Some Information about Rita Levi-Montalcini
She was born on 22 April 1909 in Turin.After graduated summa cum laude from the University of Turin Medical School in 1936 she completed a degree of specialization in neurology and psychiatry.Two of her university friends, Salvador Luria and Renato Dulbecco also received the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Due to her Jewish origin she was force to leave Italy in 1938 after the introduction of fascist laws and go to Belgium until 1941.After returning in Turin, in 1943 she moved to Florence where she and her family lived underground to avoid deportazion.After Allied armies freed Florence in 1944, she worked as a medical doctor in an Italian Refugee camp.
In 1947 she accepted an invitation to Washington University in St. Louis and after a semester she was offered a research associate position.She lived between USA and Italy until 1977 and in that time she did her most important work:discovering the Nerve Growth Factor.From 1961 to 1969 she directed the Research Center Of Neurobiology of the CNR in Rome and from 1969 to 1978 the Laboratory of Cellular Biology.
She shared the 1986 Nobel Prize with biochemist Stanley Cohen for their discover of NGF.
After receiving many other Honors, on 2001 she was appointed as Senator for Life by the President of the Italian Republic.
She continued to study until her death in Rome on 30 December 2012.