Italian Historical Society of America

Recognized as one of the twentieth century's great scientists, and with a name that every physics student is aware of, Fermi received the Noble Prize in physics in 1938 for discovering new radioactive elements and the nuclear reactions caused by slow neutrons. Fermi's work heralded the age of nuclear power that now provides energy, and used in medical treatments, and agricultural and industrial applications.

With a natural inclination toward physics, at 27, Fermi became a professor in the field. His applications in experimentation and theoretical physics led him to become the first to split an atom. Arriving in America after he received the Nobel Prize, he continued his research in nuclear power generation, first at Columbia University in New York then at the University of Chicago. He became a professor at the Institute of Nuclear Studies, now named the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the element fermium is named after him. Fermi was involved in The Manhattan Project during World War II.

In 1956, President Eisenhower established the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award in honor of the Nobel Prize recipient. The National Accelerator Laboratory, established by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1967 was renamed Fermilab in 1974. In 1976, Fermi was inducted to the Inventors Hall of Fame, and in 2001, a United States postage stamp was issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Fermi's birth.
Written by Janice Therese Mancuso

Here are some other relevant websites:
Enrico Fermi Biography
Enrico Fermi Accomplishments
National Inventors Hall of Fame
The Nobel Prize - Enrico Fermi
Voices of the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project Spotlight: Enrico Fermi

Most known for his scientific contributions and often referred to as the “father of modern science” and the “father of modern physics,” Galileo changed the way we view the world. His contributions are considerable; they include his study and support of the Copernican theory (the planets revolve around the sun), studies in accelerated motion, perfecting the telescope, and astronomical findings. Galileo’s father was a professional musician who applied his concepts of musical theory to practical knowledge and procedure. It’s noted that Galileo assisted his father with experiments and obtained the same technique of applying concept to practice. Born in Pisa (region of Tuscany), in his childhood, Galileo studied at a monastery and considered joining, but – at his father’s urging – studied medicine, then developed an interest in mathematics.
Galileo started to teach mathematics as a private tutor in 1585, and in 1589, he was lecturing in mathematics at the University of Pisa. In 1592, he was appointed Chair of Mathematics at the University of Padua, where he lectured on geometry and astronomy. During his 18 years there he continued his studies in mechanics, astrology, and philosophy; published instruction manuals for his students; experimented with motion, designed instruments, and published his observations; and worked on improving the telescope; and begins to publicize his views on Copernicanism.

In 1610, Galileo was appointed Chief Mathematician of the University of Pisa, and Cosimo II (de’ Medici), Grand Duke of Tuscany, offered him a court position of Philosopher and Mathematician. In the following years, Galileo’s support of Copernicanism grew, and in 1613, his observations of sunspots and letters of his findings further supported his theories. His public view that the planets revolve around the sun– which is opposite the belief of the Roman Catholic Church – and a book he published which was thought to mock the Pope caused the church to label him a heretic, and in 1633, he was placed under house arrest. Galileo continued to write and publish his work, which includes Discourse on Two New Sciences, and by 1638 he had lost vision in both eyes (some attribute this to looking directly at the sun). He died in 1642, and in 1992, Pope John Paul II announced regret in the way the Church approached the views of Galileo.
Written by Janice Therese Mancuso

Here are some other relevant websites
The Galileo Project
Galileo Galilei: The Nature of Matter
Galileo's Astronomical Discoveries

Luigi Galvani (1737-1798)

In his fields as a physician and a physicist, Galvani’s research led to electrophysiology – the relationship of electric activity and biology. Born in Bologna (region of Emilia-Romagna), Galvani received two advanced degrees from the University of Bologna, Medicine and Philosophy. Some sources cite that his father was a doctor, and Galvani followed his footsteps; others claim that Galvani’s first interest was theology, but his parents convinced him to study medicine. By his mid-twenties he lectured in Medicine at the University, and he became president of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna in 1772. As a lecturer in anatomy, Galvani conducted experiments on deceased animals and frogs; and in one experiment his assistant – standing close to an electrical machine – accidentally touched his scalpel to a nerve in the legs of a dissected frog, and the legs twitched. Galvani began researching what he named “animal electricity,” the discovery of electricity moving through cells in the tissue, which became the precursor to neurophysiology and neurology. Later, Alessandro Volta would use the term “galvanism” to describe the process.

