Outside Italy, and the scientific world, you may not have heard of Rita Levi Montalcini. I certainly had not until I came here. She was born today, 112 years ago. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (jointly with her colleague Stanley Cohen) for discovering the nerve growth factor (NGF), the importance of which may be explained here. She was the first Nobel laureate to live to be 100 years old and actually lived to the age of 103. The main details of her life are recorded here.
In an interview in 2010, Viviana Kasam asked Dr Levi Montalcini what was the greatest satisfaction in her life. She replied, "The relationship with young people ... Being able to pass on what I know, to learn from them, to discover something new. This is what keeps me alive, the daily miracle of my existence."
Auguri Rita!
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