“Above all, don’t fear difficult moments. The best comes from them.” – Rita Levi-Montalcini
The third group of profiles detailed in our book club read “Headstrong: 52 Women who changed Science and the World” were women that made significant contributions to genetics and development. For this section, we are highlighting Rita Levi-Montalcini, an inspiring researcher in neuroembryology, who overcame adversity and prejudice, co-discovered nerve growth factor, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine in 1986.
Born in Turin, Italy in 1909, Rita Levi-Montalcini was raised in an extremely patriarchal society, and at 20, realized that she “could not possibly adjust to a feminine role as conceived by my father and asked him permission to engage in a professional career.” He gave his consent, and the death of her governess of cancer led her on a path to train in medicine, where she eventually started research on the development of the nervous system of chick embryos. Unfortunately, in 1938, Mussolini’s Race Laws forbade Jews from having professional or academic careers. Levi-Montalcini persisted, setting up a makeshift laboratory in her bedroom complete with scalpels and spatulas fashioned out of sewing needles. She continued her work at home during World War 2, moving her microscope and slides downstairs to the basement when bombs fell. Through her detailed dissections of chick embryo spines, she discovered that nerve cells grew and died during development, counter to theories developed by Victor Hamburger at Washington University in St. Louis. After the war, Hamburger invited her for a semester-long visit to conduct research together, but the work was so rewarding that she remained there until 1961. Together with her research partner Stanley Cohen, they discovered and isolated the nerve growth factor that was responsible for the rapid growth of nerve cells in cancerous tissue. The implications of this discovery were instrumental in understanding disease progression and led to a Nobel Prize.
Levi-Montalcini was known for her persistence and tenacity which led to some unbelievable stories, such as “that time she smuggled a pair of mice on a plane to Brazil by tucking them away in her purse or pocket” or when she “talked her way into the copilot seat of a fully booked flight” or gave a talk in a nightgown after the airline lost her luggage. Later in life, she dedicated her time to making sure research in neurobiology continued and that opportunities were available for others. She founded the Institute of Cell Biology in Rome, the European Brain Research Institute, and the Rita Levi-Montalcini Foundation, to provide opportunities for African women. She even served as an Italian senator. She held an industrious and accomplished career, and lived to the age of 103 “wearing a string of pearls, high heels, and a broach under her lab coat well into old age”.
References and additional reading:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/finding-the-good-rita-levi-montalcini/
https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/rita-levi-montalcini