An Italian and American biologist, Rita Levi-Montalcini (born 1909) discovered the nerve growth factor (NGF), a protein molecule that enhances differentiative processes of the sensory and sympathetic neurons and may exert a modulatory role on neuro-immuno-endocrine functions of vital importance in the regulation of homeostatic processes.

Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in Turin, Italy, on April 22, 1909. Together with her twin sister Paola, a renowned painter, she was the youngest in an upper-middle-class non-observant Jewish family. The family included a stern, industrialist father, a gentle but resourceful mother, a son, and three daughters--all of whom were gifted in either artistic or scientific pursuits. The profound gender inequality in her parents' household persuaded Rita (and Paola) that raising a family was incompatible with the devotion needed to pursue the call of creativity by a woman. The twin sisters were vindicated in their choice as each became famous in her respective career, while...