Did the Nobel laureate Rita Levi-Montalchini spoke about the benefits of alcohol?

In social networks, a picture with a quote is popular, which is attributed to an Italian scientist-long life. We checked its reliability.

On the Internet you can find many publications in which the neurobiologist Rita Levi-Montalchini attributes the authorship of the phrase “To improve digestion, I drink beer, in the absence of appetite, I drink white wine, with low pressure-red, cognac, with angina-vodka”. To the clarifying question of an unnamed interlocutor: "And water?" - The researcher supposedly replies that she had no such illness yet. Similar posts are easy to find in the popular public "VKontakte" - World of History, "Humor of Schrödinger", "Psychology about life", "Leprosy", "The art of reality", "Secrets of history" And many others have a bike about the scientist at least since 2016 (while some several times) and gain thousands of likes. This story was not deprived of attention and bloggers in other social networks, for example Instagram And Facebook.

Rita Levi-Montalchini is one of the most famous women in European science of the 20th century. Her successes in neurobiology brought the researcher is a lot of prestigious awards, including Nobel Prize In physiology and medicine in 1986. In 2001, Levy-Montalchini for his achievements became a lifelong member of the Italian Senate. Scientist Died At the end of 2012, not having lived a few months before his 104th birthday.

At the same time, pictures and text messages in which Levi-Montalchini attribute the phrase about the benefits of alcohol, began to appear on the Internet only after a few years-about the end of spring 2016. The first references can be found, in particular, in numerous publications in "VKontakte", "Live magazine" And on several forums. Moreover, then the picture fell into a selection “Funny photos with inscriptions and quotes”, where it is adjacent, for example, with the following image:

At the same time, we were not able to find a quote in authoritative sources in English or Italian. In the English-speaking texts, Rita Levi-Montalchini attributes these words only one user Facebook and author publications On a culinary site registered in the Russian domain zone. Neither in the scientific research researcher monographs, neither in numerous publications of Italian, English or American media outlets of this quote.

Two years before, in Russian social networks, a picture with an Italian scientist began to gain popularity, a phrase very similar to the attached Levi-Montalchini, first appeared in the publications in English. February 16, 2014 on the blog of the American Hugh Pacrona was published Record About an unnamed grandmother, who talked about the benefits of various alcoholic beverages for different health problems. This quote became quite fast use For the design of souvenirs and gift packaging (but again using the collective image of an old woman, and not a well -known Italian scientist). The paradoxical phrase has become the basis for one of the comic pictures On the Indian humorous website of Santabanta, however, here it is in no way connected with an outstanding neurobiologist - the resource is dedicated to jokes about stereotypes about Sikhahs typical of India.

Thus, we were not able to reliably confirm that the famous researcher really talked about how, with the help of various alcoholic drinks, these or another health problems conquer. The phrase, very similar to the verified, appeared no later than 2014 in the English-language publication without reference to Levi-Montalchini, but already in the spring of 2016, one of the Russian Internet users (probably on VKontakte) decided to attribute the authorship of the Italian scientist. Allegedly backed by the authority of the Nobel laureate, the quote became viral.

Incorrect attribution of quote

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Biography of Rita Levi-Montalchini on the Nobel Prize website
2. European Brain Research Institute Rita Levi-Montalcini