Photo: Kurt Hagblom, restored by Adam Cuerden, Public domain — Source
Italian neurobiologist who discovered nerve growth factor (NGF), a breakthrough that revolutionized understanding of cell and organ growth. Working clandestinely in a home laboratory during the Nazi occupation of Italy, she continued her research on nerve fiber development. She shared the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Stanley Cohen. She was appointed senator for life in Italy in 2001 and remained scientifically active past her 100th birthday, becoming one of the longest-lived Nobel laureates. Her persistence under fascism exemplifies science's resilience against tyranny.
Source: Nobel Prize