Rita Levi-Montalcini was an Italian neurobiologist. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with colleague Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF).
Rita Levi-Montalcini, c. 1975. Image courtesy of the Bernard Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine.
Rita Levi-Montalcini in 2009
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's 1895 will, are awarded "to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind". Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics, Medicine or Physiology, Chemistry, Literature, Economics and Peace.
Nobel was interested in experimental physiology and set up his own laboratories.
The reverse side of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
Alexander Fleming's 1945 Nobel Prize medal for Physiology and Medicine on display at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Emil von Behring received the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901.