RITA LEVI MONTALCINI
One of the most tenacious scientists of the 20th century, #Nobel Prize for NGF #discovery.
Featuring artwork & words by Dr. Eleonora Adami, Sci-Illustrate Stories.
“Don’t fear difficult moments, the best comes from them.”
This could be the prototypical sentence of a motivational, sort of “discover your inner strength” type, teens-movie.
But… These inspiring words come from one of the most determined and courageous scientists of the 20th century: Rita Levi-Montalcini.
Rita and her twin sister Paola were born in the early 1900s and raised according to traditional principles. Pursuing a professional career was highly discouraged — but Rita had set her mind to study medicine and was unstoppable! She enrolled at the University of Turin and graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 1936. She trained with neurohistologist Giuseppe Levi, where she learnt how to visualize nerve cells under a microscope.
Soon after her graduation, the fascist regime published the “Manifesto for the defence of Race” (1938), de facto banning “inferior races” from education. From that moment on, being of Jewish origins, she was repeatedly forced to flee.
During wartime, Rita was able to withstand the fascist oppression and prejudice against women with tenacity and intelligence. She had to practice her medical profession incognito and endured the challenges and solitude that come with being at the forefront of science.
She turned her bedroom into a small laboratory. With only a microscope, a microtome and an incubator, she studied neurological chick development. Back then, some eggs were her food — and others her research tools.
After the war, she moved to the US to have the most scientifically productive moments of her life. In 1952, along with biochemist Stanley Cohen, she isolated the nerve-growth factor (NGF). Both were awarded the Nobel Prize for in Physiology or Medicine in 1986 for this discovery.
She returned to Italy in 1977 and in 2001 she was made Senator for life by the President of Italy.
REFs/ If you want to know more:
For those of you interested to know a bit more about her, have a look at the link below. In the page you’ll find the link to a freely available Springer publication entitled “Rita Levi-Montalcini and her major contribution to neurobiology” as well as the possibility to download a fantastic graphic novel about her life and achievements (available in ENG and ITA).
MOVIES/DOCUMENTARIES:
- She appears at the end of “Death by Design”, a science documentary that focuses on cell death and why our lives depend on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NytzTLnyKM
- For the italian-speaking crowd, this is also a recent and very well curated docu-movie about her (you need to register, but streaming is free of charge): https://www.raiplay.it/video/2018/09/Illuminate---Rita-Levi-Montalcini-e248415f-7c9e-45df-be89-4dfbc88ba9c1.html
About the author and artist
DR. ELEONORA ADAMI
Content editor and contributing artist
Women in Science, Sci-Illustrate Stories
Eleonora is a proud descendant of ancient Romans. Besides that, she is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Duke-NUS in Singapore, working in the cardiovascular and metabolic diseases area. She has a biotechnology (BSc) and functional genomics (MSc) background, and has obtained her PhD in molecular biology and genetics in Germany before going to the far east.
Eleonora thinks of herself as a carrier pigeon, always on the go, trying to find new adventures and challenges. Ok, maybe pigeons are not very adventurous, but they were once useful to deliver important messages. One of the messages she likes to bring across is that we need more art in scientific practices. Creative thinking benefits both disciplines.
A passion for illustration has always accompanied her and percolates in her scientific work. She started the collaboration with the Sci-Illustrate team after attending their course on scientific illustration.
About this series:
Not enough can be said about the amazing Women in Science who did and continue to do their part in moving the world forward.
Every month, through the artwork & words of the Sci-Illustrate team, we will bring to you profiles of women who touched our hearts (and brains) with their scientific works, and of many more who currently hold the flag high in their own fields!
-Dr. Radhika Patnala, Series Director
