Rita Levi-Montalcini

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Rita Levi-Montalcini (2009)

Rita Levi-Montalcini (born April 22, 1909 in Turin , Italy , † December 30, 2012 in Rome ) was an Italian physician and neurobiologist. She discovered the body's own growth factors responsible for cell growth and, together with Stanley Cohen, was awarded the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 1986 . She became the second woman to be appointed Senator for Life in Italy in 2001.

Life

Rita Levi-Montalcini and her twin sister Paola Levi-Montalcini (1909–2000), a well-known artist, came from a Sephardic family. Her parents were the Jewish engineer and mathematician Adamo Levi and his wife Adele Montalcini. Her brother Gino (1902–1974) and sister Anna (1905–2000) also belonged to the family. When her nanny, Giovanna, became terminally ill with cancer, 19-year-old Rita Levi decided to study medicine. In 1936 she finished her medical studies in Turin, which she had begun in 1930, where she was a student of the histologist Giuseppe Levi , and then devoted herself to basic neurological research. Since Mussolini refused access to academic positions for Jewish women, she moved to Belgium in 1936 and worked as a visiting researcher at a neurobiological institute in Brussels. Shortly before the German invasion, she returned to Italy, where she did further research in her private apartment. Between 1943 and 1945 she lived illegally in Florence .

After the end of the war she fought against epidemics and epidemics in refugee camps. From 1969 to 1979 she headed a. a. in Rome the Cell Biology Laboratory of the National Research Council . Her research focused on cellular message transmission and control mechanisms of cell and tissue growth. She discovered the epidermal growth factor (EGF), the nerve growth factor (NGF), a polypeptide , and coined the term “ neurotrophin ” together with Viktor Hamburger . She was awarded the Nobel Prize for isolating and characterizing the nerve growth factor. She was a member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei , Rome. The atheist Levi-Montalcini was born in 1974 by Pope Paul VI. as the first woman ever to be appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences .

In August 2001, she was by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to the Senator for life appointed. In 2006, she was to chair the constituent session of Parliament as Age President. However, she waived this honor in favor of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro . In 2008 she renounced it again.

Since the death of Józef Rotblat in 2005, Levi-Montalcini was the oldest living Nobel Prize recipient . Since May 4, 2008, she was also the oldest Nobel Prize winner ever; Tadeusz Reichstein previously held this position. She was the first person to receive a Nobel Prize and live to be at least 100 years old.

Other awards (selection)

On January 30, 2010, the asteroid (9722) Levi-Montalcini was named after her.

Quote

“The body does what it wants. I am not the body, I am the memory. "

- Rita Levi-Montalcini

Works

  • I am a tree with many branches. Age as an opportunity (original title: L 'asso nella manica a brandelli , translated by Christel Till-Galliani). Piper, Munich / Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-492-04121-3 , as a paperback most recently under the title: The advantages of age. Performance and mental activity for a lifetime, Piper-TB 4388, Munich / Zurich 2005, ISBN 978-3-492-24388-9 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Rita Levi-Montalcini  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nobel laureate in medicine Levi-Montalcini dies zeit.de
  2. ^ Vatican pays tribute to Rita Levi-Montalcini , Vatican Radio , December 31, 2012
  3. ^ Entry on Levi-Montalcini, Rita (1909 - 2012) in the archive of the Royal Society , London
  4. ^ "La Professoressa" ( Memento from August 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) - brand eins 05/2009
personal data
SURNAME Levi-Montalcini, Rita
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian-American neurobiologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Turin , Italy
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 2012
Place of death Rome , Italy