FLORENCE

NIGTHINGALE
By Luis Oliva Fontecha

Early Life

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Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1828, in Florence, Italy. She was the
younger of two children. Florence was raised on the family estate at Lea Hurst, where
she did a classical education, moreover studies in German, French, and Italian.

From a very young age, she was active in philanthropy, ministering to the ill and
poor people. By the time she was sixteen years old, it was clear to her that nursing was
her calling but their parents were not please with it because during the Victorian Era a
young lady of Nightingales social stature was expected to marry a man of means not
take up a job that was viewed as lowly menial labor by the upper social classes. One
year later, when she was 17, she refused a marriage proposal from Richard Monckton
Milnes, a suitable gentleman.

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In 1844, Nightingale enrolled as a nursing student at the Lutheran Hospital of

Paster Fliedner in Kaiserwerth, Germany.

Contribution to mathematics during her career

and awards attained

Florence exhibited a gift for mathematics from a very young age and excelled in the
subject under the tutorship of her father. Later, Nightingale became a pioneer in the
visual presentation of information and statistical graphics. She developed a form of de
pie chart, which had first been developed by William Playfair in 1801, now known as
the polar area diagram, or also known like the Nigthingale rose diagram.

It is equivalent to a
modern circular
histogram; to illustrate
seasonal sources of
patient mortality in the
military field hospital
she managed.

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Although, in her lasts years, she realized an exhaustive statistical report about
the sanitary conditions in the rural zones of the India, and she led the introduction of
improvements in the medical attention and the service of public health in the country.
In 1883, Nightingale was awarded with the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria
because her exceptional courage. In 1904, she was appointed a Lady of Grace of the
Order of St John. In 1907, she became the first woman to be awarded the Order of
Merit. In the following year she was given the Honorary Freedom of the City of
London.

Later Life

Nightingale had contracted "Crimean fever" and would never fully recover. By
the time she was 38 years old, she was homebound and bedridden, and would be so for
the remainder of her life. Residing in Mayfair, she remained an authority and advocate
of health care reform, interviewing politicians and welcoming distinguished visitors
from her bed. She was frequently consulted about how to best manage field hospitals.
In 1859, she published Notes on Hospitals, which focused on how to properly
run civilian hospitals.
In 1910, after she has spent fifty-two years on her bed, she died.

References

Information:
1. http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Nightingale.html

2. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/crimea/florrie.html

3. http://www.biography.com/people/florence-nightingale-9423539#deathand-legacy

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale