Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909)
A dual citizen of Italy and the US, Levi-Montalcini did her most important work with American biochemist Stanley Cohen. Studying mouse tumors implanted in chicken embryos, the pair isolated a nerve-growth factor in 1952, the first of many cell-growth factors found in animals. For this discovery, they were awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In 2001, she was made a “senator for life” in the Italian senate. In what unusual place did Levi-Montalcini build her first laboratory? More…
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