Rita Levi-Montalcini
Source: Web (gravita-zero.it)
Sciences & Discovery • Historical Archive • 🇮🇹 Italy • 9 views

Rita Levi-Montalcini 🇮🇹

Rita Levi-Montalcini
Neurobiologist, Nobel Laureate, Senator for Life, Centenarian
Born Apr 22, 1909 🇮🇹 Turin, Italy
Passed Away Dec 30, 2012 Rome, Italy
Lifespan 103 years old
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"Progress requires that we have the courage to make mistakes, to follow uncertain paths, and to persevere."

Archival Overview

Italian neurobiologist who discovered Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and served as an active Senator for life in Italy until age 103.

Biographical Record

Rita Levi-Montalcini graduated in medicine from the University of Turin under Giuseppe Levi. Barred from academic research by Mussolini's 1938 racial laws against Jews, she set up a clandestine laboratory in her bedroom during World War II, studying chick embryo nerves with watchmaker needles.

In 1947, she joined Viktor Hamburger at Washington University in St. Louis. Together with biochemist Stanley Cohen, she discovered and isolated Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), a protein essential for the survival and differentiation of nerve cells. Awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize, she was appointed Senator for Life in Italy in 2001, working in parliament past her 100th birthday.

Key Life Milestones

1952

Discovery of Nerve Growth Factor

Identified and isolated NGF, providing the foundational discovery for modern developmental neurobiology.

1986

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Shared the Nobel Prize with Stanley Cohen for their discoveries of growth factors.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Monumental Cemetery of Turin
Turin, Italy
GPS: 45.0767, 7.7014
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