Florence Nightingale was a social reformer and statistician from England who lived from 1820 to 1910. Her work as a nurse during the Crimean War (1853-1856) was instrumental in improving the conditions of injured soldiers in military hospitals, as well as in developing modern nursing as a profession. Nightingale also wrote extensively on social reform and public health, and she is recognized today as the founder of modern nursing and an important pioneer in the field of public health.
Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 in the city of Florence, Italy. Her parents were wealthy British citizens, and she received a comprehensive education at home, studying mathematics, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, philosophy, history, and music. Despite initial pushback from her parents, she eventually entered the nursing profession at the age of 25 and began her training at the Institute for Deaconesses in Kaiserswerth, Germany.
In October 1854, Florence Nightingale and a team of 38 volunteer nurses were sent to the British military hospital in Scutari, Turkey (now Üsküdar, Istanbul). This hospital had exceptionally poor conditions, with no medical supplies and rudimentary medical resources. It was Nightingale’s duty to improve the hospital, so she moved quickly to organize and equip it with the necessary materials. She also implemented basic sanitation and hygiene practices, as well as reducing overcrowding, improving ventilation, and reorganizing the medical staff. Her methods led to a dramatic improvement in the overall health of the wounded soldiers.
Florence Nightingale’s work had a lasting effect on the public health of Britain and other countries. She was the first to promote the idea of preventive (rather than curative) medicine and argued that the most important factor in improving public health was access to proper sanitation and clean water. Though she never completed medical school, she was a strong advocate for higher standards of medical care and for the employment of more female nurses.
Nightingale also wrote extensively about her experiences as a nurse. Her books, Notes on Nursing (1858) and Notes on Hospitals (1859), established her as an authoritative voice in the field of public health and led to the creation of training programs for nurses throughout Europe.
Today, the importance of Florence Nightingale’s work is widely recognized. In 1910, the International Red Cross honored her with the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1965, the nursing profession celebrated her birthday as “International Nurses Day” in commemoration of her achievements. And, in her home country of England, a statue of Nightingale stands in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
