title: The failed attribution of the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology to Viktor Hamburger for the discovery of Nerve Growth Factor.
abstract: The announcement in October 1986 that the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was to awarded to Rita Levi Montalcini and Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF) and epidermal growth factor, respectively, caused many to wonder why Viktor Hamburger in whose laboratory the initial work was done had not been included in the award. This article try to reconstruct the history of the discovery of NGF with the aim to re-establish a correct dynamic of the events.
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, University of Bari Medical School, National Cancer Institute "Giovanni Paolo II", Policlinico-Piazza G. Cesare, 11, 70124 Bari, Italy. Electronic address: domenico.ribatti@uniba.it.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ribatti
mesh_terms: D004626:Embryology / Q000266:history*; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor / Q000266:history / Q000502:physiology; D005858:Germany; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor / Q000266:history* / Q000502:physiology; D009613:Nobel Prize
chemical_list: C502240:NGF protein, human; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor
keywords: History of medicine; Nerve growth factor; Sympathetic neurons; Tumor growth