![]() ![]() She did not agree with the idea that a woman has to be a perfect wife and mother. However, Rita wanted to become neither a wife nor a mother. ![]() Her father, Adamo Levi discouraged his daughters from attending college since he believed that “a professional career would interfere with the duties of a wife and a mother”. Rita grew up in an observant family, in the post-Victorian era which was dominated by a patriarchal culture. In her biography, “In Praise of Imperfection” (1988), she wrote that “the subordinate role played by the female in a society run entirely by men made the status of a wife less than attractive”. Levi-Montalcini has done amazing things in her life, whether it was about her own personal well-being and progress or that of many, many others.Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in Turin, Italy on 22 April 1909 and was one of the world´s most prominent scientific investigators of the human body’s nervous system. Remember, her political career began in her 90s.ĭr. And it might be a very effective way to treat or prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinsons.Īll these years after the fall of Mussolini and war, Levi-Montalcini was honored by her home country by being named a Senator for Life, a position that she does not treat as merely “honorary.” In fact, she uses her political position to continue supporting the country’s center-left government - after everything the old center-right government put her through, it’s the least she could do for her country. Apparently, the NGF that Levi-Montalcini helped to discover directly affect the survival of neurons and brain function. Levi-Montalcini was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1986, and to this day, she uses eye drops - eye drops containing NGF. And it was during her time in America when she discovered NGF. She had only intended to stay for 10 months while she performed experiments on embryos, delving into the amino acids that make up cells and help them grow. Levi-Montalcini came to America, where she stayed until 1977. And when the war was finally over, she accepted an academic position in St. Not even WWII could stop this woman from scientific research.Īs a doctor, she was assigned to work at a refugee camp, where she provided several people crucial information about epidemics and illnesses including typhoid. The bombing later took her to Florence, where she rode out the rest of the war, working in a laboratory underground. She went to Brussels, Belgium, though she had to flee from there in 1940 when the Nazis invaded.Įventually, she was able to return to Turin, where she continued her research in her bedroom and later moved to a cottage in the countryside, away from the city while it was being bombed throughout WWII. ( Kuriositas points out that this was just around the time Jesse Owens, the African-American track and field superstar, won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics - in Berlin.) Italy’s dictator Benito Mussolini followed the Nazi example and issued the “Laws of Race,” which made it impossible for Levi-Montacini, who was Jewish Italian, to pursue any further studies in her home country. Over in Germany, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis were trying to position the Aryan race as the world’s “superior” race. ![]() And from there, it didn’t get any easier. She ended up graduating summa cum laude from Turin University in 1936. This didn’t stop Levi-Montalcini from enrolling in medical school in 1930 after watching a family friend die of cancer. As advanced a person as her father was, Adamo Levi didn’t think it was appropriate for a girl to attend college or learn a profession. Levi-Montalcini has amazing genes (which she does - her father was an electrical engineer, her mother was a painter), or she has found a way to help the human body live longer.īut it almost never happened, or it could have at least been a lot harder. Surely, nothing can help us live forever, and I’m pretty sure only fictional supervillains and the mentally ill would want to be immortal. Obviously, the title above is a bit of an exaggeration. ![]()
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