Galvani spent the next 10 years researching the effects of external electricity on animal tissue, and in 1791, published a paper on animal electricity. Two years later he published another paper defending his work. When Napoleon created the Cisalpine Republic in 1797, Bologna was included. Galvani refused to pledge an oath to the new Republic and he was forced to resign from the University. He died the following year.
Luigi Galvani
The Legacy of Galvani and Volta in contemporary science
Written by Janice Therese Mancuso

Here are some other relevant websites:
Luigi Galvani: Bioelectrogenesis

Antonio Meucci (1808-1889)

Inventor of the Telephone
An invention none of us could live without, a tool of modern communications so basic that many of today's business and social activities would be inconceivable in its absence, the telephone, is at the center of a series of events so strange as to amount to a "whodunit." Most of us were brought up on the story of Alexander Graham Bell, the romantic figure of an inventor with dash and charm. Some of these favorable impressions must have come from the famous, if apocryphal, "Come here Watson, I want you" legend of the invention of the device, a tradition augmented by the movie version of the tale, in which actor Don Amiche became more or less permanently attached to the persona of Bell. But it seems that history must be rewritten if justice is to be done to an immigrant from Florence, Italy: Antonio Meucci, who invented the telephone in 1849 and filed his first patent caveat (notice of intention to take out a patent) in 1871, setting into motion a series of mysterious events and injustices which would be incredible were they not so well documented. Meucci was an enigmatic character, a man unable to overcome his own lack of managerial and entrepreneurial talent, a man tormented by his inability to communicate in any language other than Italian. The tragic events of his personal and professional life, his accomplishments and his association with the great Italian patriot, Garibaldi, should be legendary in themselves but, curiously, the man and his story are practically unknown today. Antonio Meucci was born in San Frediano, near Florence, in April 1808. He studied design and mechanical engineering at Florence's Academy of Fine Arts and then worked in the Teatro della Pergola and various other theaters as a stage technician until 1835, when he accepted a job as scenic designer and stage technician at the Teatro Tacon in Havana, Cuba.

Absolutely fascinated by scientific research of any kind, Meucci read every scientific tract he could get his hands on, and spent all his spare time in Havana on research, inventing a new method of galvanizing metals which he applied to military equipment for the Cuban government; at the same time, he continued his work in the theater and pursued his endless experiments.One these touched off a series of fateful events. Meucci had developed a method of using electric shocks to treat illness which had become quite popular in Havana. One day, while preparing to administer a treatment to a friend, Meucci heard an exclamation of the friend, who was in the next room, over the piece of copper wire running between them. The inventor realized immediately that he held in his hand something much more important than any other discovery he had ever made, and he spent the next ten years bringing the principle to a practical stage. The following ten years were to be spent perfecting the original device and trying to promote its commercialization.

