Rita Levi Montalcini

An inspiring woman

Introduction:
Montalcini was born on 22 April 1909 in Turin, to Italian Jewish parents with roots dating back to the Roman Empire.

Early life:
After giving up her dream of becoming a writer and witnessing the death of a family friend caused by cancer, Levi-Montalcini decided to become a doctor. Despite her father’s objections about her pursuing higher education she manager to enroll in the University of Turin. While at the University she met Giuseppe Levi who sparked her interest in the developing nervous system. In 1936, Montalcini remained at the university as Levi’s assistant, but her academic career was cut short by Benito Mussolini’s 1938 Manifesto of Race and the subsequent introduction of laws barring Jews from academic and professional careers.

Career and Research:
During World War II she set up a laboratory in her bedroom in Turin and studied the growth of nerve fibers in chicken embryos, discovering that nerve cells die when they lack targets, and laying the groundwork for much of her later research.

When the Germans invaded Italy in September 1943, her family fled south to Florence, where they survived the Holocaust, under false identities, protected by some non-Jewish friends. After the liberation of Florence in August 1944, she volunteered her medical expertise for the Allied health service. Her family returned to Turin in 1945.

In 1952, she did her most important work: isolating nerve growth factor from observations of certain cancerous tissues that cause extremely rapid growth of nerve cells.

In the following years she became a full profesor and split her time between her laboratory in Rome and St. Louis. From 1961 to 1969, she directed the Research Center of Neurobiology of the Rome, and from 1969 to 1978, the Laboratory of Cellular Biology. After she retired in 1977, she was appointed as director of the Institute of Cell Biology of the Italian National Council of Research in Rome.

Levi-Montalcini founded the European Brain Research Institute in 2002, and then served as its president. Her role in this institute was at the center of some criticism from some parts of the scientific community in 2010.

Political Career:
On 1 August 2001, she was appointed as Senator for Life by the President of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. She was often criticized for her suport of left-wing parties, even being the target of mockery of some male right-wing politicians.

Personal Life:
Levi-Montalcini never married and had no children.[15] In a 2006 interview she said, “I never had any hesitation or regrets in this sense… My life has been enriched by excellent human relations, work and interests. I have never felt lonely.”She died in her home in Rome on 30 December 2012 at the age of 103.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi praised Levi-Montalcini’s civil and moral efforts, saying she was an “inspiring” example for Italy and the world.

Awards:

The Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1986 with Stanley Cohen.
In 1968 she became the 10th woman elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences.
In 1970, she received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achivement.
In 1987, she received the National Medal of Science, the highest American Medical honor.
In 2001, she was nominateed Senator for Life by the Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
In 2009, she received the Leonardo Da Vinci Award from the European Academy of Sciences.

An inspiring woman

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