A photograph taken after the author’s lecture presented at Symposium dedicated to 100-th birthday of RLM held on 22 April 2009 in Rome. It was an enjoyable intellectual event of ciencia e amicizia.
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22 April: Born RLM (1909–2012)
On behalf of the Bulgarian Society of Cell Biology,
George N. Chaldakov, Chairman
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Some people are so much known that it is sufficient to mention their initials to recognize them:
L – Carl Linnaeus
N – Napoleon Bonaparte
FDR – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
TS Eliot – Thomas Stearns Eliot
GE Moore – George Edward Moore
RLM – Rita Levi-Montalcini
AD 2023: Roma was founded 2 776 years ago, Rita Levi-Montalcini was born 114 years ago. Legend says that Roma was founded on 21 April, 753 BC by Romolo and his brother Remo. Rita was born on 22 April, 1909 in Turin, near the Italian Alps, in the „foot of the mountain” (Piedmonte). And climbed the peak „Nobel” in Stockholm on 10 December 1986. Romolo outlines the territory of the Eternal City (La citta eterna) around the hill Campidoglio. He was the first king of Roma created the army and the Senate of the city. In 2001, Levi-Montalcini was appointed an Italian senator for life by the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. The prestigious position of senatore a vita is awarded “for outstanding patriotic merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field.”
Rita Levi-Montalcini was the first scientist created the concept of cell growth factors – proteins that stimulate the growth of certain populations of cells. In 1951 at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA Levi-Montalcini discovered nerve growth factor (NGF). Later, in her book The Saga of the Nerve Growth Factor, she described the magic to predict the unpredictable: from mouse tumor grafted on chicken embryos through snake venom and mouse salivary glands to find a biomolecule that stimulates the differentiation and growth of nerve cells is an exciting example of heuristics. In 1986, 35 years after the discovery of NGF, Rita Levi-Montalcini was awarded the Nobel prize for medicine shared with Stanley Cohen.
With her 103 years of life and vast experience and erudition of a scholar and teacher RLM did contribute very much to the progress of scientific and public life of Italy and the world. She continued to speak at conferences and to work with her Foundation, which funds scholarships for young scientists and for women in Africa to pursue their education. She remained a staunch advocate for science and for women’s rights until her death at age 103.
Truly, RLM’s centennial life created the scientific bridge between two millenia, a path followed by many generations*.
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* Aloe L, Chaldakov GN. Homage to Rita Levi-Montalcini, the queen of modern neuroscience. Cell Biol Int 2013; 37(8):761-765. DOI:10.1002/cbin.10098
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