Rita Levi-Montalcini, neurologist and since 2001 senator for life in the Italian Parliament, passed away today.

Rita Levi-Montalcini was born on April 22, 1909 in Turin, Italy. Growing up in a family where culture was very important, she studied medicine at the University of Turin, where she met two other future Nobel laureates, Salvador Luria and Renato Dulbecco. After graduating in Medicine and Surgery in 1936, she specialized in neurology and psychiatry.

The deterioration of the situation in the dark years of the fascism forced Rita Levi-Montalcini to leave Italy. For a while, she lived in Belgium but after the German invasion she returned to Turin. During World War II she moved to various cities always trying to pursue her scientific researches.

After the war, Rita Levi-Montalcini resumed her research in Asti but in 1946 she moved to the USA at the Washington University in St. Louis, where she remained until 1977, when she retired. During those decades, she also collaborated with the Italian National Research Council with various tasks.

For her discovery of the Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), in 1986 Rita Levi-Montalcini received the Nobel Prize for medicine. In 1987, she received the National Medal of Science, the American highest honor of the scientific community.

Despite being officially retired, Rita Levi-Montalcini has always kept on collaborating in various positions with the most important Italian scientific organizations but also with those of the UN, for example as an ambassador of FAO.

In 2001, Rita Levi-Montalcini was appointed life senator of the Italian Republic for outstanding achievements in the scientific and social fields.

Rita Levi-Montalcini was an extraordinary woman who dedicated her very long life to science. Born at a time when women had little chances, she supported the movement for women’s liberation. Her life led her to meet different cultures while maintaining ties with her Jewish origins. She declared himself an atheist but gave part of the Nobel Prize money for the construction of a new synagogue in Rome. She was active in the social field, in campaigns such as the one against the anti-man mines and in favor of a sustainable development.

Despite the problems of her age, including partial blindness in recent years, Rita Levi-Montalcini had always refused to be conditioned because she was her mind, not her body. She was then active to the last, one of the lessons she gave everyone.