With this goal, he left Cuba for New York in 1850, settling in the Clifton section of Staten Island, a few miles from New York City. Here, in addition to his problems of a strictly financial nature, Meucci realized that he could not communicate adequately in English, having relied on the similarities of Italian and Spanish during his Cuban residence. Furthermore, in Staten Island, he found himself surrounded by Italian political refugees; Giuseppe Garibaldi, when exiled from Italy, spent his period of United States residency in Meucci's house. The scientist tried to help his Italian friends by devising any number of industrial projects using new or improved manufacturing methods for such diverse products as beer, candles, pianos and paper. But he knew nothing of management, and even those initiatives which succeeded were to have their profits eaten up by unscrupulous or inept managers or by the refugees themselves, who spent more time in political discussion than they did in active work. Meanwhile, Meucci continued to dedicate his time to perfecting the telephone. In 1855, when his wife became partially paralyzed, Meucci set up a telephone system which joined several rooms of his house with his workshop in another building nearby, the first such installation anywhere. In 1860, when the instrument had become practical, Meucci organized a demonstration to attract financial backing in which a singer's voice was clearly heard by spectators a considerable distance away. A description of the apparatus was soon published in one of New York's Italian newspapers and the report together with a model of the invention were taken to Italy by a certain Signor Bendelari with the goal of arranging production there; nothing came of this trip, nor of the many promises of financial support which had been forthcoming after the demonstration.

The years which followed brought increasing poverty to an embittered and discouraged Meucci, who nonetheless continued to produce a series of new inventions. His precarious financial situation, however, often constrained him to sell the rights to his inventions, and still left him without the wherewithal to take out final patents on the telephone.

A dramatic event, in which Meucci was severely burned in the explosion of the steamship Westfield returning from New York, brought things to an even more tragic state. While Meucci lay in hospital, miraculously alive after the disaster, his wife sold many of his working models (including the telephone prototype) and other materials to a secondhand dealer for six dollars. When Meucci sought to buy these precious objects back, he was told that they had been resold to an "unknown young man" whose identity remains a mystery to this day.

Crushed, but not beaten, Meucci worked night and day to reconstruct his invention and to produce new designs and specifications, clearly apprehensive that someone could steal the device before he could have it patented. Unable to raise the sum for a definitive patent ($250, considerable in those days), he took recourse in the caveat or notice of intent, which was registered on December 28, 1871 and renewed in 1872 and 1873 but, fatefully, not thereafter.

Immediately after he received certification of the caveat, Meucci tried again to demonstrate the enormous potential of the device, delivering a model and technical details to the vice president of one of the affiliates of the newly established Western Union Telegraph Company, asking permission to demonstrate his "Talking Telegraph" on the wires of the Western Union system. However, each time that Meucci contacted this vice president, a certain Edward B. Grant, he was told that there had been no time to arrange the test. Two years passed, after which Meucci demanded the return of his materials, only to be told that they had been "lost." It was then 1874.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent which does not really describe the telephone but refers to it as such. When Meucci learned of this, he instructed his lawyer to protest to the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, something that was never done. However, a friend did contact Washington, only to learn that all the documents relevant to the "Talking Telegraph" filed in Meucci's caveat had been "lost." Later investigation produced evidence of illegal relationships linking certain employees of the Patent Office and officials of Bell's company. And later, in the course of litigation between Bell and Western Union, it was revealed that Bell had agreed to pay Western Union 20 percent of profits from commercialization of his "invention" for a period of 17 years. Millions of dollars were involved, but the price may been cheaper than revealing facts better left hidden, from Bell's point of view.

In the court case of 1886, although Bell's lawyers tried to turn aside Meucci's suit against their client, he was able to explain every detail of his invention so clearly as to leave little doubt of his veracity, although he did not win the case against the superior - and vastly richer - forces fielded by Bell. Despite a public statement by the then Secretary of State that "there exists sufficient proof to give priority to Meucci in the invention of the telephone," and despite the fact that the United States initiated prosecution for fraud against Bell's patent, the trial was postponed from year to year until, at the death of Meucci in 1889, the case was dropped.

The story of Antonio Meucci is still little known, yet it is one of the most extraordinary episodes in American history, albeit an episode in which justice was perverted. Still, the genius and perseverance of an Italian immigrant - genius, poor businessman, tenacious defender of his rights against incredible odds and grinding poverty - is a story which must be told. Antonio Meucci is waiting to be recognized as the inventor of a key element in our modern culture.

