Florence Nightingale

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Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy. Her parents named her after the city she was born in. She was born on May 12,1980, she was raised mostly in Derbyshire England. Many people when they hear Florence Nightingale think about her as a nurse and for her fight for better hospital care. Florence did a lot more in her life than achieve better hospital conditions, and become a nurse. She was a brilliant mathematician, and used statistics to apply them to achieve her reforms. Florence was a well-educated woman in a number of fields other than math; she had been educated in history, economics, astronomy, science, philosophy, and a number of languages. Her mother taught her how to be social and leadership qualities. Florence was born in an upper-class lifestyle but she didn't like it. She didn't do things that the typical upper-class child would do, she would care for sick and injured pets, and when she was older she took care of servants who were sick. This is what started her up on her mission as a nurse.

In 1849 Florence went abroad to study the European hospital system. In 1853 she became the superintendent for the Hospital for Invalid Gentlewomen in London. In 1854 Florence raised the economic and productive aspect of women's status by volunteering to run all the nursing duties during the Crimean War. With her efforts the mortality rates of the sick and wounded soldiers was reduced. While being a nurse was her profession and what she was known for, she used statistics to achieve...

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... for her reforms, she once said that "To understand God's thoughts, we must study statistics, for these are the measure of his purpose." (Kopf, pg. 77) Florence Nightingale brought together statistics and her good heart to become a very important role model for the women in Europe in her time.

Works Cited:

1. Kopf, Edwin. Studies in the History of Statistics and Probability. New York;

Macmillan Publishing Company, . 1977.

2. Cope, Zachary. Florence Nightingale and The Doctors. Philadelphia;

J.B. Lippincott Company, 1958

3. http://www.netsrp.com/dbois/nighting.html, Daniel Bois, December 2002

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