admission process was official Danish government policy that had been put in place in order to integrate the educated elites of its colonies with the university population in Copenhagen.

[2] As a result, Finsen developed a theory of phototherapy, stating that certain wavelengths of light have beneficial medical effects.

[10] His most important writings were Finsen Om Lysets Indvirkninger paa Huden ("On the effects of light on the skin"), published in 1893 and Om Anvendelse i Medicinen af koncentrerede kemiske Lysstraaler ("The use of concentrated chemical light rays in medicine"), published in 1896.

The sculpture is entitled Mod lyset (Towards the Light), and symbolised Finsen's principal scientific theory that sunlight can have healing properties.