Here are some other relevant websites:
The Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
Antonio Meucci - Written by Admin on June 10, 2019 in Heroes-villainsAntonio Meucci
Antonio Meucci: Famous Scientists
Bell did not invent telephone, US rules
The Garibaldi Meucci Museum

Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937)

His early experiments with Hertzian waves led him to conducting experiments at the family villa in Italy and later in England where he would file a patent for wireless telegraphy. Although Marconi shares the 1909 Nobel Prize in physics, he was acknowledged for his ability to put together a "practical, usable system" for wireless transmission of radio waves over long distances.
Marconi did not immigrate to America, but in 1903, he established a wireless station in South Wellfleet, Massachusetts, allowing President Theodore Roosevelt to send a Morse code message to King Edward VII of England the first transatlantic message from a U. S. President to a European ruler. Marconis wireless communications (known as Marconigrams) were essential for transmitting messages to and from ships, and his application expanded from cruise ships to battleships when World War I began.
Written by Janice Therese Mancuso

Here are some other relevant websites:
Nobel Prize in Physics
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi: The Invention of Radio
The Nobel Prize – Guglielmo Marconi
National Inventors Hall of Fame

Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)

Inventor of the voltaic pile – the first electric current battery – and namesake of volt, Volta was born in Como (region of Lombardia) to an aristocratic family. Volta was seven years old when his father died; and a few years later, Volta was enrolled in a Jesuit school in preparation for a career as a priest. He studied philosophy and literature for a few years, but developed a greater interest in physics and chemistry. During the late 1760s, he wrote to several prominent physicists about his theories on electricity, following with a dissertation in 1769; and his writings continued to be published. In 1774, Volta was appointed Superintendent of Schools in Como, and in 1775, he became Professor of Experimental Physics. He improved and named the electrophorus – a charging device – and studied the properties of combustible gases, discovering methane.

In 1778, Volta was appointed to chair the Experimental Physics department at Pavia University, a position he held until the early 1800s. While there, he worked on Galvani’s theory of conducting electricity, and developed the voltaic pile – a tower of zinc and silver or copper discs alternating with brine-soaked cardboard, with wires attached to the top and bottom of the pile that produced sparks when connected. In 1794, Volta received the Copley Medal, an award given by the Royal Society of London for a distinguished achievement in science. After the invention of the voltaic pile, Volta traveled, lectured, and received many awards and honors, among them the Order of the Iron Crown by Napoleon. Volta retied to his family estate in 1819, and died in 1827. In 1881, the volt was named in his honor, and on the 100th anniversary of his death, Il Tempio Voltiano (The Volta Temple) – which houses many of his papers and original instruments – was constructed on Lake Como.
Written by Janice Therese Mancuso

Here are some other relevant websites:
Il Tempio Voltiano
Alessandro Volta
Alessandro Volta: Famous Scientists
Alessandro Volta: Electricity and Magnetism

Trota of Salerno (c. 1100-1200)

The Roman colony of Salernum was established as a military stronghold in the 190s B.C, and later became an important trade port until the fall of the Roman Empire. Ruled by the Goths, then the Byzantines, Salerno flourished in the eighth century under the Lombards. During Lombard rule, Schola Medica Salernitana was established, initially as part of a monastery. Often cited as the first medical school to open in Western Europe, it became renowned for its sources of medical knowledge. In the twelfth century, this is where Trota – also spelled Trocta, and often referred to as Trotula – practiced the science of medicine.

The history of medicine in the Middle Ages is rooted in the works of Hippocrates, Galen (Aelius Galenus), Avicenna (wrote The Canon of Medicine – five books completed in 1025, during the Islamic Golden Age), and Constantinus Africanus (Constantine the African translated Arabic sources into Latin). Schola Medica Salernitana was a point of convergence for cultural, philosophical, and practical concepts in healing. These principles relied on ancient remedies: natural elements (air, earth, fire, water), incantations, pagan rituals, purging, potions, diet, and medicinal plants, among others.

