Rita Levi-Montalcini, an Italian neurologist and the oldest living Nobel laureate, died yesterday at the age of 103. She will long be remembered as a woman committed to science and to civic renewal. Born to Jewish parents in Turin, Italy on 22 April 1909, she and her family were forced to emigrate to Belgium during World War II due to the repressive Fascist regime in her homeland.
In 1986, she won the Nobel Prize for Medicine thanks to her discovery and identification of the nerve growth factor (NGF), the result of 30 years of research at Washington University, U.S.A. She was the first woman to be admitted to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Lincean Academy. During her life, she held numerous prestigious positions, serving as the director of the Research Center of Neurobiology in Rome (1961-1969) and as the director of the Laboratory of Cellular Biology (1969-1978).
In 2001 she was elected Senator for Life in the Italian Senate in recognition of her outstanding contributions in the realms of science and civic life. At the news of her death, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi praised Levi-Montalcini as an inspiring example for Italy and the world, and the mayor of Rome said that her demise was a great loss for all humanity.