Editing by Carolyn Bennett
Notes on a life worth remembering
She has been described as having had “first class
intelligence: polished, precise, curious, as feminist avant la lettre, always opposed to obsolete social conventions;
never believing in the division of genders ─ only in the equality of their
capacities.” She abandoned religion and embraced atheism; devoted herself to scientific
research and discovery, renounced marriage for science.
Rita Levi Montalcini was born in Turin, Italy, in the spring
and died in Rome in winter. She was a relentless discoverer and researcher in
science, a recipient of major awards in her field. She is said to have had a
scientific sensibility “combined with humanity and respect for others.”
Her studies in the 1950s led her to discover (with her
student and assistant, also a biochemist, Stanley Cohen) “that the growth and differentiation
of sensory and sympathetic nerve cells is due to a specific protein: Nerve
Growth Factor,” a finding that disputed an earlier notion that “the nervous
system is static, genetically programmed by genes to be immutable.” Thirty
years later, she accepted the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
In the 1960s and
1970s, she directed the Research Center of Neurobiology (Rome, 1961-1969) and the
Laboratory of Cellular Biology (1969-1978); she became the tenth woman elected
to the United States National Academy of Sciences (1968). In 1983, Columbia
University awarded her the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize.
During the course of her life, Rita Levi Montalcini pioneered
in progressive and scientific campaigns including the campaign against
anti-personnel mines. In the Nazi era of the 1930s and 1940s when she was forced
to flee Italy then Belgium, she organized a makeshift (home) laboratory in
clandestine conditions. In later years, she was a co-founder of the Italian
section of Green Cross International, chaired the Institute of the Italian
Encyclopedia and was a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO, 1999). In 2001, she was named Senator for Life by
the Italian president of the Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, in recognition of
her scientific and social efforts, a position that enabled her to sit in the
Senate and participate in parliamentary debates. In 2002, she established the
European Brain Research Institute.
An Italian (b. April 22, 1909-d. December 30, 2012) honors graduate from the Italy’s Turin Medical School, University of Turin,
a medical researcher and teacher at Washington University in St. Louis (United
States), Neurophysiologist Rita Levi-Montalcini traveled regularly between North
America and Europe. Her major awards included the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine
(1986), the United States’ highest scientific honor, the National Medal of
Science (1987); the degree Honoris Causa in Biomedical Engineering from the
Polytechnic University of Turin (2006) and the Ph.D. Honoris Causa (honorary doctorate)
from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain (2008).
Some of her books are: In Praise of Imperfection: My Life and Work
(Sloan Foundation science series) by Rita Levi-Montalcini and Luigi Attardi
(October 1989); The Saga of the Nerve
Growth Factor: Preliminary Studies, Discovery, Further Development (World
Scientific Series in 20th Century Biology) by Rita Levi-Montalcini (July 1997);
L'asso nella manica a brandelli (I
saggi) (Italian Edition) by Rita Levi-Montalcini (1998); La science citoyenne (La Question) (French Edition) by Rita
Levi-Montalcini (1994); Un universo
inquieto: Vita e opere di Paola Levi Montalcini (I saggi) by Rita
Levi-Montalcini (2001); The Hourglass of
Life: A Nobel Laureate Reflects on Her Life by Rita Levi-Montalcini and
Giuseppina Tripodi (January 27, 2010); Il
tuo futuro (Italian Edition) by Rita Levi-Montalcini (1993); NGF: Apertura di una nuova frontiera nella
neurobiologia (Sonde) (Italian Edition) by Rita Levi-Montalcini (1989). |
T
|
ogether with Italy, America
may claim her: a life, a woman’s life and work, worth remembering.
Attributed to Rita
Levi-Montalcini:
“Above all, do not
fear
difficult moments.
The best comes from them.”
Sources and notes
“Homage to Rita Levi Montalcini” (by Costantino Ceoldo, Prepared
for publication by: Lisa Karpova, Pravda.Ru, Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey),
December 31, 2012, http://english.pravda.ru/society/anomal/31-12-2012/123358-rita_montalcini-0/
Copyright © 1999-2012, «PRAVDA.Ru». When reproducing our
materials in whole or in part, hyperlink to PRAVDA.Ru should be made. The
opinions and views of the authors do not always coincide with the point of view
of PRAVDA.Ru's editors.
See also Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Levi-Montalcini
Nazi Party (by name of National Socialist German Workers'
Party, German Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP: political party of the mass movement known as
National Socialism (q.v.). Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the party came
to power in Germany in 1933 and governed by totalitarian methods until 1945. Britannica note
– Rita Levi-Montalcini (b. 1909), Italian scientist, 1986
Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine (w/ Stanley Cohen), ritalevimontalcini.org;
http://nocountryforyoungwomen.com/?s=Rita+Levi+Montalcini
Women in Health Sciences, Neurophysiologist Rita
Levi-Montalcini (b. 1909), http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/mowihsp/bios/levi_montalcini.htm
Rita Levi-Montalcini images at: http://www.giornalettismo.com/archives/682513/rita-levi-montalcini-e-morta/6543598_small/
______________________________________
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
______________________________________