Professional medical care of the time was essentially a man’s occupation, although midwives were dominant in the delivery of babies. The medical school in Salerno attracted students and practitioners from Europe and beyond, and it was the only (or one of the few) medical schools that accepted women. With the exchange of knowledge, new medical texts were being written and published, and of importance were three books on predominantly women’s health issues, all attributed to Trotula. The books were popular medical texts during the fourteenth century, but were also referred to in the early twentieth century.

In 1938, Trotula was cited as “the most noted doctor of the Middle Ages” in A History of Women in Medicine from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century. Two years later, Trotula was praised as an “eleventh-century gynecologist,” and – today – with the expansion of digital media and acknowledgment of women who were overlooked, information about Trotula is readily available; however, Trotula is not Trota of Salerno.

It was determined in 1984, that the three volumes written in the twelfth century were written by different authors, and the medical techniques and advice in each book was a compilation from various sources. In one edition, though, Trota contributed her writings, supervised its contents, or did indeed write the entire book. Because she was known for her medical expertise, in the sixteenth century, the three volumes were combined into one with Trotula named as the author. How the name Trotula was decided – as one researcher notes – is “a complicated story.”

Trota did write a book, though: Practica secundum Trotam [Practical Medicine According to Trota] was discovered in Madrid in the early 1980s. The book includes “remedies and medical advice concerning gynecology, the care of children, beauty, and a large number of topics which concern men as well as women …”

In the years since, Trota has been recognized for her work in treating women, most notably in gynecology. As extensive research continues, more facts about Trota are revealed. To date, the life story of Trota begins with the medical journals of the twelfth century: she was a knowledgeable, medical practitioner, who was respected in her field, and provided excellent advice, training, and treatment. She combined her experiences with the cultural, philosophical, and practical concepts in healing, gaining an education in the sciences and technologies of the time.
Written by Janice Therese Mancuso

Laura Bassi (1711 - 1778)

The University of Bologna is the oldest educational institution in Europe, established in 1088 by a group of students seeking programs for the study of law. It attracted students from surrounding countries who formed associations, often referred to as benefit societies and an early form of college fraternities. In the thirteenth century, medicine and philosophy were added to the curriculum; science was added in the seventeenth century. Thomas Becket, Leon Battista Alberti, and Nicolaus Copernicus attended the University.

In her early childhood, Laura Maria Caterina Bassi was tutored at home, learning French, Latin, and mathematics. She had just entered her teens when Gaetano Tacconi – a physician, a medicine and philosophy professor at the University of Bologna, and a member of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna – took control of her education. During his visits to the home to treat her mother, Tacconi had noticed how Bassi excelled at her studies and he offered to expand her education to other subjects – natural philosophy, metaphysics, logic, physics, and some science, including Newton’s Opticks (experiments with white and colored light).

Impressed with Bassi’s debate skills and her extensive scientific knowledge, Tacconi invited members of the Academy and other philosophers to observe and participate in discussions. In 1731, Cardinal Prospero Lambertini – the archbishop of Bologna who became Pope Benedict XIV in 1740 – began attending the meetings and became an influential supporter of Bassi.

In 1732, Bassi defended 49 Thesis in a public event to earn a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Bologna. At the time, a Thesis was a written response (in Latin) to a question presented by a professor, and then defended in an oral presentation. That same year after earning her doctorate, Bassi was the first women elected to the Academy of Sciences of Bologna. (She was the second woman to receive a university degree: the first also an Italian woman, Elena Cornaro Piscopia received a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Padua in 1678.)

Although Bassi’s recognition as a scholar was an admirable achievement, it was more an honor than an acceptance into the University. Both the University and the city saw her accomplishments as a boost to their institutions; but Bassi prevailed. She was not permitted to teach at the University, so she taught in her home, as she studied advanced mathematics and continued her studies in science.

In 1738, Bassi married fellow scientist Giuseppe Veratti, and they worked together – most notably in Newtonian physics – establishing a teaching and research laboratory in their home. (It’s noted that Bassi and Veratti had up to twelve children, five who survived infancy.) Bassi became known throughout Europe for her expertise and her teachings in physics, and had professional ties with many scientist including Luigi Galvani, a pioneer in bioelectricity, and Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the electric battery and namesake for volt, a base unit of measurement. She was also admired by many outside the field of science, including Voltaire, who in 1744 wrote, “I would like to visit Bologna so that I might say to my fellow citizens that I have seen Signora Bassi …”

In 1745, Pope Benedict XIV restructured the Academy of Sciences of Bologna to create a selected group of 24 academic scientists that would present their research each year. Bassi was not included, but she sent a letter to the Pope (her former patron), suggesting he add her as the 25th scientists and she was – the only woman – accepted into the group. In 1776, Bassi was appointed a University Chair of Experimental Physics and was allowed to teach classes at the University. Bassi died two years later, and is interred in the Church of Corpus Domini in Bologna, near Luigi Galvani, a former associate.

In the mid-eighteenth century throughout Europe, Bassi was a leading figure in the scientific field, paving the way for woman in science and math to be recognized for their work. Today, with a greater interest in STEM and STEAM integration, Laura Maria Caterina Bassi is an established role model.
Written by Janice Therese Mancuso

Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718 - 1799)

Proficient in seven languages before her twelfth birthday and in mathematics and philosophy by her late teens, child prodigy Maria Gaetana Agnesi was also educated in ballistics, botany, chemistry, physics, and metaphysics, along with numerous other topics. Her first published work was from her lecture in Latin defending a woman’s right to an education. She later wrote a series of essays on philosophical and scientific theory. As the oldest of 21 children, she relented to the wishes of her father and stayed home to tutor her younger brothers. To assist in their education, she wrote a mathematics textbook – considered the first by a woman – explaining calculus and geometry in clearer terms. The Witch of Agnesi is a mathematical curve erroneously named after her.

Agnesi was born in Milan to a wealthy family in the trade business on her father’s side and to nobility from her mother, Anna Fortunata Brivio, with origins dating back to the late fourteenth century in Milan. The noble family, though, had lost many of its assets in the early eighteenth century, and Pietro Agnesi acquired some of the properties. Pietro supported his daughter’s education by providing the best tutors and advisors, and by inviting scholars and other intellects to listen to her presentations. It’s noted that this was a standard practice of the time: a prosperous father utilizing the talents of his daughter to advance his and his family’s social position.

At a young age, Agnesi showed an exceptional ability in languages, and conducted an academic debate in Latin when she was nine years old. (Her discourse is published in The Contest for Knowledge: Debates over Women's Learning in Eighteenth-Century Italy.) As her education continued, her father arranged debates – inviting scholars and intellects from other countries – where Agnesi would present the topic in Latin and then reply to questions in the language of the person inquiring.

In addition to her secular education and her extensive interest in mathematics, Agnesi studied the bible and other religious materials. Tired of her presentations, she became interested in joining a convent. Her father refused her request, but did agree to her appeal to allow her to live a more simple life by dressing plainly, not participating in social events, and by attending church more often. Through her mid-teens, Agnesi debated close to 200 philosophical and scientific theories, including Newtonian doctrines, to audiences selected by her father. In 1738, the essays were published in Propositiones Philosophicae (Philosophical Propositions).

When Agnesi was 14, her mother died. Her father remarried twice, and after her second stepmother died, Agnesi took over the household duties and, at some point, began tutoring her younger brothers. In preparing the lessons on mathematics, and with her eagerness to learn more about calculus – an expanding field at the time – she reviewed various publications on the topic and found discrepancies in how the concepts were presented. To make the calculations easier to understand, Agnesi began working on a book providing a practical system for mathematical equations.

