Levi-Montalcini First Nobel Laureate to Score a Ton. (April 30, 2009)

Rita Levi-Montalcini who together with Stanley Cohen, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of Nerve growth factor reached her 100^th birthday on April 22^nd.

As a birthday gift, the Italian government presented €500,000 (US$650,000) as a one-off grant to the research institute that she founded, the European Brain Research Institute in Rome, which is hovering on the edge of bankruptcy.

It also announced a €6-million programme, named after her, to entice 30 young scientists working abroad to Italy on three-year grants.

While the Italian scientific community were less than impressed with Prime Minister Berlusconi's munificence, Professor Levi-Montalcini said in a carefully-worded statement the gestures were more than she had dared to imagine.