Florence Nightingale

An English social reformer and statistician, Florence Nightingale is celebrated as the founder of modern nursing. She helped abolish prostitution laws that were overly-harsh towards women and advocated for significant health reforms for all of British Society. She made significant accomplishments in professionalizing nursing roles for women, such as founding the first secular nursing school in Britain at St. Thomas Hospital. She was a skilled and versatile writer, whose work spread medical knowledge and was often presented in a clear and simple manner for those of poor literacy skills. After her death in 1910, her work survives her in the Nightingale Pledge, an oath still taken by nurses today.