Her interest in calculus led her to contact Jacopo Riccati, a leading mathematician and namesake of the Riccati differential equation, and she acknowledged his assistance with her book when the first volume of Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana (Analytical Institutions for the Use of Italian Youth) was published in 1748. The second volume was published the following year. Agnesi is well known for the Witch of Agnesi, her depiction of the versed sine curve, and received much acclaim for her work. She was offered a position of mathematics lecturer at the University of Bologna, but she did not accept.

After her father died in 1752, Agnesi turned to her faith and devoted the rest of her life to assisting underprivileged and ill women. The shift in her interest, though, doesn’t diminish her dedication to either calling. She excelled in mathematics and shared her knowledge, just as she excelled in her charitable work. A plaque dedicated to her accomplishments as a mathematician and as a benefactor of the poor marks the family home in Varedo (about 10 miles north of Milan).
Written by Janice Therese Mancuso

Rita Levi Montalcini (1909 - 2012)

Born in Turin into a traditional Jewish family lifestyle, Rita Levi-Montalcini chose – what was at the time – an untraditional career path. Resisting her father’s wishes to prepare for a life as wife and mother, she persuaded her father to approve her acceptance into the University of Turin to earn a medical degree. Levi-Montalcini graduated summa cum laude, but the onset of World War II forced her to work in secret. After the war, she treated war refugees and was later invited to continue her experiments in the United States. Her research led to a shared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986.

One of four children, and with a twin sister, Levi-Montalcini was raised by intellectual and cultured parents – her father was a mathematician and electrical engineer, her mother was an artist. After her father agreed to Levi-Montalcini pursuing a professional career, it took eight months for her to complete the remaining courses – Latin, Greek, and mathematics – needed to graduate high school and enter the medical program at the University of Turin. There, she worked with Giuseppe Levi, a top histologist, professor of anatomy, and mentor to three (future) Nobel Prize winners, in experimenting with the development of cells in the nervous system.

After receiving her degree in medicine and surgery, Levi-Montalcini became an assistant to Professor Levi, but in 1938, the “Manifesto of Race” prevented Jewish professionals from continuing their work, among other restrictions, and she established a laboratory in her home. As the alliance between Italy and Germany progressed, the family moved to Piemonte – where Levi-Montalcini set up a more primitive lab – and then to Florence, where the family lived in hiding.

As the Allies gained control of Italy, and after the Germans left Florence, in 1944, Levi-Montalcini was hired as a physician in a refugee camp. After the war ended the following year, she returned to Turin with her family and resumed her position as a research assistant at the University. In her earlier work there, Levi-Montalcini had conducted experiments on how nerve cells developed under certain conditions and had co-authored several papers about the nervous system. Her reports on neurobiology were published in several scientific journals, and read by Viktor Hamburger, a noted German embryologist, professor, and director of the Zoology Department at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He had conducted similar experiments with differing results and in 1947, invited Levi-Montalcini to the University so they could work together in further researching nerve growth.

Hamburger agreed with Levi-Montalcini’s findings, and with the opening for more nerve cell exploration, her planned one-year research position was extended. She became an associate professor and then a full professor of Zoology at Washington University in 1958, staying until she retired in 1977, and then returning to Rome. During her years of research, Levi-Montalcini discovered Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) – a type of protein that stimulates nerve tissue, causing cells to grow. Her collaboration at the University with Stanley Cohen, a biochemist and researcher, expanded on the importance of NGF in the development of cells, and was the basis of their shared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986.

Although Levi-Montalcini had a position at Washington University, she frequently traveled to Italy. She founded the Institute of Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine and the Institute of Cell Biology – both now part of the Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology (IBCN) of the National Research Council (CNR) – and the European Brain Research Institute (EBRI), all in Rome. Among her many awards and honors, in 2001, she was appointed by the president of Italy senatore a vita, a member for life of the Italian Senate.

Rita Levi-Montalcini was an early twentieth century woman of a STEM education, benefiting medical research and the world with her scientific findings.
Written by Janice Therese Mancuso