Historical Figure
Rita Levi-Montalcini
1909–2012
Italian neurologist (1909–2012)
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Biography
Rita Levi-Montalcini was an Italian neurobiologist. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with colleague Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF).
In Their Own Words (5)
The women who changed the world never needed to show anything other than their own intelligence.Cited in Addio a Rita Levi Montalcini, scienziata e donna straordinaria, Panorama.it, 30 dicembre 2012.
2012
I have lost a bit of my sight, much of my hearing. At conferences, I can't see the presentations and can't hear well. But I think more now than when I when I was twenty. The body can do whatever it likes. I am not the body: I am the mind.In an interview with Paolo Giordano, 100 anni di futuro, Wired, n. 1, marzo 2009.Cited by Elisabetta Intini, Addio alla signora della scienza, le sue frasi più belle, Focus.it, 31 dicembre 2012.Cited in Addio Rita Levi Montalcini, le frasi più belle di un genio gentile, VanityFair.it, 30 dicembre 2012.
2009
I'm an atheist: I don't know what it means to believe in God.Interview with Piergiorgio Odifreddi in Incontri con menti straordinarie (TEA, Milano, 2007), ISBN 978-88-502-1523-2.
2007
Man is ruined by servility, conformism, obsequiousness, rather than aggressiveness, which is much more common in the environment than within ourselves.From the presentation Elogio dell'imperfezione (Garzanti, 1987), Liceo classico Massimo d'Azeglio, Torino; cited in Giovanni Berlinguer, Il leopardo in salotto, Editori Riuniti, 1990.
1987
The young need to know how lucky they are to have been born in this splendid country, Italy.Dall'intervista al TG1 Rai, in occasione del conferimento di una laurea honoris causa presso l'Università di Milano-Bicocca, 22 gennaio 2008.
2008
Timeline
The story of Rita Levi-Montalcini, told in moments.
Barred from working at the university by Mussolini's racial laws. She was Jewish. She set up a secret lab in her bedroom and studied nerve fiber growth in chicken embryos.
Fled south to Florence when the Germans occupied Turin. She worked as a doctor for Allied refugees. After the war, she resumed her nerve research.
Discovered nerve growth factor (NGF) while working at Washington University in St. Louis. She isolated a protein that controls cell growth and differentiation. The work took over a decade to be accepted.
Won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine at 77, shared with Stanley Cohen. She'd spent 30 years proving NGF existed. She said the discovery came from having no resources and being forced to think.
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