Rita Levi-Montalcini
by Mary Rose
Growing up.
Rita Levi-Montalcini was bor on April 22,1909 in Turin, Italy into not your average family. Her older brother Gino was a professor at the University of Turin and also a well-known Italian architect. He sadly died of a heart attack on September 29, 2000 at age 91. Her father Adamo Levi was an electrical engineer and mathematician, while her mother Adele Montalcini was a painter. In her teenage years she wanted to become a writer. Her father discouraged her and her siblings from attending college because he thought it would disrupt their lives as mother and wives, but eventually supported Rita’s aspirations to become a doctor. Rita later went and studied at the University of Turin after seeing a close family friend die of stomach cancer. While attending she helped assist professor Guiseppe Levi who introduced her to the developing nervous system. After graduating with a M.D. in 1936 she went to work as Guiseppe Levi’s assistant, but her academic was cut short by Benito Mussolini’s 1938 Manifesto of Race and the subsequent of laws barring Jews from academic and professional careers. She was never marrieds or had any kids probably because she was so busy with her career.
Her life as a researcher
she went to school at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Turin as a researcher to study to find out how the nerve growth factor works and later to become interested in neurophysiologist.
They would have never understood how the nerve growth factor worked. Rita was around during World War II. She was a doctor during World War II so I guess that’s how she got in medical and neurophysiologist.
after becoming famous
she went around studying the Nerve growth factor and tried to help discover more about it because they really didn't know much about it yet. She has also received many awards and recognitions over her life time. Some examples are the noble prize in physiology and medicine and National medal of Science. No matter what people said bad about her she continued to do what she loved and loved what she did.
Towards the end of her life
When she began to get old she didn't let her age stop her. She continued to d o her job. She sadly died December 30, 2012 in Rome, Italy at the age of 103. The cause of her death was natural causes. These are some quotes that I believe should be in this of hers. “Above all, don’t fear difficult moments. The best comes from them.” “At 100, I have a mind that is superior- thanks to experience- than when I was 20.”