Florence Nightingale

1820 – 1910

Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer, statistician, and the founder of modern nursing whose sanitation reforms during the Crimean War dramatically reduced soldier mortality at the British military hospital in Scutari. Her 1858 polar-area diagrams visualizing the causes of soldier deaths pioneered the use of statistical graphics in public health advocacy and earned her election as the first woman fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. The Nightingale Training School she opened at St. Thomas' Hospital in 1860 established nursing as a respected, professional, and educated vocation for women.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM