| Authorised form of name | Levi-Montalcini; Rita (1909 - 2012) |
| Other forms of name | Rita Levi- |
| Other forms of surname | Montalcini |
| Dates | 1909 - 2012 |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Place of birth | Turin, Italy |
| Date of birth | 22/04/1909 |
| Date of death | 30/12/2012 |
| Occupation | Neurobiologist |
| Activity | Education:
At age of 20 persuaded her father to be allowed to try for university. Enrolled at the medical school in Turin, where she studied under the histologist Giuseppe Levi. Graduated with a summa cum laude degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1936
Career:
Left Italy for Belgium in 1936 working as a guest of a neurological institute in Brussels. Returned to Turin in 1940, but left in 1941 to work in a cottage in Piemonte, then Florence until 1944 when city liberated in Auagust 1944. Worked as volunteer physician. Returned to Turin after war and resumed academic career at the university. Moved to Washington University, St Louis, at invitation of Viktor Hamburger where he wa a professor in 1947. Became Associate Professor 1956, full Professor on Neurobiology in 1958, held till her retirement in 1977. Established a research unit in Rome in 1962. Director of the Institute of Cell Biology of the Italian Council of Research, 1969-1978. President of the Institute of the Italian Encyclopaedia 1993-1998. With her twin sister created the Levi-Mantalcini Foundation in 1992, in memory of her father, to assist young people in the difficult choices in their fields of study.
Medals and prizes:
Nobel Prize (Physiology or Medicine) 1986 |
| Membership category | Foreign Member |
| Date of election | 09/03/1995 |
| Age at election | 85 |
| Relationships | Twin sister Paola, youngest of four children; father Adam Levi an electrical engineer and mathematician, mother Adele Montalcini, a talented painter. |
| Code | NA4722 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| IM/002729 | Levi-Montalcini, Rita | 1995 |
| IM/002730 | Levi-Montalcini, Rita | October 1994 |
| EC/1995/44 | Levi-Montalcini, Rita: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1994 |