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Rita Levi-Montalcini and her major contribution to neurobiology

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Abstract

In this paper, I shall illustrate the personality of Rita Levi-Montalcini and highlight how she first emerged within a prestigious school, while under the direction of Giuseppe Levi, a most inspiring and stimulating figure. Between 1919 and 1938, he created a rich environment capable of influencing the minds of innumerable students; among them, three future Nobel Prize winners, Renato Dulbecco, Salvador Luria, and Rita Levi-Montalcini, who were companions in the same classroom. In 1938, due to the racial laws for the defence of the race, Luria and Levi-Montalcini were banned from entering the university premises. In a small working space in her bedroom—“a minuscule laboratory not unlike a convent cell”—Levi-Montalcini, supported by Levi, made a most outstanding discovery that opened a new chapter in neurobiology. Further collaborations with Viktor Hamburger and Stanley Cohen led Levi-Montalcini to the discovery of the nerve growth factor (NGF): a remarkable accomplishment which turned out to represent a milestone in the development of modern cell biology.

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Fig. 1

Courtesy of Historical Archive of the University of Turin

Fig. 2

Courtesy of Piera Levi-Montalcini

Fig. 3

Courtesy of Historical Archive of the University of Turin

Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Courtesy of Piera Levi-Montalcini

Fig. 6

Courtesy of Giacomo Giacobini

Fig. 7

https://hpsrepository.asu.edu/handle/10776/3264?show=full

Fig. 8
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Fig. 12

Courtesy of EBRI

Fig. 13

Courtesy of EBRI

Fig. 14

Courtesy of EBRI

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Prof. Germana Pareti and Dr. Robin Harvey for illuminating discussions, and Maria Romanazzo (Fregi e Majuscole, Turin) not only for copy-editing, but especially for the organization of the whole architecture of text and illustrations. A special mention to Piera Levi-Montalcini for precious information and for help in collecting illustrations. This article is dedicated to my father, Gerolamo Strata, MD, who was sentenced to prison in Savona in the late 30s and then confined to Atripalda (Avellino) for criticism of the fascist regime.

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  1. Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Corso Raffaello 30, 10125, Turin, Italy

    Piergiorgio Strata

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Strata, P. Rita Levi-Montalcini and her major contribution to neurobiology. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 29, 737–753 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-018-0741-4

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